The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1819-08-05 00:00:00

Ity ALEXANDER J A Nll ESON,

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Cu Ammar 01 Lovc soil lustrllectu3l Pliihnop!oy, Ste.

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A Court Martial was assembled at tea, o'clock
on Tuesday morning, at the Board of General Of&
. eery, Whitehall, General Sir E. Stonford acting as
President, for the trial of Stsf.Surgeon Owen
Lindsay, on the charge below stated. Conrt
having been opened with the customary formalities,
the names of the Officers composing it were read
over, as follow
PrPllitinli—Major.Gen. Hon. Sir Edw. stopfuril, K.O R.
Col. Thornton, 85th Reg. Lt.-Col. Phillott, Royal Anil.
Lieut.-Col. Sir H Hardinge, Do. Allis, Grenadier Guards
Grenadier Guards, K.C.R. Major Geila, 19th Lancers
Lt.-Col. Napier, 3d Gnards Capt. Maitland, Royal Artil.
Dn. Buettner. Royal Artillery Do. Maelauchlan, Royal Eng.
Du. Bowater, 3d Guards Dn. Moultrie, 19th Unseen.
Do. Matsu, Royal engineers Do. Fairfield, 3d Guards.
Do. Adyr, Royal Artillery

The accused having beta asked if he had say
objection to ■ny of theta, argt he haviug replied
it was imposs►ble he could, the Officers were sworn,
and the charge preferred was read by the Deputy
Judge-Adroote-General (Mr. Woolastoo, we nu•
derstood) in the following terms:—

" For scantlaluo. conduct in addressing a letter to James
Deane, one of the Surgeons of hie Majesty's Forces station-
ed at Chatham, dated from Duke-street, St. James's, Febru-
ary 18, 1819, signed Owen Lindsay, and containing the
following paragraph:—

"' I ;as much disappointed at the two men of the 64th
regiment not having been mut to the last Chelsea Board ;
as I had arranged mailers in sorb a manlier that they were
to have gone to the Board, and the attention of the Commis-
sioners was to have beta directed towards the state of their
eyes, and all this was done quietly, without any one con-
nected with Sir W. Adams knowing any thing concerning
the business. I would recommend you not to medtion their
names in any correspondence you may have, at all meats,
till they are snugly lodged in York Hospital. I hope you
have not meddled with their oehos, and that you well not
prevent their getting drunk, au that they ally have proper
vascular cornea.'

" He the said Staff Surgeon Lindsay thereby intend-
ing and endeavouring to persuade the said James Dense to
be guilty of neglrct of duty towards corporal John Philips
and private John Pyke, soldiers in the 64th regiment, who
had had a complaint in their eyes, and were thee at Chatham,
'on their way to Chelsea, to he examined by the Board—such
cuaduct being highly prejudicial so the service, and dis-
graceful to the character of Mr. Lindsay, as Staff-Surgeon
to his Majesty's Forces."

To this charge Mr. Lindsay pleaded Not Guilty.
The Deputy Judge-Advocate-General then ad-
dressed the Court in the following terms:—

