The Sun.
London, England, 1822-09-27 00:00:00

- . •
• .4,44 y,,

. •
did so,
.when Mr.-Cox desired -him to present Messrs. Green-
wood and Co.'s complhnentato me, and that they regretted they
could go, no further. On being cross-examined, the Messman
acknowledged that I had paid him, but with a legal precision of
opinion, equal to that of the Quarter-master, had not done it in
time, according to the order of the Mess Meeting; being pressed
as to how long after, he answered at once, only about half an,
hour. Gentlemen, the spirit of such evidence . will be too ob-
vious to you to require that I 'should obtrude any observation
upon it ; you will, I dare say, be led to inquire, as I have
alone, whence such an extraordinary spirit could have arisen
aaainst an Officer who has served in the regiment little less than
filleen years, and nearly arrived at the rank of a Field Officer.
I can only account for it by that strange misconception which,
as was obseryed on my part on the commencement of these
proceedings, would, it was hoped, be proved- to have alone
produced the charges against ma; and which would naturally
act and re-act in their production. Gentlemen, Mr. Pyle, a-
Clerk from Messrs. Greenwood and Co.'s, was called, and. has
confirmed what I admitted ; and told you also, on my interro-
gating him, that I had previously deposited with them two bills,
to the amount of nearly 5501. which bills remain still in thei;
possession, not having yet been paid, and that I had not re-
ceived any money from the House on these two securities, and
that my account with them was nearly balanced ; at a rough
guesi, there probably might be againat me ten or fifteen pounds.
In regard to the third and last chargecittrof ri nom-impor-
tant character in' its military application. It has been proved
'by Adjutant Hirst, and, admitted by me, that I was absent
without leave on the 2d and 3d of March, from the 16th to the
19th of April, from the 30th of June to the 111th of July, and
from the 6th to the 9th of August, all in the present year. On
being cross-examined, though he .could not recollect quite so
'clearly for the defence as he did for the prosecution, yet he did
not know of my ever having been absent without leave before,
duling the whole time I have been in the regiment, and he must
have known it if I had, from the official situation lie holds ; nor,
in the same capacity, did he know of my having asked leave,
from the time the Regiment left Windsor to the time at which I
wrote. him on the.29th June, on an occasion which it appears,
from the letter he produced, was one of the most important that
can influence the human heart and mind. Of these periods of
absence yott will observe, that on one only does the prosecutor
(Sir R. frill) lay any stress, viz. that on the 30th of June—
Gendemen, it is my duty to, explain to you the whole. The
tirst occurrence, of two days absence, arose simply from my
having rode ont to' St. Alban's, intending to return the same
day, when I wasaanexpectedly detained to the atnount of time
stated. But nave no doubt Sir Robert Hill will admit that I
apologised for my having, been so detained, 'that he admitted
'my apology, and was perfectly satisfied. This was the first
occurrence of the kind that had taken place during my whole
service. On the, second occasion, under the circumstances as
I have already stated, I, on account of my friend, was suddenly
taken into the custody of the Civil Power ; and as soon as
arranged matters, I immediately returned to my regiment.
The third occasion.--It will be proved to you that I received
information of my father, who was in' the 85th year of his age,
having broken.his leg, in consequence of which a mortification
'had ensued, and that he was in a most dangerous state. On this
I immediately applied for leave of Sit Robert 'Hill, for the pur-
pose of attending my father 'at Worcestea. Sir -Robert felt it
necessary to refuse me ; which, under the circumstances, and
being-the first 'time I had asked leave since the Regiment left
Windsor,.as you have heard, I am sure he could not have refus-
ed me without some reason. The reason, ,as you have also'heard
given in evidence, was the absence of other Officers. Under-
.standing, after my first note, that an Officer, then on pleasure
at Ramsgate was about to return, I deemed the cause of refusal
done away; and, confident that Sir R. Hill's filial feelings
would no longer detainthe under the torturous anxiety which
I suffered, I wrote to .the Adjutant the letter which has been
produced, and. set Off to attend my father. Gentlemen, if I
have; in obeying such a call, erred as a soldier, I trust you will
deem me right-as a man—my place was supplied, and no ins
jury arose to the regiment from my absence;, it is the only in-
stance of such a kind during my service in the regiment, and
was, I had hoped, forgiven ; and as no charge had arisen upon
it, till the last instance of which I am about to speak.
In the decision of your hearts upon this subject, Gentlemen,
it is my duty to chew you that I do not impose upon you that in
which you are not justified by the very letter of military law.
.The Articles of Ware from tbejr kat:regular institution to the
presentanoment, as will be seen by the sth and fah Artacleft-of
the 14th section, have even qualified the prohibition of absence
without leave, by the exception of cases of evident'and urgent
