The Sun. — London, England, 1802-01-21 00:00:00

PRICE 0 YESTE Bank Stock Navy 5 per Cent. 98kk 5 per Cent. 1797, 984 Irish 5 pet Cent. 4 per Cent. Con. 541.1 per Cent. Red. 67-l i , 8k 8 3perCeut. Con. 67kkii Ditto Sciip Bank Long Ann. tgi t 5-16 Ditto Short Ann. 5i Ditto Scrip F- STOCKS, R.DA'C. India Stock Excheq. Bills s. s. prem. Fundable ditto prem. 3d Exchequer Bills par ?New S. S. Stock Orriniuni Juipi.2r. 3 per Cent. 67k DittiJ Ana. ilk 3-16 Bank for Account India for Account Consols for Open. THE SUN. SOLI:4 QUIS DICIRL TALSUIkI AUDIAT ? LONDON, JANUARY Zr, 18oz. FIVE Ilethzburgh . Mails still due. This morning arrived a Mail from Lisbon, brought to Falmouth by the Duke of ork Packet, in nine. teen days. L-u.d BALCARRES, late Lieut. Governor of Ja maica, is arrived at Portsmouth in the Retribution (late the Herinione) Frigaw. Lady JANE DUNDAS is arrived in Town, at the h ous e of Miss NAIoRTLFy, in Grosvenor Place. — the is rather unwell, and proposes to go to Bath fur a few weeks. Mr. DUNDAS remains in Scotland till the middle of February. Onlonday morning urwar& of 300 Cavalry marched from Maidstone Barracks for Portsmouth, where they are to embark, in order to join their respeaive Regiments in - the East Indies. Yesterday a Court of Direaors was held at the •Fast-India House, when Capt. Wm. MAC NAMARA was sworn into the command of the Clacton, des tined to China, ditea. The Court adjourned at six o'clock till Wednesday next. Ac'..ounts have reached Bengal from the Coast, stating that Colonel Ac NEW has driven-the Polygars in the district of Tinniyelly with great loss, and that he wzs rocteding to the Southward with great hopes of soon restoring tranquillity. Orders for the COurt's going into mourning on Sunday next, the 24. th inst. for the late Princess EPH A, sister to the King of Spain ; and also for the late Archduchess MARI E CLEMENTINE, wire of the Hereditary Prince of Naples, viz. The I.Aul s to wear black silk or velvet, colc. , u:ed ribbons, Taus, and tippets ; or plain Nv;iite, or wilice and gold, Or white and silver stuffs, with black ribbons. The G NT L YMtev , to wear black coats, and black, or plain white, or v hire and gold, or white and silver stuff waist coats, full trimmed, coloured swords and buckles. And on Thursday, the zSth instant, the Court to go out of mourning. THE THE IR MAJESTIES and the five l'kiNc ESSFS honoured 'Drury-lane Theatre with their presence hest night. The of Der!' and Dumb, and the Pantomime of ifarlelnin Anutlet - were commAndt-d-on this occasion. The Play was well performed throughout, and very much applaud. ed. The House was completely full, and the Royal 'Visitors . were greeted with as rapturous a display of loyalty as we ever witnessed. His MAJESTY '.vas in Military attire. The whole of the Royal -- i;'arnily seemed to be in excellent health. By a private Letter from Diiblin, we learn, Ow on Saturday last a Duel was fought between Mr. OGLE, Member for that City, and a Mr. COYLE. .The Letter explains the cause as follows: " Sa‘urritry " I take the pen merely to acquaint you that Mr. B. Com: ' of Linen-Hall-street, having heard that Mr. OGLE, one of the Members for this City, said at a dinner given by the Lord- Mayor, " that a Papist would as soon take a -false oath as swallow a poached. egg," inquired from Mr. 0. whether he had so expressed himself, shewing a ~ .firer containing the alledged words ; to which Mr. 0. reylied, " that he had ; but that he alluded to Papist Rebels 0n1y.".. Mr. C. not satisfied with the explanation, made some strong comments, and concluded with saying, " the charge made. by Mr. 0. at the Lora Mayor's, was as false as it was uncharitable." A meeting in consequence took place this day at noon, in a field near Cold Blow-lane, where each of the Gen tlemen fired four shots without cfFea ; at which time Judge CHAMBERLAIN arrived, and took both into custody ; observing, that if he did not err, Mr. CovLE was under recognizance of 40001. to keep the peace, in which case he should be imme diately Mr. C. said he was not the person, and I have not yet learned whether it is ascertained." Mr. WALL is six feet four inches high, and of a genteel appearance. He behaved with great stea diness and composure during his long and painful Trial, which lasted from nine in the morning until eleven at night. 