The Statesman. — London, England, 1810-01-09 00:00:00

11121‘ o r v p iover e ry ,;•ttil 34 31 rent% la the t.. 0, to the fo r 'Chi , Re , i irupo M O . r .IZ3C it if 1 . int.) 111 Other, ; and Jan, l VII I ,aw e . iul~il, al • their Ottr r te. j . ,• ;:e4e" Sirs. , 51;1r0111 et el, 1) ki.1f4:14)11 •.: d camine Ivo of line e ms. 4 'f nut, .1, 1.14 of 1 Lc ci/1 MSS Ps. lions Mal I: A 4 a S I;Mri i ob. unit who 13.1 11 5 , Ll and it di !mite I i!olept: cir. re. Nalluis I inn uuc (.14,1014 and • • nuo thu r. 4 1. ( I VC! M 4. •• 44 ') by 11; t M ah•in. :ortuoe. ;it- 4.4MAF, Alt h it ha r re. • 1)r. to or revive ha the G e neral N4i rho ail part of toe rsJ o rellpiCS I uf Inc continue it • i t :nun:rated of letting %vac tett eu the 30111 sec / Jinn, Ca rall It'. and Santa C; dr 14 Mala, cy !larking an •; SErit.t.t, ey announce to ib bull A ;aerie ht b 10 mill pricdte inderl The city o h t y .4, 000 Cloaks ; this 40,000 infan tlinsiasin, wards Leon ; gamy a oar Iv' to !Go Nun tr F Ai). and in; t. Galsicii. 11.• , turn 18 and are already r; Limos, 1 ti even orders I ber of detach; three of 150 r bat likewise t itt proportion to 11 ordinate to t , vacs also the commending rte mihket ; tack the ellen oh and slit] tio the (cur) aid in the s I • Ilanclia °eel 6• 64.1 not been The Gazei another Edict relnisitiun of •„, B.lDAsfiz, command I fill place an( till) , the head which, it is sl i• DE i . Viwur and M of La Manch ; • Real ; the en towards Cum lencia and Ms Oar army of 1" oiled by this Neighbouring ru1i0a....( Liu A tenrding , pers. contin, %dint, arm of the 211 inst • 31,C0 cavalry, and GebereP, Tilredo are rani hi into %era tbere arc as•irtaient of Hit Al a jeati eerie from II dtys, having 'bent, 181,70 ,s Mittiry e‘Pel The nthunt led 3r. Was fetei l c e of opt priety of par Ithveta Whi lofty ya m , ly Minn, II mirk alt. I dpi tarsal that .1 of War t atar,l a pm tient, Fine. , the Junta, either sappliealho plereor t h e ei.its of the Cortes. The waist of sou. r . for 'that o bject ought not to be coasi. ohs!aol.., in like inala4 as it has not leir tither deliberations. , e 4 ,1 81, or Council of Iterrisey, the Mar. sh swear to &feed the mallets, 'ram its euensioi, and deliver th e k s ith o . be bands of oar beloved Sovereign For. These sacred duties they shall sweet the expellee of the last drop of their pre4erva the integrity of the various of Spain, in Europe and America. at, or the Council of Regency, shall he lie executor and interpreter of We IVA'S. Its of war, treaties .of. peace, alliance, 5 1 1 3:1 be preceded by the approba. Jo Cedes, if they are met at the time, ,y the deputation of the kingdom, which T ainted for that purpose, a n d consist of jualiiied by their wisdom and esperience. st un• thus concludes his representation : Sp..ianl, I am resolved to the a thou. in defence of our liberty. Inmy sta. Ire ho:naga to the descendant of the and the atrcias ; as a General r luvself 13 the lowest soldier who has to :Mend his country in this last period ocinknee ; but as a Representative of the oat be excused from occupying that dis. place, if a I..gitimate governthent he nut iy established, which foreign Powers orled;e, which may represent our be. and save a people determined ,1„ /1 Got!, its 'King, and We rights of its posterity." Drc. 13.—8 y an authentic channel ra ,,,t, t h a t a divi.iutt ur 12.000 (3alli. Jilted the aru►y of the Duke del Paeque. Diary.) learn that a considerable corps ,as been raised in Gallicia by the brave lune, With a seal rommettserato to his and ardent patriotisni. It appears i the army of the centre hat adancetl, ics same interesting positions; lbc ene. les at Toledo led Madrid, wliere . he bas \.d the majority of his forces. Thu ful. the positional of the army of the centre of November i —Bead-quarters at Ca. fry at Masandres, Vallenenas, I nfantes, :ma de 31"ndria ; infantry at Castellar Santa Crisis du Models, el Visatilla ml Puerto Slan.—(Seriile n Dia.) . _ • D g e. S.—Wu bare the sati.factioo to the public the arrival of %rtm ithi'ps u . hich aro in foam Cadiz, sat Iliuns of dAtan for Oto Xing end fur iduithr of Salamanca, uniforMin its patriotic has expedited to Ow army fir. Carr,' is 20,000 pairs of alioat, ) and 16;000 is respectable army, etimposetl of )try and 3000 cavalry, ilittfoll of en ,040 It has recently tillers hack, to. gni Altorga, carries on ag4iust the 'dam .I.o4isolitents which. pruothes ry groat iipili; "It billows the nitrify of the interesting province of .