The investigations of the Commission seem to have been very
ably conducted by Mr. Gurney and Mr. Mettle. The Commis- The investigations of the Commission seem to have been very ably conducted by Mr. Gurney and Mr. Mettle. The Commis- sionera, with the true instinct cf gentlemen, all rose to reoefve Mr. Eyre, and again when he left the room after his examination ; but they were not slow to assert their own authority when they met with impertinence and almost insult from a Major-General Forbes Jack- son, a Late East India Company's officer, one of the magistrates re- quested by Mr. Eyre to proceed with the first detachment of troops towards Newcaitle. This gentleman appears to be scarcely sane, but he had been high in authority in suppressing the rebellion. He gesti- culated much, dropping a revolver in the energy of his movements, told Mr. Gurney, when he kept the witness to answering the question put to him, "Don't threaten me ; I will answer the ques- tion in my own way, or I will leave the Court;" and when rebuked by Sir Henry Storks as head of the army, was not so much abashed but that he could tell Mr. Gurney that he was " a mere drawing- room man," as he left the Court. "If Colonel Hobbs," he said, " an officer, a sergeant, and a private of the 6th Regiment are called butchers, then I, General Jackson, am a double butcher ;"- which was no doubt goad logic, but he took it for an argumentum ad absurdum, whereas it was most likely only a sound inference from sound premisses.
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