The Sun. — London, England, 1807-03-12 00:00:00

i /I ~~i ~~ 66 11- NUMBER{. 4520.] TRIAL OF SIR HOME POPHjLII. Portsmouth Harbour, March 9th. I THIRD DAY—CONCLUDED. fwe now resume the Defence of Sir Home Popham : but it seems proper to state more fully the Observattons on the , astruttions ut the , zd'of August, 18os 3 Here, 'Sir, f must for a moment advert to the in struCtions of the . 2(l of August, 1805, ordering me to. send a frigate to cruise on the East Coast of South America, between Rio de Janeiro and-,itio de la Plata. From *such an order, it is certainly possible to draw this inference, that I bad no specific direaion • with relation to the attack on the enemy's settlements in the Rio de la Plata This I .have already fully admitted. The then First Lord of the Admiralty, • who, •I am. well informed, was not in the habit of attending the consultations of *his Majesty's 'then confidential Servants, was not acquainted with any thing which bail passed in relation to the expedition • 'to South America, as is evident from the following letter from Lord Barham, in answer to one I had -ittea to him from St. Helena, rtientioning.the is tended attack on Rio de la Plata:„: Barham -Court, 9th Jug.y 1806. . DEAR Stit—l have received your letter of the'3l st April, from St. Helena, and also the papers relative to Miranda's expedition. If the last bad been corn- , com municated to me before you sailed from .England, I , might have hoped to have been useful, in promoting it ; but the misfortune of Mr. Pitt's death, and-.the natural change that has taken place •in the Admi nistration of Public Affairs, has, I am afraid, rep, dered all these views abortive. I can say nothing decisive on your present expedition, as it must de pend on your knowledge of the state of the Cape when you took it ; but if I bad continued in the Administration, I should have been disposed to have given 'flitl credit to your intentions. Public, Affairs are in a state of uncertainty —negotiations are on foot, and Lord Lauderdale sent over - to Paris. The country is sanguine, and. I hope with reason : but Mr. Fox's state of health must .be a weight in the • opposite scale. It is said that Sir David• Baird,. as well as yourself, will be recalled ; I trust,' however, that yon will succeed in pour attempt before that day happens. I sincerely wish yOu success. I have not seen your dispatches to the Admiralty Board„hay: lag no acquaintance with the First Lord. I am, however, with much esteem, your's; 13,uutax. P. S. We have been very successful in the dispo• eition of our squadrons as far down - as the capture of. Liflois, by Sir J. B. Warren. It is here ovbious, as I have stated*, that I had no communication whatever with Lord Barham upon the subjed of South America ; and-although I knew that La Plata was a part of the Cape Station last war, as well as the Mauritius, yet I doubted whether the last place would be considered so this war ; and upon meriting a letter to Mr. Barrow on the subjeet, I re ceived theletter of the 2d of August, which has been read in e v id en c e on t h e p art of the prosecution, ae companied by a private letter of the same date, stat ing, that he had not bees able to beta bomb allowed, but had sent the above-mentioued order for a frigate. to the coast of South America ; but - that it did not' appear to bernecessary to look out to t heEast ward, as little was td b e appre h en d e d f rom that quarter; and he added, " that it would only create a jealousy in the Commanders in the Indian . Seas; whose cam mands extend at present to the Mauritius." It is publicly known, and officially to some of the Members of this Court, that during the late war our cruizers were constantly either 'off the mouth of he river, or absolutely cruizing off Monte Video ; one of the very ships indeed (the 'flioniede) 'which bad cruized there, was now one of* my iqua3rOn ; and independent of every other consideration, I 'not only had the. opinion of ~that .respectable. officer, Captain Rowley, who was on the. Cape station last war,•that the Rio de la . Plata ' was _considered as a part of that station : but it was also'ihe unanimous opinion of everyofficei under my COtrirriend,:iOineo whoin;if necessary, will, I ha v e no dOubt, give their . testimony to this effe6t. ..I,beg it, however; to lie understOod-, that these opinions were - expressed Jodi , c before our a rr i va l at t h e Cape; ‘:...., ' 1-.0 i . _„.i.)