The National Register. — London, England, 1815-02-12 00:00:00

TUE NAT COURT M ARVAL (IN LIEUT.-GENERAL slit JOHN MURRAY. Ors Saturday, Mr. Larpent, the judge Advocate. VepHeels% to the Asst and second charge-, lie contended that these charges were tnlly sub-tend-anal by the t corral'• own witnesses, . for they had clearly ionised, that alotion"to Sir Joins Murray was conscious, ,to early tut the /th, that Stichet was approaching to the relief of the fortress, arid that the place could not he taken before Isis arrival, he yet con filmed to land g nus and stores when every ratiosial prospect of sire teso had vanished, and even isp to the moineut almost of ie-easbarka tiOn.— At the close of the lodge Advocate's reply, the Court ad , 36torned till Alooday. (11: Moodily. Admiral Hallowell replied to Sir Toll Murray's tie fence aosistet the third- eluatge ; by addressing the Corn t to the fol./owing :—The examination of the witnesses foe the dt-f r oce foaviog been closed, he now rose to offer atone observations on - their evistesice, and sonic re plc In the accusations brought against hint by fir Joists Miurav iu the inliftets which he had sulmeitted to the Carrot, That itibliess f he telt himself wit,tanted in saline. was toll at il eebtmation, without one sobstatifial reason for raising the sieve of Tarragona in tile way in which it was raised by Sir John Murray. to follow it through all Its IOW! and vohimintsies as it was. was i•rrtaittly net his tt.tulition. It wistill hl soffirirtit for his porpo:9• to select those its whirls it was codenvottred to attach crimisuality him by attribsitiog his conduct to the impulse of private allimasity. It was to the publicity of his letter that Sir J. Nlorlay lead traced all tie 'Anse and hardship of which be complained, and that hail been 11119:e the cause of the sitna tints in which lie now stood. If begOd leave to oust tve out this; that he hail received written instroctions from his Commander in Chit f (Sir Edward Pellew), not to wait on occaaions fur Ilse twurpose ofsestsling reports of his to orertlings to Lim in the first ittstatice hot when o 9 detached service', to direct Lis dispatches at mine to the Atlinisalsy. The letter in question was tonfotirsably to those instiatctions, nod in the usual manner directed to the Secretary of the Admiralty for the ittrormanws of their Lord. Ships. and worn eon eyes! by H o officer competent to afford whatever explanation might hi tequired. This letter never was sent by hint to %VI 111Ogintl, and hail 'lever appeared in any public paper. It was not the probrity of this letter, therefore, butt the publicity of Eir John Murray'si ccuiloct, that had caused the aiiimadversion which Sir John Alsoci ay stated had proved so isintriona to him. He begged now to state to the Court, that hr did not know till after Illtriattrias last, that lee was to be placed iu the situation of a privse ("WOE • or that lie teas to appear there in any other character than that of a winless. Nth- was it till a day after he had left town to at tend tit: trial, that Ise was apprised that he must confine his rvi• sletsce to the transactions of the Pith, and his utter tmacqoaintance with the roles of military Courts-Martial had iarreased his di9lclo - C. rtaiorlv, if invective were argument, and imputation proof, the defence of - Sir John Murray was complete, lint Sir John Mut.- ray must have forgot wlmni he was aildresaine, he most have forgot • ten the respect due to that Court, when he imagined that abuse of Lies could he any exculpation of his condstet. After brooding so 111,W% OtoolltikS over his ta collections, he bad at length given vent to pill feeliogs in a vat Ivry of charges, all equally conceived iii the spirit of malignity, seine of which stood as Minot a shadow of proof, and others only required to be examined to he disproved. He should not imitate the example of Sir J. Murray in adthessing the Court in biolstlowt , nr bousOtastic language; he should lay byline them facts, rat metaphors. Here Admiral Hallowell entered into a vindication of tain t s•ii against the assertions contained in the defence, that h e bad delayed the letter of the 4111 to Sir E hi aril Prilew, and that h e hail ordered the liritish to anchor at a distance, for the purpose of preventing the Quarter-Master Oeneral rejoining to the head qua. kis. One charge had been preferred against him in the course grilse defence, of a most serums native, and which, if substantiatedl, tni-lit affect slot his rharaeter but his life, lie had been repre sented Cis a man mho mothred his private resentments to interfere %if it the sliicharge of his politic ditties, and as saes ifiving the inte. rot, 4 - his (-wintry to the gratifiation of his own p e rsonal anisn o si. tie -. Ile app. sled to all who knew him, he appealed to the letters OF Sir Jolot Murray for woof, that he was incapable of such gross So far from having ever entertained arty feeling tither to Air J. Murray or General Donkin, he did not recollect that he lead ever exchanged an angry word with the former, or had ever la en involved in any personal altercation. with. the latter, previous In the nufortnnate I ttli or June. He (Rear -Admiral Hallowell) hall told Sir John Murray at the time that he considered the medstii es he w a a takiag as disgraceful to the character of the army and the win*, and had entreated kiln s if he wee dettearaiesed raise tha *lege •of Taeragansa at trout to do it in a soldier-like 'ouser. 