The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1808-01-29 00:00:00

GENERAL

'S TRIAL.

Yesterday moring, precisely at ten o'clock,
the Members of the Court Martial assembled iu
Chelsea College, and immediately proceeded to the
Great Hall, in which a considerable number of
Gentlemen were assembled to witness the ceremony.
Al:er the mimes were ca led over, and the usual
formalities gone through, General Whitelecke en-
tered the Hall, and took his station so the left of
the President. The General was dressed iu the
uniform of a General Officer (the:sword excepted).
He was in custody of Colonel Burnett, Aide-de-
Clump to the King. Generals Hope and Calvert
then took their places on the right of the chair.
General Hope's right arm was in a sling. General
Whitelocke looked less corpulent than nevi), but
assumed a dignified composure.. Upon his ar-
raignineat, he pleaded. in an audible f'oiee;
Guilty.
The Judge Advocate then swore in the Members
as follow :

Generals Garth
Norton
Lake
Monson
Moore
Nrgent
Itiutar
Means

Sir W.' A Doves, Preghlent.
Gelber&ls (*miler
I 4olvy
10%
Sir E. Dots
Norris
Manners
rtfibr4
Cart it
StarOen
C Uou.

Pißun
Clanriev,le

The following charges were next rend :
Firtt Charre--That taratensid-Oeueral AVldteitirke, hay.
lug received instructions Lem His Majesty's Principal Se-
cretary of Stale, to pia:weed ter the reduction of the province
of Buenos' Ayres, pursued uiriumres ill calculated to facilitate
that conquest; that when the Spanish commander Lad
'hewn such symptoms id a disposition to treat, as to express
a desire to communicate with .Majur.(;erwral Glaser, the
second to comnissid, apes the subject of terms, the said
Liestenaat-General 1t bitelorke 401 retsina f. unaware, in
which be demanded, aroouirat other articles, the miry-in:yr of
all persinis holding civil offices in the Government of Buenos
Ayres, as prisoners of war. That the said Lieutelaut-tosireo
rid l'fhiteloclor, I. making such an offensive and unusual
demand, tending to exiaperate the iulfahitems of Harlow
Apes, to pr. 04111.11/ and encourage • "pint of res.sLitier ten
His Majesty arms, to exclude the hope of ataira!ile secant-
modatioas, and so increase the difficulties of the service with
whirls be was entrusttel, wird in a moaner imheeimaing his
duty as as officer, prejadictal to military diaciplies, aad.iros-
t racy to the articles 411.
&read Cherge--That the said Lieutenant-fieneral White.
lecke, after the Madill; of the troops at Eneamila, and during
the march Goss thence to the town of Bream Ayres, did not
Make em military airangesseisM best cakatatrd a male the
'worm aline operations against the tows • tied tint having
kasrn, previously to attack slam lb; luau of Buenos
•Ayres, Nom the sth ed Jule. Itio7, sa appears from his
dispatch of to, that the eurnay meant to occupy the
ist roe& of the Wafts, br eMd, isevertheleas, in the said
attack divide his forces tato several brigades and parts, and
onleritl the who!, to be uploaded, and no firing to he per-
tattled on any amount; and tinder this order to march into the
priffeipal sto.tts of the town, Improvided with proper and
milficient means fur forcing the barricailues, whereby the
troops were sasiercsaanly exposed to destrectisz without
Ife possibility o(o:taking effectual opposition s
cued. t
betraying great professional incapacity on 4he.pait uftliemid
Lieutenant-General Wbitvloeke, trading to lessen the ouall.
darer of the troops in the judgment of their Officers, being
derogatory to Ike homier of His lisiesty's arum, tonicity to
his deity as an °dicer' prejudicial to putt taller and military
discipline, and contrary to he snit des of war.
Third Charge--That the said Lieutenant-General Mite.
lock, did nut make, although it was itt.ht• pose,'' eat etree-
teal attempt, by his owa peers/al euertios urtuheewlee, to
Co-Operate with ar support the different divisions of the
army soder his commaid, a hen eciageil with die enemy
the street, of LIMN{ Ayres, o.i the atli hill', I V,7, nhereby
those troops, after harm% enconiiterid and surinomited a
constant and well-dtrected Yee and hada, effected the pur-
port of their 14.4.41, were left without support, err turtber
orders i awl comederaiiiedetachateins. ruder Lies' -tr..sisitsel
Duff and Bit; toyer. Gi rend ersufuid, were thereby rout-
, polled to surreader ; such cut:duet du '!he part of
l.leut -
General Whitelocki, Wading to the defeat acid diatom/or of
Flu Majesty's firma, to tearer the euotldecce of the tramps
in the skill amt cuttrair thry officers, being uninciintioa,
eel dirzraerful to his character as an ostler, prijuilieisi to
good order and nail:tar, diacipliire, and euntiarf to the ar-
ticles of war . .