-' 14: I have entered at some length, on thileeenject, e e; cause an impression had been circulated with d IV - . , siderable industry, that I had no authority whatever th to go to th e Ri o d e l a Pl ata • but lt - ust be evident by the letter of the 2d.of Maya 'that the Adfniralty considered thateiver as an enemy' s petit, which eught to be constantly watched by some of the cruizers under the orders of the Senior Navel oifiee - r at the CaPea and consequently within-the limits of his com mand. Nay, if it were possible that it coeld be contended, that because the order direted the send ing a frigateel had a° right to carry there my whole squadron, 1 should answer ; that the ohkEt of send ilsig a fri g ate w° uld be - nugatoey e unress it was allowed to as on the intelligence she might bring. For f would ask, w h et h er , iPa enlizerhaabroughtnn ac count that two of the enetny:t Ile of battle ships. had entered the river, • tetaaiy, diemeeteel, but that theYsere ,moored off munttArldeeenticl,every ex ,l"tioti' was making to get theft 'refuted foe. sea, I snould not have been justified in sending,force from h e ime C 1)e to att ac k t h em w i t h out a moment ' s less of Aft er Baird, thatsliewing, from the opinion of Sir David.. sirfi th e fence, Cape was in a sufficient state of de the chargeaoireno:titilhies went on to answer other parts of point. I have id' s I trust, repelled that part of the charge which accuses me ofCa pe without only exposed having "left the to without the est attack and i nsu lt, b u t even of His M me," , o b f affordi ng prote&ion to the trade r s l-• aj, leas, o r o f L i ki ng possess i on o f any'ShipS of t h e enemy, which might have put into any of the bays or harbours of the Cape, of parts adjacent." I have explained to the Court, that the sea s on, at the cotnmenceinent of which I tell the- 13 - 1 THURSDAY, Cape, was adverie to the attack of an enemy on that Settlement, which, as I before observed, was a rea son assigned by Commodore Johnstone and General Meadows, for not venturing on such a measure; and that, on that account also, no hostile operationsTwere to be apprehended in that quarter et the time of my • departure for the Rip de la Plata. I have shewn too,•that I' took the most active- and effectual measures of precaution to afford proteaion to •the trade of his ,Majesty's subjects in: every quarter, and' that, even had I remained with my squadron in Simon's Bay (for I could not have kept it in safety in Table Bay), there was little or no probability of my being able to take posaeasion of any ships of the enemy which might put in there, .or intoany of the bays or harbours of the Cape or parts adjacent. I must - now 'reply to the continuation or sequel of the charge, coupled as it is in a manner not, as I conceive, the meat - candid, with the preceding parts, which - I have answered, and I, hope refuted. This sequel runs thus, "'all which he, the said Sir Home Popham, did, notwithstanding that he had received laprevioos information of detachments of the enemies' lithipktaeing at sea, •and in the neighbourhood of the - .Cape; and tiotwithstandinghe had been apprised that a French squadron was expeaedat the Mauritius, of which be informed us by his letter to our Secretary, dated the 6th of April, 1806, only fou'r days prior t: to bkdeparture•frorn the Cape to the Rio de la Pla ka."-r-I have called the manner in which this sequel of the charge is concluded, uncandid, for it'conveys to the mind, that I left the Cape at the very moment when detachments of the enemies' ships were expect - ed there, of whose arrival in the neighbourhood of the Cape I had received previous intimation. That this is not a fair orcandid interpretation will be ma nifest, when it shall be seen by the perusal of my :letter of the gth April, to Mr. Marsden, and by au examination into the particulars of the information asserted or implied to hive been thus given .by one to the Admiralty, respeaing detachments of the ene mies' ships, that my expressions in one part of the said letter completely explain those previously used, either in another part of that letter, or any prior in telligence given by me respeaing the enemy's ships in other letters,- and that I had in my communica tions to the Admiralty fairly disposed of Willeau mez's-squadron, which in fa& was the French squa-- dron said to have been expeaed at the Mauritius.. What, Sir, can be more 'uncandid than thus to al lude to part of a letter, and by not adverting to some other part of the said letter, make it appear that the 'Writer (and that writer the Commanding Officier of a British squadron in a distant quarter) stank as it were, before his Judge, self-conviCted of improper condua by his own official communications ? My respea to the Court, and the controul which I have endeavoured to impress upon my feelings and my. language, prevents me froinziying way to the setx.ia lions which naturally arise in my breast while lam commenting on such a proceeding. Justly as I have a right to complain of it, I shall content myself with pointing it out to the notice of the Court, and with proving to the conviction of all the lion. Members of which it is composed, that there is no just ground for the interpretation which is attempted to be im pressed on their minds, that I not only knew of the :expected arriral of detachments of the enemy's ships at the time when I left the Cape with my squadron, but bad myself aaually given to the Secretary of the Admiralty information to that effe&. A perusal of . the letter in question, with a few remarks upon it, will be sufficient wholly to do away the imputation to which I have just alluded. Diadem, Tale Bay, oth April; ifiil6. SIR—As the.season is now very far advanced for lying in this Bay; and the weather, par:icuh'rly unsettled for, the