Star. — London, England, 1807-03-12 00:00:00

ever hen written, any more than to thole of the 3oth rf April. Will it not appear to the Court almon it.. erec:.ble that not only no difapprobation was exprei fed as to my intention fipnified in the letters of the 9th, i3th, and 3oth of April, hut that no (ter were taken to remedy the mifchiefs I am accufed of hav ing occafioned ? No (hips ordered immediately to proceed to the proteCtion of the deiencelefs Cape of Good Hope—No fait failing velfel to order me uack to t' - ,e duty I had fo flagrantly broken, or even tofu percede me for a confiderable length of tithe. I mull leave it Lo the Court to develops thefe mytteries. I could not attempt it without breaking through that controul which I have impofed upon myfelf in Rating thefe tranfaelions. " But, Sir, though the Admiralty chofe not to exprefs the fmallefi approbation of the conduit of the naval force at the late reduction of the Cape, per mit me to remark to the Court, that in acknowledg ing the receipt of my difpatches relating to that event, they on the very fame day acknowledge to me the-receipt of an , ,ther letter, inclofing a copy of one which I had received from char aftive and able officer Captain Donelly, then of the Nar7illip. (giving an ac count of his having driven on there a French priva. leer) and in making this acknowledgment, they de fire me to acquaint him that their Lordfbips highly approve of his conduct on that occasion. " Mul it not appear to this Hot:ourable Court, and to the world at large, not a little extraordinary, that the fame Admiralty Board which could Liberally bellow their applaufe on the condo@ of the Captain of a 'frigate in the dellruelion of an insignificant French privateer, could nithhold their approbation from another officer who commanded a fqtradron of (hips, and all thofe who had ; o un der him, and were employed in the capture of a Settlement deemed fo important, in a military, po litical, and.commercial point of view, as the Cape of Good Hope. " The capture of the Cape, with reference to the thanks of Parliament, fo gratifying to thole who re ceive them (to which it would be prefumption in me to fuppofe I had any claim), I may venture, I be lieve, to (late that this is the firll inflance of a capture of this defcription having been 'Dade by a joint arma •lnent, in which tome expreffion of approbation, at ledl from the Lords of the Admiralty, has not been bellowed on thofe of the navy who have fuccefsfully performed their orders. " For it mull be.recolleEtedi that as to the Cane at leail the orders were fpecihc and precife ; and thole concerned in the enterprize were engaged in the drift performance of their duty. And herei Sir, I may be allowed to remark, that the withholding from thofe under my command this national - and in- variable reward of zeal, valour, and perfeverance, fuccefsfully exerted in their country's caufe, was to them the more mortifying, as the army, in whole of forts and 'gallantry they fully participated, were cheered by the approbation of their fuperiors, and lrtid the confolation of being informed, that their la bours and faccefs were acceptable to thofe in whofe approbatiOn they look for encouragement and re ward. _ _ _ ptecedented, and fo unhandfome, I affure my Pelf no Member of this Court, nor any other perfon now prefent, can recollee an inflance. Humble, however, as my adcommodation was, and expofed as I was to capture, in a - veffel without a fingle gun to defend her, I reached this country without accident. The delay of Admiral Stirling's arrival in the Rio de la Plata, owing to. the very unufual length of his p a f. fage, I (hall always confider as a providential cir. comflance ; for 1 can affect without fear of contra• diElion, that his orders were to evacuate the fettle men., and, but for this circuniflance, which afforded titre for the arrival of the Pheafant (loop with counter or.iers, South America would have been abandoned ; whereas I may now fafely venture to predict, that the arrival of the force under General Achminy has long fince repaired the misfortune which befel my gallant friend General Beresford, by putting the Britiffi in pollen - ion of Monte Video, and I trult not only relcued that dillinguifhed officer and his .brave men from the hands cf the enemy, bat-luny puniffied the perfidy of thole men, who, whilit on their parole of honour, and. in the complete enjoyment of perfonal liberty, violated the one, and availed themtelves of the other, to. combine means for the attack, in which they unhappily fucceeded. ' 