1-k is 65 years of -age, but does not look so old. Yesterday a melancholy circumstance happened in . the Old Bailey, on the Trial of Governor WALL : ivlajor WINTER, who resided at Woolwich, coming to speak in favour of the Governor, in getting out of the coach, dropped down and instantly expired. Mr. JAMES Dixorc coming past at the time, recog nized the Gt:ntleman, and had the body conveyed to the ROe public-house. He instantly • dispatched a proper person to the unhappy Major's family, We understand the Major was in the Artillery, and hrother-in.law to 11r. DenmAx, an eminent ship builder at Deptford, and has left a fa;nily of ten children. On ..:londay last, in honour of HER MAJESTY'S Birth_Day, the LORD 11/14 , ,y0R gave an elegant Dinner ar the iviansion-house to the Field Officers of all the Volunteer Corps, Surrey Cavalry, City and Tower Hamlets Militia, Sir SIDNEY SMITH, Sir juHw Doust,Az, the Sheriffs of London, Sze. Tile zd and 3d battalions of the 4th and 9th re giments, ace to - be thrown into the ist,-or rather to aw,lenT, it Ao ;coo Nen each . , and are tO 4e sent to the Et Indies. . NAVAL ?NUTS. PLYMOUTH, JAR. 19. ARRIVED the Decia;;neuse, of 36 guns, Capt. - G. SHORT'IAND, from dibraltar, with Dispatches. She carried out Dispatches thither from hence, which were forwlrded up the Mediterranean by the Diana Frigate.—Presious to the Dedaigneuse leay. ing Gibraltar, the St. George, of 98 guns, Van guard, Spencer, and Portv?rful, of 74 guns each, had sailed thence for the West Indies. Those . ships were in exceeding good order, and their CrewS in a high state of discipline. PORTSMOUTH, JAN. 20. ARRIIED the Retributioz Frigate (late Her mione) from Jamaica ; and the Plover Sloop of War, from Guernsey. Arrived the Ariadne Transport, CLYNIMING master, from Egypt, last from Gibraltar, in 43 days. The Squadron detached from the Channel Fleet for the West Indies the latter end of Odober last, arrived at Jamaica in a month and four days. The Ambuscade Frigate, which went with them, arrived yesterday. She left Jamaica the 7th December, and has brought home Passengers, Captains FREEMAN TLE and FoLEY. DEAL, J. 20. SAILED for the River, the Loyalist, Travers, Mornington, and Melville Castle East Indian - len, and several West IndLirnen. SHEERNESS, JAN. 20. THIS day came into :Harbour the bisleaor Sloop of War, to bs paid off. . The Isis is undock-td. FALMOUTH, JAN. iB. ARRIVED last evening the Prince of Wales Packet, Tone, eleven days from Lisbon, and the Duke of York ditto, IS days from Lisbon. The Welsingbam Packet arrived at Lisbon the sth inst. and was expeaed to sail from thence about the r 4th." Also arrived the Swedish Ship Frilierier, Capt. FAT ERLOFF, sixty-one days from Alexandria (Ame rica), with 500 hogsh•.!ads tobacco, for orders, and sailed again for Rotterdam ; the Brig Iris, Capt.. FORGES, from London for Gibraltar; American Brig American, Capt. CHARLES V l Ns., 'from &l. 'timore, for orders, with sugar, coffee, &c. and the Brig L' Capt. CAKROL, from NeW foundland, and proceeded on for Poole. Sailed the American Ship Sufilk, Capt. BEARD, with tobacco, for Rotterdam ; the P o rtuguese Schooner St. arcs Martez, Capt. jort I),* COSTA, with fruit, for Havre ; and the Ship Laurel, Capt. NASH, for London. The Lady Araballa, with Mails for America, is detained by contrary wind. The Leicester Packet, from Jamaica, is hourly expeCie.l. Early yesterday morning advice was received at the East-India House, of the arrival of the under mentioned Ships in the Downs : they sailed from St. Helena the zzd November, leaving there the Pegasus, from the Cape of Good Hope. The illek;//e Castle, Capt. J. LivyteE ; Skelton Castle, Capt., M. ISAsel E ; and Travers,Capt.Tho- NIAS SANDERS ; left Bombay the :Bth August, 8o 1. . _ . • - The Loyalist, Capt.. T. ALTor., from Bengal, last from the Cape. The Morningtoiz, C4p . t. G..KELBo, arid Countess of Sutherland, Capt. E. EGGLETON, from Bengal, Country Ships, laden chiefly with rice. The Mornington .left Bengal about the isth of July. The Ganges was in dock when the. three former Ships left Bombay. The Fort William, Lord llawl,fesintry, Airly Castle, and Worcester, arrived at Bombay the 23d July. The Henry Addington, Nottingham, and Ocean, sailed from thence for China the zoth of August. PASSENGERS PER Mr tv ILLE . CAsyr.E.—Lieut.Col, Forbes and Lady, three Miss Forks ' Mrs.Crowe, Major Alexander Stewart, Miss E. Stewart, Dr. lames, Mr. janies Lough nan, and Master Charles Kerr. PER SKELTON CASTLE.—N.in.Parr, Cvt (8001 aeon: it), Lieliteriams Hamby, Pezz:hy, ',few a.rd, and Ward, Mr. Parr, Mr. King, and Master G..Lainbe. PER TRAVERS.—SamueI Maistre, ESq. Miss and Master Maistre, and Mr. Paige. PER LOYALIST.—Mr. Morland, Mr. Da Costa, and Mrs. Brown. PLR COUNTESS OF SUTntRLAND.