The National Register.
London, England, 1815-09-17 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

respect of Ilie negoeiations concerning onr frontiers, are net re-
Moved, the Danish anziliary corps will receive orders to continue
its march hither. Meantime the fortress of Conde is now more
closely invested, An•t will be immediately bombarded if it still re-
fices to open it. gates.

We still Hatter ourelves more and more with the hope of seeing
the Emperor of Ru•sia and the King of Prussia, and of the inaugu-
ration of our Sovereign.

AMERICAN PAPERS.

On the Dartmoor Massacre, in Reply to Messrs. King
and Larpent's Report.
TO THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES.

Having perused, with attention, the report of Mr.
Chas. King, and Fras. Seymour Larpent, on their exami.
nation of the unfortunate occurrence at Dartmoor, on the
6th of April last—

We, the undersigned, being th°re at the time this unfor-
tunate occurrence took place, deem it a duty we owe to
the surviving sufferers of that bloody transaction, to our
fellow citizens, and ourselves, to make some remarks
upon such a singular report. Although we presume the
door is for ever closed against any further investigation of
that ever to be remembered transaction, we cannot. help,
however contrary it may be to our wishes, to irritate the
public feeling, already so much excited, of entering into
a detailed investigation of that report.
In the Committee's address to the public on the 27th of
last June, preceding the publication of the affidavits of
some of the prisoners, taken on that melancholy affair,
they have justly anticipated what would be the report of
the Commissioners, after their investigation : they drew
their conclusions from the singular manner in which the
investigation was conducted. The report commences by
stating, that, after having carefully perused the proceed-
ings of the several courts of inquiry, instituted immediately
after that event, they procedeed immediately to the exami-
nation, upon oath, of all the witnesses, both American and
English, who offered themselves for that purpose. How
far this part of the report is correct, we shall leave the
public to judge.
On the arrival of the Commissioners at the depot, the
committee of the prison was sent for ; after waiting some
time at the door of the room, where the inquiry was
held, they were called in, separately, and question .d as to
their knowledge of the transactions of the 6th. Th:! depo-
sitions of those who were eye witnesses of that dis4raceful
scene we e taken; some were questioned as to the general
conduct c f Shortland, previous to that affair; it was repre-
sented L 3 them as it would have been by all, as being univer-
sally erre!, overbearing, and oppressive. After having
finished the examination of the committee, they requested
them to bring forward all the evidence that was likely to
cast any light on the subject of the inquiry. They, ac-
rflrditiglv, returned into the prison, and drew up a list of
the nan es of some of those who were eye witnesses of
that day's occurrence. Although they could have brought
hundrees to the examination, and the sum of whose evi-
dence would have amounted to the same thing, yet the
committee, not wishing to impede the progress of the in-
vestigat by a rotundity of evidence, they were. careful
to select such men as were most likely to give a clear
and distinct account of all the circumstances, as they
occurred, under their knowledge, taking care, at the same
time, to procure those whose different 'situations afferded

them an opportunity of witnessing that transaction, from
the commencement to the close. Such was the evidence
the committee had selected, to the number of about fifty 5
very few of whom were ever examined, although they were
kept in waiting at the turnkey's lodge, (where they were
ordered to stay until called for) during the hours of in-
vestigation. In the course of the inquiry, it seems, the
Commissioners found it necessary to survey the particular
situation of the prisons, and the points from which the
different attacks were made; they accordingly came into
the yard for that purpose, and after having been shown all
the places from whence the firing was continu, d, where
the crowd of prisoners had assembled on the first alarm,
and where the hole, so much made a handle of, had
been made—after a slight survey of these different places,
they retired into their session room, leaving orders, once
more with the committee to hold their evidence in readi-
ness, as they would soon be called upon for examination.
The committee replied that they had been in readiness since
the commencement of the inquiry, and were then only wait-
ing their orders to appear before them, feeling happy
in the- idea 'of having it in their power to show to the
court, and to the world, by the evidence they had to pro-
duce, that the attack of Shortland on the defenceless pri-
soners, was premeditated and unjustifiable, in any point
of view.