6 Having developed in the moll fair, candid, and I troll, refpeltful manner, all the motives which urged me to proceed to the attack of the Spaniflt fettlements on the Rio de la Plata, I 'via , beg leave to call the attention of this Honourable Court to the confequences which have already enfued from this expedition. " In the firft place, then, I humbly prefume that it is but fair to infer that his Majesty's Government. notwithftanding the change which had occurred among its members,• highly approved of the enter prize, from the energy by which they are following it up, even at this very moment, when I am vindi cating my conduit in haviti% undertaken it without pofitive orders. The more they reflect on tie ad vantages which this country might ,te tlye irons the acquifition of thofe valuable poffeffi-ns, t 1 e mete do they augment the means of inforing the conquc(t to which I have direded their attention. Wet e this not the fad, why, I would afk, have his Majetty's Mi nifters fince formed with that view armaments more than adequate to the talk of conquering all the Spann pideflions on the E tit coaft of South America ? 'Arnie enfive armaments either already gone, or t u the point of ;ailing to complete the great object which I bad fu cefsfnll negun, though with means compa ratively fo triflit,..7 ' , and which being merely a removal of the fquadrou from a Rate of inactivity to enter prize, was attended with no additional expence to the country. " I am naturally led to the above conclufions by the mode in which the Board of Admiralty has fhap eel :ite charge. lam not accufed of having, with inadequate means, and with infufficient preparation, unc!c. taken the attack on Buenos Ayres. The rea. fot.s for this will appear obvious when I come to comment, as I now do, on the inlttudii.ns to General Acomuty, the Officer fent out to ptofecute the enterprile that I had fo happily begun, and which Officer, as already appeared to the Court, was le commended to his Majefly's Minilieis by General Baird, as a proper perfon to be employed on this fervice. 4 6 In there infirudions to General Achmuty, a copy of which was tranfrnitted to the fertior naval Officer in the Rio de la Plata, and which I am pre pared to prove from a copy given me by the Admi ralty, the utmolt anxiety is expteffed by hi: Majefty's prefent Minifters, in the event of any misfortune having happened to General Beresford, to obtain fuch a f toting i.n the Contincnt of South America, either in the fame or Come adjacent part, as may enable him, General Achmuty, to wait for the arri /al of a fur. ther force, and that force confining of three thoufand men, which is Hated not to have been intended origi nally as a reinforcement to. General Beresford, but for a fervice of very confiderable importance, but which be is authorized to detain until his object is obtained ; and in a preceding part of the inftruCtions General Achmuty is enjoined not too }rattily to abandon the attempt of gaining a footing in South America. " On this occafion, I hope it will not appear va nity on my part to thew the different light in which our contlruaions were received by the Governor Ge neral in Council in India, who were pleafed to tra: mit to me flattering tellimonies of their approbat:on. 44 To myfelf and my affociates, Come of wh.,nr had engaged moll aaively in the fervice rn (bore, and all of whom had exerted themfelves in the land ing and affifling the troops with that ardoo and perfeverance fo charafteriftic to Britith feamen, to which I had, as their commander, • •zavoored t • do juttice. not one folitary expreffion . •.dpprobati..n was, as the Court have Peen, communicated 7 ' , the anfwer of the Admiralty. 4 6 Yet I am to be condemned for havino even to imaginary hazard, that acqtrifitr .t which appears not to have been worth thole thanks of oar fuperiors—tire value of which, though fo eafy and cheap for them to bellow, I need not expatiate upon in a Court of Britith Officers, whole aflions and whole lives would be to the world the bell proof of the ellimation in which they are juftly held. The importance of the capture was paffed over in filence, when I and thole employed under me might have been gratified ; but it is 1( udly enhanced, and made the fubjell of a criminal charge, when the object is to deprefs me. Whence this difference ? I leave it, Gentlemen, to your refleftions—l leave it to the re fleltions of my country. 