" As no person appears in the cbaracier of Prosecutor is
this case, it becomes my duty, as the representative of the
Judge-Advocate.General, to state to the Court the CAUSE of
their being assembled upon ibis occasion.
" The Commander_in•Chief having received from the Se-
cretary at War a communication respecting a letter stated
to bare been written by Mr. Owen Lindsay to Mr. pease,
one of the Surgeons stationed at Chatham, his Royal High.
ness conceived the conduct of Mr. Lindsay, as represented
to him, and the teatime and expressions of that letter, to be
so highly improper ■nd detrimental to the service, as to
famish a fit 'abject fur investigation before a Court Martial;
and his Royal Highness having subsequently transmitted the
documents upon which his opinion was founded, to the
Judge•Advocate.General, the charge was framed upon which
this Court is now assembled to inquire.
" In the ordinary course of the limeys", the Secretary at
War, with whom the complaint originated, was called upon
to return a list of the witnesses by whose evidence this
charge might be substantiated. A lost was returned accord-
ingly, and it has become also my duly in the absence of a
Prosecutor, to call these witnesses, and to put such gars-
sions to them as may be most likely to bring the facts in the
easiest and simplest manlier before the Court. In order,
however, to enable the Court to understand the application
of the evidence, it may be to state that the letter in
question was written in reference to two private soldiers of
the 64th regiment, who bad been affected with the ophthal-
mia, and placed tinder the care of Sir W. Adams. In the
first instance these men were reported to have been cured,
and they were sent to the depot at the Isle of Wight, with
a view to their being passed to the regiment at sail. A
doubt afterwards occurred whether the cure was complete,
and the reduction of the army haying in the mean time
taken place, the two men were thought proper objects for a
discharge, and were sent from the Isle of Wight to Chat-
ham, to remain there till they could be forwarded to Chelsea,
lo be examined fur admission, under the care of Mr. Deese,
and in reference t• their situation, the letter upon which
the charge is founded was written.
" Vl'lleibcr the original letter will be produced, I am an.
able at present to state; but a summons has been sent to
Mr. Dense, with a nluisii ion to him to bring the letter with
him. If he should fail so to do, ur if the letter should ap-
pear to have beets destroyed, I understand thnt an authenti-
cated copy of it, taken at the War Office, will be produced,
and I presume that the witnesses summoned will be able sa.
tisfactorily to show, that the original was in the baud-writ-
iug, or, at least, *ivied by M. Liousay."

The accused then raid, that understanding it to
be r wittier of course that he should be f bed
with a list of the witnesses intended to hr produced
against Ism, lie had wade an application in the
initial form for the purpose, to theJadge Advocate-
General. but had not hero able to obtain it.

The Depuiy Judge-Advocate replied, that that
was not • ulattcr of course.

The tir-t witness for the prosecution, Mr. James
Deasy, Ststi=►urgeon to the Forces st Chatham, was
then ealled in, sod sworn, arid soy other witnesses
011 the same side were ordered to leave the Court.

The witness wee then virainitied by the Deputy
Judge-Advocate, and gave evidence to the following
effect :—ls stationed us Staff Surgeon at Chatham;
recollects receiving a letter about February last from
Mr. Owen Lindsay ; got a summons requiring him
to produce the letter, of which a part was demi:fibril
iii the suinnions; has not got that letter with him,
it having been destroyed along with other useless
papers; well in the habit of correspouding frequently
with Mr. Lindsay; was perfectly well acquainted
with his hand-writing ; the letter which lie was
called upon in the summons to produce, and which
he said was destroyed, was in Mr. Lindsay's hand-
writitig. The extract from the letter was then read
to the witness, and the examivatitni proceeded, All
the letter• lie received from Nlr. Lindsay were in her
hand-writing; recollects receiving a letter much to
the effect of the extract, interspersed with other
matter, but as fir as his recollection gore, not in
exactly the seine terms. To the hest of his recol.
the letter came in the month of February,
but mount speak to the exact date.
.Eramined by the l'resi.leot.—Wax summoned on
Thursday last. Tile pipers were destroyed long
before that, three or four months ago, and he be-
lieves three or four days after the letter arrived.

The letter Wro isrlierte; It raise Itst.tagil the War
Oilier. The eduse of the I tter Icing destroyed
.1114. th»t it was thrown side aith i.tii-r
and an ilestroyed. Did not re ollect decaria kg it
ut any time. but looked fur it, sail it wa■ not to be
finned. It was destroyed decidedly before the
speech made by Lord Rilinerston is tin. House of
Commons ; because witness looked for it on read-
ing that speech the next morainic. and could not
find it. Witness then retired--and

