The Sun.
London, England, 1807-03-12 00:00:00

NUMBER{. 4520.]

TRIAL OF SIR HOME POPHjLII.

Portsmouth Harbour, March 9th. I
THIRD DAY—CONCLUDED.
fwe now resume the Defence of Sir Home Popham : but
it seems proper to state more fully the Observattons on the
, astruttions ut the,zd'of August, 18os 3
Here, 'Sir, f must for a moment advert to the in-
struCtions of the.2(l of August, 1805, ordering me to.
send a frigate to cruise on the East Coast of South
America, between Rio de Janeiro and-,itio de la
Plata. From *such an order, it is certainly possible to
draw this inference, that I bad no specific direaion •
with relation to the attack on the enemy's settlements
in the Rio de la Plata This I .have already fully
admitted. The then First Lord of the Admiralty, •
who, •I am. well informed, was not in the habit of
attending the consultations of *his Majesty's 'then
confidential Servants, was not acquainted with any
thing which bail passed in relation to the expedition •
'to South America, as is evident from the following
letter from Lord Barham, in answer to one I had
-ittea to him from St. Helena, rtientioning.the is
tended attack on Rio de la Plata:„:
Barham -Court, 9th Jug.y 1806. .
DEAR Stit—l have received your letter of the'3l st
April, from St. Helena, and also the papers relative
to Miranda's expedition. If the last bad been corn- ,
com-
municated to me before you sailed from .England, I ,
might have hoped to have been useful, in promoting
it ; but the misfortune of Mr. Pitt's death, and-.the
natural change that has taken place •in the Admi-
nistration of Public Affairs, has, I am afraid, rep,
dered all these views abortive. I can say nothing
decisive on your present expedition, as it must de-
pend on your knowledge of the state of the Cape
when you took it ; but if I bad continued in the
Administration, I should have been disposed to have
given 'flitl credit to your intentions. Public, Affairs
are in a state of uncertainty—negotiations are on
foot, and Lord Lauderdale sent over- to Paris. The
country is sanguine, and. I hope with reason : but
Mr. Fox's state of health must
.be a weight in the •
opposite scale. It is said that Sir David• Baird,. as
well as yourself, will be recalled ; I trust,' however,
that yon will succeed in pour attempt before that
day happens. I sincerely wish yOu success. I have
not seen your dispatches to the Admiralty Board„hay:
lag no acquaintance with the First Lord.
I am, however, with much esteem, your's;

13,uutax.
P. S. We have been very successful in the dispo•
eition of our squadrons as far down -as the capture of.
Liflois, by Sir J. B. Warren.

It is here ovbious, as I have stated*, that I had no
communication whatever with Lord Barham upon
the subjed of South America ; and-although I knew
that La Plata was a part of the Cape Station last war,
as well as the Mauritius, yet I doubted whether the
last place would be considered so this war ; and upon
meriting a letter to Mr. Barrow on the subjeet, I re-
ceived theletter of the 2d of August, which has been
read in evidence on the part of the prosecution, ae-
companied by a private letter of the same date, stat-
ing, that he had not bees able to beta bomb allowed,
but had sent the above-mentioued order for a frigate.
to the coast of South America ; but-that it did not'
appear to bernecessary to look out to t heEast ward,
as little was td be apprehended from that quarter;
and he added, " that it would only create a jealousy
in the Commanders in the Indian .Seas; whose cam-
mands extend at present to the Mauritius."
It is publicly known, and officially to some of
the Members of this Court, that during the late war
our cruizers were constantly either 'off the mouth
of he river, or absolutely cruizing off Monte Video ;
one of the very ships indeed (the 'flioniede) 'which
bad cruized there, was now one of* my iqua3rOn ;
and independent of every other consideration, I 'not
only had the. opinion of ~that .respectable. officer,
Captain Rowley, who was on the. Cape station last
war,•that the Rio de la. Plata ' was
_considered as a
part of that station : but it was also'ihe unanimous
opinion of everyofficei under my COtrirriend,:iOineo
whoin;if necessary, will, I have no dOubt, give their.
testimony to this effe6t.
..I,beg it, however; to lie
understOod-, that these opinions were- expressed Jodi,
c
before our arrival at the Cape; ‘:...., ' 1-.0
i .
_„.i.)-' 14:
I have entered at some length, on thileeenject,e e;
cause an impression had been circulated with d IV -
. ,
siderable industry, that I had no authority whatever
th
to go to the Rio de la Plata • but lt-ust be evident
by the letter of the 2d.of Maya 'that the Adfniralty
considered thateiver as an enemy's petit, which eught
to be constantly watched by some of the cruizers
under the orders of the Senior Navel oifiee-r at the
CaPea and consequently within-the limits of his com-
mand. Nay, if it were possible that it coeld be
contended, that because the order direted the send-
ing a frigateel had a° right to carry there my whole
squadron, 1 should answer; that the ohkEt of send-
ilsig
a frigate w°uld be-nugatoeyeunress it was allowed
to as on the intelligence she might bring. For f
would ask, whether, iPa enlizerhaabroughtnn ac-
count that two of the enetny:t Ile of battle ships.
had entered the river, • tetaaiy, diemeeteel, but that
theYsere ,moored off munttArldeeenticl,every ex-
,l"tioti' was making to get theft 'refuted foe. sea, I
snould not have been justified in sending,force from
h
e imeC 1)e to attack them without a moment's less of
After
Baird, thatsliewing, from the opinion of Sir David..
sirfithe
fence, Cape was in a sufficient state of de-
the chargeaoireno:titilhies went on to answer other parts of
point.
I have
id's
I trust, repelled that part of the
charge which accuses me ofCa
pe
without only exposed having "left the
to without the
est attack and insult, but even
of His M me,"
,obf affording prote&ion to the trade
r sl-•
aj, leas, or of Liking possession of
any'ShipS of the enemy, which might have put into
any of the bays or harbours of the Cape, of parts
adjacent." I have explained to the Court, that the
season, at the cotnmenceinent of which I tell the-