--01 nur army of La Mancha he ld 20,000 infantry, and 4000 cavalry re.united.—(Spectutor.) DEC. 206—The Junta of .Badajo* has for raising greater possible num lied corps; it has particularly (tamed men each, the third part cavalry ; it ordered smaller ones to be raised in Lo the population of the district, sub the three principal ones. It enume m nature of the arms to he uied, re. with great reason in the first place since as the parties will have to at. !my's convoys and detachments by ans. uprise, this we pots is necessary, as :hullo) side_knife, for attacks by night streets. Thu Spanish army of La upied the same positions, and there ti any military movement. tte of the 30th I),:cember contains .:t relative to the general enlistment and of horses and funks. DEC. '2l.—The British army under of Lord ‘Vellington, which was in ad in its vicinity, has begun to march ; lead quarters and one regiment remain, said, will set oat very shortly. -The army M u rder the command of 11)rticr elteads itself over thu whole !ha ; its head couriers arc at Ciudad 'orbs under Sebastimi has proceeded Ica, in order to avoid the army of Vo wels, which threatent•d his left thank. La Mancha, according to letters re- Fost, was at Valdol:env', and the 4 towns, ton,' the heatl.quatters at Ca. iltalujo.:-. Diary). •to whim from L Mancha, the die. .ne to reunite, so:ne with, and others Lime. The Post front Jaen, under date st. states that the enemy, ;to manlier *remain in Consuegra, occupying the private houses. Those to in considerable forge, and make ex. r the neighbouring towns. At Tala_ ic mi n e than 8000 men, with ,a great of pr o visions.—( Di ar tr y, th Dec.) sy': frigite La• Prueba h . :s arrived at Ilonte Video, after a passage of 80 un boird, un the account of Gower.). 'O3 dollars, and on account of the !aces, 88,000. ( Bajadoz tderstanding between Mr. Boanoiret lISTRUN, ccml to originate in the ilif. 'pinion between them, as to the pro %rly connection, and the compromise lige anti Tories, which has existed Mr. iVisTilllN declared himself a that he was one, and would continue noestoirez tikiLtined the title, and tibia wish was to represent the county id not a junta iu that county. TIM STAT ES.VAN: . . approbation of youriost, legal, .and indispensa. We interpositiott tettat occasion, to vindicate the honour of your Golirnment, and to shield one of your best and able servants from an arbitrary and oppressive ab t of power. if you had . 4 ()pitted to du so, you would have failed in tho most sacred ditties of your high station, and' would ,have merited, because you would hate sanctioned, that long train of insult and encroach tnent which was to follow, and of which the pro., secutlon of Lieut. 'Cul. Munro would have proved to he only the first experimental step. 51. It is ailniitted that the warrant to%old , Courts Martial is addressed to the t,' ornmatsthr in. Chief ; and we deem his authority exclusive in that branch of the public Administration: • itut the abdse of a legal power is Wept ; inid•the 'so., promo military cuutroul of the Governor in Cams. sit extends, in our judgment, and beyona all. doubt, to the prevention of such abuses.. This, doesmot suppose an habitual .and indiscriminate interference. We assert only for the Giiveres.. Mont of Flirt St. George, a right and . a legal ;timer to come, in extraurdittary eases ; to the support of lheir own authority, and against se. dittoes en croachments combined with the oppress lion of innocent mem, by a gross abuse of the power confided to the Commander in Chief, in the. direction of Military prosecutions. 52. If this , opitsiow were wrong, there are higher authorities, who have power to pronounce it erroneous, and to provide another remedy; which in that case would lie necessary, for the evil supposed. . 53. In the mean while your opinion was bind. fng 1 amd, when confirmed by Ours', is still' biota to on the Army of Fort St. George ? who are not the judges either in the first or last resort on that subject. 