tittle of the year, .1 propose quitting • it - with' the squadron immediately, more especially as from the length of time that has elapsed since we - heard of Admiral Willeaumez's fleet, it is very improbable, and inconsistent with the situation he was in, that he should come here at present." Thus, Sir, in the very first paragraph of this let ' ter; so tar from my saying that 1 h a d re c eived p re -- vtous information of detachments of the enemy's Ships being at sea, and in the neighbourhood of the Cart, I begin by saying, that as the season is very far aaVanced for lying in this Bay, and th e w eath er particularly unsettled for the time of the year, I pro- pOsed - quitting, k with the squadron imm e di ate l y , as sighing, as an additional reason for my departure, that, as the length of time that has elapsed since we heard of Admiral Willeaumez's fleo, it is very impro bable; consistent with the situation he, vi-a,; in, that he should come here . at present.' I then proceeded to remark, that " to determine his position at this mu- mein would beimposiible, and it would b e a l most equally difficult *to decide on the best 'mode of ap plying the exertions of the squadrOn the ensuing twa'rnonths to the greatest advantage." From the foregoing paragraph . ; it is, I think, pretty clear that I was under no apprehension from the arrival of a hostile force at the Cape, or in any of the adjacent bap or harbours. My next` paragraph in the said letter is, that " The intelligence we received by La Volontaire, and which has already been transmitted to you (that is, to Mr. Marsden) for their Lordships information, appears materially to incline to the sup position, that the West Indies is the destination of Adiniral Willeaumez's fleet ; but (the Court will be .4,tleased, 1 hope, to give the next paragraph their particular attention, while I observe, that this is the . part on which. this,-unfounded interpretation of the letter rests) General Anker, the late Governor of Tranquebar, who is just arrived here on his way to Europe, informed me in the course of conversation, that a French squadron was expeEted at the Mauri tius, but that it was impossible fur that Island to supply any flour to it, without looking to Rio de is Plata, or the Coast of Braids, for a supply ; on which 'consideration I think employing ti,e ,qua- . *droa' in eruiiing a short, titer,off that Coast, 1:;5; ead of remaining idle, will be,a disposition fraught with Vk otf, it f.i.:.; *44).11,,..fr.!: .G.kt; .v.z,÷ti.::::,, , ,?, . i ,,,,.....__ ;,i.5 : t -t ! .4_. 1 :..1 .' ,. ; .:4:.: . ' v iVV'5 ., ,, .... 45 ....,.....,,,, : i,- ;.fi, :: .: : ,xz::; :: a. : t ,$,........1".",,, 4tro '4 :1•V * 47.6.1 t i:. ,,, ~..,'• 7,... , ~.i •I.i :k y‘\A\;:v.v: lei l lifig W • ,At NialrCH 12, 1807. some advantage, and which, I hope,. will appear so evident to their Lordships as to induce them to ap prove of the measufe." Here, Sir, I have stated my reasons for supposing that the ulterior ddstinatiou of .Admiral Willeau tuez's squadron was the ' : West Indies; and' in the same paragraph of my letter, I add what was men tioned to me by - General Anker, the-late Governor of Trauquebar, in the course of general conversa tion, respecting a French squadron expei.ted at the Mauritius. But it 'is to be remarked ,that this was . not given to me by General ,Anker, or re peated by me to Mr. Marsden, as positive intelli gence, but . merely as a matter of conjetlure.—: f: Every Member of - this Honourable .Court must be, aware that, in the progress of a war, a variety of. rumours obtain circulation, respea - ting thernovements • and supposed destination of the hostile naval forees,,,,j and that in a distant quarter of the globe, some of •i those rumours are wafted in opposite directions; tilt.. the event proves that a report concerning - exh peeled arrival of one squadron, at a particular place, .. has originated from the circumstance of that squadron,, having fallen in with a vessel bound to that place, and conveyed throughher sotneintelligence calculated to deceive and mislead, as to the real objefa of its deStination, while this false intelligence-has the ima ginary etrea of dividing, or multiplying this one squa dron into two detachments, and thus creating a double cause, either of alarm or precaution. This was the .case in the present instance—the squadron alluded - to by General Anker was no other than Willeaumez's squadron, which, as I rightly imagined, would either put into the Rio de la Plata, or the Brazils, for water and refreslunents,and then .proceed to the West Indies; which conje6.ture induced me to diipateh a vessel to AdmiralCochrane; on that station, to enable .hint to be prepared against the enemy's arrival. , . I, next informed the Admiralty of my then intend ed disPosition.of the squadron under my command, in these terms : " As this letter is to be conveyed by a foreign. ship, I shall not enter into any minute detail, bat say it is my intention to proceed oft' Rio de la Plata in the first instance, to send the Raisonable to her. destination by the time fixed; the Diomede to Rio de Janeiro, to procure rice for the colony, of which it is in the greatest want, and return immediately to False Bay with the other ship, unless I should hear that Admiral Linoisis at St. „Catherines, preparing to cruize for the outward-bound ships ; in which case I shall endeavour to iutereept - . him; if it does not infringe on the time of my return to the Cape, to receive their Lordships' commands in conse quence of the dispatches conveyed by L'Espoir." The letter concludes'i,s follows : When I have the opportbhity, of a safe conveyanee, I hope the reasods I shalt then-give wii I be sultieient to satisfy their LwasltZps of the expsiettey of the nx.