The National Register.
London, England, 1811-11-10 00:00:00

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1811.

N° 202.

POLIIICAL DISQUISMON.

No. 189.
TRIAL OF OF COMMODORE R6DGEkS.

The report of the iricluiry held on Commodore
Rom;Ens' conduct,• leaves no doubt but that distin-
guished hero has found less difficulty in triumphing
over the charges. reluttantly broUght forward
against lan by the Ainerkan Government, than in
conquering a British sloop of war. That he will
be acquitted, and that his acquittal will be mis-
named honourable, is what we now must, however
indignantly, expect. We do not pretend to assert
that every,witness, who swore the first shot proceeded
from the Little Belt, has wilfully perjured himself,
because his testimony is in total opposition to that
of all our Officers engaged in that affair. We will,
with a liberality unknown to the citizens of the
United States, open wide the gates of possibility,i
and concede that their mistake may have been unin-

tentional, especially as most of them have deduced
•-:)ei: evidence from various Sutpositions. Some

hack fired first,. because
They had, not heard the report lou*'enough to haie
proceeded from their ship. . Others, because they
had felt no jar at the time the piece was discharged.
A few, chiefly of the common men, and all the
world knoWs what credit to repose on the veracity

of American sailors, boldly declared that they
were watching our vessel closely, and perceived
the flash issuing from her side. This assertion of
course turned the fate of the inquiry, and must in-
sure its final decision. With such evidence we
cannot blame the Members of the Court Martial,
as it is termed, for acquitting Commodore RODGERS:
We reserve the full measure of our reprobation for
the Government which, in such an important cage,
le/Ives, or rather directs, that its whole merits should'

be left to the ascertaining of a single point, with-
. out the least investigation into others of the greatest
moment. We will ask them, whether the firing of
a gun, on any side, was the sole or the first act of de-
cided hostility ? We will, as they ought tohave'done,
inquire which vessel first chaced the other ? • Which
attemwed to force itself into a position in which the'
other might he raked and an engagement begin ;
and which, by her manoeuvres, disa-ppointed.thiit
terition many times ? W@ 'will then
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favoured with the instructions received byCommo-
dore RODGERS from his Goveinment, which, let ua
remember, he must have obeyed, in chacing and
placing himself in a position to r►ke our ship; and

we will contrast them with those issued to 6aptain
BINGHAM, and which he faithfully followed to the

last: The American instructions have been care-
„fully concealed. So plain and well known was
the intention of the AdrninistratiOn to withhold
them, that not one Member of the Court Delar.
tial was found independent enough to contradict
their wishes by even hinting at the necessity of
such documents being produced ; without which,

any Court Martial can be nothing else but a
ffick of State to impose on the citizens of America
;arid on us. This is not the only suppression of which
the managers of this mock-trial have bin -guilty.
-.They. have not suffered the various dates at which
the chace, manoeuvring, and action began, to be
made public in their r^;?ort, because they, probably,
found that those given by Commodore R:ODGERS in
his own account, had enabled every impartial rea-
'goner in this country, to demonstrate the falsehood
of his assertions, and to prove with as much cer-
tainty, as it is in the natdre ofievirtiment todispirr,
,that every demonstration, as well as every act of
hostility, originated with the President. In cone.
quence of these suppresSions, the American Erect/.
tive have been able to produce alreport, plausibie
enough to deceive those. whose judgment is already
perverted by national partialitfi and who do not
possess any other source of accredited information,
Either blinded by this device, or pfitite to its
--
in-
tent, the directors of the Americatt press have al.
I ready begun to display their exultation let the ex.
*sleeted triumph of their hero. The langitage they
used on this occasion is that of invective and abuse.
-Defeated in. their wish of fixing the stigmz of ag.
gresticin on our Government, by 'the early publica-
tions of the instructions given to Capt. BINGUAgt
they have recourse to an unfounded supposition,
that lie had• secret orders to act in the man.
ner 'that he' is represented to have done. Fear.
ful, at- the same time; lest this fabrication should
not be credited, they unblushingly attempt to de-
grade the character of a gallant Officer, their su-
perior in honour, as well as their conqueror in
battle; by broadly asserting that " he was drunk"
he gave orders to fire. This insult will be

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