After attending in the turnkey's lodge during the sit-
ting of the commissioners, until the middle of the third
day, without having but very few of the evidences sent
for, and being fearful that they might be wailing, for
them, the committee sent them word that the w ituesses
were still in attendance. No answer being returned to
this message for some time, the committee became uneasy
on account of the long examination of the officers, soldiers,
clerks, and turnkeys, attached to the depot, without ad-
mitting the prisoners to an equal privilege; and, under-
standing the commissioners were about closing their in-
quiry, they again sent word they would be glad to have
an interview for a few moments, for the purpose of ex-
plaining the nature of their evidence, and the necessity of
a full bearing on both sides of the question. Ne answer
being returned to this request, and still Waiting with the
anxious hope that they would soon send for some of us,
when we were told, by one of the turnkeys, that the
commissioners were preparing to depart, having finished
the examination. Astonished to think that they meant to
leave the depot without clearly investigating the circum-
stances that were the cause of their meeting, and feeling
indignant that a cause of so much importance should be
passed over so partially, the committee addressed A note
to Mr. King, begging him not to shut the door of com-
munication against the prisoners by closing the inquiry
without giving them the privilege of a hearing, a, the
greatest part of our witnesses were yet unexam;tied, and •
their evidence they conceived to be of the utmost import-
ance to the investigation. No reply was made to this
note; but, in a few moments, we were told, that the
commissioners had left the depot. How far they are jut.
tillable in saying they examined all the evidences that
offered themselves, we think is sufficiently shown.
The commissioners next go on to mention the insur-
rection of the prisoners about the bread on the itli, two
days previous to the events, the subject of that inquiry.
Although the report correay states the prisoners quietly
returned to their own yards after their demands having
be: complied with, yet Mr. King- forgot to mention,

that it waJ dearly represented tolira, had the prisoners
been so disposed on that night, they could have easily
made their escape. Although that transaction had no-
thing to do, as relates to the prisoners, with the events
of the 6th, we merely represent this circumstance to
show, that there was no intention whatever on their part
to break out of the prison, as Shortland and his adherents
have attempted to prove.
The report now goes on to mention, that on the evening
of the 6th of April, about six o'clock in the evening, a
hole was made in one of the walls of the prison sufficient
for a full-sized man to pass, and others had been com-
menced but never completed, and that a number of pri-
soners were over the railing erected to prevent them from
communicating with the centinels on the walls, and
that they were tearing up pieces of turf, and wantonly
pelting each other in a noisy manner.
As to the hole made in the wall we believe the causes
and reasons have been already sufficiently explained by
the affidavits laid before the public. With respect to
the prisoners being between the iron palling and the wall,
could have been, if it was not, easily explained to Mr.
King, had he given an opportunity. It seems, that on
the afternoon of the 6th, some of the prisoners having ob-
tained leave of the sentinels on the walls to go over and lay
upon the grass; others seeing them lying so much at
their ease, went over to enjoy the same privilege; and as
the sentinels made no objection to this proceeding, the num-
ber was soon increased to such a degree, that it became
no longer an enjoyment to those who first obtained the
privilege; some scuffling then ensued among themselves,
and they began to pelt each other with turf and old
shoes, principally in play, and among so many, no
doubt, there must have been considerable noise; but bow
they can possibly connect this circumstance with the
hole made in the Mall, is intirely out of our power to
conceive, as the iron railing separated them from the
pretended breach in the wall, and distant from it more than
half the length of the yard; of course, had the hole been
intended as a breach, the iron paillug would have be-
come a barrier instead of facilitating the means of an

