The Sun. — London, England, 1829-09-12 00:00:00

COURT-MARTIAL ON CAPTAIN DIC- KENSON, R.N. PORTSMOUTH, SEI.f. 11. (FIFTEENTH DAY.) Ihe Court met at twelve o'clock, and after ex amining one witness (Weeks, the Genoa's gunner) as to the consumption of her powder at the battle of Nayarit), Sir Edward Codrington eves called in by !de own desire to tender evidence in vontradic tine of some part of the testimony for the prosecu tien ; but this being irregular was disallowed by the Court, and Captain Dickenson was next called upon for his defenee, which he requested permission shouldlre read by his solicitor, 31r. Minchin. The'Court granted this request, and Mr. Min- Olin read the following defence, with considerable effect. The reading occupied three hours, arid its temclusion was marked with a buzz of applause:— " Mr. President, and Gentlemen of this Honour able Court, may it please you, Sir, and Gentlemen, —ln respectfully presenting myself to you on my defence, I have HOY to repel imputations which Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Codrington has, at this late period, thought fit to adduce against me, the circumstances attending which it is uteiversally felt are of so extraordinary a nature, and the manner in which they have assumed atangible form, altogether of so novel a description, that the pages of our naval history do not, I believe, any where present the like, involving not only my reputation as an of fives, but establishing a precedent which may almost lead every other brother officer to question the se cur:ty e'en of his own just character, and to join in doubting whether those hard-earned laurels, which the sanction of our gracious and beloved Sovereign, and the approving voice of our country, has long e;elded to any of us, may not rudely be torn front our brow, and at a period, too, when, by lapse of time, it is become impossible to bring all the proofs which had existed, to show how justly we were , entitled to them. On this occasion, Sir, I feel that most arduous duties are now cast on me, not only as relating to myself, but to my brave companions in arms who shared with me in the battle of Nayarit), and who were more imme diately ender my own command during the greater part of it, after that command had devolved on me, by the lamented fall of Commodore Bathurst. And not merely, Sir, to myself, and to these my brave companions, but to the service in general does my ti present they extend. The task incumbent on me I shall endeaeour to accomplish with your permission, aided by my fiend, who, on his port, Sir, with greet respect also to every member of this honourable Court, would earnestly for me entreat, not only your patient hearing, but your indulgent allowance for the imperfect manner (abounding as it must through out) in which his assistance is humbly rendered, whilst he begs you to credit him for every anxiety equally with my own, strictly to keep within my proper line of duty on this momentous occasion ; and that you will bca'r with a zeal arid energy,which he flatters himself you will condescend to view as laudable, in the midst of an attempt to give what may appear to him a judicious direction in the de monstration of points connected with repulsing the charges, cautiously, abstaining from all extraneous matter, and confining himself barely to my vindica tion. In the whole of this effort I shall intrude no more on y o ur valuable time than the imperious exi gency of my case appears to require ; and thus aided, as I state facts, it shall be plain, unvarnished, unsophisticated. And when I come to observation or discussion, it shall be manly and firm, without any figure of speech beyond palpable demonstra tion, respectfully submitted to your scunder judg ment, as it must be to your final decision ; and in all this, as discipline and an increas ing respect for the due subordination of the navy (without art adherence to which on every occasion in service it cannot exist), must prevail even with an accused, when at a Court Martial, he is exculpating and vindicating himself, so I shall endeavour, in no one instance of ar gueoent or discussion before me, to forget that 1, have the honour to bear a commission as Cap . tam in hie Majesty's navy, am now br6ught into convict with my superior Officer, Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Codrington, and who, on the occasion of the battle from whence this has arisen, was my C o mmander-in-Chief, also of high distinction; under whose flag I had the extreme good fortune to serve, and the honour to share in a great naval battle, in whch we were victors, to the discomfiture of hosts embodied to promote a continuance, which for cell twice has been endured, of the slavery and thraldom .of 'ancient and renowned Greece, and to aid whose liberation and emaucipation this country, with her allies, was extending her arm, and 011 that occasion luau! entrusted their united energies to Sir Edward Codrington, who, on hie part, showed that the ex pectation of the country was not disappointed in •feign ; yet-, whilst I deplore, as every one must (and irnividually I have most reason to do so), that a question should ever be entertained of the correct ness of any one engaged in it, I cannot, in the dis• .cession I ant now entering upon, forget for a mo anent that it is incumbent on me throughout to treat Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Codrington with all the respect due to his rank; and reminded, too, as I am, chat in the ship where we now are the great hero Neltion died, and that from this very cabin in which you are assembled was conceived and issued as a signal to his fleet on his entering the battle of The falgar, is which he fell, his last order—' England .expects every man to do his duty'—an axiom, as it is one in which England must glory as long as time lasts, so would I, in the humble attempt of im bibing, though it were but a small portion of his great mind (and my friend would not be the last to partake of it with me),seek to discharge mine on this most interesting occasion,trusting,in the end, it will not only be with your approbation, but that of the em pire at large. But amidst the concussion of the various feelings in which I must now Le immersed, I do not, I am sure, venture too far in expressing my confidence, that there cannot be found any one .stistaining the rank of a British officerney more, :tiny man who has the spark du Briton in him, under aec eeatione simdar to those which altogether ate . , MOM! brought