The Sun. — London, England, 1819-01-09 00:00:00

WI A L ARBuTriNoT rind VINLJTES OF, THE k:toCECDINGS OF A' SPECIAL C()U RT. (Continued from our Paper of yesterday.) ,Williarn •Hambly, a witness on the part of the prosecution, being duly sworn, and commencing statt went of what be heard the Chiefs say, and tire prisoner objecting to hearsay evidence of that !chid, the :Court was cleared in order to take the tinestion ; when they decided that the . prisooer's c ion was not •valid. The witness was there.: recalled, and stared, that 15 or 20 clays after tie vc ironer arrived 214 Ockiocknee, the Seminole 11,diaus began to steal horses from . the United Sates' settlements, and committed murders on tie Satilla River, which, lie was informed by them, was at the instigation of the prisoner. .The Chiefs of the Little Villages in , witness's neighbourhood then desired him to write a few lines to the prisoner, stating those reporti, and that he did not know that those Indians he was exciting had Icing been outlawed, and cautioning him against s'nel, f.roceedings, or he might be in volved in their ruin. This the witness did ; when the prisoner wrote him a long and insultiag letter, which was lost, upbraiding the witness tor call ing those Indians outlaws, and accusing him of exciting the Indians to cruel war. The witness tics told by the Chiefs and Indiani who had seen the prisoner, that he adviied them to go to war lar;• h the United States, if they did not surrender th'em the lands which had been taken,froM them, end that the British Government would suppor; theta in it. • Tice ludians that took the witness and a certain Doyle prisoners, which happened on the 13th oi December last, told thefo that it was by the inisoner's orders i and on their arrival at Mick as,,ky (as prisoners), King Elijah and all his G,iets told them that it was by the ptisoner's or 7 this they were taken and robbed. On their ar livid at Suwany they were told .by the Indians and Negro Chiefs, who sat in Council over them, tHat the prisoner had advised that he should be gi'veo up to five or six Chocktaw Indians, who were saved from the Negro Fort, who would re vr7lige themselves for the: loss of their fiiends tut that place. On their return. from Suwany, the Chief King Hijah told them that he . 111.0 got the prisone - r to write several letters for him, one to the Governor of Providence, one to the British Minister at Washington, one to the Secretary of Stave in London, and one to the American Agent - for Indian Affairs, protesting against the proceeds ir.gs of the Commanding Officer at Fort Scott, the uitness was at Suwanv, the Indian Chiefs told him that the prisoner had arrived at th3t place with ten kegs of powder out board his vessi ; and whilst at Fort St. Mark's, some time in March, Ilillisajah or Francis, brought an order from the prisoner to the Commandant for two ' kegs of powder, with other articles which were iitn his possession. 'Question by the Court.—Were any murders or depredations committed on the IVhite Settlements by - the Indians previous•to the prisoner's arrival at Ocklocknee ?—A. None, except one murder at Fort Gaines, which was before or about the tune of the prisoner's arrival. Q. flow long have you resided aloong , the In dians ; state lo the Court whether you . are ac quainted with the Indian language ; and how long since you learned it ?—A. I have resided among them fourteen years, and hare understood their language twelve years. Q. th, you believe the Seminoles would have commenced the business of murder and depreda tions on the White Settlements, had it not been at the instigation of the prisoner, and a promise on his part of British protection ?