Geo. S. Powell, Clerk in the War Office. was
called and sworn.—The charge, and the extract on
which it was founded. were read, after which he was
examined.—Kecollected the letter containing the
jamsge he had heard read, 'teasing through the
War Office, among dithers. as well as he could
charge his memory. id February last. On exa-
mining, the letters, a duty which. as franking
clerk. be had to perform, discovered, among
others, • tester from the Army Medical Depa►t•
rent, which appeatiaiktis him to bre entitety of• prig
vice nature, signed Owen Liudsay. and addressed
to James Deese. and which, to the best of his know-
ledge and belief, contained the part he heard read ;
in consequence of which he thought it fell within
his duty to ►ubmit it to Mr. Marshal, who was at
the head of his department, and on a consultation
with that gentleman, it was deterwiued to forward
it to the Secretary at War. It was forwarded, and
witness neve► saw it after ; but to the best of his
knowledge and belief, it was contained under the
same cover as before, which cover was sent down to
him again by Lord Palmerston to be franked.
and after being franked, was forwarded ar ad-
dressed.

By the President—Thought it his duty to take no-
tice of the letter, partly from its private nature, and
partly from its contents. It was open, as all letters
passing through the Office on hi' Majesty's service
ate required to fie; reading the letter did not mise
from any curiosity on his part; conceived it an im-
perative duty under the regulations by which he
was bound to act. The extract in question was a
continued passage, without any break or other matter
intervetting.
Crosodexamined by the Prisoner.—By what autho-
rity did you read that letter ?—A. Because ■ part
of it contained matter relating to private, and a part
to public business, and therefore it might have been
'sec y to submit it to the Secretary at War, to
know whether it was sufficiently of a public nature
to be passed.
In answer to a question by the Court.—lf • let-
ter was entirely private, it would be, of course,
rejected ; if part of it were private, and part pub-
lic, and the latter greatly to outweigh the former,
perhaps it wopid be suffered to pass.

By the Prisoner.—Did you copy the letter your-
sclf?—A. No; I knew nothing more of it from the
time I took it to Mr. Marshal.
Witness then withdrew, and Mr. Edward Mar-
shal was sworn and examined.—Recollected the
letter in question being 'hewn to him by Mr.
Powell ; Mr. Powell was the franking clerk. and
was sitting in witness's room; witness heard him
exclaim, on reading a letter. " that is most abonii-
nable," or words to that effect ; this drew witness's
attention to the letter, and Mr. Powell d II
to read it—did so, and was so mach struck with its
tendency and expressions, that he suggested to Mr.
Powell lie should bring it before hint officially, for
the purpose of laying it before the Secretary at
War. %Vitoria forwarded it himself to the Secre-
tary at War. There was a memorandum at the
bottom, written by Mr. Powell, stating that the
letter came from the Army Medical Department,
and was of such a austere, that he (isir. Powell)
thought it necessary to submit it to witness's con-
sideration, and witness wrote under that, " For the
Deputy Secretary's consideration," without any
comment. The letter combined both public and
private matter. It was addressed "Oa his Ma-
jesty's service." It was unusual that private letters
should be sent through the War Office, but not
unprecedented. IVitness was franking clerk for
several years, and did not know what others in that
situation did, but lie always considered it to he his
duty not to frank sealed letters, and did not believe
there was any latitude allowed in that respect.
Iu reply to a question, whether it was the prac-
tice to room letters riot franked ? witness said,
when he was franking clerk, there was not so much
strictness observed as at present—he added, that
the last witness was the person who could best an-
swer that question.
Mr. Powell was accordingly called again, sod
being asked whither letter.' found to be private,
and not franked, were sent back to the writers, said,
that they took their course with the others—they
were usually thrown into the basket with the rest
of the letters, and forwarded unfriiiiked.

Cross•exarnined by the Prisoner—Q. By what
means was this letter forwarded to its destination ?
—A. I suppose by the post. I know no mote of
it after it was sent to the Deputy Secretary. The
same cover wits retnrned to me, by Lord Palmer-
ston, containing, I
suppose, the letter, and 1
franked it.