against me, whose bosom would not .;low with the sensibility ill all respects which mute ( lees. ft is natural, it is individual, it is the whole of the etoPitee it must be that of every worthy com ponent Ceember of it, who appreciates our importance, our dignity, or our glory, in the scale of nations. " Although, s; r e lam eeeleled to present to the Court a series or evidence of vwious description, which I trust will bet satisfactory to them, it must be easily conceived that ne common share of anxiety prevails with me on the present oheaeion, that I may not only come forth of your judgment unsullied, but, Sir, that your decision may be founded on the fullest and most scrupulous investigation of my condact— at ecrutiny which I court to the utmost, anticipating that it will in the end be clearly demonstrated how mistaken and wholly in error has been the Vice- Admiral, with his recollection of some points totally !ailing him (and milder terms, I think, I cannot use), in adducing his charges, which, however much I settler it: the endurance of the imputations, and from all the pains, anxieties, and exertions which resist ance to them has imposed upon me,' lam not un willing to say that, front the cotifusion of se extraor dinary a battle as that of Naverin was, and the po sition of the different ships engaged in it, enveloped, as all must have beets, in the densest smoke, reflder ing for the greater part of the battle diserlmilletion utterly impossible, arid it may be also from an inac curate recollection of facts at this distance of time, and confounding one thing with another, it is a di - -lemma into which lie (the Vice-Admiral) has at length fallen. But I trust I shall receive your deci sion, pronouncing that, by my own conduct on that .great day, I performed my duty in the station which filled. • Thits z pretnising, then, I at once grapple with the charges which the Vice-Admiral has thought fir, I say, at so late a period to adduce againSt me. It cannot, Sir, but have occurred to the-Court t h a t I have now to repel imputations which, in their effect, come within the scope of the 11 t h an d 12th Articles of War, for punishing disobedience, cowardice, negligence, and disaffeCtion. "By the I Ith Article, Every person in the fleet who shall not duly observe the orders' of the Admiral, flag-officer, commander of any squadron or division, or other his superior officer, for assail ing, joining brittle with, or making defence against any fleet, squadron, or ship ; or shall not obey the orders of his superior officer as aforesaid, in time of action, to the best of his power, or shall not use all possible endeavour, to put the same effectually into execution,—every person so offending, and being convicted thereof by the sentence of the court-mar tial, shall suffer death, or such other punishment as from the nature and degree of the offence a court martial shall deem him to deserve.' "By the 12th Article, Every person in the fleet, who through cowardice, negligence, or disaf fection, shall, in time of action, withdraw, or keep back, or not come into the fight or engagement, or shall not do his utmost to take or destroy every ship which it shall be his duty to engage, and, to assist _ . and relieve all and every of his Majesty's ships, or those of his allies, which shall he his duty to assist and relieve—every such person so offending-, and being convicted thereof by the sentence of a court martial, shall suffer death: « And from the great severity of the 12th article, denouncing death, without admitting of mitigation, as was the case of the unfortunate Admiral Byng, who, by its rigour, in March, 17.57, suffered iu his Majesty's ship Montague, in this harbour (and it may be, that ship was anchored at the time in the very spot where we now ate), had you been ordered to try me tinder it, and were it not for the provision subsequently made by the statute of the 19th year of his late Majesty's reign, (and which the fate of that unfortunate Admiral very soon led to the en acting), giving. in such cases a discretion to the Court; I must, even if negligence only were to be proved against me, now suffer as he did,l though it were, as in his case, contrary to the unan►mous feel. ing of the Court, and I must be placed in a si tuation similar to him, and to others found in the annals of our navy, whom the voice of the country and an impartial posterity has pronounced were as undeservedly accused as they were prosecuted. " But it is necessary, and as I think at present it is not clearly understood by the Court, that I should advert to what immediately led to the pre sent imputation against me. " It happened that after the battle of Nayarit), two distinct Russian orders were transmitted to me, —that of St. Ann, through the Secretary of the Admiralty, and that of St.Wkidimir, through SirlEd ward Codrington. My own Sovereign had also graciously conferred on me the Companionship of the Order of the B th, as his Most Christian Majesty did the Cross of Saint Louis; these, with the Russian Order of St. Ann, my Sovereign per mitted me to wear. The Order of St. Wladimir came to me when I was in the Mediterranean, in the command of his Majesty's sloop Wasp, and was sent to me by the Vice-Admiral himself: and after my return home, on my suiting on the sth Juste last to the Lord Commissioners of the Admiralty for permission to accept and wear it, their Lordships directed an application to Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Codrington, to explain why it had been sent to me in addition to that of St. Ann, which, as I have just noticed, the King had already permitted me to wear. This was answered by the Vice-Ad miral's letter of the 14th June last to Mr. Croker, in which the first breath of imputation appears against me, and therein be says there was a mistake of two Russian orders having got into my possession, and that it appeared to him to have arisen from one having been sent to the Mediterranean through Count Heiden, without its having been known that another had been conferred on me in England through Prince Lieven ; and he then takes occasion to say he thought the commanders serving in the Asia and the Albion were more entitled than I was to either, and he had every reason to approve, as he did most highly, of the conduct of those commanders, but had no reason to approve of the conduct of the Genoa from the time of the command of her having devolved on me. To this, however, I can only say, by the way, that no man can be