—A. I do not believe they would, without they had been assur td of British- protection. Tue evidence on the part of the prosecu tion being closed,, the prisoner requested Ro bert C. Ambrister as one .of his witnesses, against whom criminal charges had been filed, aml Nebo was in custody on account thereof, to which rite Judge Advocate objected ;- the Court was cleared to take its sense, when it was' decided that Rob?rt C. Antbrister, now in custody for similar otietices with C.e prisoner, cannot be examined as evidence before this Court. - Fort St. Mark's, 2Stb April, Four o'clock, P. M. The Recorder having read over the proceed ings of the Court with closed doors, the pri4oner was recalled, into the Court, and made the . De fence marked K., and-attached to•these proceed- The dOors were then Qlosed, and after roost mature deliberation on the evidence atl. i agS. chiceil, Ihe Court find ' the prisimer, Alexander Arbuthnot, guilty of the first specification to the first charge, and goilty of the first charg,e— , -gnilty of the second specification of the second charge, and guilty of the second charge, leaving out the Words--" acting as spy." They, therefore, do, on the most mature reflection, sentence the lsri• sorter, Alexander Arbuthnot, to be suspended by the neck until be is dead, two-thirds of the Court concurring. EDMUND GAINES, Major-General by Brevet, President of the Court. J. M. GLASSELL, Recorder. DEFENCE K. ' Mayit please this Honourable Court—The pri, loner arraigned before you is sensible of the 'in dulgence granted by this Honourable Court, in the examination of the case.now before them.— It is not the wish of the prisoner, in making his defence, to try the patience of the Court by a minute reference to the volumitions documents and papers, or to recapitulate the whole of 'the testimony which has.come before the Honourable Cont.?, in the course of this investigation. Nor is.it the intention of the prisoner to waste the involiiable time of this Court, by appeals to their feelings or sympathy, though I am persuaded that tympat by no where More abounds than in a ge nerous American breast. My only appeal is to th e sound and impartial judgment of this Honour- Hide Court, the purity and uprightness of their, hearts, that they will, dispassionately and, pa tiently, weigh the evidence they have.before thew, a pfly tl.je latv,rintl'on these, and these alone, pro nt.lnikce t ;heir , • It t his Hon. 'Court _please,. I shall now proceed • to exatnitic the la 4, and evidence that is r elied on, by this Hon.. Court, in snpport of the first charge and specification. Winslett, a witness on the part of the prosecn- Hon, says, 'the Little rrince showed him a letter written in June last, signed A. Arbuthnot, re questing his friendship. with the lower nation of Indians. The same williess stated, that he be lieved the letter to be now in the possession of the yule Prince. Here, may it please this Hon. Court, I will call th e i r a t ten ti on .to the law relat ing (0 evidence. First, presuming that the roles of evidence are the same, whether in civil or military tribunals,' M'Couib, 96. This point bein4 conceded, the next inquiry is—what are the rules of evidence with respect to the ad mission of letters or papers of private cotres pondenee, in a Coon of Criminal Jurisdic tion ? May •it please this Hon. COurt, must yen not produce the ori•ginal letters and papers, if they are mot lost, or mislaid, so that they cannot be obtaitied ; and in case they are lost, proof must be made of the banal-writing being the same as that of the original, before they can be received as evidence ? M'Comb on courts-martial ; Peake's evidence ; Gilbert's law of evidence. No instance can be cited where the copy of a letter was read as evidence, when the Original could be obtained, much less the giving in evidence the contents of such letter from bare recollection. The only proof that this Honourable Court has of the existence of such letter being in the bands of any person, or its contents being known, is the vagrant memory of 'a vagrant individual. Make this rule of 'evidence, and I ask you when would implication, construction, and invention stop Whose property, whose reputation, and whose life wooldbe safe ? Here •1 would beg leave to mention a remark made by the )'resident of the Court, in the course of this investigation, which was, that not withstanding the letter was proved by the witness to he in the possession of the Little Prike, that this Cohn could not no tice that