14e had then 'offered, slilinngh Sir J Mntray could not how, it appeared, recollect the (fifer, to undertake the fast of em barking the guns. In making this eller, he had -distinctly pledged Mime!'" to the performance, be had calculated the means. and he knew the grounds on which he was proceeding, When he Wormed Sir John Mnrrav that he hail written strongly home me the subject of 'fart-a-gotta, the reply was, that it was no more than might be ex pected in entviatentey with the opinion, he had previously ewreased. The defence complained of • the delay which Intel taken place. If Illeme attached nit* whete on this pound, it mat attach to Slr John Murray himself. His awn wi Incases were all assembled at Tat-m -antel ; and, had the ti bit taken place there, it wonhl probably have been nitwit less favourable to Sir John Murray than it was at pre sent. his ol4ect had been to produce, 444 J. Murray's to a-unreal facts. 3le had been 'accused of assuming military authority, and hitt-tilling in the management et the army. If the ntinoat attention to their v assts, ;f a sincere respect tOr their merits and services, if a riaitit of jeitiotts and candid co-operition evinced a disposition of this kind, their there was some colour of justice in the charge. This poi n t he should leave without funnier observation to the jtidg meat of the Court. Six J Mssriav hail talked of the miefortune of having a naval coadjutor. and bad said, that as a naval Commander, he was exempt front all responsibility, and nowise personally in volve& in the event of the expedition. Ile was himself of a very difierentaminimi. Sir John Murray Ital. in his pnblie dispatch, amply atknossledged the asaistastre lee h sat derived from the exer ' (ions of fa! navy ; in his private letter to Lord N'ellingtou he had, hoe ever, thoneat proper to complain of the obstruction and mbar rassinetos which they had occasioned. Such was tin' contrast be tween his public and his private .reptseentatintss. He (Admiral Hallowell) denied that any blame whatever was attributable to the transport service, to which it hail been since declared the allusion was dircrted, and he_ trusted the Court would allow hint this op. pottnnity of re-wine his own profession front so font and maligitant a chance. What did Sir John Murray mean by saying that the navy shared none of the danger? Was there a il.sv in ‘vhielt the boats wile not employeti under the batteries, or workinc parties of seamen on shore:. Were not the 'level otheere sharing in all the fatigues and hazards of the army on the eight of the lath, whilst Sir J. Murray was enjoying 10 repose on board the Malta? 'rise loss of the ord nance and stores had heels treated in the dttiasee as a mere matter of ruttis', shillings, and pence, not as a toes/ion in which the chaestett rof the Briti-b arms, and the o n..nr of the country, were at all involved. That character and liononr were now in the Wilds of the Court, and it was for them to say whether they had been lett unsullied in the trust of Sir Jobe Murray. The defence was nixtle maittly to rest on daggers and diflieriltitat that never existed. The enemy peace had been neater than Villatranca, and en the other mat] he bad never advanced so far as Perillo. He had pledged hints self to carry every thing away in safety. because he knew that his means were more than sufficient for that purpose. The fact was that Sir John Murray always tieted from the spur of the nionsent, and tinder the influence of the last impression. One moment all doubt, 1w was another moment all vigonr, now deciding to befit, and now dcterminati to atonal k, issuing orders and counter orileis with equal rapidity, his only consistency was in executing noth ing. Ilad as his indecision was at Tarragona, it was yet worse at Ba lagntr if he proposed to fight why no preparation made ; if Ise knew of Soldiers approach with a superior force, what but insanity could have itulticeil him to persevere in the siege to a moment when he felt himself' compelled to fly with precipitatioti ; When Sir John Murray afterwards had told him of his intention to advattee, he replied, that he was sure that he might perfectly de pend open Iris army., as every man in it most feel that he had some. thing to recover ; bust that it he did tint then form that determitia. lion, lie must guard himself against another change of opinion. Sir John afterwards told hint that he had decided to embark again. Ile emiceived that lie bad already Amu !.itels repeated proofs of the in decision of Sir John Murray, that he had just reasons for apprehend jag that while the army should remain underltis command, siontieg was to be expected but fresh disasters. Having decidedly formed this opinion, it was a duty that. he owed Isis King and county to state it to his superiar tinker. Ile believed that it was sufficiently proved to the Court, that Sir John Murray had most precipitately, and without sufficient reason, abandoned his guns and stores, when he determined on raising the siege of Tarragona. Sir John Murray hail in a letter to him, dated the Iwtly confeased that his manner of raising the siege was unnecessary. In tuffs letter Sir Jelin said, " ne vertheless the lictivy responsibility attached to me prevented me :At that time tinni`fullowitig your °pluton,' which 1 now find 1 might 14