The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-08-30 00:00:00

THE CASE OF CAPTAIN CAREY.

The following letter from the Adjutant-General to the
General Officer commanding in South Africa contains the
remarks of his Royal Highness the Field-Marshal Command-
ing-in-Chief on the Court-Martial on Captain Carey :
Horse Guards, War Office, Aug. 16, 1879.
"Sir,—The proceedings of the General Court-Martial
assembled at Camp, Upoko River, Zululand, on the
12th of June, 1879, for the trial of Lieutenant J. B.
Carey, 98th Ilegiment, on a charge of misbehaviour
before the enemy having been submitted to the Queen,
Her Majesty has been advised that the charge is not
sustained by the evidence, and has accordingly been
graciously pleased not to confirm the proceedings, and
to direct that the prisoner be relieved from all conse-
quences of his trial. Captain Carey is released from
arrest, and will rejoin his regiment for duty.
"The trial having been set aside, the Field-Marsha
Commanding-in. Chief offers no remarks on the pro
ceedings ; but his Royal Highness has received Her
Majesty's commands to make known his ob. ervations
on the occurrences of the let of June last as they have
come under his notice in official reports.
"His Imperial Highness Prince Napoleon was, at
his own request, permitted to proceed to South Africa
in order to witness the operations in Zululand. He
was provided with private letters to Lord Chelmsford
describing his position, and stating that it had not been
thought right, even if it had been possible, to comply
with his earnest desire to be commissioned as an
officer of the British Army. The Commander of the
Forces in South Africa made such arrangements as
seemed to him desirable under the conditions of the
Prince's non-official position, and attached him at
first to his own personal staff, and afterwards, with a
view to provide him with occupation, to the depart-
ment of the Quartermaster-General.

"The Prince was treated in all respects as if he had
been a junior officer of the General Staff, with• this
exception—that Lord Chelmsford gave the most strin-
gent instructions that his Imperial Highness was not
to be permitted to proceed on any distant reconnois-
sance without his special permission, and that, when
employed in surveying operations in close proximity
to the camp, his party was always to be provided
with a sufficient escort and to be accompanied by an
officer.

"His Royal Highness desires it to be known that
he entirely approves of Lord Chelmsford's arrange-
ments for the reception and occupation of the Prince;
and that he considers the orders issued for his pro-
tection were marked with judgment and adapted to
the occasion.
"The reconnoissance which the Prince was allowed
by Lieutenant- Colonel Harrison, the Assistant
Quartermaster-General, to make on the Ist of June
extended to a considerable distance from the camp.
Lord Chelmsford's permission had not been sought or
obtained; all the arrangements were made under
Lieutenant-Colonel Harrison's orders; and the Lieu-
tenant-General commanding had reason to believe that
throughout the day the Prince was in company of
Lieutenant-Colonel Harrison, who was occupied in
guiding a column in its change of camp.

"Lieutenant. Colonel Harrison doubtless believed
that in his arrangements for the expedition he had
sufficiently complied with Lord Chalmaford's instruc-
tions to himself. In the opinion of the Field-Marshal
Commanding-in-Chief he was mistaken. His orders
to Lieutenant Carey were not sufficiently explicit, and
he failed to impress upon the Prince the duty of de-
ferring to the military orders of the officer who
accompanied him, and the necessity of guiding himself
by his advice and experience.
. "If Lieutenant-Colonel Harrison had displayed
more firmness and forethought in his instructions to
Lieutenant Carey and to the Prince, his Royal High-
ness cannot but think that that train of events would
have been averted which resulted in bringing a hand-
ful of men in the middle of the enemy's country into a
position so well calculated to invite surprise and to
court disaster.

"Lieutenant Carey from the first formed a wrong
conception of his position. He was sent, not only to
perfcrm the duties of his staff office, but to provide
that military experience which his younger companion
had not yet acquired. If hi instructions were defec-
tive, his professional knowledge might have prompted
him as to h duty.

"He imagined, but without the slightest founda-
tion for the mistake, that the Prince held a military
rank superior to his own, and, acting throughout on
this strange misconception, he omitted to take for the
safety of the party those measures of precaution which
his experience had taught him to be essential.

"At the moment of the attack defence was impossi-
ble and retreat imperative. What might have been
done and what ought to have been done when the mo-
ment of surprise had passed can only be judged by an
eye-witness; but his Royal Highness will say—and he
feels that he speaks with the voice of the Army—it
will ever remain to him a deep source of regret that,
whether or not an attempt at rescue was possible, the
survivors of this fatal expedition withdrew from the
scene of disaster without the full assurance that all
efforts on their part were not abandoned until the fate
of their comrades had been sealed.—"l have the
honour to be, Sir, your obedient servant,
"C. H. ELLICE, Adjutant-Genera],
"The General Officer commanding in South Africa
.NataL"