The discussion of the sentence of the court-martial on Com-
mander Heron for failing in his duty in looking after the stores in the hulk which he commanded at Aberdeen—the -‘ Clyde '—came off on Monday, and the feeling of the House appeared to be very strong that the charges brought against Commander Heron by his subordinate,—the gunner whom -the court-martial had sentenced to be dismissed and disgraced, —might very well prove not to have been sufficiently corrobo- rated from unimpeachable sources to justify the sentence ; and, at all events, that the finding of the court-martial and its justification ought to have been submitted to the legal ad- visers of the Admiralty for their opinion. And Mr. Gladstone accordingly, to the great satisfaction of the House, promised that the legal point at issue,—the question of the adequate corroboration of the charges brought by a man of no character, by other evidence of a trustworthy kind,—should be submitted to the revision of the legal advisers of the Admiralty. This is all for which the friends of Commander Heron have asked, and their request is a thoroughly reasonable one.
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