Fourth 1--arry.—That the said Lieutenant f ;corral White-
nthaqueutly to the attack upon the town of Buenos
Ayres, aim :its tnW. rhea the tioopsouderbssentomand
Were in puss. a siod of po t... ou each 11.u,L of the lowa, and of
the priocapu! arsenal, with a communication open to the thet,
and having en efiect me force of about .1,0, . mcu, did 'Cuter
into, and finally conclude a tor.ati with the (meow, whereby
he arknowledger in the public &bench of the toth July, 14" '79
that "he resolve, to Cameo the &armature ninth the brave.
ry of his troops had obtained, and which advantages had
most hio about at,siaa Mem in killed, wounded, sod prisoners ;"
malty Each treaty be unnecessarily and shamefully mimeo-
dered all such advantage*, totally evacuated the town of
Buenos Ayres, and consented to deliver, and did shamefully
abandon and deliver up to the enomy the strong fortress of
Motile Video, which had been committed to his charge, and
which, at the period of the treaty and abancimuneut, was well
mad aalliciandly garrisoned and provided aiming attack, and
which was not, at ends period, in a state of blockade ',siege:
sack conduct, on the part of the said Lieutenant-General
Whitetocke tending to the dishonour of His Majesty's arum,
and being rontrary to his dotty as an *facer, prejadkial to
good order sad mibtary discipbae, and contrary to the ar-
ticles of war.
The Juoon ADVOCATE then proposed to the
Court the arrangement of excluding all the Wit-
meek, that each might be examined separately,
which was agreed to. A numbet of °facers 'then
withdrew; amongst them were Generals (lower,
Craufurd and Oakes.

Tim Any ocarn•Gcnaitat. then addressing the
Court, stated. that this prosecution was to be con-
ducted by him, 'with the assistance of the Officer
who was Adjutant-General at Buenos Ayres. and
that the Prisoner had applied to him far pe.mission
to allow the Quarter-Master-General, olio was also
at Buenos Ayres, to assist l,im.in his defence. This
was an important point for the Court to determine:
for if that ORicer was permitted to afford that as-
sistatice to General Whitelocke, hE mould not
appear as a Witness. In order to determine this
point the Court ties ordered 46 be cleared at half.
past eleven o'clock—General Whitelocke, and his
Counsel, Mr. Ilarrisoo. and all strangers, being
excluded.

On the re-opening of the Court. the JLIDGC A D-
VOCATE.G r. addretised the Cnurt in an int-
prrinive and temperate statement of the reasons and
motives winch had induced His Majesty's Covent..
ment to jnvestigate the whole of the tisuissetions
in South America, by bringing to a fair and im-
partial trial the Officer intrusted with the corn-
miuid and disposition of ills Nl•jesty's forces iu
that quarter of the world.
Ie compliance with the injunctions of the Court,
sad determined to abstain from any e.r par to state-
merits, which tnight in their operation teal to create
iinnrover prejudices. we must suspend a full rilinrt
of that speech, and the publicut: on of the vt.!..zr :::1.7-
tictilara of this interesting tri..4, until its tcruanr:-

• •
tine. The Coil less engaged during the remelti-
ng part of the day in hearing the various written
testimonies, s'Aisasting of the instructions of the
Secretary of War, and of his ltoyal Highness the
Duke of °York, f the Orders of Council, the dis-
patches of General Whitelocke, and the Treaty of
Capitulatiou, read by the Clerk to the Judge
Advocate.
At a quarter past two, General Cower was called,
and duly sworn. His engin-minion continued until
three, at which hour the Court adjourned until
ten o'clock this morning.
Genenil 11'hitelocke, although permitted a chair,
stood for the most part ; and 41unng the examine-
tinn of General Cower, compared his answers with
the entries on his journal, which he held in his
hand.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

mum. OP CIiANCEIRY, lAN 24.

JOINT STOCK COM PA N I ES.
In a motion !Mille this day an the part of a purchaser of
certain sham of s recoutly-established Insurance Company,
for leave to pay the price into the bands of the Accountant-
General, and for sa order on him to execute a cotere)ance
of the sham so purchased,
The Lotto Cr •nog•Loa said, there were in this country
a grist many societies, consisting of a number of iadividuals,
possessing shares of a joint stork iu trade, and yet having
so legal mistestoe. He knew, that w►en the affairs of any
of dm isdividual Members urthese Societies came into that
Coat, it had bent the practice to convey the Shares of such
Stuck into the name of the Acetieutant-Grueral, he being

bored to re.eouvey them. Now, his Lordship thought
it proper that it should be understood, that the A eel taut-
Gwentl meld mut, and must uot, r►ecute any such cowry-
sitee.—lt was out for the °Dicers of that Court, b any act
of claws, to recognise a Society which had au legal ex-
isteucr.
The Counsel said, he would took into the ease, mod if it
should he in the situation alluded to by his Lordatup, his
cheat must apply to be liberated horn ha: purchase.