circumstance, because there was no means by which it could be obtained. I would ask the Honourable Court, what means they have adopted, or what exertions have they made, to pri;cute this letter ? If the Honourable Court please, I shall here close the defence of the first charge and specification, believing that they are neither supported by law nor evidence. May it please the Honourable Court, I will now come to the second charge and specification of that charge. In support of this charge and spe cification, the evidence is a letter written to my son. It" the Court please, this letter was written it) consequence of: my property at Sahwanee, and the large debts that wet e due to me from Bow,. legs and his people. Nothing I believe of an in flammatory nature cat) be found OH reading the document marked A, anthorizing the opinion that I was prompting the Indians to war, On the contrary, if the honourable Court will examiue the document marked A, they will see that, I wished to lull their fears, by informing them that it was the Negroes, and not the Indians, the Americans were principally moving against.— If tie Honourable Court , please, I will make a few remarks upon the second specifi calkion, and here close my defence. • In proof of this Charge, the Court have before them the evidence of Hambly, Cook, and sundry letters purporting to be written by myself to different individuals. May it please the Court, what does Cook prove ? Why, that I had ten kegs of pow der at Sahwanee; let me appeal to the expe rience of this Court, if they think that this quan tity. of powd e r w ou ld s u pply 1000 Indians, and an equal number of Blacks, more than two mouths for hunting? As to the letters named in this specification, may it' please the Court, the rules of evidence laid down in the first .part of this defence .will apply with equal force in the present case. It remains now, may it please the Court, to say something as to Hambly's testimony ; and, n►ay it please this Honourable Court, the rule laid:clown in this case, as to the hearsay evidence, will be found without a precedent. A strong case was stated by an intelligent Member of the Court. on the:examination of this part of the evidence. That is, would you receive as testimony what a third person had said, whom, if present, you would re ject as incompetent ? Apply this principle to the present case. Could an Indian be examined on oath► in our. Courts of Judicature ? If, then, the testimony of savages is inaumisSible, Hambly proves nothing. Here, may it please this Honourable Court, I close my reply to the charges and specifications preferred against me, being fully persuaded that, should there be cause of censure, my judges will, in the language of the law, lean to the side of mercy. Continuation of the Minutes of the Proceedings of a Special Court; whereof Major-General Gaines is President, don-. retied by. Order of the Dlth of April, 1818— Fort St. MarlA, 2ftlt April, 1E68; The Court proceeded to the trial of Robert C. Amblister, a British subject, who being asked if he had any objections to any one of the 11tutbers of the Court, and rc•plyinf; in the negative, was arraigned on ti e following charges and specifica tions, viz.:— Charges against Robert C. Ambilster, now in custody, who sass lie is a British subject. Chaue Ist abetting, and comforting the enemy, suppling them with the means of war, he being a .subject of .Great' Britain, sit peace with the United ,States,. and lately an Of ficer in the British Colonial Marines. Specification Ist.—Th4t the said Robert C. An►brister did give intelligence of the movements and operations of the American army be'tween the Ist and 20th of March, ISIS, and did excite them (the Negroes • ai►d Indians) to war against the army of the United States, by sending their war riors to meet and fight ; the American army— whose'Government was at peace and friendship with the United States and all her citizens; Charge ,2d.--Leading and commanding_ the I g ower. Creeks in carrying on a war against the United States. SpecVcatipn lst.