The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-22 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 22, 1863.

The Story of the Mhow Court-MartiaL

(From the United ScY vice Gazette.)
As the trial by court-martial in England of Lieut.-Col.
Crawley, of the Gth Inniskilling Dragoons; on charges con-
nected viith the death, whilst under close arrest, of his re-
giwental sergeant-major, must now take place within a very
short period, and will necessary absorb a good deal of public
attention, we feel that we shall be rendering a not unaccep-
table service in giving such a bs'ief outline of the line ab
ovo usque ad male as shall enable people to form some gene-
ral idea of its bearings, and serve as a key to the more com-
plicated and elaborate details which must be submitted to
the public at the trial. In doing so we do not make any pre-
tence to close verbal accuracy, nor hope to produce more
than such a slight general thread as shall serve to connect
the detached facts which are yet to be submitted ; but we
shall endeavour to bo as impartial as possible, and to avoid
saying anything which may unfairly prejudice a prisoner
who has yet to be tried for one of the most 'serious offences
known to the military, or indeed to the general law of the
land.

To begin with the beginning, we find that Lieut.-Col.
Crawley joined the Inniskillings as commanding officer
at Ahmednuggur, in April, 1861. At that time the regi-
ment was in the state of perfect discipline at which it had
been maintained by the skilful handling of Colonel
Shute, since transferred to the 4th Dragoon Guards, ex•
pressly for the purpose of restoring order in that once dis-
tracted regiment. The high discipline of the 6th at the time
of Lieut -Col. Crawley's joining is proved by the confidential
reports of the local commanders, and the minutes of Field-
Marshal the Commander-in-Chief of the Army based on
those reports certifying to the satisfactory state of the regi-
ment in the most eulogistic terms. When Lieut.-Colonel
Crawley joined the regiment his reception from the officers
was of the most friendly character, and it is specially to be
noticed that none were more anxicus to conciliate the new
colonel than the paymaster who subsequently became the
object of the most relentless persecution. Capt. Smales ten-
dered the use of his house and servants, and the other
officer were not less cordial in their demonstrations, the story
about the refusal of the mess plate being pronounced by
Major Swindley, the officer principally responsible for such
an act of discourtesy, if it had been committed, to have no
foundation except in the lieut.-colonel's imagination. Very
shortly, however, after the arrival of the new commanding
officers symptoms began to show themselves in his deport-
ment which augured anything but an unbroken countenance
for the internal harmony of the regiment. Lieutenant..
Colonel Crawley, in the words of a competent witness, began
"to condemn everything in the regiment," and when on
parade would " rise in the stirrups, shake his whip at the
officers, and tell them that their backs were up, but he
would soon straighten them." The combustibles necessary
for a proximate explosion of discontent were thus rapidly
accumulated, when an accidental circumstance served as a
spark to the pile. A copy of the Times newspaper contain-
ing the report of a rather remarkable trial which had taken
place in one of our superior courts at home was received in
the regiment, and as that report intimately concerned one
of its officers, other officers (married ones) considered it
their duty to submit the report to the colonel. For obvious
reasons, we glance at this portion of the case in the most
distant and rapid manner. It will be sufficient to say that
the lieutenant-colonel's point of view in looing at it was
different from that of his officers, and that when the latter
appealed to him his characteristic reply was, " Look at that
box (pointing to a tin box which lay close at hand) ; if I
were to turn out the contents of that box, which is Colonel
Shute's legacy to me, few officers in the regiment would be
able to stand up against it." It is said that a certain un-
popular personage can quote Scripture to his purpose, and
it is evident that Lieutenant-Colonel Crawley had a well-
known passage in the Now Testament in his mind when he
gave this discouraging reply. The consequences may be
anticipated—the " hot water" in which the regiment had
been so suddenly pieced now began to boil over,
and " scaldings " became the war-cry of the regiment.
Leaves, exchanges, everything were obstructed and
interfered with, until at length the lieutenant-colonel's
rage, seeking for a single object, seemed to concentrate
itself on the unheppy paymaster. A brother officer, he whose
name had occurred in the newspaper report which had first
thrown the regiment into a ferment, was set on to watch him,
and a demand was made and refused for troop-money, at 8
o'clock in the evening, when his office had long been closed
and locked np for the day. This was the opening of the
first parallel. The recusant paymaster was put under arrest,
a court of inquiry was held, and the result submitted to Sir