more disposed to do justice to the merits of those officers than I am : but, Sir, I should never have paid so ill a compli ment to them as to suppose it necessary that my character should be lowered to bring it on a level with theirs. " I here at present pass over the other part of this first letter from the Vice-Admiral, reserving to myself to notice it in the sequel. But their Lord ships then intimated to me by letter, that the order which, from the Vice-Admiral's representation, ap peared to have been sent by mistake, they could not sanction my wearing, and therefore required of me to return it, that the mistake might be explained to the Russian Ambassador, and with which I imme diately complied. " Here I have to observe, that their Lordships since returned the order of St. Wladimir to me to produce to tit Court, and which I now do; and it is no small feature in tills case, that this very order, which the Vice-Admiral thinks I was not entitled to, and which, by mistake, he says had got into my possession, he himself officially, by his secretary, ad dressed to me in the envelop now produced, under his own seal, transmitting it to me eight month s after the battle, as I shall again have presently to notice. But their Lordships then, by their letter of the 22d June to the Vice-Admiral, desire him to state the particulars in which he saw reason to dis approve of my conduct, in order that they might judge whether it would be necessary to take any further proceedings with regard to me. On which the Vice-Admiral, in answer to the directions of the Admiralty, addressed his letter to Mr. Croker, of the 24th June, last, which is but a re-statement, with additions, of his charges. And, on being again requested by their Lordships to state specifically all the points of my conduct with which he was dis satisfied, he at length addressed another letter to Mr. Croker, of the 17th July last, and which is in more specific but extended terms than either of the two former, yet at the same time omitting some of the charges which the former two had contained. And though I might fairly say he ought to be con cluded by his third letter, arid be deemed to with diew every thing in the shape of accusation in his two former letters, which his third does not con tain, yet, as I canr.ot allow even the breath of an imputation to be made without at once courting its' investigation, I do not hesitate to treat the whole of these letters as containing together all that the Vice-Admiral would in any shape impute to me, — the result, as I presume they were, of his deliberate and cool reflection, but the inaccuracy and incon gruity of some parts of them, even in point of fact, it will remain for me hereafter to show. And as to the additionthat of the round robin, as he calls it,—whieh is a petition of the petty officers and crew of the Genoa, it is only to be found in the third let-, ter, and is a charge entirely distinct from those which relate to the battle, and no connexion with it, other than as the writers of that petition referred to the battle. 1 shall have to submit to the Court, it ought never to have been noticed, being contrary to the honourable pledge existing between us. From 'these three letters, however, Sir, are to be gathered the whole of the charges against me, and in such general terms, for the must part, are actions thereby imputed, which, if really constituting any offence at all, can only come within the scope of one or other of those repugnant epithets which the Articles of NV4 I have alluded to embrEe2. I rej e .of disobedience, cowardice, negligence, or disaffection. " The Slice-Admiral, in his eaipatelus to the Lord High Admiral, from Navarin, dated the 21st of October, 1827, with a staterreat of the battle (and the original of which the Lora of the Admi ralty have et my request sent down to you for your perusal, and to which I beg to refer you) noticed tho conduct and bravery of those be had the extreme good fortune to command, in terms which I need not here recite, as you have his letter itself before you. Adverting to the circumstances which pre ceded and provoked the battle, and after showing the excellent, w ell -arranged, and formidable posi- L tion of the Turkish and Egyptian ships, and which no doubt they assumed from the skill of a great number of French officers among them, he detail; the dauntless exertions of the allies which accom- )lished the victory ; and whilst treating of the part his own ship the Asia bore in it, he says that the manner in which the Genoa and AlbiOn took their stations was beautiful ; and he adds, that this so bloody and destructive battle was continued with unabated fury for four hours, when the scene of wreck and devastation which presented itself at its termination was such as has seldom before been wit- messed ; each ship of our opponents becoming effec tually disabled, such of her crew as could escape from her endeavouring to set her on fire, and that it was wonderful how we avoided the effects of their successive and awful explosions. " And when treating of the damage our ships had sustained, he says, ' The Asia, Genoa, and Albion had each suffered so much, that it was his intention to send them to England as soon as they should have received at Malta the necessary repairs for their voyage.' " I thus merely glance at the Vice-Admiral's public despatches of this battle, and in which not a word but the highest encomium is bestowed by him on the Genoa in common with the Albion. And if the proceedings of the Asia were, as he says in those despatches, applicable to most of the other ships of the fleet, surely I may at least say it must be more so to the Genoa, who was so conspicuously placed in the fore front of the battle, and suffered as I shall in the sequel showi - you, more than any other ship did. But immediately after sending these despatches to his Royal Highness the Lord High Admiral, the Vice-Admiral issued a general order on the fourth day after the battle. It is dated Asia, the 24th of October, 1826, in the port of Navarin,' and was sent in an envelope under his seal to me, as Commander of the Genoa, on service (which date, by the way, is a material feature in my case for the Court to have the goodness to bear in mind), and which I now produce and read to the Court.