The National Register. — London, England, 1815-09-17 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER. respect of Ilie negoeiations concerning onr frontiers, are net re- Moved, the Danish anziliary corps will receive orders to continue its march hither. Meantime the fortress of Conde is now more closely invested, An•t will be immediately bombarded if it still re fices to open it. gates. We still Hatter ourelves more and more with the hope of seeing the Emperor of Ru•sia and the King of Prussia, and of the inaugu ration of our Sovereign. AMERICAN PAPERS. On the Dartmoor Massacre, in Reply to Messrs. King and Larpent's Report. TO THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES. Having perused, with attention, the report of Mr. Chas. King, and Fras. Seymour Larpent, on their exami. nation of the unfortunate occurrence at Dartmoor, on the 6th of April last— We, the undersigned, being th°re at the time this unfor tunate occurrence took place, deem it a duty we owe to the surviving sufferers of that bloody transaction, to our fellow citizens, and ourselves, to make some remarks upon such a singular report. Although we presume the door is for ever closed against any further investigation of that ever to be remembered transaction, we cannot. help, however contrary it may be to our wishes, to irritate the public feeling, already so much excited, of entering into a detailed investigation of that report. In the Committee's address to the public on the 27th of last June, preceding the publication of the affidavits of some of the prisoners, taken on that melancholy affair, they have justly anticipated what would be the report of the Commissioners, after their investigation : they drew their conclusions from the singular manner in which the investigation was conducted. The report commences by stating, that, after having carefully perused the proceed ings of the several courts of inquiry, instituted immediately after that event, they procedeed immediately to the exami nation, upon oath, of all the witnesses, both American and English, who offered themselves for that purpose. How far this part of the report is correct, we shall leave the public to judge. On the arrival of the Commissioners at the depot, the committee of the prison was sent for ; after waiting some time at the door of the room, where the inquiry was held, they were called in, separately, and question .d as to their knowledge of the transactions of the 6th. Th:! depo sitions of those who were eye witnesses of that dis4raceful scene we e taken; some were questioned as to the general conduct c f Shortland, previous to that affair; it was repre sented L 3 them as it would have been by all, as being univer sally erre!, overbearing, and oppressive. After having finished the examination of the committee, they requested them to bring forward all the evidence that was likely to cast any light on the subject of the inquiry. They, ac rflrditiglv, returned into the prison, and drew up a list of the nan es of some of those who were eye witnesses of that day's occurrence. Although they could have brought hundrees to the examination, and the sum of whose evi dence would have amounted to the same thing, yet the committee, not wishing to impede the progress of the in vestigat by a rotundity of evidence, they were . careful to s e l ect suc h men as were most likely to give a clear and distinct account of all the circumstances, as they occurred, under their knowledge, taking care, at the same time, to procure those whose different 'situations afferded them an opportunity of witnessing that transaction, from the commencement to the close. Such was the evidence the committee had selected, to the number of about fifty 5 very few of whom were ever examined, although they were kept in waiting at the turnkey's lodge, (where they were ordered to stay until called for) during the hours of in vestigation. In the course of the inquiry, it seems, the Commissioners found it necessary to survey the particular situation of the prisons, and the points from which the different attacks were made; they accordingly came into the yard for that purpose, and after having been shown all the places from whence the firing was continu , d , where the crowd of prisoners had assembled on the first alarm, and where the hole, so much made a handle of, had been made—after a slight survey of these different places, they retired into their session room, leaving orders, once more with the committee to hold their evidence in readi ness, as they would soon be called upon for examination. The committee replied that they had been in readiness since the commencement of the inquiry, and were then only wait ing their orders to appear before them, feeling happy in the- idea 'of having it in their power to show to the court, and to the world, by the evidence they had to pro duce, that the attack of Shortland on the defenceless pri soners, was premeditated and unjustifiable, in any point of view. After attending in the turnkey's lodge during the sit ting of the commissioners, until the middle of the third day, without having but very few of the evidences sent for, and being fearful that they might be wailing , for them, the committee sent them word that the w ituesses were still in attendance. No answer being returned to this message for some time, the committee became uneasy on account of the long examination of the officers, soldiers, clerks, and turnkeys, attached to the depot, without ad mitting the prisoners to an equal privilege; and, under standing the commissioners were about closing their in quiry, they again sent word they would be glad to have an interview for a few moments, for the purpose of ex plaining the nature of their evidence, and the necessity of a full bearing on both sides of the question. Ne answer being returned to this request, and still Waiting with the anxious hope that they would soon send for some of us, when we were told, by one of the turnkeys, that the commissioners were preparing to depart, having finished the examination. Astonished to think that they meant to leave the depot without clearly investigating the circum stances that were the cause of their meeting, and feeling indignant that a cause of so much importance should be passed over so partially, the committee addressed A note to Mr. King, begging him not to shut the door of com munication against the prisoners by closing the inquiry without giving them the privilege of a hearing, a , the greatest part of our witnesses were yet unexam;tied, and • their evidence they conceived to be of the utmost import ance to the investigation. No reply was made to this note; but, in a few moments, we were told, that the commissioners had left the depot. How far they are jut. tillable in saying they examined all the evidences that offered themselves, we think is sufficiently shown. The commissioners next go on to mention the insur rection of the prisoners about the bread on the itli, two days previous to the events, the subject of that inquiry. Although the report correay states the prisoners quietly returned to their own yards after their demands having be: complied with, yet Mr. King- forgot to mention, SEPT. 17. 11