The National Register.
London, England, 1812-11-01 00:00:00

E NATION :\ It EG !STEIL

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To rf)lr()M.


NOV.I.

.31(11?1iP:1? .41' I)E.114.

MorniPez Chrohick of Friday, contains the for.
lo‘ring paragraph
A litter from Dcal, chted I.Vedn• *Sth ult. shtes,
-hat the (Hurt Ma ou Lieutenant GAMAGE, of the
sloop of war, for the murder of a ser.icant of marines,
beloogiog to the >aid slo,T, had term•nate:l, brouOit
in a veidict of iri/fict :Ij-tinter, at the ,r,9IC time recoil;.
mended him to mercy, en account of ilk fornicr good
character."

In the case of an offender whose crime is not cf a vtiv
heinous clecription, I can etrily conceive that it trav
appear to his Jurors niAhing more than what is to
give him their recommendation to merev, on accnent of his
former good ch::racter. That such a let omme::&.icn,
should be given in the case of an individual who has oat-
mitted the enormous crime of murder, N to nie
The circumstances of this murder, I belie, e, we.r b
tetiv
these. Paving (whi!e on board) received :11 ans,e.
he conceived to be impertinent, flow the sejeant, tLe Lea-
ienatit weld down and got a ()ilk, with which he raurned,
and stabbed the unhippy man. If this be a coi.rrct
of the tr:umetion, I think there can be no doubt teat
Lieutenant GA NI ACE has already hewn executed Ds a mur-
derer. should it be otherwie,e, I shall troulle von with a
few observations on the subject, for your next Publication.
D cO.

The following letter on the same :•tihject, which appca..-A
in the i'ourier, wc think it but fair to insert as a supp!enwut
to the above :

TO THE EDITOR.
Stu—Having observed in your Paper, that by a letter from
Deal, you were informed of an atrocious murder commttit d by
on ("leer of one of his 3liliesty's ships lying in the Dossos,
feel it necessary for the public information, to state the follow-
ing particulars. Being in at tendaoce during the proceedin!:- of
the Court Martial, holden on hoard the Monmouth, yeste day,
in the Downs, I acre insert the leading features of the depo-
sitions both in support and defence of the charge. The fortner
proved the provocati!,n as folly as the fact, and it appeared i
evidence, that the carriage, language, and conduct of the unfor-
tunate deceased, were highly contemptuous, inflammatory, aad
noso:dier-like, and that the surviving unfortunate iu gibing Ole
order, the uon-compliance of which led to the ever lamentil!;!.!
catastrophe, was actuated by motives of lenity, anti a repos-
session in the see jeant's favour—his offQnee being mutinous and
threatening. language to the carpenter., his superior. Well kaouin;;
that a representation to the Captain must lead to a public love:i-
-11...a110t5, which must have been followed with serious coase-
!
quences, he was induced to spare the feelings of the soldier the
pain of public and disgracefnl puni•hment. II is iugra Rude mot
contumacious conduct worked the Officer to a phrenzy of mad-
' *less (and as in the words of his defence) " in the t• types! of which
be fell." The evidence in support of his defence, and the testi-
monials of his Captain, the Officers, and crew of the ship, who,
I to a man, with one record, unsolicited, drew up a paper expe—
lsive of their sense of his natural disposition to lenity and forbear-
trace, which they requested might be presented to the court in-
I the name of the seamen, by one of the Captains of the forecastle,
(always u !ceding man), and in that of the marines, by their
corporal, signed by them to a man, added to the high encomiums
of other officers of rank. The Court, though in justice to the
offended laws, both divine and human, pronounced him guilty,
and sentenced him to die, at the same time felt called upon to
most earnestly recommend him to Royal mercy.
Your constant reader and humble servant,
I Deal, Oct. 28 . A NAVAL OFFICER.

A Court-martial is to be held at Portsmouth, on board the
Gladiator, for ihe trial of J. G 11180144 a seaman belonging to
the Loire frigate, on a charge of having stabbed Lieut.
H.
C nsrK Elt, of that ship, with a knife, during the voyage from
Helena.

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