— " GENERAL ORDER. " Asia, 24th Oct. 1827, in the port of Navarin. " ' Before the. united squadron remove from the theatre, where they have gained so complete a vic tory, the Vice-Admiral, Commander-in-Chief, is de sirous of making known to the whole of the officers seamen, and marines, employed in them, the high sense which he has of their gallant and steady con duct on the 20th instant. " 4 He is persuaded that there is no instance of the fleet of any one country showing more complete union of spirit and of action than was exhibited by the squadrons of the three allied Powers together in this bloody and destructive battle. " He attributes to the bright example set by his gallant colleagues the Rear-Admirals, the able and ardent support which the ships of the several squadrons gave to each other during the heat and confulion of the battle. " 4 Such union of spirit and of purpose, such coolness and bravery, under fire, and such conse quent precision of their guns, insured a victory over the well prepared arrangements of greatly superior numbers; and the whole Turkish and Egyptian fleets have paid the penalty of their - treacherous breach of faith. " The boasted Ibrahim Pacha promised not to quit Nayarit), or oppose the allied fleet, and basely broke his word. The allied commanders promised to destroy the Turkish and Egyptian fleets, if a single gun was tired at either of their flags, and with the assistance of the brave men whom they have had the honour of commanding, they have performed tlreir promise to the very letter. Out of a fleet composed of 60 men of war, there remains only one frigate and 15 smaller vessels, in a state ever to be again put to sea. Such a victory cannot be gained without a great sacrifice of life ; and the Comman der-in-Chief has to deplore the loss of many of the best and bravest men which the fleet contained. The consolation is, that they died in the service of their country, and in the cause of suffering humanity. " TheCommander-in-Chief returns his most cordial thanks to his noble colleagues, the two Rear- Admirals, for the able manner in which titey di rected the movements of their squadrons, and to the Captains, Commanders, Officers, seamen, and Royal Marines, who so faithfully obeyed their orders, and so bravely completed the destruction of their opponents. (Signed) " EDWARD CODRINGTON, " 6 Vice-Admiral and Commander-in-Chief.' " After such encomiums, beginning and endiif►g with thanking all, without the least exception any where even hinted at,—after I myself, as well as my officers, had also in the evening of the battle received from the Vice-Admiral himself personally, when lie came On hoard the Genoa to visit Captain Bathurst, as it is already proved in the evidence before you of Captain Smith and several other officers, the warm est and most unqualified expression of approbation, passing, as he then did, the highest encomium on all of us;—notwithstanding all these accumulated expressions of satisfaction on his part,ar►d when more titan one Year and eight months had elapsed with out the slightest imputation in the interval being, insinuated even by him against me on the contrary, and when military honours of the Bath, of St. Louis, and of St. Ann, had been conferred on me by theie - Mjesties, our most gracious Sovereign, the Em peror of Russia, and the King of France; and when I had retired from the din of war, to repose in the bosom of my family, and in the esteem of my friends and companions in arms, with these distinctions which I have now the honour to wear, I could not but be astonished that charges should at length be adduced against me, diametrically the reverse of the Vice-Admiral's public despatches, and of his general order, and so incompatible and contradictory to them. But if the public despatches and the general order must be true (and it is utterly impossible they can be otherwise), then they alone present a perfect and complete two-fold negative to these charges (such negative being previously prepared, as it were, by the Vice• Admiral himself), and I submit that in a like sense this also is an observation well applying to myself—first, as having gone into action as com mander of the Genoa, and next, as succeeding Capt. Bathurst as captain in the temporary command of her for all the remainder of it. If the Vice- Admiral could at the end of three days after the battle, with all the means of reference he. had or might choose to make to others, as well as from his own personal observation, and with full deliberation on the merits of all engaged, and when the conduct of every one was fresh in his apprecia tion,—if, I say, he then felt he had the least grounds for charge against any, but owed to all to say that a zealous execution of the service was their charac teristic, how incompatible is it, that, notwithstand ing all this, he should—at the distance, too, of 20 months—venture to hold me up as the only indivi dual amidst the whole of the combined squadrons who was a fit subject of the - charges he has now brought, and should at length say he had no reason to approve of the conduct of the Genoa from the time the command had devolved upon me. And how still more incompatible is it, that in his evidence he should now have even gone so far as to say, that it was at Nayarit) he reproved me for my neglect of duty, in not using the springs, when at that very instant I received from him, under his own seal and signature, the high testimonial I now produce of his approbation, without the least qualification► or ex ception introduced into it, which he issued to every commanding officer in the united squadron, and ad dressed to myself personally ; and it is not the least remarkable, that this should be at the same moment when he would now say he was complaining of my tardiness in refitting the Genoa, and of n►y inatten tion in suffering her mizen•mast to go by die hoard for want of being properly secured ; and all this is what I alluded to when I asked the Court kindly to bear in mind its date, And to this I would add, that the Genoa was actually reedy for sea on the 24th, at the very hour of six o'clock p.m:, at which I had engaged with the Admiral she should be, as I shall further show Yon in evidence, and we sailed from Nayarit), as it is alrtady proved to you, the next d a y, at seven a.m.; an iving a t Malta, not ! withstanding the slackness imputed to me, 20 hours even before the Vice-Admiral himself did. " The importance of all these observations, if in the judgment of tlA i mtrtlbt:§4ny Ap)lli in them, will not, I ray, fail of their due influence on this occasion; and, brought as I am before this honourable Court, under all the circumstance I have adverted to, and on imputations