46 By permiffion of the Court, I (hall next proceed to thew, as I have already done in part, that what ever diffatisfaElion the Admiralty Board (which had fucceeded to that Board under whole orders I failed fromEnghnd) thought proper to manila for my hav ing exercifed my own difcretion, in undertaking the fubfequcnt expedition to the Rio de la Plata, yet my condua in the execution of that erverprite was fuch as to draw from them the molt unqualified approba- tion, as appears from the letter of the 25th of Sep tember, which I have already read in my defence. " The natural interference to be drawn from the perufal of that letter is, that the Admiralty Board, at the time when it was written, confithred my recal as a fuflicient mark of their difapprobation of my ha wing left the Cape with my fquadron, and attacked Buenos Ayres, without orders. But the panegyric paired on my condal and thole under my command, thongly mark , the high opinion entertained of the importance of the conquell—for if Mr. Marfden's letter of the zsth of September, acknowledging the receipt of my account of the furrender of Buenos Ayres and its dependencies, be compared with his letter in anfwer to mine of the 13th of Jannare, an nouncing to him the capture of the Cape, it is fait to infer, from the circumthince of the Admiralty Board having exprt red their tioqualified approbation of n.y corduet in tht c• nqueft of:Buenos Ayres,' and of their h lying withheld from me every fign of fat i, • - laeti,A in reg;t d to my proceedings in the rednetion of the Cape, that in their ellimation of the compa rative importarce to the country of the two places, they let a midi higher 'value on the acquifition of Buenos A) re- than t n that of the Cape. "' But, Sir, .f my ardent zeal for the fervice of my• country has, in the opinion of any of the Members of this Hon. Court, carried me beyond the exalt limits of unreitriEled intirnetions, .1 ftibmit that I have al. ready (*offered a more than adequate punifhment, not merely by having been deprived of my late command, but from the degrading mariner in which I was fast. , ,‘ Is it poll►ble for me to avoid feeling or exprelling fome fatisfa&ion, when I reflea that notwithttanding the reverie a fortune which had occurred, I had anticipated not only the withes of the laft, but alfo of the prefent Adminifiration ; that I had fecured a very firong-pofition, fuited to the views of his Majef ty's Government, and had thus obtained a firm footing on the continent of South America ; that General Achmuty would find the übjeet of his expe dition in a great meafure completed before his arri val; and that the three thoufand men deltined to another objtet, of very confiderable importance, would he in confequence, at liberty to purfire their uriginal deftinatinn. t. If then, this force, deflined for an objeO fo highly important in the opinion of• his Majefly's Minilters, was thus ordered to be diverted from the purfuit of that objeft, in order to fuccoor General Beresford, and, in the event of his having been obliged to fur ' render, to enable General Achmuty to follow up the. enter prife, for having undertaken which I am now arraigned, and to ufe his utmolt endeavours to eflablifh himfelf in fome part of the coati of South America—cf how much greater importance mutt not the acquifition of a fecure poll on the Rio de la Plata (and efpecially one fo tenable as that of Mal donado) be confidered by thofe fame Minifters ! gg Never, Sir, would I for a moment contend that [ince& could jultify negleti or breach of duty ; but, confcions "as I am that I am not open to fuch a felled, and recalled, as mull appear to this Honouris• khaste, it is imptable for me not to fat gratified in' ble Court, when they find that my folicuatio; !tor the I refleiting on the circumftance which I have jolt Rated.) ufe even of a tranfpert; was perempto , ily refuted, and 4 , Moreover, Sir, the proclamation Hilted on the that I was left to tale my •paffage to England in a 17th September, 18c6, fufficiently thews the encnts; (mall prize brig, with the aggravations circumilance ragement which the Members of his Majelly's Go of the few men of the fquadron put on board to uavi- ; ternment were anxious to give to the fpirit of our gate this velel home being taken from her by the ' commercial men, depreffed beyond example at the order* or my fuccellbr, Admiral Stirling, to whom I I unprecedented meafores taken to exclude their was fcarcely known, arid to whom; therefore, I could exports from the Continent of Europe, and the rea never have given perfmial offence. Fo r th e proof of dinefs with which they were pleafed to meetmy ideas thefe fads, I refer to the evidence of Captain King. on