--MrS. Malone, Miss M. A. Malone, Miss E. Cooke, Major Charles Stewart, Lieut. C. Fagan ( Regiment Infantry), Mr. I. H. . Partridge, Mr. Hugh Darley, Mr. John Cowie, Mr. Ma lone, Masters W. Wooden, Henry Scott, Alexander Mair, and E. Malone. His Majesty's 'Frigate Tartar, Capt. WALK E arrived at Jamaica on the 28th November, with her, Convoy, all well. The Squadron under the command of Commodore EssvoTortr, which was detached from the Channel F.lect early in November, arrived at J.maica the middle of last month. it consists of the Captain, Elephant, Gales, Goliah, and Brunswick, of 7¢ guns each. Advice was - yesterday received in town, of the Adventure, of South Shields, having on the 23a of December; in lat: 44. 46. long., to. 2. been board.. e. by a French Frig:ite, belonging rci the Expeditio:l from Brest, which had experienced very. bad weather ; twelve sail of the lioe were in Sight. I A. , * OLD BAILEY. WEDNESDAY, JAN. 20• SPECIAL COMMISSION. yoseph Wall, Esq. was brought to the bar and arra►gned upon an indi&ment, charging him pith the wilful murder of Benjamin Armstrong, at Goree in Africa, by causing him to be whipped by . a rope in a manner so cruel, that he died in four days afterwards, viz. That the whipping took place on the roth of July, 1782, of which the party died on the 15th of - the same month. This is the substance of the Indietment, the par ticulars of which we stated on a former day. The prosecution was conducted by the ATTOR ,te-Y,GENERAL, w ho had for his assistance Mr. SOLICITOR GENERAL, Mr. WOOD, /Or. FIELD ING, and Mr. ABBOT. For the Defendant, the Counsel were Mr. KNOWLYS, Mr. GURNEY, and Mr. ALLY. Mr. ABBOT opened the pleadings. At the commencement of the Trial, the Prisoner said, he was very hard of hearing, and he there fore requested, that he might be allowed to sit by his Counsel. The CHIEF IlAitorr of the EXCHEQUER, Chief Justice in the Commission, with whom appeared Mr. Justice ROOKE and Mr. Justice LAWRENCE, said to the Prisoner, " that is perfectly impossible there is a regular place appointed by Law for per sons in your situation; we can make no distinc tions of the sort you desire 3 that would be in vidious." _ _ The ATTORNEY-GENERAL then opened the Case on the part of the prosecution, nearly as follows : " May it please your Lordships, and Gentlemen of the Jury—lt will have occurred to you, upon the hearing of the Indictment which has been read to you, that the offence, respeding which you are charged to inquire, is an Offence committed so long ago, in point of time, as the year 1782. - It may occur to you to inquire why this of fence is now brought before the Country, to be in quired of at so late a period. Then, Gentlemen, let me state to you, that that. is' no matter whence to infer blame, either to those who now have, or who, at a former period, had a concern in taking steps that led to this prosecution, although the mat ter hxd not been brought to its present form until lately.. '1 he Prisoner now before you must take to himselFthe blame, if there be any, whiCh I am con fident there is not, and inconvenience . in delaying this trial so long ; inasmuch as he has thought fit, when the matter was put in a course of trial, and he in custody under a criminal charge, to withdraw • from the Justice of his Country, for at the earliest period he has returned to submit to that Justice, he is brought to that Bar, where he now stands before you,- and that through the medium of those necessary.steps which the LaW requires, terminating in a Special Commission under the authority of an Aka of Parliament, and issued by the Privy Council, according to the mode pre scribed by the 3d of King Henry VIII. which empowers His Majesty in Council to issue Commis. signs for the trial of murders committed beyond the seas, and which are to be tried of course:according to the rules of law as there laid down; .and tote" question for you .to inquire is, - Whether the soner at rho bar is go;ity di-the clime of murder of not ? I say, of murder.; tor; if it be not murder in this case, it is nothing, since the party cannot be guilty, under this Act, of manslaughter, or a lower denomiOation of offence ; and, ..therefore, the .single question will be, Whether he is or is• not gulitv . of the crime of murder, or, indeed, of justi liable homicide ?Jhai is the question; and chat alone you 'ave • to try. The crime imputed to the .Pfd,q , rt'r at the bar is murder. He stands ' charge 7, on the present Indic ment with the m urder of Benjamin Armstrong, a Serjcant in the Garrison of Goree, when the Prisoner was the CommaOdant and . GovernOr of that Island, in the month of July 1782, as you have heard already. That murder is charged to haVe been committed by the _Prisoner, in the punishment which he ordered to be inflicted on that person ; and the circumstances which led to that punishment which was the cause of that man's death, will be for me to open to you, and then it will be for you to decide.