the very contrary of that which the Vice-Admiral's public despatches, his general order, and his personal acknowledgments had imported, whilst I most anxiously court your decision, I am confident that any prejudice which even may have been excited in his mind, and so long as it should seem latent there, must now be dispelled, and my own character be completely yin (heated by this investigation. But let me now, Sir, approach to the Vice-Admiral's charges, and the evi dence by which their affirmative is sought. " The negative, by every rule controlling the prac tice of all our Courts of Justice, civil and military, as an immutable principle, 1, the party accused, am not, in any respect, bound first to establish. The affirmative must be proved by the party making the charge, or of course he fails in establishing it; and if he does so fail, then, wholly or proportionably, the charges are not proved. And the Court will bear in mind that the whole which has at present been adduced is, on the part of the prosecution, called by the Judge-Advocate as the prosecutor, or by the Court itself, to establish an affirmative of the charges. And here, if we look at its nature, we shall presently see that it abounds with discrepancies and contradictions throughout, in many instances so conflicting and contradictory as actually proving the very reverse of every proposition contained in the charges, and an absolute negative to each and every one of them. " The Court examined the witnesses frequently, wholly anticipating what had occurred to me, so that little remained for myself to do on cross-examina• tion ; and although even under those restraints which your Courts always impose on legal advocates on these occasions, I might have. offered objections to a very great part of what is entered on your mi nutes, which, as hearsay, matters of inference, or opinion, or conversation with others, at which I was not present, and the like, not being such as in our civil courts could be received as evidence, I felt it was better for me not to object to. Twice, only, during the whole case of the prosecution, have presumed to interpose with the course the Court adopted, feeling, as I most unfeignedly do, in what honourable hands all that is so dear to me is placed. " The Vice-Admiral, as soon us he was called as a witness, was most anxious to explain to the Court that it was not his wish nor desire to have made any of the charges with a view to the assembling of a Court-martial,•—that he would have avoided it, and had wholly refused being concerned as pro secutor, but that the Admiralty having themselves ordered a Court-martial, and required him to attend and give evidence on what he had written to them, it remained for him only to bow with deference to their superior authority ; but when he was called again on Monday, the 31st of August, the sth day, to give further evidence, he wished to offer obser vations to the Court which they could not receive, and made a request with which they could not com ply; and before he was examined, notwithstanding what he had already urged, he could not refrain expressing rather his regret that lie was not the prosecutor, saying that if he had been so, from having seen the evidence in the public newspapers, lie should, by cross-examination, have shaken the whole or some of the evidence out of Court (I notice this without any comment of my own.) — And on his subsequently, at another day, pressing the Court to receive the letters and correspondence which had passed between the Admiralty and himself in relation to his charges, which, as they were not evidence of facts I could but submit to the Court they were not so, leaving it to your judgment to receive them or not, and you decided they could not be received ; but I certainly have nothing to do with them, or either with his reluctance or willingness to be a prosecutor; it is not for me to interfere at all en the occasion, but enough for me to know that I am here the accused party, having only to rebut the question before the Court, which is, whether I am guilty or not guilty of the charges imputed to me; and it is only for me to repel the imputation ; but, from the production of the correspondence between the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty and Sir Edward Codrington, I feel called upon to express my gratitude to their Lordships for the decision they have been pleased to come to on this matter. Truly have they shown themselves the fathers of the service and the guardians of the honour of its offi cers. The protection which in the outset they have extended to me, by affording me the opportunity of a fair trial, must be felt through the whole of the service as the highest boon which their Lordships could confer on its members, and the surest gua rantee of future justice. And it is therefore a con solation to all of us to know that accusations like these do not come to the Admiralty without their directing the best means in their power for ascer taining their true grounds, and affording the accused an opportunity of exculpation. But here, whether the Admiralty or the Vice-Admiral prosecutes, it is no difficult problem to solve that the charges ema nate solely from the Vice-Admiral himself,—that they spring from his own mind, and that his letters are alone the source and the foundation whence their Lordships, seeing how grave they were, felt it their duty to direct this Court-martial. " The Court, for facilitating its proceeding, had adopted the suggestion of the Judge-Advocate, ar ranging under different heads the charges as he found them in the letters; and, no doubt reflecting on the imputations arising.out of them with a feeling ho nourable to himself, he designated them in the milder term of allegations,' and called the evidence ap plying to each distinctly ; but as the letters convey the charges of the Vice-Admiral's own words and connexion, and they form his own text of them and cannot be thoroughly understood without connect ing one with the other, it is best, I humbly feel, that I should take the liberty of adverting to them in the connexion as they so came from himself. I am therefore again and again obliged to advert to those letters, and corning now as I am about to do, to the great mass of evidence which has been adduced during ten days' examining of witnesses, that I may not weary you with scanning over the whole, I shall only recur to a few of the prominent instances, and attempt to show as I go along not only its own discrepancy