escape.
As to that part of the report which mentions the guard
barracks being the repository for the arms of the guard
off duty, and of its standing in the yard to which 'the
hole in the wall would serve as a communication, and of
its being a further cause of suspicion and alarm to
Capt. Shortland; to one acquainted with the situation of
the prison, such an idea would be ridiculous, but to those
who are not acquainted with it, it will be only neces-
sary for us to mention, that if the prisoners had the inten-
tion of breaking out through this passage, and had lie-
. tually got into the barrack yard, the difficulties they would
then have to encounter would be much greater than to
break a passage through the market square, or the back
part of the yard. As to the idea of their possessing
themselves of the muskets h landing in the racks hi the
guard barracks (even if they knew of any being there) is
eiildish ; for how easy would it have been for the corn-
tianding officer, on the shortest intimation of such an at-
tempt with one blast of his bugle, to have called all his
guard; to the spot before a hundredth part of tlie prisoners
Could. have got into the yard, and by that means hi-
btanV tly put a stop to any further proceedings on their part.
N _
ing can possibly come
;; it appeared to him

SEPT. 17.

that Captain Shortland was justified in giving the order
for sounding the alarm-bell, when, if he found the pri.
soners were conducting themselves improperly, had he sent
for the committee (as always had been his custom hereto.
fore, when he had any charge against the prisoners for im.
proper conduct) and told them that the prisoners were
breaking. the wall (which circumstance as has been pub.
fished before, was not known to one tenth of the pri.
soners) and requested them to have represented to those
engaged in it the consequences that must ensue if they
persisted in such conduct, we have not a moment's hesi-
tation in saying, they would have put a stop to any further
proceedings of that kind.
That part which relates to the breaking of the iron
chain which fastened No. 1 gate, and follows next in the
report, says, there was no et idence to show whether it
was done before or after the alarm-bell rang. As this
was a material point on which they grounded Shortlaud's
justification, we have to regret that the evidence we had
to lay before the commissioners, and 14 hich would, iia
our opinion, have sufficiently cleared up that point) vas
not examined.

On the ringing of the alarm-bell, the rush towards the
gates leading into the market-square was so great (at,
tracted as has been before stated by curiosity) that those
in front were irresistibly pushed forward by those in the
rear, and if the chain had not broke, the lock must have
given way to the pressure, and by this opening, it is but
natural to suppose, that a number must have been shoved
into the square, in front of the soldiers, who were drawn
up in a line across the square, with Shortland at their head.
If, as the report now goes on to state, there was no
direct proof before them of a previous concert or prepara.
flop on the part of the prisoners, and no evidence of their
intention or disposition to effect their escape on this
occasion, excepting that whicit arose by inference front
the whole of the detailed circumstances connected tone.
ther, had Mr. King examined the evidence on the part of
the prisoners, as minutely as it seems he examined those
on the part of Shortland, he could not even have drawn
the shadow of an inference of that being their intention.
Where the commissioners got their evidence for assert.
lug that Capt. Shortland, by quiet means and persuasion,
endeavoured to persuade the prisoners to retire into their
respective yards, is unaccountable to us, as those who
know Capt. Shorthand, know he is not a man of persua-
sion. It is correct that Dr. M'Cl milt used every exertion
to persuade the prisoners to retire out of the square,
which, if Shorthand had allowed sufficient time, would
have been quietly done—but the crowd, by this time,
had got so great, and the pressure in the rear so strong,
that those in front could not retreat until time should be
allowed for the rear to fall back ; but, the hasty, haughty,
and overbearing temper of Shortland could not allow
him to use such conciliatory means. He orders (the re.
port says) fifteen tile of the guard fronting the open gate,
to the charge ; and, after some little time, the charge
was so far effectual., with but very little or no injury to
the prisoners, as to drive them, for the most part, quite
out of the square, with the exception of a small number,
who continued their resistance about No. 1 gate. Under
these circumstances, continues the report, the firing corn.
menced.

Here we beg leave to request an attentive perusal of
the affidavits of some of the prisoners, taken by the com-
mittee) and which relates particularly to this part of 04

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