31. This is not a question in which the Officers of the Army could be justified to interfere. It concerns the extent of your • legal powers under the constitution of your Government ; upon u Inch they cannot sit in judgment. If the Commander iP Chief, Lieutenant-General Hay Macdowall, differed with you, as he affects to do, on that point, he Might have properly stated it to the Court of Directors and to his Majesty's Govern. nett, for their decision ; but when he appealed that'question to the Army, which. is subject to your authority in India, as he did by his General Order of the t Bth January, he carried that con troversy to a tribunal, the incompetence of which he well knew i and before which, the agitation of such a question, as it could tend to no useful con.. elusion, so it could hardly fail to kindle aniniesity and excite ditcurd, tending assuredly to souse mode or other of public disorder, and perhaps eventu ally to military itisubordinatiott, and mutiny Reid ; in the progress of whichi calamity and distresses were sure to fall first and heaviest on his own friends and associate. 53. We pass naturally from the General Order just mentioned, to the dismissal of the Officers ts fro published it to the Army ; and our sentiments on that subject must materially depend on the opinion we entertain of the character and tendency of the Order itself. : .55.."1n deliberating on the subject, we have not thought ourselvei bound by the form under which' Ifiii - Valiiitance grid Teal pnrriew of thir paper hun t* obvious reasons, been disguised. 57. It purports to boa reprimand to Lieutenant Celonel Munro ; but substantially it. cuureys iu every line a reprimand to the Government of Fort St. George ; and that reprimand is addressed to the Army subject to its authority. • The inblect mat ter of the censure . ; passed ostensibly on Colonel Munro, renders it inseparable [roma censure on: the Goiernment. Thu offence charged upon thai Officer, in his appeal to the President in Couticil t , from ists attest imposed upon him by the Coniman. der in Chief, and the General Order itself, informs' the Army, that the appeal, which ii the subject of; his reprimand, was followed not by the reproof, but by the protection of Government. 58. Lieutenant-Colonel Munro had exhausted. all the means he possessed of obtaining relief from the Commander in Chief himself. This it was his 'duty to do in the first instance. But when justice was denied in that quarter, and when the hand of 1 persecution pressed close upon liiin,we are decidedly of opinion, that he had a right to claim the pro.: Itectioti of the Supreme Military Authority, whicb i is vested by law in the Governor in Council of, Fort St. George. , • 59. If that Government pAsesse a legal pdwor to intervene in a case of abuse, it could not be criminal in the party iutfering under it to claim their protection ; and the conduct of bieut..Col. . Munro could not justly be made the subject of a reprimand. • 60. That the Government of Fort - St. deorge is nut restrained by , law from this particular exer.' rise of the Supreme Alilifary pOwers Whichlt 'pos.. sesses, was acknowledged by Lieutenant-General' Macdowall himself, since he obeyed their order for the 'release or Lieutenant-Culunel Munro. If that order had not only beets an undue encroach. meat on his own authority as Commander-in Chief, but had been beyond the legal and compe tent powers of those Who issued iti he mtunlil not' have been bound to obey it, as he distinctly pro. fessed himself to be. Gl. The Government of Fort St. Coorge did not ertered therefore th.ir legal powers; anti the only question that could be made was, whether they exercised them properly in the particular instance. On that point, undoubtedly, the Guiernment of Fort St. George is subject to the responsibility • which is inseparable from the exercise of all dele. gated authority. But to what tribunal were they amenable ? Where was it proper? Where was it for the ytiblie. interest, that Lieutenant-General,. Macduwall should carry his appeal ? Tv the Aunt of Fort St. George, or to the King and Conn*, Directors ? fr ' 14C . Gt. That he should convey this question to r es Army, in the shape of a reprimand to Lientenawt. Colonel - Munro, appears to be in contradiction to his own- sentiments on the subject, as weelsavo I just stated them ; for, if the Government of Furt St. G eorge had a legal power to release Lieuteoant." Colonel Munro, it cciwitl not be criminal—it could not, in any modc'or degree, be culpable—it could not-incur the-penalty - of - a repvimatrd—butit iSlig - his eleer right and privilege to claim the legal and competent preteetiarenfAieevernment from the op. pressiou of the Contemnler in Chief. 