this particular point, by inviting all Britifh fubjees 44 Whether the perforts who gave thefe orders, or to trade with Buenos Ayres and the other fettlements the Admiral who executed them, thought they were' in the Rio de la Plata, under the favour of his the heft means nf upholding the chargter of a Bri- faid proclamation. tifh Officer commanding in chief, or whether they or "In regard to the value attached to the conqueß he judged, this was the molt proper method of of BlienosAyres,in a politicalpoint of view,and which, (hewing others their extent of power, I will not re- as I have before pbferved, was one of the principal fume to determine, but of conduet fo unufual, fo un- motives that urged me to undertake the enterprize, . . I cannot indicate its importance more clearly and un. deniably, than by quoting to the Court the language tiled by Lord Lauderdale, his Majelly's Plenipoten tiary at Paris, during his Negotiation for Peace, to Monfieur Talleyrand, the French Minifler for Fo reign Affairs. In a Note written by Lord Lauder dale to the Paid Minifter, on the 19th day of Septem-1 ber, tBo6, his Lordfhip lays—' When the under-I • figned refleas that he came to Paris authorifed to • conclude Peace upon terms underflood to have been propofed by France ; that, notwithftanding the re fufal of his Imperial Majetty of all the Ruffias to 1 ratify the Treaty figned by M. d'Oubril, and the 1 fplendid Jitccfes obtained by bit Megely't arms in .'.ouch 1 America, he was authorfed to give affurances (as 1 he had the honour of doing to his Ercellency the • Minifter for Foreign Affairs), that the dcmands of 1 his Court in its own favour, would not, in:confe • quence of there fucceffes, be materially latereafed.' 44 Is not this, I afk, language . of which I have reafon to be proud, inafmuch as it conveys, in a man ner the molt dire& and unqualified, the, opinion en ' tertained by his Majefty's Govermnent of the Inc cekes, in the plan and accomplifhment of which I bore fo aelive and fo confiderable a (hare ? If Lord Lauderdale calls the fucceffes jpiendid, in an official Note to the French Mini(ler, fuiely it will not now be contended, that they were net fo confidered by that Cabinet which deputed him to ter - ciate the late pro j;:6ted Treaty ct Peace ; and th tigh his Lordfhir adds,that the demands of his Court in its favour would not, not, in confequence cif thefe fucceffes materially increafeo, vet this tone of moderation .minilhes not their splendour, nor does it in the Imalleft degree, deo a't from the merit of !bore by whom they were' achieved. In fine, whatever difference of opinion may exit telpeeing the policy of extending our en. conquetts, there feemed to me but :.ne fenti mew. entertained by his Maitk's Government, and by the country at lane, in regard to the well-timed acquifition of Buenos Ayres; which, in the intended pacifiCation or Europe, was, it is evident, of ltif ficient weight to incline the palitical balance hill more in favour of England. " Sir, if t!tat nevciati , n had terminated in a peace tyon terms honourable and advantageous to Great Britain, it will not be denied that the charac ter of thole terms would have been influenced, at lean in tome degree, to the fuccefs of his Majefly's arms in South America. ' " I now beg to advert to the papers of the r4rh September, a4th September, and ant November, and the troth September, which have been lately trodtreed into the Charge. The latter I never faw or heard of until read in. Court ; nor was I informed until my arrival at Portfmouth, that any of there I Papers were to be brought again% me. The °bite I of this attempt was, I prefume, to thew the fenti ment of the Government under whofe orders I failed, on the fubjee of the future dellination of my force. —But it was known to my Profecutors that I never received any of there Papers, as the Peter packet in which they were put was captured, and the Thalia which conveyed the others never went to the Cape. " Sir, the fubfecptent opinion of the Government, founded elf° on fubferprent and !tally, and as. it af terwards appeared, inaccurate information, could not in any cafe be evicletic.: again% me, or implicate me in having ufed my force as I did, having, as it has been (hewn, no orders for my deflination after the capture of the Cape, more particularly on the pollibility of Inch a dellitiation, as it proved to have been the with of the Government at that time, in certain events, could not in the moil dillant way have been in contemplation when llailed,and the pof ftbiiity of which I could not