The National Register. — London, England, 1815-01-22 00:00:00

TILE NATIONAL REGISTER. .1.44 na, when be could have no hones of taking it, or fur rr-landing his army on the 13th at Balaguer ? This paragraph was Sc) fir from bting a defence, tlpit it was evident from it that Lord Wellington at t.►cl:ed so much to the not suffering any corps to he defeated or dis persed; and it was clear, that, next to the loss of the men themselves, ItlteTe was nothing which could be more dkressing than the Toss of all that heavy artillery, without which the corps could not be effective in any sieges he aright direct. The loss of this altillery was peculiarly important, from► the great difficulty of re-placing it in Spain. Altar a .few more ob•etvations, the Deputy Advue.ate•Oeneral concluded, ht• .oft.logizing for any mars which might proceerl from his own inexperi lE. had stated nothing against Sir J. more strongly than he coil• ceive•d bound by his duty to du. The only witness called by the Deputy Judge Advocate was Captain• Zenthenin ; the object was to prose the communication with General Copons. Adreiral Hallowell being then called to substantiate the third charge required time to peruse the second letter of Lord Wellington, which .made it necessary to adjonm. JA N. 2. and countermanded the order; and about midnight he into med him that he had determined to raise the sedge. Upon this he (Attruiral H.) gave directions to Captain Withers te bring all the boats of the trans. ' ports and men of war to the beach, by day light the fit xt morning, for 1 the purpose of removing, in the first place, the stores and heavy artil lery. Twenty-five pieces of heavy artillery han been actually brought dwell to the beach bel'ere daylight. Between eight and nine he landed from the Millie, and wits informed that Gen. Dookin bad been giving orders for stopping the embarkation of goes and herses. He then desired Capteinsnill and Williams to attend to no orders but from him. Gen. Donlan then told him, that Sir J. Merely had ordetod hint to stop the embarkation of horses and gees, arid that the boats should only take the troops. He could prove that almost immediately a lter, directions had been given to !layer Williamson to spike the. gnus that were in the Lafteiy, and decries the carriages. IVhde preparations were making for carrying those orders into execution, he waded on Sir J. Murray, and informed bim of the disgracefel way that they were going on at the beach; he also pledged himself, that if he world sal ter the army to remain till eight be would carry ever% thing silo ly off. Sir J. Murray then dolled that belied given such orelere. A bloat ti me after, a Spanish eflieer arrived from General Capons, informing him that the French were at 1111 a Franca, and that their force was between five and six thousand men. %%Titbit' n quartet of an hour afterwards, Sir J. Murray-said, that lie was determined en a re-embarkation lit the troops, and leaving tl.e guns behind. By shout eleven o'clock, all the horses, mule., and field artillery, that was brought down to the beach, were carried off without the least molestation ee the part of the enemy. Ile was afterwards informed by Sir J. Murray, that his instructions were Ifs land in the province of Valencia, as tar to the north as possible.--11e, however, afterwards determined on re-landing the army at Beinguer, for the professed object of cutting off 1700.0 f Sachet's army. When the army was pertly landed, he was informed by telegraph, that about 1000 Fiend) were advancing towards Balaguer. 'He then gave orders for sloppiag the landing of tray more herser. The French party ens, however. fired on by the ships, and retreated. He then retire ed his orders for re-landing the whole army. He thought that lie had new ad everted sufficient instances of 0 e indecision of Sir J. hit Murray, tu jus• lily that expression in his letter to Sir E. Pellew. If, however, tiir John %billed him to bring forward instances of his indecision alter that letter was written, he could produce a greet many. it was undeniable, thee 21 pieces of heavy artillery had been alve'doned. and the re-embarkae • lion effected with great precipitation, end at a time when there was no considereblelorce of the enemy in his neighbourhood. It could not be denied, that after Navin;; ordered Gen. Mackenzie to Morin Puerto Real, at ten o'clock, he suddenly countermanded these orders. He had conceived it hut justice to Sir J. Murray, to inform him, . previous to his leaving Spain. that he lied, in the public letters. expressed himself as strongly as he felt upon his conduct at Tarragona. The General's reply was, that it •sas what he had expected. He considered it due to himself to state this circumstance, as he had been informed that it had heen whispered about, that lie had riot a‘eied candidly by that Officer. He would solemnly assure the Court. upon his honour, that no personal feeling towards Sir J. Murray dictated the representetien that he had made of his conduct ; but that his sole reasor. was, that being fully convinced that no good could be expected froM an army ;eider hie directions, his sense of duty to his King and Country made him feel it necessary to express this conviction. He had served on many conjoiut expeditions, and never without having received ample testimonials of his cordial suppert. He should have here closed his statement, if ha had net themeht some expressions in Sir J. Murray's letter to Lord IVellington appeared to east a reflection in some degree on the manner in which