63.. If the Governmeet l , on the contrary, did not possess those. ,powers, Lieutenant-General Mcdowall awed Alatte,utidabedience. "''63. If the legelity grilles@ ppwers be disputed, wtatrithstatultng the • -4:44iminv itoine to it $y liFlicatenantzfirmarakMackwall's ) sqltinission, it is *Milt .to bOfistticedi k , lo•nAkttribunal is that disputed cquestion ougia to have bean submitted—to the I or -to . tbeAupteemibAtetherities in Fug.. . f4h. It is also to be iaqttiretl whether, in a can. trov.ersy.betiveea the Commander in Chief and the Government, concerniug the limits of their respec. tire autlitirities, it was fit that Lieutenant.Gene.rel Macdowall should arrogate the decision to him. self ; and sanctioned alone by his own .opinion in his own case, should inflict a severe punishment on Lieutenant-Colonel Munro, for. having acted on - a different opinion ; but one which had been stip_ ported by the judgment of the Government, that is to say, of an authority, and of a military att. thority, to which that of the Commander In Chief himself, and of the whole army, is made subordi. n.ite by an act of the British Legislature —an an. thority to which they owed implicit obedience ; and which must, at the very Nest, haie been felt to challenge a 'efficient respect to etempt an indi. victual Officer from the implitatiou of a crime for having acted conformably to it.• 66. The - reprimand to. Lientenant.Colonel Munro therefore was not only not necessary, but. 'lt' was unjust, atictinconiistent with the principle which fateutenant-General Macdowall had ltimself professed. 67. For these reasons, we consider the shape given to tho General Order of the 28th January as merely colourable ; and we are of opinion, that the reprimand to Lieutenant. Colonel Munro was , evidently intended only as a vehicle for circulating throughout the army serving under the Gott:mint:in of Fort St. George, a vehement and intemperate public censure of that Government, and an - inflate: matury address to the professional feelings of that army, on topics thought likely to produce irrita4 tion and disorder. It was, in other words, a most • seditious paper, under the title of a General Orders to the army, and bearing the thin disguise of-u re. primand toe particular 68. That this attempt to excite irritation, and to protlicv disorder by conduct amongst officers of the army, has not . been entirely uAnccessfill, ws • • !Tent the necessity or ack'nowledgiog ; and that those designs hare nevertheless been substantially _frustrated, and 'baba failed in fwd the greater part, ' .w•thasie a4bfildiatentiefactinr(e in awitibing. first to it bll good sbitse , of')ihe army at !aro/co which could . not. la,' miti6d by *fa !lecke. so lussily .41ktected ; bnt . eat and principally to the firm attachment to the. lies of thdifoprokixioil,lnd to .tliatt steady log. any and incorr4tptible fidelity which, in that army' we aro coiplident, will ever belound proof against. the arts and se.ductiortauf faction. 69. Notwiiiistaneittolseseatiments we bare CYL. . pressed concerning-46.0 w nature and teudency of the G eneral • Order iii question, we hero nut neglected to consider whether theoffic...rs wli.) gave ,:. •• . •••...2m. .. i • • 1.. 2 A 0 Al /-9 Chief, were r esponsible for its criminal purport,' and were, on th.it account, justly rcaiovod from their offices. . 70. In deliberatintepon this question, we re. sorted naturally to !ebb general principles &Ml.; cable to the subject, ati we thought best eatablitheti r s ai` id most free from doubt. - '7l: The.,rdlloe rug pt i oiiosiiierie kali a ppe a red. 1 I.