On the constable's receiving the card, and the pledge above mentioned, he allowed those who had given it to depart. The conduct of the Earl of Cardigan was undoubtedly distinguished by soldierly straight-forwardness and frankness. He went direct, with Captain Douglas, to the Wandsworth police station, and, tapping at the door, the inspector presented himself, and asked what was wanted. "I am a prisoner, I believe," said Lord Cardigan. "Indeed, sir!--on what account?" asked the surprised inspector, as Lord Cardigan entered the station-house. "I have been fighting a duel," said his Lordship, "and hit my man--but not seriously, I believe--slightly--merely a graze across the back"--drawing his hand across his own back, to indicate the region where he believed his ball had struck Captain Tuckett. Lord Cardigan then turned to Captain Douglas, and said, "This gentleman, also, is a prisoner--my second, Captain Douglas." He then took several cards out of his right breast pocket, and handed one of them to the inspector. It bore the words, "The Earl of Cardigan, 11th Dragoons." On reading the name, the inspector said, "I hope the duel was not with Captain Reynolds?"--alluding to the notorious disputes between his Lordship and that officer, and which led to a court-martial on the latter. Lord Cardigan "stood up erect," said the inspector in giving his evidence, and seemed to reject the notion with the utmost disdain: saying, "Oh no, by no means!--do you suppose I would fight with one of my own officers?"[47] He duly appeared before the magistrates, and was bound over in heavy recognisances to appear whenever his presence should be required. He did so from time to time. As soon as Captain Tuckett had sufficiently recovered, he also made his appearance at the police office, _and gave his name_. The affair had by this time attracted much public attention, chiefly, there can be little doubt, from the unpopularity of the Earl of Cardigan; the newspapers teeming with accounts of his alleged discourteous and oppressive treatment of the officers under his command. The prosecution of Lord Cardigan was loudly called for; it being alleged that the high rank of the offender imperiously demanded that evenhanded justice should be dealt to him. Mr Townsend speaks of this demand for prosecution as "a very pitiful manifestation of popular rancour and spleen."[48] "As the duel," he adds, "had been fairly fought, and the code of honour satisfied, without loss of life, it seemed strange that the first unsheathing of the statute should be directed against a high-spirited and gallant nobleman, who had been exposed to violent prejudice and popular clamour; and the prosecution seemed justly obnoxious to the supposition that it originated in party malevolence, and not in respect to the law." _We_ never shared in the hostility here spoken of as existing towards the gallant nobleman in question. Our political opinions are