—That the said Robert C. Atn brisier, a sidject of Great Mitaln, which Go vernment wAs 1n peace arid amity with the United States and all her citizens, did, between the Ist of. IFebruarymnd 20th of, Nlarch, ISIS, levy war against the Unitektates, by asSnming..a corn- Aland of ti.e Indians in fiostility ;ildopZil with the United States, ana ordering a ,P 30 57 o f them to meet the army of the United States and give them battle, as will appear by his letters to Governor Cameron, of New Providence, dated March 20, 1818, which are - marked A, B, C, and D, and the testimony of Mr. Peter 13. Cook and Captain Lewis, of the schooner Chance. By order of the Court, J. M. GLASSELL, Recorder. To which Charges snd Specifications, he plead ed as follows, : tf, To the first Charge and Specification—Not Guilty. To the second Charge and Specification—Guilty and Justification.. • The Court. adjourned, to meet, to-morrow morning, at seven o'clock. [To be continued.] NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. EXPEDITION wider Captain ROSS and Lieutenant PARRY, in the Isabella and .4lexancler. [From the last Number of Br...wavy-was Edinburgh Magazine.] • (Concluded from 'rile SUN of Yesterday.) On passing near the southern point of Lancas ter Sound, the depth of water had increased to upwards of 1,000 fathoms. Close to this point we landed on a fine sloping sandy beach, at the bot tinn of a little bay, into which a river of running water was falling, whose width might be from 50 to 60 yards, and the water above knee deep.— The flat ground through which it ran was free from ice, and. appeared to be covered with, a to lerably good soil, in which were growing a varie ty of plants. On the banks were found a piece of a fir-tree, or branch, about five. inches in dia meter, and a piece of birch balk. We went through the ceremony of taking possession of this land in the name of his Majesty, which, 1 fear, is only putting " a barren sceptre in his - hand," though of all the places we had yet seen since we crossed the Arctic circle, this is by far the most inviting ; and, indeed, were it not for the high peaked mountains, partially covered wiih snow, which'bound the valley ,on each side,, we could not possibly have. supposed ourselves to be in the high latitude of 74 deg. especially on looking seaward, and seeing not a particle of ice as far as the eye could reach. The month of SepteMber had now set in, and the :disappointment experienced _in Lancaster Sound cast a damp on all our future proceedings. We continued to the south-eastward, along the land, which, we saw at intervals, hut kept at a very respectable distance from it. We saw seve ral openings, but examined none. The sea con tinued clear of ice, and the weather moderate, but seldom clear: We landed somewhere about lat. 70, and found traces of natives, but saw none. Near this place too we fell in with the largest iceberg which had yet occurred. The Alexander's boat was three hours nearly in rowing round . it. It was found, by measurement, to. be upwards of two miles in length, and 'almost as many in breadth,. and above fifty feet above the surface. All hands began, to calculate its contents in cubic feet, which my memory will not allow me to state, but its weight was settled to be some twelve or thirteen millions of tons. On the s.utnnsit of this iceberg was a large bear, who, in perceiving us advance to attack him, made a plunge into the sea, from ► the height of fifty feet, and escaped from his! pursuers. We continued to trace the land down to Cape Walsingham, which forms the northern side of the entrance into Cumberland Straits, up which old Davis proceeded 180 miles ; «re did not, however, once attempt to look at them, - but shaped our course fr"om hence to Cape _Farewell. - Here, however, we encountered a most tremendous gale of wind, in which the ships separated, and saw nothing of each other again till their arrival in Brassa Sound, on the 30th October, after a pas sage of three weeks across the Atlantic, and with , in three hours of-each other. Duting this pas sage we had the Aurora Borealis very frequently, and sometimes very grand and beautiful, but we