laved. " The correenefs or impropriety of my condue mull depend on that which I either knew, or was bound to prcfume, or luppofe, might have been the with of the Government under whole orders I failed, and thofe 1 have, I trult,rufficiently developed. " In addition to which I might observe, that there orders could not operate . againtt me in another point of view, before I could by any poffibility have re ceived them. I knew that the intelligence on which they were founded was wholly falfe, and that peace had been made in India, in proof of which I beg leave to read General Baird's letter to Mr.Windltam, in anfwer to the difpatches which he received on chis . fubjeet: _ _ Cape Town, May 27, 1806. Sir—l have had the honour of receiving by hi, Majefty's fhip the Adamant, the duplicate of a difgatch from 1.0 d Vif count Caftkreagh, bearing date the loth of September, tBos, and conveying to me his Majefty's commands to detach from this Colony, 1. ,:h a portion of the troops under my command, as might be neceffary for the fccurity of the Britifts polkinons in India. I am molt happy to repeat, that the general trarquillity which now reigns in that quarter will render it unncceilliry for me to make fuck detachment. I have the honour to bc, &c. Right Hon. W. Windham, &c.&c. D. !SAIRD. "The receipt of thcfe orders, therefore, having thus come to my bands, could not have operated upon'my conduct, but poilibly might, as before mentioned, have corroborated my determination in giving in rea• fon to fuppofe that for any great and important ob jeet, the withdrawing part of the force from the Cape 'would not be a meafure likely to excite the difplea lure' of Government. 66 Before 1 conclude, I mull complain of the mu tilattd (late in which the Admiralty Bard has pre. rented to the public my letter of September lark, giv. ing an account of the recapture of Buenos Ayres.— Moll unfavourable opinions and prejudices have been excited againit me by their mutilation ; in fa6t, feve• (ral perfons have caller( on me for an explanation of the lalt mentioned letter. Lam compelled to notice the circatallance, aot only In juaice to myfelf, but alfo to that gallant officer General Beresferd, w truft has long fince been releafed from capiivi through the fuccefs of his Majefty's arm s . Th . o . comparifon can only be made by readirg my oti nal letter, and the publication of it in the Gazette. " I have now limed all which occurs to me ~s ne ceffery to fay before the Court on the fubjed of tLy condu& as an Officer, with reference to the queftions which atilt upon it ; one lubjed, however, for obfervation [till remains, and it is one that detP:V interefls my charatler and feelings, and nee epos which I owe to accident and good fortune, that I am in poffeflion of evidence, notwithflanding I left the Rio de is Plata without the leaft lufpicion A' my being called upon to appear before a Court M tr Gat 66 I am aware, Sir, that my jollification has al. ready extended to a great length, yet as I conceive i t to be incumbent on me to omit no circumfiance tha t can at all tend to illultrate the views which ioflitet iot my condo& during the expedition to the Rio de 1 t Plate, I mutt folicit the indulgence of the Cr, while I Hate as briefly as poffible, a few fads w':.:.• may ferve to Thew that in the whole comic of ro. proceedings, as Commanding Officer of the fquadrort in that river, I was never actuated by any fdlifh car : : federation, but that, from the time of the furrender of Buenos Ayres to his Majefty's arms, until the period of its being wreßed from our poffeilkn, I made every facrifice which might convince the world in general, that the good of my country was my tole objed in having undertaken this expedition without pofitive or. dens. I am the more anxio"s to efiriblifh this, becaufe have had the mortification to hear it fail fince my re. turn, that fordid, innead of honourable motives,opera; ted to induce me to undertake this expedition. l am mown charader in this refped,but to prove that I have not difgraced the profellion to which I belong, by permit. ling unworthy motives to operate on my conduit as an officer. I Ihould not have wanted precedents to hea r me nut, even in loch a concluet : but though I have quoted precedents for my jollification as to the exer cife of my difcrction, I Ihould difdain to avail myfelf even of the lame autlicrity to p. Vote cupidity or in. juftice. In proof of my condo& in this refped, per. mit me, rec Ito the attention of he Court, that :mmedi.ttely on the Poi-ender of Puns Ayres, all the property