(i , to us of thiot description 4., : Tiest—:f hat, as a general prinertila, s military. officer Is Ith unlit jtettigo in obeylqg an order of ; lid; superior, butethat lwia,bottiiii-te do so without. ifgiril to'-the quality orthe order. • Under this. 40 we consider the Adjitant-GCtieral as Wife.. e.A, in a peculiar manner,'• by the duties of his. office, to publish to the army any orders which' the Commander in Chief may commit to him • for that purpose. We are clearly of opinion, as a general principle, that the Adjutant-General is not bound to deliberate on the propriety. of the order which he is commanded to issue; that it would be a breach of military duly to do so; that . he is merely ministerial in .these functions, and is not- responsible, 'personally, for the propriety or. impropriety of the (alleys he ,ulay circulate offici al!), to the army. . e ' 72. Wu regard these pririciplee•as very import.. ant, •antl l in a inanner,• fundamental in the theory of militarrairbordination; . • Secondly—We consider, however, as not less . established, that the general principle above btated. is subject to exception aad motlifivatron. The mu.. _dificatieu by which thegeneral principle of simples • :obedience ought to be limited; is, hi our judgment ; •i ; ng ai t o -L i t h li a a t t c t ri se m ( i ) 12 fri a c l e o r rd l e v r h s o a t r ,x e ce n ti o : t es t : , t b h e d ob fo ey llo :l criminal order of his superior, is personally :wpm!). slide for his conduct. -We look upon this modi4. cation of the general military principle as forming. . itself a great and primitive principle, not less im. portant and fundamental fur the civil security of society, than we allow the other maxim 'of impli. cit obedience to be fur the dye support of military subordination. . 73. Considering then, as we have already stated, the General Qi der of the 28th of January as a se. ditiuu, paper, ise might itt once pronounce the Adjutant and Deputy Adjutant General guill of sedition, by the publication of that order, not, withstanding the authority under ii/Och they Acted. 74. But that judgment would not be justified by :the mere erimiii,ility of the order which they issued, and it is necessary, in. order to establish their par- ticipatiun iwthe crime, end to render them perm), rally respysible,. to ehcw that they were ac. qutonted 41th . thu licditions character of the paper. 76. In feinting out judgment upon this point, we bee not convidered,,it es Ito aloaract question, but as 4t to bet uniOioed withull the rireummatic.r* . of the case, and especially with thoso in si hich , i. 4 parties concerned weir placed; and from this v.'w of the question it his, in our opinion, rcsiali'Lil f .114 9•.. .==, A LETTrat FROM LORD MINT() AND "ME OTHER NIENIBERS OF THE BENGAL. 11.31-HI)LNCI, TO Slit GEORGE BARLOW. ronchitled from Fefday's Paper. 41. The next complaint is the redeate of Lieut.. Culotte, Munro. p f l a 4 r te as d ii i l i e tie f s r , om as tl; o e pat 4 h . er W i h ts el p i it ro n ie r r my an s d tep le s g l i o d become the instrument of party, to mix in poli `deal views, and to undertake the remoial of Go- Vernors or Ministers, we should 1129 e expected that any grievance they should addlice in sup. port of a proceeding, so foreign to their own ' character, should consist at legit in some act of grievance and intolerable oppression. The mea. sore which is the subject of this complaint is',on the contrary, au ac t o f grace and justice. It is not the unjust arrest of any Officer for purposes 'of oppression anti vengeance, but it is the relief of au Officer, amongst the most respected in the, army, frum the !nest tyrannical and detestable abuse a power by which aim innocent and highly meritorious individual was ever oppressed. 46. We shall ever consider the presecution of j Colonel Munro ) and the part which Lieut. Gen. Macdowell bore in that transaction, as acts of ex treme injustice, so far as.they relate to the indivi- ' dual who was- the subject of them. • Bet theiel measures were nut len culpable in other points of view. Both the advice which Licut.-Col. hider° gave to ahuliati the Tent Contract, which we con. eider as the real object of the proceeding; and the Memorial convoying that = advice., a fee lines in willeirtheiertilatfe, - *Withisei atirTeiglWaltirtailbe' dation, the ostensible ground of the charges preferred against him, had been not merely ap proved, but applauded by every authority to which they could officially be submitted; by Sir J. Ciadock, Commander in Chief of the army , of which tbo accusers of Col. Munro are Ulcers ; by the Governor and Council of Vert St. George, who held the Supreme Milifacy authority under *hies those Officers served.; by the Commander in Chief in India, to whom, as Officers, hey owed iusplicii reverence and respect f and, lastly, by the Governer-General in Commit, the Su preine and highest British authority in the East.