-asures I ataltbout to adopt." _ _ Ha . ving thus brought the whole of this letter of the 9th of April, .1806, before the Court, I sub mit to their consideration, whether, on a candid and dispassionate review of its contents, lam not_ borne out in asserting that no passage in it can he fairly and justly construed so as to imply that I apprehended or ekpe6.lcd the arrival of a French squadron at the Cape about the period of my departure from that • settlement on • the Expedition' to the Rio de la Plata ; and my intended de parture to that river before any communication. had taken place with Gen. Baird as to troops, and bethre therefore I could contemplate the Expdi tion to Buenos Ayres, is a proof of the interpretation I put upon the intelligence received. namely, that no hostile squadron could then be expeded at the Cape, but if there was any truth in the intelligence that •it was more likely to meet a French squadron in the Rio de la Plata than at the Cape. AS to the circum stance of my leaving the Cape only four days after having written to Mr. Marsden this letter of the fifth April, my reasons are._ fully detailed in.. the official letter addressed to him on the t eth April, which has been read_tb- the Court; as part of the charge; and which I beg may be considered as now again read. These reasons are ti till More enlarged upon in a letter addressed to . the Admiralty, from St. Helena; under date bf the 30th ,of April,. to Which- the letter of that date,. read on the part of the pro secution-, is only an • addenda, and therefore 1 must now desiie to haie the material letter read in this place. - - The Court is thus in possession of the reasons given to the Admiralty for having come to a deter , tnination to proceed - to the Rio 'de la Plata - on •the 13th April, 1806 ; 'and from 'the Validity of those reasons, added to the explanation into which I have entered, by My letter of the 9t h of April, I should hope I have fully and - Clearly vindicated myself from this part, and repelled the insinuation intended to be conveyed by the manner in which my said letter is therein mentioned. Must it not appear to this 'll*. Court, and to the world at large, not a little extra-, ordinary that the same Admiralty Board which could liberally bestow their applause on the conduct of the Captain of a frigate, -in the destruction of an insignificant French privateer, 'could withhold their approbation from another Officer who commanded a squadron of his Majesty's ships; and all those who had a6ted under him, and were employed, in the capture of a settlement deemed so important, in a - military, political, and commercial point of view, as the Cape' of Good. Hope. The capture of the Cape, with reference to the thanks Of Parliament, so gratifying to those who received them (to which it would be a presumption iu me to suppose I had any claim), I may venture, I believe, to state, is the first instance of a capture of this descrip tion having been made by j a joint armament, in ' which some expression of approbation, at -least how the Lords of the Admiralty, has:not been be stowed on those of the Navy, who have successfully performed their orders. . For it must be recolleEte . ,. that as to the . Cape' the orders were specific and pr 3-- c.se and -those concerned in the entcrprize were S U N. :~'~ [PRICE SIXPENC E. engaged in the stria' performance of their duty And here, Sir, I may be allowed to remark-, the withholding from those under my, comm.eme national and invariable reward of zeal, valour, and e.perseverance, successfully exerted in•their Countr, cause, was to them the more mortifying, as the -army in whose efforts and gallantry they fully parti cipated, were cheered by the approbation of their superiors, and' had the consolation of being intbrmer;,; tisavtheir labours and success were acceptable to those itYwhose approbation they look for encourage ment and reward. On this occasion, I hope it e ill not appear vanity on my pail to spew the differeht light -imwhich our construaions were received by the Governor-General in Council; who were pleased ~to transmit to the themost flattering testimonies cf - their approbation. To myself and.my associates, some of whom had -engaged most actively in ,the service on shore, and all *of whom had exerted themselves in the landing and assisting the troops with that ardourearai per . sever-ante so' charadenstic to British seamen, to which I had, as -their Commander, eodearoured to do justice; not one solitary expresSion of 'approba tion was, as the Court have seen, communicated in the answer of the Admiralty.