Mr. Roby has written a letter to one of the
officers present at the Ashton dinner (Colonel Thomas, we presume) to state that nothing in his speech "could, or was meant to, apply in any way to her Majesty, except sentiments of loyalty and devotion ;" and he complains that the following passage was not among the "garbled extracts' on 'which the charge of insulting the Queen was founded.— " hi my opinion, there is a wide distinction between these times and our own. Popish measures then emanated directly from the Sovereign himself. Nous these predilections, I would fain hope, stop in the ascending line with her Ma- jesty's Ministers, and consequently the danger will he passed when they are dismissed."
A correspondent of the Morning Post, under the signature of "An Old Officer," says in reference to Sir John Macdonald's letter- " I beg leave to state, that I have made it a point to converse with every old oflic g of my acquaintance with whom I have met, and that, in the opinion of all, there does not exist a doula that the words, the prohibition to attend party meetings in their military capacity applies to (jivers of the Army at large; distinctly mean that no ofiletYs should attend a political meeting in the town or district in which they are (Iliartcred ; they are at perfectliberty to do it., in their civil character, in our other !dace."
Whereupon the Post remarks- " The words quoted An Ola Officer' mailed, no doubt, if taken alone, convey the meaning he assigns to them. The terms in which the reprimand of Colonel Thomas and the other ulticcrs who were present at the Ashton dinner was expressed in an antecedent part of the Adjutant-General's letter have, however, a far more extensive signification. That Lord Bill meant what is right, none who know hie Lordship will fin- a moment doutt. But it is cer- tainly unfortunate that the pasons who hold the pen at the Horse Guaxda should not kuow how to express clearly and honestly the meaning of their superior."
We apprehend that the Old Officer's interpretation is also inadmis- sible, because the prohibition against attending political meetings in the town or district in which they are quartered, would be of slight use, when, by just stepping over the line, it might be evaded. It will not be thought that change of scene from Ashton to Newcastle-upon-Tyne or Merthyr Tydvil would have shded Colonel Thomas from censure, though his regiment had remained at Ashton.
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