the naval service was pertermed. He could prove that the infantry was landed on the 3d of June ; that every succeeding day during the siege, horses stores, and provisions were landed. On this Bth (the day on which Sir J. Murray supposed that there was nn coin inuniestion between the shins and the shore), O(!) borse s and six mortars were landed He must again repeat, that he 'lever gave nny opinion as to the question of the propriety of raisin , the siege, and consequently re-embarking the nrmy. That was purely a toiletry qnesth it, and he bad never presumed to give any opinion upon it. It was not of the re embarkation diet he compl Ined. but of the manner in which it was done—a manner which appeared to bins 4, be altogether ieexcessible. When the Admiral had finished his seeement, he was then made a willies., and swore to the truth ref every part of Ate .treenstettevlsich. he had given in, which came within his oven knot ledge Admiral Hallowell then proceeded to call witnesses to support his statement ; but our limits will not permit our vine into their derea;:iteis —The witnesses celled this day were, Captain T IVithers, who had the di rection of the 'transports ; Certain Bethurst, R. N.; and Captain Inglefield, It. N.—At five o'clock that Court edjuurned. Tnlßn 11A Y. . The witnesses heurd this c 1 4 .7 wer.e. Capt. Ineetitid (iu conclusion), TUESDAY, SECOWD DAY. Admiral Hallowell being called upon by the Court to substantiate the third charge, began by saying, that he wished. two letters to be lead, before he entered into the third charge. The first was a letter written by him to Sir E. Pellew on the 19th of June, correcting an error that he had fallen into in hi. letter of the 14th, as to the quantity of artillery lost : tite other letter was from Mr. Croker,Secretary of the Admiralty, acquabniog him that the charges arainst Sir J. Wire> , were to be empired into before a Court-Martial. He wide d those letters to be read, in order to shew that be came forward as a prosecutor, not .from any motives of personal malice against Sir J. Murray, but that he had been called upon by the Government to substantiate the statement which lie had conceived it his bounden duty to make in his letter to Sir E. Prllevr. The letters being read, Admiral Hallowell then proceeded in his statement. Previous to calling and witnesses, he wished to explain •one passage in his first letter to Sir E. Pellesi. lie bad said that that .army had already been more disgraced than any British army ever wits. By this expression, he had not intended to cast the slightest re ffio.tion on any of the officers or men who served under Sir J. Murray. He believed that there were never officers more anxious and zealous to distinguish themselves than those officeia were. He never saw any regiments in better condition than those which composed this army. Alt that lie meant by 0 e expression was, that the army, as a body, had been completely disgraced by the manner in which they had been obliged• to act by the direction of Sir J. Murray. Since that period he had been almost constantly serrieg in the Mediterranean, and had heard with astonishment, that reports most prejudicial t t his character bad beta industriously circulated. It had been said of him, mid the .tepreaehtution was made in very high circles, that be was a man who 'chose to set his military opinion in competition with that of the General of the forces, and that he had put himself at the head of a sort of cabal of naval officers against the military branch of the servite. In refttation of that calumny, he would appeal to Sir Julio Murray him self. When the General informed him of his intention to roise the siege, he gave no opinion at all upon that subject. This was pertly snilitat'y question ; and as he was asked fur no opinion, hu did no t ob trude it. But w henasked the qoestion of re-embarkation was decided on, then lie thought that his duty to his King and•country required hint to give every ussistazice, not only in re embarking the troops, but in sit v i the public stores and the heavy artillery. Ile had the means of doing so on the 12th, and had pledeed himself, if Sir J. Murray had • ul:oived aufficient time. If he was charged With disobeying orders given by the QuarteraMaster-General, for shopping the embarl",tiou of 'gums and horses, 1:e roust plead euiltv to that charge. But, in crise osuence of his Out attending to the directions given by Gets. Donkin, -tsert.ty pieces of heavy artillery were carried away, that would other ss lac have probably been ithend-ned like the rest. He %%mild appeal -to every officer in the army, whether he , had not zealously alTorded 'every co-operation in his power. • lii another part of his statement, he had said tha - every fur•her mare "tient of the envy, while under the direction of Sir .1. Murray, would 'he attended with fresh disaster, and he had assigned as the reason of fear, the indecision which he knew to belong to the character of that officer. lie should now state to the Cotut many remarkable instances nrthat indecision. On the night of the 10 11, two new batteries were completed; and by day-fight on the 1 tilt, all the batteries, bombs, and gun•vesaels, 'opened their fire on Tnrragona. At stuorise on that day, Sir J. Afirrav informed him that Gen. De Caen had advanced to Villa Franca, and he set out to meet him. lie returned about eight o'clock that evening, ai.d gave directions that Puerto Real should be stormed precisely at ten. Before that time came, he again changed . his wind 16. 5t