Q. Are you in the habit of franking and for-
warding letters, whic•'t y,pis con-Ider to have an un-
proper triidenow ?—.l. I in not.
Q. Do you know why this letter was excepted
from that rule?--A. That rested with Lord
Palmerston.

Q. Were there any other letters enclosed with
this under the same cover ?—A. No; it came
alone, tinder u curer directed " On Ins Majesty's
service."

Q. Did you examine it promiscuously in the
Course of your ditty, or was your attention particu-
larly called to it ?—A. In the cour►e of my duty.
%Vitoria then withdrew, and Fleury Elliott, Esq.
was called lend *star. rogined. Prrlevity recollected
the (*.act of Lord Palmerrton, to whom he wee then
private secretary, cumuli; into his room *num day
in the month of February, with it letter in him hand.
The letter he lomid to be from Mr. Lindsey to llr.
Draw, vrbirh his Lordship desired him to copy.
Took a ropy of it, containing the dates, &c.;

Witness was then directed to kn to the race of
the Secretary at War. an 6 procure the cony take's
by himself. Strangers Were excluded. lie returnti
ed in about an hoar with the copy. sad tl,e Court
was re-opiened.

Ezernistiniwit reenmed.—Witness saw L,nrd Pal.
merston, soil procurer! the copy he hmorla rote
Court ; it win; written by istinself. and et.ined
batio Irwin the origina4 wincb last way forworderl
di'.-cterl.

The letter was then read. Its contents cossipns-
ed u good deal of miner besi.ilry the chaeKe.. Ai•
msescleskug ponsgrisith, alluded to an accident alio-
tained by Sir W. Adonis in • fall 'from Ina loan*
about the time of the date, as affordinit addit1010•1
facilities in passing the two soldiery at Chelsea.
Last witness cross-examined by the Prisoner.—
Q. Did Lord Palmerston appear highly disple:airil
with the contents of the letter ?—A. He went into
no dismission with me on the subject.
Q. Do you know of a single inytatice in whirl.
letter considered to have hut imprtyrr tendency
ever before forwarded through the War-Office 1—
, A. I can't say that I do.

Q. How long were you private it4w.rt-totry
A. About eight years, but in very few instance%
do I see the letters ; it is the duty of the
clerk to examine whether the letters are of a pithily
or private nature; but it is not my duty to have
official cognizince of them in general. an that my
answer to that question cuuld not lead to moth in-
formation.

The DEPUTY JUDGE-ADVOCATE then said. tl,st
he had no further evidence to produce, and that the
case for the prosecution was closed.

Thi Cou►t adjourned till ten o'clock yesterday
morning, the Deputy Judge-Adsocate having pre-
viously directed, in the name of the Court. and at
the request of tne accused (who complained of hav-
ing been traduced, and or the cause havinu hero
prejudged by er-parle statements in the kinrilitl4).
that no purt of the case should be published till it
should have been concluded.