—l shall state to you also, in some measure, the supposed defence ; indeed the defence, which I know the Prisoner must set up on, this trial, for he can set up no other before you, because the one part of the case for the prosecution renders it necessary I should take notice of that on behalf of the Prisoner. Gentlemen, Mr. Wall, the Prisoner now before you, was in the year 1782 • Governor and Com mandant of the Garrison at Goree, which you know is an Island on the Coast of Africa. He had at that time under him an Officer of the name of Lacey ; lilewise a Lieutenant of the name of Fall ; another of the name of Ford, another of the name of Phipps, and another of the name of O'Shanley ;- but no other military Officer whose name is necessary to be mentioned. The circumstances of this case arose in the year 1782: the exact_ time is the loth of • lerlysirrl7s2, when the death was occasioned which is charged upon the Prisoner as murder. The day following this, which we charge as that of the mur der, the II th of July 1782, the Prisoner left his station at Goree as Governor, and came off for England. He arrived here in August in that year. —He was for this offence in March 178+, under a Warrant issued by Order of the Privy Council. You will bear in mind, that most of those persons who were material - Witnesses to prove his innocence, if innocent he be, were then living, and within the reach of the process of the Criminal Jus, tice of this Country, and might have been brought . forward for the vindication of the Prisoner's inno ceoce. In July 1782, this Gentleman had this Garrison under his command, with those Officers I have mentioned, and i+o or 'so Men also under his command, as they had been for some time, prior to the period at which he announced his• intend ed departure, • and which adually took place on the -1 i th of July, 1782. Some time previous to this, the Garrison had been under short allow ance of provisions, frogs necessity I will suppose, or from some fair reason, although that is not stated to me ; but I will take it to be so, since the con trary does not appear, • The men were put under „ short allowance, that is, t 9 a ;estridion of food, for the convenience of the Garrison, and for car* tinning it in safety until further supplies should are rive. In such cases, the men who are put upon short allowance are allowed a compensation in point of pay to the amount of the stoppage of their pro.. visions. The Gentleman now at the Bar had an nounced his departure for the r ith of July : •there was going away with him for England, a person of the name of Dcaring, who was the Paymastet of the Garrison. In the hands of that person wass of course, that stoppage, either to allow the men "the money; or in future what was equivalent to money, some articles of barter, which would pro• cure for them what they wanted. ,When this Par master was about to depart, these men were anxiou 9 that this account might be settled, and, as the pc' riod of departure drew nigh, several of them re' sorted to the house where the Paymaster lived, for the purpose of obtaining payment of what was due to them on account of the short allowance to which they had been restricted, and here the case beginf to unfold the disposition of the Prisoner at the }lore' What reason he had for mixing himself in con' siderations of this short allowance, and to interpose himself between those persons who called for an adr justment of their claims, and the person whose regular business it was to settle them, I am not appriztili of, or at least - I- will not take upon me to alledgee The men resorted to the house . of this'Paymasteri for they were desirous of obtaining what was due to'them before - the Paymaster left the Island, which was to be the next day. They were aware that $ vast ocean, would separate the Paymaster and tiles° in a short time ; and, considering the precarious.; ness of human life, they thought it possible shat they might not afterwards be in a situation to urge their claims with beneficial effect to themselves. On their• coming towards the Paymaster's house for this purpose, in considerable numbers, as you will have in evidence before you, and as t he! were passing the door of the Governor, which was in their way, he reprimanded then], in angers for resorting so the house of the Paymaster ; and under terror of