COURT OF KING'. BENCH, Jaw. 25.
The atsu 17. I'ItTON.
Mr. DALLAS, Counsel for the Defendant,aqued
in support of the rule to .hew cause why.. slew
trial should be granted. He grutuided. his ohjeor
tious to the verdict given ou the trial. .The uuiy
pond left to the Jury to decide.on, Was. whether,
the punishinent of torture Was lawful and usual in
the island of Trinidiul ? The locy. had decided it,
was slot ; but they decides!,, on eviderole
pmiluced by the Prosecutor,,i
books as the code of ihe.74ind ;1 and;
a Spanish • Lawyer swore there' ilia a word'
of torture mentictoed- therein. Mr. Dallis 'thee
observed, that by accideut the Defendalit had got
a code of the laws of the Island, which cettpualy
did not say one word about torture hut:m.l4ml
to the laws of Old Spann in every." daciency of
the code, and it was well known • that torture was
jiistified by the law of 'that country. it had ;lair!
nally been taken from the ROOBVION and went by
the title of " The Act of Al;d.onso the Wise." He
then stated his second objection, . that 'General
Ptcton acted iu an official and judicial situation,
which was not cognisable in a Court of Law.
Mr. Dallas argued two hours and • half oa.
the iirst objection; when
Lord EccErttioaou,4l observed. that he must
/Opium hearing the remainder of his arguments
nail Wednesday nekt, be being obliged to attend
. at Guildhall, at Nisi Prins. .

CHALLENGE.
The Arroaxtv-Gxli East. moved for a rule to
skew cause »by wa inforusation should not be tiled
against 'lr. John Pike, fur sendiug.a challenge to
liteutcuaut-Colouel WiWants, to light him with
WeaXUS.
statoil that Mr. Williams was Commander of
a regnuent of voluuteers, and Mr. Pike had been
a private in that regiment; that there were certain
bye-laws of the regiment, which exacted Mies froni
every individual belonging to it, who did not pay
proper attention to the duties of a soldier ; that
part of the regiment had become very remiss in
their attendance to duty, as soldiers, and the Co-
lonel dote, mined upon putting the laws of the re-
giment into force. The bun of Mr. Pike amount-
ed to $5Ol. which he paid the Colonel and Officers.
The regiment having taken it into consideration,
returned Mr. Pike 7.101. on roudition that he would
be more attentive to his military duties. Iu a short
time after, Mr. Pike, encouraged by the gene-
rosity of his officers, applied tar the remaining
1001. ; and on its being refused, wrote a letter to
the Colonel, calling on Linn to meet him as a Gen-
tleman, when and where he pleased. and. with
what arms he pleased, as he was determined to
have satisfaction for his 1001. ; and concluded by
observing, if the Colonel was a soldier. or i man
of honour, be would meet his.—ltule granted.

POLICE.

JAN. 97.

Atari Holland, an old woman, and Jane Re-
birtmn and dim Rpm, tw.) little girls, were charged
with stealihi4 six small gowns and thirteea hand-
kerchiefs, the property of a Charity-sichoul;
Mr. Bate, the Clerk of the Parish of St. Mnry
Weolnoth, in the City, stated, that he is Presi-
dent of a Society consisting of young men and
women of respectability, formed for the rxrpose of
educating and clothing poor children. The slum-
ber of children amounted to 60, and the Society
was principally enabled to support the school by the
produce of a charity sermon preached at the parish
Church.—Last Saturday, six gowns and 13 hand-
kerchiefs were stolen from the school-room. and
suspicion falling upon Robinson, she confessed
that she and Ryan had stolen the things, and
pledged them at several pawnbrokers' ; Ryan was
admitted as a Witness, and she said that she met
the old woman, Mary holland, in Sun-street,
where she sold Ink, who gave her apples, and told
her to str,sl something from her mother. or any
one else. and she would give her fruit for it.—
She accordingly stole the gowns and handkerchiefs,
hut did not know how mane, and pledged them,
and gave the duplicates to Rolland. who gave her
fruit and sometimes a halfpenny.
The Prisoner holland denied all this, bat seemed
affected at the child's story, and called out for
mercy, and said, the duplicre f din lie‘ pos-
session, was given to her by Rya's.
Some sr the P.twithrokers not being present, the
Prisoner* wet,• by the Lord May r, for
furtior examination. and ortleo,d to tmt kcAit apart.