— To charge either the measure which had been adopted uniler these authorities, or' the reasons upon etti hi ac it was recommended, and which had been sanctiened and appreved by the same autho. rities, as " base and infamous crimes," was a studied insult offered by those Officers, and by Nlacilowall, who supported and co. operated with them, to every authority which .it was their duty to respect. This proceeding aimed also distinctly at withdrawing the managemeat and direction of all military arrangement regarding the re.gidation aad ecdtiomy of the army, from the legal authority of G9vernment, in order to place it in the shape of Gnarls partial, Endo the dirce_ tiun of tbeitffiters of die army themselvei. Lieu tenanteColonil Munro was the nuiehial culprit, +Out the articles were tq bear the absurd, and, foe that maw( we must believe, the collusive and pre. tended accusation against him of calumny and scan. der; but the Tent Contract, or 'Other its abolition, effect to be thiesubject,. for no tither sub._ stantial subject existed, of the trial. 47. We should, indeed, have been surprized i as well as concerned, if any considerable part of the Coast Army had been prevailed upon to stain the pure and honourable Character of their profession, by lending their countenance in any shape, or in ally stage, to a proceeding Stamped as this prose cution was with injustice and oppression, and founded in such motives as all the circumstances conspire to indicate. 48. But it is said, Colonel Munro was only to be tried, and if innocent would have been acquit ted—yet the Nleinurialists themselves allege that heweseelready coudemned—" liming incurred the suspicion of having acted in a manner that was must generally considered to have been criminal." •''llueireg incurred the suspicion," are mere words of form. The meaning of the passage is a posi tive assertion that Lieut. Col. Munro had acted in a manner that was most generally considered to have been criminal—we assume this to be the meaning of the pa * eke, because there was no question concerning the facts. 49. It is difficult to imagine, that such a charge as that which was preferred against Lieutenant_ Colonel Munro, should have rested only on vague report, and that the officers who signed should not have used all the means in their power to obtain the perusal of a paper on which they meant to found an accusation of libel. We 'must, there fore, presuiee, that the Memorial on the Tent Contract was in the hands of those who charged its author with defamation. Erna that Memo. riot, therefore, never denied nor disavoeed by Licuteumit-Colonel Munro, and capable elf cer. s tain and easy proof, is to be collected " the man.: . ner in what he had acted," ant if that ntannsr of generally accounted cri acting was already most urinal, sentence was already passed so far as faith can be given to the Memorial intended to be pre sented to this .!rovernment. ‘Ve oust, however, more in the honour of the army than in the party feelings of the filemorialists, and we hope they were too sanguine in their expectations of so um just a sentence. But although the acquittal, of Lieut. Col. Munro must be supposed possible, it wets nut fit that such an (Siker should be brought to the bar as a criminal for his honest services. It was nut lit that the niodi of providing carriage fur the camp equipage or the army, approved and adopted as it had been by all the legal authorities in India, should he appealed from those authorie tie, to a board of officers. It was hot fit that this first should pass e.ithout opposition, in the process of usurping the reguretion of the army 'from Govertimeat to the officers or the army, It Wl* Cwt becotiliiig that time Supreme Government, the Commander in Chief of India, the Govern. meet of Fort Sir George, and the late Coluinan. der in Chief of that Presidency, S.r J. Craduck, should hold up their hands es c u lp r it s b e f ore a tri burial of officers silting in jedgment epee the de. liberate measures of their Governments. 50. The whole proceeding was monstrous, and we repeat, in the strongest terms, our warmed . I_ :