William Mansfield, who gave Lieut.-Col. Crawley a severe
wigging for his pains. The.system of espionage was still
carried on by the same persons, who were alone the colonel's
confidants and advisers. A second charge was got up against
Capt. Smales about sending his clerk beyond the limits of
the cantonment ; and this time Lieut.-Col. Crawley's pro-
ceedings were confirmed by Major-General Farrel, although
the clerk had been sent beyond the bounds in order to get a
cheque for Lieut.-Col. Crawley himself. The system of
worry continued. Lieut. and Adjutant Fitzsimon was
sent to Capt. Smales s quarters to see what he could find
out, and even the bandmaster was required to report such
broken scraps of conservations as might come to his know-
ledge. There is a curious bit of evidence in the proceedings
of the court-martial about an officer who, by accident, was
was hid behind a pillar whilst the paymaster chatted
with his commanding officer ; and a coincident
accident, through which an exact written report of the
conversation thus overheard was produced by the prosecu-
tor. We select the above from scores of similar facts, as
showing the circumstances which led up to the writing of
the now celebrated letter for which Paymaster Smales was
finally brought to court-martial.
That letter, which charged Lieut.-Colonel Crawley with
systematic absence from the monthly musters of the regi-
ment, was written on the 26th Feb., 1861; but it must be
noted that Capt. Smales, as was perfectly competent and
proper for an officer in his regimental position to do, had
previously reported Col. Crawley's absence from parade to
the War-office. Lieut.-Col. Crawley kept the letter a month
in his possession before he took any official notice of its con-
tents; but, in the meantime, it is alleged, took frequent and
intimate counsel with Col. Payne, who was subsequently
president of the court-martial. At the end of that time the
paymaster was placed in arrest, without the intervention,
as is usual, of a court of inquiry, and finally was brought to
a court-martial on the charge of making false and mali-
cious charges against his comnaanding officer. The charges
he had made referred to Lieutenant-Colonel Crawley's
frequent absence from the monthly musters, and the
paymaster's statements on that point were confirmed by
an overwhelming mass of evidence on the trial. During
the court-martial, which lasted for two months, and which
during its progress threw public opinion in India into a
perfect hurricane of excitement as against the prosecutor,
five or six witnesses were found to depose to the general
amiability of Lieutenant-Colonel Crawley, and two officers,
Renshaw and Davies, deposed to having seen their lieu-
tenant .colonel at one or twe musters. On the other side, 13
witnesses, including field officers, regimental officers, non-
commissioned officers, and private soldiers, deposed to his
systematic absence, and amongst these later witnesses were
Lieutenant and Adjutant Fitzsimon, whom the lieutenant-
colonel has since benevolently endeavoured to deprive of his
eyesight, and the three non-commissioned officers, namely,
Regimental Sergeant-Major Lilley, and Troop Sergeant-
Majors Wakefield and Duval, whose unmerited persecutions
have concentrated English public opinion on the proceed-
ings at Mhow, and compelled the government to grant a re-
opening of the whole case at Chelsea.
When it became known to the lieutenant-colonel that
these non-commissioned officers were to be called as wit-
nesses for the defence, he immediately ordered them all
into Close arrest, on the following very grave and definite
charges :—Unhappy Lilley was accused of having, in
familiar conversation with brother non-commissioned
officers, applied an offensive epithet to his colonel ; Duval
of saying that he had not heard the epithet applied ; and
and Wakefield for saying, over his beer, that he would do
something to Morton [another non-commissioned officer] for
having reported him." Lieutenant-Colonel Crawley had
repeatedly and extrajudicially examined these men at his
own quarters, in the presence of his friends Renshaw and
Davies, whilst the field officers present with the regiment
were excluded, and the adjutant was obliged to remain out-
side in the verandah. Lieut.-Col. Crawley having somehow
obtained the ssesction of Brigadier Farrel for his proceedings,
placed the three non-commissioned officers in close arrest,
under circumstances which in Lilley's case produced the
premature death of a brave, honest, and high-charactered
soldier ; and, secondly, disturbed Wakefield's mental balance
and induced him to escape from the regiment by obtaining his
discharge. Notwithstanding a positive Indian military order
to that effect, there was no inquest held on poor Lilley ;
but the whole circumstances of that awful case are too
familiar to a shuddering public to require further detail in
Po brief an outline as the present. There will be time
enough, as the trial approaches, to give it in all its dark
and tragic proportions, and no attempt to narrow the
charges into petty technicalities will prevent a full and
searching investigation of the whole affair.