and its establishing in itself a complete negative to the charges, and also how the evidence and the letters bear on each other. " The Vice-Admiral and Captains Ommanney, Curzon, Baynes, Dral%e, and the others who did not belong to the Genoa, could only speak of the occur rence as it regards the Genoa as spectators : their observations of her when alluding to the period of the battle were both at times wholly interrupted and obscured by the great density of smoke in which all were then involved, and this for the most part of the battle; and their accurate recollection is too much impaired by the lapse of time intervening : and called, as they were, accurately to speak to oc currences of 20 months, without having made par ticular observations at the time, it was impossible any one could speak with precision, and all were ho nourably anxious to qualify their evidence accord ingly; so that their evidence is reduced to belief and conjecture, or inf vrenc e at most ; an d, it m a y be, such is founded on wrong premises, and a misap prehension of occurrences; whilst they ;limit, for the most part, that those who were in the Genoa are the best competent to speak with certainty -of what was done on board of her; and the Vice-Ad miral admitted at length, on Friday last, that the course of this investigation has thrown a doubt on his own memory as to time. " The Vice -Admiral first said that, from the posi tion in which he observed the Genoa, it did not ap pear to him that she made any use whatever of her springs, and that her broadside consequently was not directed to her proper opponent ; and Capt. Curzon was under the same impression, although he admit ted that not being on board the Genoa, he could not tell, and that the extreme density of the smoke was such that they could not tell friends from Turks; and though he had at first thought his ship, the Asia, was receiving some shot from the Genoa, his opinion was altered, unless she had bred her ha-- "S SIIN) , 1 1 how adside, which he had not. then ascertained, conducted him down to Captain Bathurst in tile but which the COurt now have ; and ibis established cockpit. And further, I deny that I was reprove d ' before them that the Genoa never did, during the by the Vice-Admiral, or that at any time I acknove battle, fire her larboard-broadside; besides that, this hedged my recollection of having conducted hint of the Genoa not using her springs, is in contradic- into tire cockpit, as stated in the Vice-Admirale : , 1 tion to the public despatches of the Vice-Admiral, letter of the 14th of June, 1829; for neither of and orders issued by him after the battle in com- i those occurrences did take place; and the Vice- I mendation of all ; and the beautiful position she Admiral, in his letter of the 17th of July, wholly took could not have been taken if her springs had omits this part of his charges, and from whence I I not been used ; and Capt. Curzon, as well as Capt. am to submit that he therefore then abandoned it. Baynes, admitted that she had never altered her po- " Then, Sir, as to Captain Bathurst being:returned : sition with respect to the enemy during the whole by me to the Vice-Admiral in the report of the of the firing, arid that it was the same as when she killed and wounded. Certain it is that he was re anchored ; and though Capt. Ommaney could only i turned rie killed, and which was true in. fact, for 0 say that she did not appear to him to be in the most I have already said he was actually dead when tire favourable position for engaging the ship opposed report was made. He had, as it is in evidence, re' to her, yet he had no opportunity of seeing whether ceived his mortal wound in fifty minutes after the ' she sprung or not after she first anchored, and all battle began, by a grape-shot passing through WI his evidence was constantly qualified with the den- body, lacerating his back-bone, and protruding hi 4 I sity of smoke, and his speaking to recollection : but bowels: arid he afterwards survived this mortal Mr. White, who was master of the Albion, said the wound in the cockpit till about half-past one, not Genoa was placed perfectly right, broad-side to three, a. m., and to the Vice-Admiral I immediately broadside with her opponent, and that her oppo- reported his death. , nent was totally dismasted by the Genoa, and "It is proved that he did retain his faculties, but that her firing was that becoming a British ship it is not proved that he gave orders during the w hole ` of the line; and from Captain Baynes it is eli- , time of the battle, or that after he fell he ever issued ' cited that the opponent of the Genoa was corn- an.order of any kind. After the battle, I made n l l I pletely silenced, the two line of battle ships opposed official written return of killed and wounded to the to the Asia and Genoa having fallen on board each Viced Admiral, about two, p. m., on the 21st of Oe' other ; arid the Vice-Admiral admitted that he was tober, and at that time Captain Bathurst having bees 1 , delighted with tire seaman-like and courageous dead more than twelve hours, as it has been p r ove, manner in which the Genoa took up her anchorage, to you , I returned him in the list of killed an under circumstances of no ordinary difficulty; arid wounded, as killed; mid the assistant-surgeon, wh ° although when the smoke cleared at intervals he ob- was examined before you as to his list of killed served the Genoa was not using her springs, yet he and wounded, whether he returned any amongst th e said no signal was made to her by him, nor airy COM- former who died after the battle of their w ounds' tnurdeation, nor any thing done to that effect; and and were returned also as dead, although eas e; el although the next day the Vice-Admiral would, on i many he could not speak to, and there were sotee referring to the minutes on this part of his evidence, he did not recollect, yet he believed there were tw° have explained that the Asia had 110 boat left that such instances as Captain Bathurst, but thi s: I sub' he could send to the Genoa, Yet it was afterwards mit cannot be in the least material to the p re set I shown that the Genoa herself sent a boat with the question. And although the Vice-Admiral charges 1• master, and a hawser, to assist the Asia in getting that I procured the surgeon's signature to the re clear of the Turkishfrigate, then on fire; yet it does turn, and would hence insinuate an impropriety is not appear from the Vice-Admiral or Capt. Curzon so doing (and