afloat, contained in upwards of tflo vef. .els, to the amount of upwards of a million and a half of dollars, was given up to the Proprietors by proclamation; an evident proof of my fincere inch. nation to conciliate the minds of the inhabitants of every defcription, and to convince them that the ex• pedition was undertaken with views diametrically oppolite to thole which attach to a predatory incur lion. If it (hoold be fuggefled that I could not have manned even a very (mall proportion of th veffels, I would reply, that I might have difpofed of them at an inferior price to their relpedive proprietors. "Such was my conduit at the time of the furrendet of that town, and on a contemplation of every event which might happen from the interior of the coun. try, although I had than no reafon to apprehend that an attempt would be maje to ditlodge from it the Britilla forces, I ailed with the fame difinterefled re gard to public fit vice, in relation to large quantities of quickfilver and bark, to the amount of upwards of three millions of dollars, in (mall and very con venient packages, which were in the C-Ifile near the quay, and might have been embarked in the c.otrfe of three or four days, but I w ould not (Offer any of the valuable merchandize whatever, which might be cunfidered as appertaining to the captors, to be Ihip. ped, before the fquadron Ihould he completely viato alleell in order that 'might be enabled mare effeaually to blockade the river in cafe of a reverie of fortune; and the whole of which property was ultimately re covered by the enemy ; moreover, I propofed to the Captains and Officers of the ;quad, on, and it was ge nerally agreed that we fhould prefent to Government whatever armed veffels might be captured, and be deemed fit for his Majetty's fervice. Among thefe was the Neptune, a fine (hip of twenty guns, which had been formerly a Liverpool privateer, and had hem taken by the Spaniards, together with several large armed fehooners and gun veffels. In fhort, on all occafions I inculcated and enforced, both by precept and example, the dodrine of facrificing private ad. vantage to the i , ublic good, and of regulating our proceedings by what might appear molt for the ho nour and glory of the British nation. I am happy in thi, opportunity of refctring my chandler in this public manner, and by evidence before the Court, from the imputations which have been caft upon it in thin refpetl. i have at length concluded the flatement of faEtc, and the obfervati, ns which were neceffary to enable the Court to folon a competent judgment of my cafe, and by whici' I have been unavoidably obliged to occupy a coni;det able portion of your time. It may. however, be faid, that in my letter to the Admiralty. I did not fully detail all the motives which had led to my undertaking the attack of Buenos Ayres. " If the flatemeta r 4 thcfe reafons Gould appeir lefs ample and leis detailed than thofe which lam now laying before the Court, it is becaufe I conceive that I was addreffing them to thole with whole gene• rat views and intentloni on this fubjed I was already acquainted, and who were well aware of the indacr ment to this undertaking. From thofe by whom my letters were in fa& received, so intimation eve: reached me, that tilde reafons were infufficient, no bas any fuppletnenta - r7y . explanation been required. I have already Itid; that lalid not receive arc iroima tion of an intentiisai to call Me to account. f regret the filence of the Admiralty towards me in hob three particulars; had they called for my jultificArt o .n earlier period, it might, perhaps, have fati fl d than that there was no ground for bringing me htiore this 'Tribunal, and at all events, the notification of thi de. fign to accufe me, would have given a fair, and Purely not too favourable a warning to me, to return pre pared with all the means of my defence. Sufficient means I hope I have in the flatements and evidence which I fubmit to you,'but it is a little hard to be deprived of the tellimony of thole who, having been witnefTes.of my condo& during the Whole of my com mand, might depofe molt powerfully in my vindica tiory and this Inf., which I cannot think accidental, I owe to the Menne of the Adniiralty. " Before I finally dole, I mutt again fhortly revert to the point molt important, becaufe it does not at)• ply to my cafe only, but to that of every Officer in the Navy, I mean that of the difcretinnary life of atoll°• thy without precife orders. Indeed, if an Offic er com manding in foreign parts is never to avail lnrnfclf ,:f