The trial and Mhow terminated on the 21st of June, and
the finding was read to Captain Stunles on the 13th of July,
when he was ,formally cashiered and taken off the
strength of the regiment. Ho thus became, of course, a
free man, left the cantonment, and at once started for Eng-
land via Bombay, with a view of applying to the ultimate
court of appeal for redress. Lieut.-Col. Crawley had not,
however, quite done with him yet. The paymaster was
overtaken cn route by a telegram ordering his arrest by the
civil power on a charge of having absconded from his regi-
ment, was subsequently released, with the information that
the arrest had been a mistake, and finally thrown into pri-
son at Bombay on charges connected with bis regimental
accounts, although immediately on his reaching that place
he had waited on the military paymaster, and was informed
by that official that he /azAm nothing to his prejudice. Cap-

tain Srnales then declared his intention of proceeding to
England, and on the following day went openly on board
the steamer. He was then again arrested in consequence
of another telegram, and imprisoned for two months, at the
end of which time—he having made no defence—the grand
jury ignored the bills which had been sent up against him,
and he proceeded on his voyage to England. We should
here mention that: pending the court-martial, Captain
Smales's accounts had been carefully examined by a com-
mittee, consisting of Lieut.-Col. Prior and Captains Ren-
shaw and Garnett, all of whom were witnesses for the pro-
secution; and that this committee reported "the paymas-
ter's accounts to be perfectly correct, with a balance standing
in his fav3ur."

Naval and Military Intelligence.

THE NAVY.

The foreplating of the iron frigate Achilles,
building at Chatham, will be completed in the course
of the present week, when, with the exception of a
few plates required to be fixed beneath the stern,
the whole of the exterior of the vessel will be in-
cased in armour•plating varying from three inches
to four and half inches in thickness carried to five
feet below her water line. On board the same
energy is being used in constructing the armour-
plated and other bulkheads, together with the ma-
gazines and shell-rooms, the latter of which are to
be constructed of a size sufficient to contain 180
filled and 120 empty common 110-pounders, 50 filled
and 50 empty common 20-pounder Armstrongs, 120
filled and 180 empty 110-pounder segment Arm-
strongs, 50 filled and 50 empty segment 20-pounder
Armstrongs, 25 boxes filled and 100 empty segment
12-pounder Armstrongs, and 25 boxes of filled and
100 empty of the 9-pounder segment Armstrongs.
The magazines are made to hold 456 whole penta-
gon cases of powder, and 75 metal-lined half-cases,
together with charges of 440 8-inch or 68-pounder
shells.

On the recommendation of Capt. Hall, C. 8., of
the Cumberland, 74, the screw gunboat Thrasher,
80-horse power, is being fitted up to be used in con-
veying the officers and men of the Chatham Steam
Reserve to and from the ships in harbour to the
shore.

Her Majesty's screw steam gunvessel Wrangler,
4 guns, 477 tons, 80-horse power, Commander Henry
Hamiliton Beamish, recently returned from the
West Coast of Africa, was paid off at Sheerness
Dcckyard yesterday, under the superintendence of
Capt. W. K. Hall, commanding the Sheerness
Steam Reserve. The paying off occupied only the
short space of 50 minutes, and the commander and
officers were addressed in congratulatory terms on
the efficiency and discipline manifested by the crew.
The Wrangler has been fortunate in making several
prizes, some of which had slaves on board. She will
be placed in the 3d division of the Steam Reserve at
Sheerness.