punishmen t , ordered thenz to go away. ' The men retired dutifully under thatadmonition. In about an hour and an half af terwards, several persons, whether the same as the former, I do not know, but several persons, among whom was Armstrong, the cause of whosealeath: and whose death alone, is now before you ;. and desire you to lay out of your minds any thing you may have heard any where, of any indictment upon the death of any other person, and to confine your selves to the inquiry into the death of this indivi' dual, and to the cause of his death ; nor shall an! circumstance be gone into, in this prosecution, bo e as it relates to that death, or the circumstances ne'' cessarily connected with it. If the subsequen‘ death of Others should necessarily, in filet, have bearing upon the present case, we shall go into it , because our duty will,,in such case, compel us t a ; do so, but in doing so we shall confine ourselves, a o .,:j indeed, rre must, to strict legal proceedings; ts l " . : , no other substantive crime can , be insisted upon I , ° - tile investigation of this, and therefore ilothint' shall be unnecessarily pressed, for' our object that your attention should be kept entire to tiOi charge in the Indictment, upon which you are fic *, sworn to [trite deliverance. have "' G b e ta n t t e l d em t e o n''' y t o o u Itehtter fi l c fi st c"n apltr? ‘tre nce o sifl- 17at men on their way to the house of the Paymaster, and of their being ordered to return by the Fr i ; soner, and of their dutiful obedience to the order O P' their Governor. I shall now proceed shortly C a state the circumstances of these men, for the sal° purpose. —.On the second application, or rather intended application to the Paymaster, these men were proceeding towards the house of the Payrnas 4 ter; Armstrong appeared with these men; Goiter; nor Wall, the Prisoner now before you, came oa t to meet them again. I do not know that he too* the language of menace. tcstikem as before, however, that will code before you in the evidence of the Orderly Serjeant who attended the person of thP A fi Governor, and wh4 was of course °beeest to I' commands. He will state to you, that Armstrong was so far from being undutiful in his behairsourr that he took off his hat and paid all possible rope to the Governor, and said they only came to ma ke a representation to the Paymaster, and respileful l f,, retired ; and .from that period, if there be ary truth in the evidence that I am to lay before ycl' l / until-the hour in which the punishment of Arr' l strong was inflicted, which took place in the cour s e of that day, and which led to his death in a few MI every thing in the conduct of the Governor W ad furious and full of malice. Gentlemen, I anti?' strufted to state to you, that there did not exist this place, no had there at any' time previous to its any symptoms of tumult, riot, discontent, disorder, or mutiny, nor any thing that bore the resemblanc e or. appearance of mutiny. I advert to this nal , because I think it right to anticipate what I knovit not from rumour what I guess, but what I knovf from the declarations of the Prisoner, what the defence will be —he makes his defence orte-tb g grounds of a supposed mutiny. 1 3 " Gentlemen, I would not canvas, but I won_g rather, to a certain degree, admit the validity u` that excuse; and if there existed, in point of fa 6 !', a mutiny, or a well-grounded suspicion of it, ana l ; was not brought forward as a cover and cloak 10 , abuse of power, and perversion of authority--I sn . again, if there did exist a mutiny in this Garrisc l or any appearance of mutiny in it, which requi re ; the ,strong -arm of power to suppress it, a crime S p enormous in its size, and dangerous in its conse" c quences, might supercede the ordinary mode rll trials, and 1 do not stand here to require of yo?. , nor will I require any where, God forbid I sho ul d to consider a man acting, in such a case, a s a criminal, when he did the best he could, and gl e e with good intention, although some excess 1 11 % have attended his conduct. He would, in such. case, be, at all events, an innocent, and mighty ra some respects, he deemed a meritorious indivo-1: because the power that is given to Commanding ems in such cases of emergency, is given to theta .trust, not for their own safety only, but for the saf c of us all, which cannot be preserved, unless oror e P o l and vigorous means be taken for the suppression r, mutiny. Therefore, wherever there is the arP e o ante of mutiny, the exercise of authority s h° , t v never be very critically examined, but shoul d jUi 4