The National Register.
London, England, 1815-02-12 00:00:00

TUE NAT

COURT M ARVAL

(IN
LIEUT.-GENERAL slit JOHN MURRAY.

Ors Saturday, Mr. Larpent, the judge Advocate. VepHeels% to the
Asst and second charge-, lie contended that these charges were tnlly
sub-tend-anal by the t corral'• own witnesses, . for they had clearly
ionised, that alotion"to Sir Joins Murray was conscious, ,to early
tut the /th, that Stichet was approaching to the relief of the fortress,
arid that the place could not he taken before Isis arrival, he yet con-
filmed to land gnus and stores when every ratiosial prospect of sire
teso had vanished, and even isp to the moineut almost of ie-easbarka-
tiOn.— At the close of the lodge Advocate's reply, the Court ad-
, 36torned till Alooday.
(11: Moodily. Admiral Hallowell replied to Sir Toll Murray's tie
fence aosistet the third- eluatge; by addressing the Corn t to the fol./owing :—The examination of the witnesses foe the dt-froce
foaviog been closed, he now rose to offer atone observations on-their
evistesice, and sonic re plc In the accusations brought against hint by
fir Joists Miurav iu the inliftets which he had sulmeitted to the
Carrot, That itibliessf he telt himself wit,tanted in saline. was toll
at ileebtmation, without one sobstatifial reason for raising the sieve
of Tarragona in tile way in which it was raised by Sir John Murray.
to follow it through all Its IOW! and vohimintsies as it was. was
i•rrtaittly net his tt.tulition. It wistill hl soffirirtit for his porpo:9•
to select those its whirls it was codenvottred to attach crimisuality
him by attribsitiog his conduct to the impulse of private allimasity.
It was to the publicity of his letter that Sir J. Nlorlay lead traced all
tie 'Anse and hardship of which be complained, and that hail been
11119:e the cause of the sitna tints in which lie now stood. If begOd
leave to oust tve out this; that he hail received written instroctions
from his Commander in Chit f (Sir Edward Pellew), not to wait on
occaaions fur Ilse twurpose ofsestsling reports of his to orertlings to
Lim in the first ittstatice hot when o 9 detached service', to direct
Lis dispatches at mine to the Atlinisalsy. The letter in question was
tonfotirsably to those instiatctions, nod in the usual manner directed
to the Secretary of the Admiralty for the ittrormanws of their Lord.
Ships. and worn eon eyes! by Ho officer competent to afford whatever
explanation might hi tequired. This letter never was sent by hint
to %VI 111Ogintl, and hail 'lever appeared in any public paper.
It was not the probrity of this letter, therefore, butt the publicity of
Eir John Murray'si ccuiloct, that had caused the aiiimadversion
which Sir John Alsoci ay stated had proved so isintriona to him. He
begged now to state to the Court, that hr did not know till after
Illtriattrias last, that lee was to be placed iu the situation of a privse-
("WOE • or that lie teas to appear there in any other character than
that of a winless. Nth- was it till a day after he had left town to at-
tend tit: trial, that Ise was apprised that he must confine his rvi•
sletsce to the transactions of the Pith, and his utter tmacqoaintance
with the roles of military Courts-Martial had iarreased his di9lclo-
- C. rtaiorlv, if invective were argument, and imputation proof,
the defence of -Sir John Murray was complete, lint Sir John Mut.-
ray must have forgot wlmni he was aildresaine, he most have forgot •
ten the respect due to that Court, when he imagined that abuse of
Lies could he any exculpation of his condstet. After brooding so
111,W% OtoolltikS over his ta collections, he bad at length given vent to
pill feeliogs in a vat Ivry of charges, all equally conceived iii the spirit
of malignity, seine of which stood as Minot a shadow of proof, and
others only required to be examined to he disproved. He should
not imitate the example of Sir J. Murray in adthessing the Court in
biolstlowt, nr bousOtastic language; he should lay byline them facts,
rat metaphors. Here Admiral Hallowell entered into a vindication
of taints•ii against the assertions contained in the defence, that he
bad delayed the letter of the 4111 to Sir E hi aril Prilew, and that
he hail ordered the liritish to anchor at a distance, for the purpose
of preventing the Quarter-Master Oeneral rejoining to the head
qua. kis. One charge had been preferred against him in the course
grilse defence, of a most serums native, and which, if substantiatedl,
tni-lit affect slot his rharaeter but his life, lie had been repre-
sented Cis a man mho mothred his private resentments to interfere
%if it the sliicharge of his politic ditties, and as saes ifiving the inte.
rot, 4-his (-wintry to the gratifiation of his own personal anisnosi.
tie -. Ile app. sled to all who knew him, he appealed to the letters
OF Sir Jolot Murray for woof, that he was incapable of such gross
So far from having ever entertained arty feeling
tither to Air J. Murray or General Donkin, he did not recollect that
he lead ever exchanged an angry word with the former, or had ever
la en involved in any personal altercation. with. the latter, previous
In the nufortnnate I ttli or June. He (Rear-Admiral Hallowell)
hall told Sir John Murray at the time that he considered the
medstii es he waa takiag as disgraceful to the character of the army