A Naval court-martial assembled on board her
Majesty's ship Victory, in Portsmouth harbour, on
Friday, for the trial of Patrick O'Brian, an able
seaman in her Majesty's service, on the following
charges :—First, for having, while borne on the
books of her Majesty's ship Pioneer for passage to
England as a prisoner from her Majesty's ship
Eclipse, on the sth of September last, disobeyed the
commands of Lieut. Meyer, of her Majesty's ship
Pioneer, by refusing to return a pair of boots to the
chief of the ship's police when ordered to do so, and
for using threatening and insulting language to
Lieut. Meyer and a corporal of Marines, and for
resisting efforts made to compel his obedience;
second, for offering to strike on the same date Ser-
geant John Carter, Royal Marines, the acting chief
of the ship's police. The Court, under the presidency
of Capt. Scott, C. 8., of her Majesty's ship Victory,
found the charges proved, and sentenced the pri-
soner to be imprisoned in Lewes Gaol for 12 months
with hard labour, and to be dismissed from her Ma-
jesty's service. The same Court assembled on board
the Victory, on Saturday morning, for the trial of
Mr. J. A. Leicester, Assist.-Surgeon of the Ist
class on board her Majesty's ship Pioneer, on a charge
of having between the Ist of October, 1861, and
the 30th of June, 1862, lent certain sums of
money to seamen belonging to the Pioneer, the said
sums being made repayable to his (the prisoner's)
son with usurious interest, such conduct being a
breach of the 34th article of war. The trial lasted
the whole day, a number of witnesses were exa-
mined, and the evidence was of a very voluminous
character. The Court found the charge proved and
sentenced the prisoner to be reduced to second-class
assistant, and put at the bottom of the list. The
paymaster of the Pioneer is under arrest for an al-
leged serious defalcation in his accounts, and is ex-
pected to be put on his trial on board the Victory
to morrow. This will cause a further delay in the
paying of the ship out of commission, which was
originally fixed for Saturday last.
By an Admiralty order issued in Woolwich dock-
yard, the shipwright establishment is to be re-
duced by a discharge of 300 hired mechanics and
labourers in the following weekly ratio :-24 ship-
wrights, 10 joiners, 14 smiths, and 20 labourers, the
discharge to commence on Saturday next, the first
batch having already received notices to that effect.
The following appointments were made on Satur-
day at the Admiralty :_Commander Edwin C.
Symons, additional to the Cornwallis, for service
in the Coastguard ; Commander Charles Fairhohne,
additional to the Colossus, for service in the coast-
guard ; Silas W. Parker, paymaster to the Pelorus ;
B. G. Little, assist.-engineer to the Fisgard, as
supernumerary ; and R. H. East, assist.-engineer to
the Indus as supernumerary.

or Ash Church stations, whereby the ivhole of the
material and commissariat stores from Chatham,
Woolwich, and the Tower will be conveyed direct
to the government stores by rail. The capital cal-
culated as sufficient to complete the undertaking is
£75,000, which it is proposed to raise in 7,500
shares of £lO each.

The squadron of the 18th Hussars, which, under
the command of Captain Peyton, has been stationed
in the North Camp since the departure of the head
quarters and six troops to Norwich, removed on
Friday into the cavalry barracks at Aldershott.
The D, E, F, and G batteries of Horse Artillery,
comprising the entire portion of that brigade at
present at headquarters, were yesterday drawn out
on Woolwich Common for the inspection of General
Sir Richard Dacres, commanding the garrison.
The General was attended by Major Reilly, aide-
de-camp, Major Milward, brigade-major, and Cap-
tain Mangle, deputy assistant quarter-master
general. The strength of the batteries consisted
of 750 men, 550 horses, and 24 guns, the whole in
command of Col. D'Aguilar, C. 8., in the absence of
Col. Sir David Wood, K.C.8., on sick leave. The

inspection commenced at 10, and terminated about
1, upwards of an hour being occupied in marching
past and undergoing a general and searching exami-
nation. The batteries afterwards formed in various
positions, and went through a number of movements,
firing 15 rounda of blank ammunition, the steadi-
ness and regularity of which could not be surpassed.
At the close of the evolutions, the General expressed
his satisfaction with the discipline and efficiency of
the brigade, and informed Col. D'Aguilar, that he
should do them justice in his forthcoming half-
yearly report to his Royal Highness the Field
Marshal Commanding-in-Chief.

f Two regiments of infantry, the 55th and 76th,
will very shortly embark for India. The 55th will
be succeeded in their present quarters in Ports-
mouth garrison by the 26th Cameronians, from
Gosport, the latter regiment being relieved by a re-
giment from Aldershott.