The National Register. — London, England, 1815-08-27 00:00:00

546 gone' forth, is - made a subject of congratulation to his Majesty. The effect of such a measure would be this: the divisions which palsy the strength of Ftabce against her invaders, would be healed. For a -time, the army.and the Republicans would March under" the white standard, and proclaim that they only intend to support the interests. and dignity of the House of Bourbon._ The Vendcaus and all the other friends of the King, who- see with a jealous eye the prolonged sojourn of the Allies, and the dispersion of their troops through the departments of France, would gladly swell the ranks of an army headed by its sovereign, without considering that he was only the slate of his ministers. This collection of force, which no other means could form, once put into motion, insurrections would blaze on every side, and the European monarchs would find themselves as s ailed in front by a mighty army and on every other point by an exasperated and ardent population, conceiving itself this time engaged in the rightful cause of its King and Country. Should this combination prove successful, and France, like Spain, prove the grave of her invaders, then the Royal ists would perceive too late that they had fought the battles of Revolution and Jacodiusm, and not those of patriotism and legitimacy. The King, no longer useful to the Republicans, would either be discarded with dis grace, or sacrificed to the completion of their plans, and Europe would once more pant and bleed under the rods of Revolutionary Tyrants. NAVAL COURTS MARTIAL. On Monday week a Court Martial was held at Portsmouth, .on Captain Stephen Popham, late acting Captain of the Montreal, in the Lakes in Canada, for having. contrary to a verbal order of Com. modors Sir James Lucas Yeo, attacked a lotilla of American boats in a creek on that Lake, which were proceeding from Oswego to Sackett's Harbour, with storetof every description, for the equipment of a large ship that was building in the latter harbour. The Court deter mined that a verbal order had been given to Captain Popham not to go into any creek, in his endeavour to intercept the expected boats with stores, hut, that having unexpectedly found them in Sandy Creek, and having been greatly reinforced, by taking under his orders a divi sion of armed boats, under Captain Spilsbury, and in a manner Viliich could not have been contemplated by Sir J. 1.. Yeo, he was tialy justified in making the attack which he did. under the consider ation of the infinite importance it was to the service that the boats ishould not reach Sackett's Harbour, and, therefore, adjudged him to Jte: cQulTTio.—The Court could not forbear stating their regret that sir j . L. Yeo should have used sus 11 reproachful expressions in Isis letter to the Admiralty, which stated Captain Popliam's capture ; and also their high disapprobation of the severe imputation con tained in Capt. P's defence against his Commanding Officer, for Laving offered himself ask witness in the support of the charges-which It was his duty to do. A Court Martial was held on Friday and Saturday, to inquire into the circumstances attending the loss of the British squadron on Lake Champlain, and to try Captain Pring, the next Senior Officer after the death of Captain Downie, and the Officers under his command, for the same. The prosecution closed on Saturday afternoon, and Itlonday the several 0 ffi-ers would make their defen i ce. It appeared, from the pror cedings, that two of the Officers Who •ought also to Rave been ct,t upon their trial. did not appear ; viz. Lieut. Rayot, wvho afterwards deserted tothc enemy, and haa since been struck ou to the list of Lieu. ; and Lieut. Isl`Gct, whose residence is Hot kuown. FOReIGN INTELLIG. A MI _2l THE NATIONTAJA. REGISTER. COUNCIL OF REVISION. FINAL JUDGMENT ON COLONEL LABEDOYERE. Yesterday morning, at eight o'clock, the Council of Re vision, to which the sentence on Colonel Labedoye►e was referred, in order to its being confirmed or annulled, as sembled. The new Counsel of the Prisoner were M. dc Joly and M. Mauguin. The Council, consisting of the Baron de Conchy, Mare. chal.de-Camp; two Colonels, and two Captains. M Ricard, Cotnmissaire-Ordonnateur, ordered all the papers contxcted with the proceedings to be read. The Reporting Judge stated, that having conside•ed the documents, it did not appear to him that the objections to the proceedings were sufficiently serious to affied ground for annulling the judgment. M. Mauguin, in a pleading of two hours, stated v:•z objections, founded chiefly on the incompetence ( the Councils of War, of the first division in general, aed ~ f the second in particular, and on several omissions of fortes " I do not endeavour," said he, " to exculpate my client from all that is imputed to him. Placed in one of those ex traordinary situations which are happily rare in the history of nations and of Kings, the Monarch had to choose be. tween pardon and justice. This choice has been made, and Colonel Labedoyere has been brought before you. " In examining whether the Council of War had regular cognizance of the case, under the King's Ordinance of the 21st August, he did not dissemble, that he was touching upon a very delicate question. He brought to recollection the Declaration of the Court of Appeal of Rennes, that Imperial Decrees, bearing on measures of general interest, were not obligatory. That Declaration had indeed been an. nulled by the Court of Cassation, in virtue of an equivocal Article of the Constitution of the year VIII. which contained oblique uispositions, favourable to despotism. According to the view of M. Mauguin, the natural Judges of the ac cused were those of the 7th Division. He had been trans ferred in the Ist division, because there was no Council of War formed at Grenoble; hut the King alone had not the right of making this transfer. It required an order from the Judges of the Court of Cassation, and perhaps even a law enacted by the three branches of the legislative authority. " Even supposing the King could legally refer the case of the accused to the Permanent Council of War, why did the Governor of the division fix on the 2d Council of War in stead of the Ist. Was it not the former which the Ordi nance, by the vague manner in which it was expressed, seemed to indicate. ,‘ Proceeding to consider the question of form, M. Mau guin endeavoured to establish : " 1. That the 2d Council of War had contravened the law, by not specifying in the minutes of its proceedings the place in which its session was held. " 2. That the examination of the witnesses had not been regular. The judgtnent did not prove that they bad been heard separately. They had not been required to make oath, but merely a simple promise to tell truth. They had not declared whether they were relations or allies of the accused. " s. The prisoner's defence was incomplete. Public no toriety proved that he had been interrupted in the middle of his speech. Tie was not allowed to justify his intentions, t ho.ugh tribunals for the investigation of climes are obliged