could not perceive that it had the smallest influ ence on the magnetic needle, as we had. been. taught to expect, though this .phenomenon is un questionably connected with magnetism some way or other, as the great luminous arch was generally, though not invariably, bisected by the Magnetic meridian. You will probably expect from me some opi nion as to the existence and practicability of a north-west passage ; but I really feel my se lf to be utterly unable to give airy well founded opi nion -. on the subject. •I may, however, with safe ty assert, that our observations have not supplied us with any grounds whatever for stating, as I perceive has been positively stated in the news papers, and apparently on demi-official authority, that there is no passage from Baffin's Bog into the Pacific. lam perfectly certain, that no officer employed on the . expedition ventured to hazard such an assertion, because no one is competent ' to make op his. mind to _such a decision. But, weie I compelled to deli ve r m y sentiments on this interesting question, I should Say that the whole of this land, from Wolveithelin's Sound round the bead of Baffin's Bay, and down to the north ern coast of Labrador, is so intersected by-nume rous straits or_inlets, that, as far as appearances go, the land of the western side of Davis' Strait and Baffin's Bay is formed into a great cluster ur archipelago of islands, beyond which' is the polar sea ; but whether all, or any, of these straits are, or are not, navigable, is a question that yet re mains to be decided, and which nothing can de cide but practical experience ;- and this I have reason to believe to be the opinion entertained at head-quarters ; for I am extremely happy to in foim you, that the Admiralty have allowed the crews of the two ships to volunteer their services, as it is understood, for another expedition 'next year ; and it is almost Unnecessary to add, every one to a man has volunteered for this service. To say that we have done nothing would not be the truth ; to say that we are satisfied with what we have done, would be equally untrue ; and yet the voyage has not been abortive. It, we bad done nothing more than that of narrowing the wound of inquiry, •it would be something; but it will be found tlitt ,we have accomplish , d mote than this. We have swung the pendulum in lati: tildes where it was never swung before; and le have made such experiments on the dip and nation of the magnetic needle, close to the brag' netic puler as cannot fail to clear- up, in. a ve . considerable degree, the mystery which bank over this intricate subject. Our sudden, departurZ from Doncaster So un d was a su bj e e t o f So Ore', deeper regret, as we had found, close to that inlet.. the variation of the compass above 110 deg. wes t ' and the dip to exceed 86 deg. ; so that, had we continued ti very few d egrees of longitudetbe d westward, perhaps 100 or 120' m il es , - we sbottl certainly have stood on t h e magnet i c po l es , w hen' in all probability our compasses wou l d have cedsci`i to act, at least wi t h an y d egree o f certa i nt y, hoard ship, as we f oun d t h at t h e l oca l attra ctiOd of the iron i n th e s hi ps ( an d espec i a ll y the A!eici ander), increa se d w i t h t h e in crease o f t h e dip 0"( variation ; and t h at th e magnet i c po l ar attracd° decreased in th e same p ro p ort i on ; so t h at, at ho t ' o our compasses bec ame so s l ugg i s h an d se, variable' . that very littl e • d e p en d ence cou ld b e place d them. On this subject our jo urna l s tee m wir h . observation s ma d e i n t h e s hi p, and on t h e ice' with facts that m ust . g i ve a d eat h-bl ow to di e 'theory-of CaptaioFlanders, and some other inge" moos men, who, from a few facts, collected pro: , hably with no great care , r ai se a system i n t heir closets, whi c h, w h e n s u b m i tted to the test of ex' perience, are f oun d woe f u ll y wanting. ts• These few, loose, ha s tily wr i tten hi nts , which e I have throw n t oget h er wh il e the ships are p re' paring to be paid off, will in .some measure put you in possession of the outlines of our proceed' inns, .though they are not calculated to satisfy curiosity so ardent as 1 know, yours to be. — nu t f must reserve the rest t ill 1 h are the pleasur e seeing you, which, I trust, will not, be more di° ten days hence. In the mean time, 1 am, &C•., Deptford, Ist. Dec. 1818. P.S. We have just heard that two gun-I/rig, s have been or d ered up f rom C hatham to Deptford" to be prepared immediately for a particular services which_every body here'says is for the further pr`'' secution of the North-west Passage.