- -
When the Court met pursuant to ou:joornon.ot
on Wednesday, the accused entered on his defence,
which he rend from a written paper, in the terms
here stated '
° Mr. PREstiMST—GIVITLEtIeN—The situation in *hie,
1 am this day placed, is as novel as it is enalentraasing to Inv
feelings. Sixteen years have 1 passed in the piddle %trek.,
during which time I have maintained so uniartnahed eh. •
meter, have lived in the good °pintos of my friend., *oil ort
every occasion had the satisfaction elf knowing that me pe...
fessional services met the approbation of those who ~.re ca-
petite of appresiat tug them. Judge, then, Gentlemen. sr tort me
feelings must he at dos moment, when 1 am called norm ra
answer to a charge, which, if substantiated and I e' t
home to me, must fur ever degrade me, not only in the sc.'••
of society, but debase me ass man.
" The charge itself is of a complicated nutnre—the evil!
double—cold and heartless inhumanity towards those tiler
server offended against ate, together with the nionstrous pro.
position to an honest mind to become the aecomplee
crime. Did my reproving conseiresce but whisper me that
there was the slightest ground fur such an seceisati 00000 sever
should I have dared to have stood up in the fate of so marry
htmourahle men, and attempted to palliate an offence of so
dark a nature; hut hating myself as much as I shoot.' hose
been justly hated by others, I never again would hate ven-
tured to appear in society. But 1 now dare to present -
self to you, in the perfect consciousness of my Mama me,
and deny most solemnly the base iukeution that has been
imputed to the letter written by me. I trust I shad he able
to preserve a mind sufficiently clear and anirnffird, an to
detail to you the circumstances under which this letter wa•
written, that you may be able to arrive at a right and fair
interpretation of that paper, which has given sat h °Pore.
I feel confident that I am addreseing myself to those wires-
candour will induce them to listen to me with poker. ;
whose penetration of mind will see each fact with elearne••,
and whose integrity of spirit will decide in justice.
In October 1817, I had four soldiers of the 64th reeintrot
under my care at Chatham ; they bad for a constd. rib'
length of time been afflicted with ophthalmia, lint were r•,.
pidly improving. Daring a temporary 'absence of moo ,
they were removed from Chatham, by an order from the I.r.
sent Secretary at %Var., and were placed tinder glee care of
IWilliam Adams, contrary to the usual rules of the tarYlCf,
mid without the authority of the Continander.in•Cnr.f.
Remaining under his direction for some months, they
were at length reported as fit fur service. They were, tM a
sent, in consequence of this report, to the Isle of Wion,
on their way to join their regiment at Gsbraltar, and, MI
being inapected by the Medical Officers there, were tunnel
to lie uofit for service. They were eonsequ.utly sent to
Chatham, preparatory in their apperring Injure the ells-beet
Board They arrived at CliAltani use the I huh of Ver. obit
last ; lint they *ere not takers into the Hospital, or. lhev
dill not require medical treatment. (hi the 12th of rchritai
I received a note arum Mr. Read (the Secretary to the Me.
dical Board), apprising nor that curieural Soho Philips au.l
private Joliet P)l4e, of the filth regiment, were caper Ira
from Chatham to pass theChelaea Board. I was afterwards
devired by Dr. Gordon, the Professional Assistant to the
Medical Board, tort to take those men niter the Hospital, hot
to allow them to go before the Bused at Chelsea, I was far-
herinstructed to direct the attention of the G,gnms.no.es
of Chelsea College to the state of the eyes of trews, be n.
and to explain to diem the nattier of their • uses. Thr,, v...,
will perceive, Gentlemen, thst those very men hai
patients of mine; that they had, as 1 humb'y crocrerr.e,
been onfailly removed from under my rate, sad ;diced in
the hand+ 4.f Sir Win. Adams, en Auric
They were Irkewise the only soldiers that I. oh been rhos all-
raptly taken from the asipernitendenee of the Army hledie,l
Department, and riensigued to the care of another.
It was then, and has sister more Owl once been whop...-.
eel arid insinuated, that thi• Gentleman bad bees steer r,i
effect what the Medical Officers of the army easel not are
complish.
It was soon afterwards that I wrote the letter that is now
the subject of this prosecution—a private emiltd.art to let
freely mid carelessly writtrie to a most intimate g ist .
with whom hail long corresponded. I had no tle••ac
when writing to him of disgsiainC a fm-hag, wr..fcoal
-v
mcavurr.[ the lan_oage ft, whirls it was rxpees•ed•
1 had beet, tsa;lN to think that letter" were s`ar'i ..i'e..l
v,olateA, rrlrsa ruder moat tope
• have read of etie,s brio; tllus intercept. d and c opi l
us
i
care of high treason, when rfbelllou
existents rf the Slate, rift wiser aMnlrte .e^"iil eu,r.
PAW the Gumeninsest to resort to such area
enantry.
juringartillessehetiezeciirtillosebsee
imelirawary:lithat sew
mein
retibesc,:kb";:i7g.,!i-