—Yet I am condemned for having exposed, even to imaginary hezard; that acquisition which appears not to have been worth those thanks of our superiors-the value of which, though so easy and cheap for them to bestoW, need not expatiate upon in a Court of British Of ficers, whose aCtious and whose. lives would be to the world the best proof of the estimation in which they are justly held, The importance of the cap •ture was passed over in silence When • I and those employed under me Might have been gratified ; hut it is loudly enhanced, and made. the shhieta of a criminal charge, when the (shied is to depress me. Whence this difference ? leave it, Gentiem.,re your refleCtions—l leave it to the refieCtioas of my Country. , . „ By perthissiOn of the Court, I shall nest proceed as I have already done in part, that what ever; dissatisfaCtion the Admiralty Board (which had succeeded to that Board uuder whose orders I sailed from England) thought proper to manifest fur my having exercised my own discretion,. its undertakihg the subiequent expeditioneo the Rio de la Plata, yet my conduel in the exception of that enterprize was such, as. to draw from them the most unqualified ap probation, as appears from the letter of . the 25th of September, which I have already read in My d. fence. The natural inference to, be. drawn from the perusal of that letter is, the Admiralty Boarti, at the time when it waF written, considered my recal as a suf ficient mark of, their disapprobation; ot. my having. left the Cape. with my squadron, a n d attacked Bue nos Ayres, without orders. .But .the ptinegyrie passed cm my condaCt, and those under my cons bated, strongly marks the high opinion entertairied of the importance of the conquest; for it Mr. Mars den's letter of the 25th of September, adenow e ledgitig the receipt of rue account of the surreilder of Buenos Ayres aud its dependencies,be compared with his letter in ans wer to mine of the 14th of January, announcing to hins time capture of the Cape, it is fair to inier,frOui the circumstance of the Admiralty Board having expressed their tosquahlted *probation of My conduCt its the conquest of Buenos Ayres, and of their having withheld from me every satistaaion in regard to my proceedings in the reduCtion of the Care, that in their estimation of the coniparative• importance to the country of the two places, they set a much higher value on the acquisition of Buenos Ayres than on that of the ~Cape. But, Sir, if my nieleet zeal for the I.ervice of my Country has, iii the, opinion of any of the Members of this Hon.' .Court, carried we beyond the exact limit of uncestriaed instructions, I. submit that I have al.= ready suffered a more than adequate punishment, not merely by having been deprived of-my late command, but from the degrading manner in which I w as su _ pers'eded., and recalled, as must appear to this Hon. Court, whets they find that my solicitations for time use even of a transport was. peremptorily refuSed, and that I was left to take my passage to England in a small prize brig, with the aggravated circum stance of -the few men of the squadron put on.board to navigate this.vessel ho'rne., being taken from her by the orders of my successor, Admiral Stirling- to whom I wasscarcelyk.nown, and to whom I could hover have given personal offence. For the protif of these - taus I refer to the evidence of Capt. King.— . Wh'uther - the person who gave these orders, ..or the , Admiral who executed them; thought they were the best means_of upholding the character of a 'British ()dicer commanding in chief, or whether they or he judged. this was the most proper Method of shewin g others their extent of power, I will not presume to deterinioe, but of cots:Alta so u;;ltatural, so un precedented, and so unhandsome, I assure myself no Member a this Court, nor any other person now present, can recollea an instance. Humble, hoW ever, as my accommodation was, and exposed as was to capture in a vessel without a single guts Li defend her, I reached this country without eccideot. The delay of . .. Admiral Stirling's arrival in the Ri f) ( 1,,‘ la Plata, °Wing to the very unusual length of his passage, I shall always consider as a provideetiel circumstance ; for I can assert, Withodt tear o: tradiaion, that his orders were to evacuate the settlenicet, and, but for this circutost:h;c c , w hi e e alferded time. for . . the arrival of the Pheesenr sloop with. ce.unter orders, South Ameriea ceou e 'l -have been abandoned . ; whereas I may now sete ly venture to predict, that the arrival of time ' force under General- Achmuty has long ,i 4 1,„„ me paieal the tnistOrtuise which betel my galiatit frienn; Genert:l - Bertsford, by-putting the 'rim lush - s i on O f "eorionte,i,reiete and I trust nut 01q that distinguished Neer and Ins brave ermy troru the ) , 'eels, of the enemy, but fully puni s h e d th e e . et it();t.! unless, AV,tlt), I%ll' 1)0()I',.• ; 1' aua -thtecomplete Qom ma of et thee - Lay, vieetteU the one, and avasied thcoece4-se 0),) d(4: 9 [ 1