—G o d gran t it may be so, and that I may be fortunate e noug4 to be again employed in this interesting enter' prise. A. CORRECT METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. . Thermometer. Weather. ....... - :.: . :-+ • • Z ~- , ..1. ...; I's' ...; • ' ... ..= '7'..• ? 5./' ',. -3 . 1 '• .g -,:, i to ~ ts: 4 .. 7 ° ~.,g ' 'rl C-'4 C'' A , ... • ....... j ai ,. 0 0 u 0 Inches 33 - 36 38 35 30.49 Foggy Fogg/ 3 37 36 40 32 .46 Fair F 4 - '4 35 36 39 31 .30 , - - Do. Do. 5 33 37 4O 36 .28 Foggy Le. 6 38 39 43 37 , .30 Fair . Fa-if 7 41 39 45 36 29.90 Rain Rain 8 39 39 42 40 .b4 .10 Fair Fair.. lundredths inch have in the w•e, Is of all fallen COURSE OF EXCHANGE, Flu DAY, JAN. 8. Amstettlam ... ll .6 C. Ditto, at Sight ll 3 Rotterdam Antwerp ll 9 ExAloncii' Hamburgh 33 9 2i Cfr" Altotia, - Paris, 3 Day's sight 23 60 0 vs' Ditto • 23 80 2 Ifs. . Bourdeanx, ditto • 23 80 '0 (T 6 ' Frankforton the Main • ctif° Madrid 394 F.11.e . e ' Cadizeel' 4 4 E " •r* Bilhoa 39 Effect° 5evi11e..,... - I , Gibraltar 34 ' Barcelona Leghorn Genoa... 4 7i-Venice, Ital. Liv. 25 50 Malta...i ...... .. 50 ----Naples 43 Pal erino Lisbon ..... Oporto Rio Janeiro .3 D0h1in....,.....94..... C0rk..... 94 per Cent. rigio of the Bank on Holland.... B'per Cent. BULLION. Porttr:•,al Gold, in Coin 1,4 3 0 Per Ct; Foreign Gold, in Bars 4 3 0 New Doubloons .... 4 1 6 New Dollars 0 5 6§ 0 5 Si _..... Silver, in Bars COAL MARKET, JANUARY 8. Ships at Market. . Ships sold. Pnce• 4. , r 69 Newcastle . l6i 325, 6u. to 435. s.„. 18 5under1and.............9 - 0 ' I Scotch C0a1... ....,..i1 1 Elgin Man C0a1........0 ........ ...—s. Od. to - - ,s' o d, 1 Welsh Coal _....--• BIRTH. 1;0 On the 7th instant, at Streatham, S urre y, th e L a dy of J°- Meyer, Esq. of a daughter. DIED. On the 31st ult..at Sir James Alexander's, Epsom, M l° Fuller,. in her 5.9 th year. • Oti the 7th instant, in the 360 year of his age, Mr. B e '', jamin Day, of th e .fir m of William Da'and Co. Graccchur cl street. Lately, in Salisbury court, Fleet-street, Daniel Lovell' Esq. Proprietor and Editor of The Statesman Newspaper. f Yesterday afternoon, in Newgate, Wm. Leonardeonc the convicts who was ordered for execution on Tuesday : 101 he was . tis years of age, and was much debilitated. PROVINCIAL BIRTH, MARRIAGES, AND DEATHS•I L3[ ftTLi. Lately, at Moor Hall, the Lady of Francis Zenyon Ha4:s o Esq. of a son and heir. . MA RRI ED. Yesterday se'nnight, the Rev. Samuel Crane, of Nacigatiots School, near Birmingham, to Sarah, fourth daughter of Mr s * Webb, of Great Haywood, Staffordshire. On Thursday se'nnight, at Comliall, Gloucestershire, M i.. chael Walker, Esq. of Wood End House, near that place, t ° Harriet Dorothy, eldest daughter of Lieut.-Colonel Langley • DIED. Lately, at Whitcburch Academy, near Monmouth, the itef• Sanmel Phillips, assistant Minister of St. L Mary's Chapel. On the'4th ult. at Utrecht, a learned Rabbi, named Leo 'hula filogan, in the 103 d year of his age. On the 17th ult. Mr: Thomas Garnett, of Hardacre, near Chapharn, in Craven; for many years he almost denied him ° self the comforts of life, and y e t left 12,0001. to no very near relatives. LONDON: Printed 43. B. CARSTAIRS, of N0 . .29, Great Ormond-street, Queen-square; and published by- W. .A• SCRIPPS, of No. 7, South Molton-street, at Tag SuN Office, No. 112, Strand ; where Adveitisements, Letters ; .&c. (post-paid) must be aldressed. ~~ !! - , • No , 114, 47 de lve, 1 4t4 0 T ticte ' \ • % men, 77,0 ; ualli~ Pti 14 01 0 Nati • 2'4 '?"t fe , A e i or *??, , 11 1 ik74 'qua • ..111