The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1810-01-10 00:00:00

Goverume;,t, concerning the limits tit 24.7.
ppettive• authorities, it was It. that t-
liener4l aliould arrogate the &Kilns to
himself; ruin, saw:booed alone by hi aim Opinion
iu his own cave, should inflict a scverepuisishisent
on Lieutenant-Colonel Munro, for having acted on
a different *pinion ; but one which had been sup-
ported by the. judgmelit of the Government, that is
to say, of Isisutitheril v, and or • military authority,
to while that of theCommander-in-Chief, and of
the whole army, is motile subordinate, by an act of
the nu itiah Legisloture--an authority to which they
owed iiilpheit obi:alcove ;. and whit% must, at the
eery least, have been fettle challenge aullicient re-
spect to exempt ail ituividetail Officer from the im-
putatiou of a ermine tor 'yin% acted conformably
to it.

66. The reprimand to Lient..Col. Munro there.
fore was not only not necessary, but it was unjust,
and inconsistent with the principle which Lieut..
General film:dowell had himself professed.
67. For these mantis, we consider the shape
given to thirGetieral Order of the 28th Jauaary•as
merely colourable; and se are of opininu, that
the reprimand to Lieutenant-Colonel filtioro etas
evidently intended only as a vehicle for circulating
throughout the Army serving tinder the Govern-
ment of Fort St. George, a vehement and intem-
perate public censure of that Grover ttttt eut, and an
inflammatory address to the professional feelings of
that army. oil topics thought likely to produce
irritation and disorder. It ma., in ot:.er words ti
most seditious paper, under the title of a General
Order to the Army, and hearing the thin disguise
of a reprimand to a particular officer.
68. That this attempt to excite irritation, and to
pr..(loce disorder by conduct amongst officers of the
army, has not been entirely unsuccessful, we lament
the nec•••sity of acknowledging : and that those
designs have nevertheless been substantially Ints-
hated, and hive failed in far the greater pert, we
have a cordial satisfaction in ascribing first to the
nod arose of the army at large, whicl► could not
Ix misled by fallacies so easily detected ; but next
and principally to the firm attachment to the duties
of their profession, and to that Strad y loyalty sod
►ncorruptible .fidelity. which. in that army, we
are confident, sill ever be found proof Ultima the
arts and seductioul of facti4n.
Notwithatanding the sentiments we have ex-
pressed couceriang the true nature and tendency
of the General Order in question. we have not
neglected to consider whether the officers who gave
it currency, by the orders of the Commander-M.
Chief, were friporibi Isle for its criminal purport,
and were, on that account, justly removed from
their offices.

705,. Ls deliberating upon this question, no re--
sortid naturally to such general principles, appli-
calk to the subject, as we thstight best established,
and unlit free from doubt. ~

71. The follossiag pragiiitAions have appeared ti
all of thakeleseription '
First—Tiara, as a gerreral principle, • military
officer is net only jostled in obeying aka order of
his sroperior, but that lie is bound to do so ultimata
regard to the (virility of the order. Under this head
we consider the Adjutant-General as obliged, in a
peculiar' asaorier, by the duties of his office, to pub-
hall to the army any orders which the Conini.rati
on-Chief may coinriait to him for that purpose.--
We are clearly of Ppinion. as a general pisuciple,
that the Adjutant-General is not bound to deli.
berate on the propriety of thy miler which he is
co:113,110rd to issue ; that it would he a breach of
military dutyro do so; that he is Merely ministerial
in tin fu ire lqns.sei uot re spom hie, pc rsonally,
for the propriety or impropriety of the orders he
may cireelate officially to the army.

72. Wllllegurd the,e principles as very impotent,
and, :u a ur.stsasr, faticlanAistal is the theory of ml•
liter, subordination.
Secondly—We consider, hoc ever, as net less es-
tablished, that the general principle shove stated
is sahject to exceptimead modification. The Mb.
dificatioo by which the gesierel principle of simple
obedience ought to be limited, is, in our judg-
ment, tin: criminal orders are
not to be obeyed ; sad that the officer who
ex-cutes a eriinioal order of his superior is pentoo-
ally responsible for h eaaduct. We look upon this
mullificution of the geasad military principle as
forthiog itself • great and primitive principle, not
less important aad fundamental for the civil secu-
rity or society, than %se allow the other maxim of
implicit obedience to be for the doe support of mi-
litary selsordinatiiin.
73. Cossidering then, as we have already stated,
the General Order of the '23:h of January as a sedi-
tious paper, wr inixlit at once pronoiince the Adju-
taut soil Deputy- distant-General guilty of web-
.

non. by the publication of that order. notwilhalans&
taw the authority under which they acted.
4. But that indent.-tit would out be justified by
the lucre criminality of the order which t lit y issued;
and it is necessary. its order to establi:th their parti-
cipation in the crime. anti to render them person-
ally responsible. to skew that they were acquaint-
ed with the seditious character of the paper.
76. In heating nor judgment upon this point.
we lime not considered it as ou abstract question,
but as tit to be combined with all the circumstances
of the case, and especially with those in which the
patties concerned were placed ; and from this view
of the question, it has. in our opinion. -resulted.
that Colima Capper and Major Boles are to he
considered as partaking personally in this act of
bent... Gen. Macdotsull. and as deeply responsible
free ins poseesis:ious and crisuitad tentieney.

710. Refiwe Ih t• order was prepared, it was not
only Inman to those two confidential staff officers
of the Commenter-in-Chief, hut it was onearinue
to the whole seaiy and settlement. that time 'was
a warm and vehement dismission between the Com-
mander-iii-Chief and the 4:overnment. These
(Meer. were aentianited with the prosecution of
Itentenant-t'oloorl Munro. and the part which
Limitelinnt-General Macilowall had taken in that
proceed's". They knew that every step in that
extraordinary tr.inwictesis was a studied insult to
the fiarernment. They knew that Lieutewent-
General Macdowall had. become the patron marl
channel of a Memorial to the t7oiset of Direetore,
highly appropied by the President in Council of
Fart St. George. by which be had I • self, at the
iisatauce cif that Government, and at t n distant pe-
riod, written cirvitlar lettere to discos -Aire sod imp-
prem. bat which. iu riper star of hostility to-