which I repel, u tt e rly disavowing that the least observation was then made to tire and disdaining any sinister object thereby). " I et , master by either of them, with reference to any dis- tend I could riot at that time have made any o ther satisfaction the Vice-Admiral might have then felt return. It did not occur to me that I could, whe li at the Genoa not using her springs; nor was any making it up, state otherwise, for C a pt a in Dr message sent to her by the master at that time, nor *burst was then dead. And here if I need Pr . ; ti) e at any other during the battle, in that respect, from cedents for such a return, the pages of our liiiteu the Vice-Admiral; and it was in positive terms said afford me innumerabl e . B u t I wou ld a d ve rt . A l' iii by Capt. e.:urzon, that no English shot were afien. one of the 'most striking—that of the i m mortr wards found in the course of the repair of the Asia ; Nelson, %vim fell in this ship. He, lik e Capt a te beyond this, as the Court must see that in all Bathurst, was struck, and mortally wo und': crises of evidence on the trial of any alleged matter- in the battle of Trafalgar, arid expired after CI of-fact at issue, whether in a naval, a military, or civil battle; yet lie was returned as killed, a n d it on Court, the best evidence is, in every principle of not be otherwise consistent with sound sense. Justice, always required. This principle was, in the might quote also the instances of G enera l Well e i fullest latitude, soon recognized. Capt. Curzon Sir Ralph Abercrombie, and Sir John Moore, Il e himself in giving his evidence, when, to a question many others who were wounded, but did not el ' asked him by the Court, whether he knew at any time until after the battle ; they were all returnel during the action, the springs were used on board killed. And as to the log which , the Vice-Adini, the Genoa, his answer was, and most emphatic it is offered as evidence on this charge, I must het °' —. 4 I cannot know ; I was not on board the Genoa, touch on its two entries as applyin g to CartainP; Pr o and therefore I cannot tell.' This speaks volumes thurst, and which the Vice-Admiral now urges l for me on this point, and shows that none but another proof of mis-statement, but h ow he those who were on board the Genoa could tell through airy medium so view it, I am utterly a t o f whether the springs were used or not ; and it should loss to divine. The first entry is on the 20th I seem as if the Court themselves were impressed October, 1827, thus—' At 3. 2t). Capt. Bather,:, ; as I trust they were, with this most obvious print- mortully wounded and taken below, Captain Di, - ciple, for they immediately called Captain Robinson, kenson took the command.' The n e xt en try is Lieutenant Sturt, arid Captain' Smith; Captain the 2 1 st of October, 1827, thus -' At 2., Capte - h e Robinson being then Second Lieutenant stationed Bathurst died, when Captain Dickenson took t h e on the lower deck ; Lieutenant Sturt being Fourth command.' Now both these are strictly consistli f l Lieutenant, stationed also at another part of the with fact. When Captain Bathurst was . mortei er ,' lower deck; and Captain Smith, being the First wounded, it was my duty, by the rules of the F' ,4 pending his existence. When he died it was viol: e t Lieutenant of the Genoa, who all fully confirmed vice, to take the command, in abeyance as it *s_ g e f l that the Genoa was constantly, as much as possible, kept in the position she originally took, completely my duty to retain the command ad interim till i ' . abreast of her opponent ; and that when she began other Captain was permanently appointed : a n at all to verge from it, instantly the springs were both instances the log in its usual b r i e f entr y in j : used to bring her back into her proper position, shape of minutes only says, ' I took the cor nmse er abreast ofher opponent; and that every soul, officers and 1 say consistent with truth it could not be 0113 ,4 and men, on the lower deck, were employed therein wise. It has been noticed by the Vice-Admiral t when necessary, myself going down on the occasions these two being without any di s ti nc ti on or differe n I . to the lower deck, and set ting the example of haul- are a further proof of mis-statement, but this I d eer i ing on the spring; that the Genoa's starboard broad- Captain Smith was asked why the entries were • side generally, and not merely her stern and quarter and that it should be stated in both that I mit t guns, were fired with the best effect on her oppo. command: to which he very sensibly answestadrt 1 neat, turd it was impossible any officer could have though at so remote a period of twenty-two m o tet s e e done more, or shown more anxiety, than I did he could not answer for what exactly prevailed i throughout the action, to conduct myself as became his mind at the moment of making the entry, i e me. Those are indeed stubborn facts, all complet e ly now appeared to him both were correct,—the e negativing not only the charge of my not using the wanting only the word' temporary' to make it 0/ 7 springs, but affirmatively of my own general conduct; plete, as Captain Bathurst was utterly incapa ble o , l and the most ample further evidence on this head Judging the movements of th e s hip ; an d I Ob it as to the springs will yet be afforded, when I shall to :he Court there is no incorrectness in the have called my own witnesses, who,!heing on board with or without that word introduced, for it is ste y l a minute of the fact which took place,—namely , l i e the Genoa, can alone confirm Captains Smith and I did then at once take the command of the a Robinson and Lieutenant Stull, us to her positive position and use of her springs. And as to an y and consequently fought her for the remainder of conversation I might have had with Captain Cur- battle. i kil l zon, when I was on board the Asia after the battle, "My return to the Vice-Admiral of the about the springs, it was more casual and cursory, each and wounded happened at first to have had ° f recurring to the battle, as it was natural we should,and two columns in it, one for killed, the other . d I was inquiring of hire,--doubting, as it appears evi- wounded, — not contradistinguishing it by s e r, detitly from his own evidence,—whether the Asia columns, as it has now, the severely wounded , ; herself had used her springs, and on his answering the slightly wounded,—and when the Vice-Alu m e , O that she had, be says