and the win*, and had entreated kilns if he wee dettearaiesed
raise tha *lege •of Taeragansa at trout to do it in a soldier-like-
'ouser. 14e had then 'offered, slilinngh Sir J Mntray could not
how, it appeared, recollect the (fifer, to undertake the fast of em-
barking the guns. In making this eller, he had -distinctly pledged
Mime!'" to the performance, be had calculated the means. and he
knew the grounds on which he was proceeding, When he Wormed
Sir John Mnrrav that he hail written strongly home me the subject
of 'fart-a-gotta, the reply was, that it was no more than might be ex-
pected in entviatentey with the opinion, he had previously ewreased.
The defence complained of • the delay which Intel taken place. If
Illeme attached nit* whete on this pound, it mat attach to Slr John
Murray himself. His awn wi Incases were all assembled at Tat-m-
-antel ; and, had the ti bit taken place there, it wonhl probably have
been nitwit less favourable to Sir John Murray than it was at pre-
sent. his ol4ect had been to produce, 444 J. Murray's to a-unreal
facts. 3le had been 'accused of assuming military authority, and
hitt-tilling in the management et the army. If the ntinoat attention
to their v assts, ;f a sincere respect tOr their merits and services, if
a riaitit of jeitiotts and candid co-operition evinced a disposition of
this kind, their there was some colour of justice in the charge.
This point he should leave without funnier observation to the jtidg-
meat of the Court. Six J Mssriav hail talked of the miefortune of
having a naval coadjutor. and bad said, that as a naval Commander,
he was exempt front all responsibility, and nowise personally in-
volve& in the event of the expedition. Ile was himself of a very
difierentaminimi. Sir John Murray Ital. in his pnblie dispatch,
amply atknossledged the asaistastre lee h sat derived from the exer-
' (ions of fa! navy ; in his private letter to Lord N'ellingtou he had,
hoe ever, thoneat proper to complain of the obstruction and mbar-
rassinetos which they had occasioned. Such was tin' contrast be-
tween his public and his private .reptseentatintss. He (Admiral
Hallowell) denied that any blame whatever was attributable to the
transport service, to which it hail been since declared the allusion
was dircrted, and he_ trusted the Court would allow hint this op.
pottnnity of re-wine his own profession front so font and maligitant
a chance. What did Sir John Murray mean by saying that the navy
shared none of the danger? Was there a il.sv in ‘vhielt the boats
wile not employeti under the batteries, or workinc parties of seamen
on shore:. Were not the 'level otheere sharing in all the fatigues and
hazards of the army on the eight of the lath, whilst Sir J. Murray
was enjoying 10 repose on board the Malta? 'rise loss of the ord-
nance and stores had heels treated in the dttiasee as a mere matter
of ruttis', shillings, and pence, not as a toes/ion in which the
chaestett rof the Briti-b arms, and the on..nr of the country, were
at all involved. That character and liononr were now in the Wilds
of the Court, and it was for them to say whether they had been lett
unsullied in the trust of Sir Jobe Murray. The defence was nixtle
maittly to rest on daggers and diflieriltitat that never existed. The
enemy peace had been neater than Villatranca, and en the other
mat] he bad never advanced so far as Perillo. He had pledged hints
self to carry every thing away in safety. because he knew that
his means were more than sufficient for that purpose. The fact was
that Sir John Murray always tieted from the spur of the nionsent,
and tinder the influence of the last impression. One moment all
doubt, 1w was another moment all vigonr, now deciding to befit,
and now dcterminati to atonal k, issuing orders and counter orileis
with equal rapidity, his only consistency was in executing nothing.
Ilad as his indecision was at Tarragona, it was yet worse at Ba-
lagntr if he proposed to fight why no preparation
made ; if Ise knew of Soldiers approach with a superior force, what
but insanity could have itulticeil him to persevere in the siege to a
moment when he felt himself' compelled to fly with precipitatioti ;
When Sir John Murray afterwards had told him of his intention to
advattee, he replied, that he was sure that he might perfectly de-
pend open Iris army., as every man in it most feel that he had some.
thing to recover ; bust that it he did tint then form that determitia.
lion, lie must guard himself against another change of opinion. Sir
John afterwards told hint that he had decided to embark again. Ile
emiceived that lie bad already Amu !.itels repeated proofs of the in-
decision of Sir John Murray, that he had just reasons for apprehend-
jag that while the army should remain underltis command, siontieg
was to be expected but fresh disasters. Having decidedly formed
this opinion, it was a duty that. he owed Isis King and county to
state it to his superiar tinker. Ile believed that it was sufficiently
proved to the Court, that Sir John Murray had most precipitately,
and without sufficient reason, abandoned his guns and stores, when
he determined on raising the siege of Tarragona. Sir John Murray
hail in a letter to him, dated the Iwtly confeased that his manner of
raising the siege was unnecessary. In tuffs letter Sir Jelin said, " ne-
vertheless the lictivy responsibility attached to me prevented me :At
that time tinni`fullowitig your °pluton,' which 1 now find 1 might

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