I told him that my own exer- saw my return, he required it to be altered, wate rs tions to have the Genoa's used had not succeeded; additional column, to distinguish betw e en se but in this latter he is wholly mistaken. I deny that and slightly 'wounded, and on his ordering it ' I said that I had not succeeded therein, as it would given back to Lieutenant Robinson), the bearer c),„, have been contrary to the fact; but were I to-at- for such an alteration to be made, the rer i fel tempt to go through the mass of evidence which has brought back to me, and an additional colltm la r e i already occupied the Court ten whole days, I should diately inserted, but still having Captain 13 0 b i le ti, • not only weary them but bewilder myself. The far the list of killed, and this I affirm was the only , greater part, I submit, is not evidence beating on the lay which occurred inn making it, and the v i c . , 0 17, i l despatches were delayed one hour thereby; %eel charges, and I could only cull.from it what does pro- miral's memory also wholly fails him that l lisr ti tt lr' perly bear, and which, as I go along with my own observations and explanations, I shall be continually Vice-Admiral again received the return, and l a , ti recurring to. diately transmitted it to his Royal Highn e f iellt " And in the first place, in allusion to th e charge Lord High Admiral, with the other returns e. 1 a arising out of the return I made to the Vice-Admi- and wounded, and they appear inn his offic, la i rul of the killed and wounded, and which it should vetches of the 21st October, 1827, arid 1 !„ 1 y et - . seem from the alleged consequences of th a t re t urn , London Gazette Extraordinary of the 18th 14 " ,qt and some wrong notion being entertained of it (as ber, 1827. But before so transmitting it, llt io ti in the return—' Was 5 . 0 , , the Vice-Admiral has conceived, and has thought his own hand, wrote thus, opposite o ld proper to state), an honorary distinction was eon- Batlintses name, ferred upon me which would not otherwise have wounded, and died during the night,' addlrl,lej been, and to the inadvertence, in the hurry and own signature, as the original list sent by him i,u_d anxiety I was in immediately after the battle, in re- Lord High Admiral, and now on your table, sn e e fitting the Genoa and getting her again ready for This, then, was the only public official docuoll action, which was effected with the utmost despatch, the Captain's death returned to the Lord Hig! f " ' the mistake (if it really were so) of including the miral, and there was inn this, es so sent, ''''d late Commodore Bathurst in the list of killed, be- statement of mine. It had previously to its • cause at the time of making the return he was dead, mission to the Admiralty been corrected Ild though he had not expired till after the battle, it is Vice-Admiral by his addenda, explaining ths t e i now imputed to me was done with a most sinister taint Bathurst had died dur in g the night iePols design ; and as it is the entire burden of the Vice- mainta i n t h at t h e re was 110 virtual distinct,;:el, Admiral's first letter to the Admiralty, and there- tween e i t her my, report or the Vice-Admiralo l . fore the first in order, as it originated from him, I rec tion of it. he latter only explained that l'feet would first call the attention of the Court to it. Bathurst did not die in battle, but the night i' 4 " The Vice-Admiral, in that first letter of the though the Vice-Admiral appears tome to ha', 14th of June, to their Lordships, stated that Cap- derstated the nature of the wound. The CuP) tain Dickenson reported Captain Bathurst as killed have noticed , had been dead of the mortal W 0 7 1 0, e ill the action, &c. ; and in his second letter of the received long before my report was made. Ya 24th of June, he states that ' Captain Dickenson lost to his country and the service the instuntio, , reported Captain Bathurst killed, although he did on the deck; and whether he died inn the h' l o o l l l' not die until about three o'clock in the morning of soon afterwards, of that wound, it could be of 0 1 1 1 ,' the 21st of October, and after he had himself con- meta, the lamentable result was the same; e t , ducted him to him on the evening of the 20th.' In Vice. Admiral is, I submit, in this, making's°, , his letter to their Lordships of the 17th of July he service at least, a distinction without a ditfeni r gives a different version of this, stating that Captain And here I may truly -say, in reference to lid Dickenson returned Captain Bathurst as killed, and Bathurst, that his gallant spirit was still int iee j procured the surgeon's signature to that return, the conduct of his ship. Though etde,' 01' knowing that he did not die until many hours after honour divided his last moments with his , i fi the battle was over, and that he retained iris facul- for his family, it is on evidence that no order, ties to give orders during the whole time of the him reached me to direct my judgment on the I battle, and that by this min -statement he gained an which his fall had placed me inn. But. h e had honorary distinction.' These also are his very the impulse : his example and his orders ‘' if words, and•this statement is an enlargement of the lowed up ; and if, its I trust it will aPPe' ee r two former; but in justice to myself lam bound to praise which the Vice-Admiral vouchsafed to le say, the whole are founded, not only in obviotte on the Genoa at the time was well incompatibility, but absolutely impossibility of ee- i '-'apt. Bathurst that the glory of it is due; ll' s , isting in fact; and when analysed I shall, in the Ifollowers in the fight feel consoled for his lobs w iequel, show that they utterly fail of : - .! , e deduction I justice of the tribute then paid to his mew° which is attempted to be made from slrem, so that I Would that he had lived ! He would then irs they are reduced to nothing. But in t -- ,emonstration joyed his own reward—this honourable Court of what 1 urge, I would in the first place submit to have been spared this inquiry—l should have you, that it is proved by Captain Smith and other i the painful and invidious situation in which 1 .officers, that when the Vice- Admiral came on board, ' and, above all, my country would have been, on the evening of the 20 n, to visit Captain Ba- ' the distressful necessity of such a scene. A tliurst, it was Captain Smith, and not myself, who ever, I ought originally, is my report of his deserved, /Ili