necessity. A more evident or a snore urgent necessity, I pre_
sumo, can hardly be found, than ,sat which I have just sub-
mitted, Gentlemen, to your feelings, any more than the uncon-
troulable arm of the Civil Power.
The last instance, from the 6th to the 9th of August, is also
one of the latter description. As in the former one, I-arranged
it as quickly as could be done, not losing an instant, and imme-
diately returned to the regiment. Sir Robert Hill was fully
acquainted with the circumstance, and if a regimental return
had taken place, would, in course, not have returned me absent
without leave, but in the custody of the Civil Power.
Having necessarily spoken of being twice abstracted from
my regiment by the Civil Power, it is now necessary, Gen-
tlemen, that I should explain to you the cause of it, and
shew you, as I shall prove, that it did not arise ,from any.
pecuniary, defect of my own means, such as to render me:
incapable of preserving the due credit of an officer in Isis
Majesty's service. I entered that service with all the ar-
dour of a young mats of competent fortune, and always
identified myself with my brother officers, and considered
their, happiness as my own. Among those of a former
regiment was Mr. Radcliff, whose fortune -is ample, but it
is in Jamaica, and the deterioration of such property of late
years is too well known to need description. Living up to his
income, he was not prepared for this evil, and found a tem-
porary assistance necessary, which I was proud to afford him.
Circumstances have grown worse, instead of better, as he ex-
pected ; this assistance, at the present moment; as 'will be
shewn to you, amounts to no less a sum than between five and
six • thousand. pounds. Having come to an arrangement with
the opulent firm of Boddington far the care of his estate, he
contemplated•the speedy payment of the sums I had progrea-
sively advanced to him, and 1, in consequence, became his se-
curity for' one thousand guineas. His merchants having to
make a disbursement of many thousand pounds, were pre-
vented for the present being so liberal as they probably might
otherwise have been, and in consequence Mr. Radcliff was not
able to liquidate this security for one thousand guineas. Soon
after he retired to France, and this circumstance, for the first
time distrustful, made them feel it necessary to' proceed against
me, which, as you will learn from one of them, was the sole
cause of my having been so placed in the hands of the Civil
Power for the days mentioned in the second and fourth allega-
tion of the. charge.
• In being thus compelled, by the institution of these charges,
to mention the name and circumstances Oa brother officer, for
'whom I ever entertained the highest regard, I trust it will not
be deemed to imply any imputation against him, convinced
that ‘he would not, for worlds have subjected me to the incur-
rence.of one of these charge's against me on his account, which
he well knew would never have been incurred on my own.—
Confiding,. then, to your honourable minds, Gentlemen, both
the points which, 'as well as all others of a similar nature, that
some who probably hear me know I have ever preserved as a
'sacred trust, I shell not detain you longer than to shew that I
have not hitherto been-deemed a character unworthy your at-
tention. Nothing can be more repugnant to any well-consti-
tuted mind than to speak of one's self on any occasion, but in
such .a case as. this it is unavoidably necessary. 'Froth a
multiplicity, of, communications which I have been urged to
examine, I 'therefore select a few, from which delicacy will
only permit a small extract of facts, which extract shall, if
•destred, be marked for the inspection' of the Court in the
originaLa.
It will thus he seen, as regards the Ist Regiment in which I
'serVed, that in October, 1804, Colonel Creagh, then of- the
29th, and. now .of the 131st root, an Officer not prodigal of
cohiplimeht, had the goodness to write to me from America,
hoping that they might see use there shortly ; obligingly add-
ing, on the subject of my probably rejoining that Regiment,
that nothing could give hisa, or the Officers, more sincere
pleasure. ,
In December of the same year, General Dugald Campbell
• announced to me that the Earl of Hardwick, then Lord Lie-
utenant of, Ireland, had been pleased to recommend me to his
Royal Highness the Duke of York, and had written again to
urge it, previously to my return to America. Nor haa the con-
descending kindness of this exalted person ceased upto this mo-
ment, nor, I trust, been forfeited by me in the slightest degree,
since, so recently as January last, his Lordship was, pleased to
interpose his kind offices to endeavour to obtain for me a Ma-
jority by Brevet. In March, 1805, Major-General Sir J. W.
Gordon announced the recommendation of me to the Duke of
York by the late General Sir David Dundas, for an appoint.

PRICE SEVI?,NbEN CE

meat in his own Regiment, the Greys. Another letter chews
merely the consideration in which I was held by Lieutenant_
General Sir George Cooke. In 1507, Lord- W. G. Somerset
did me the honour to announce, in the most obliging terms, that
his brother, Lord Edward Somerset, would be glad to receive
me in the 4th Dragoon Guards. The succeeding peliod;to the
resent time, will be seen to: have been passed in- my present
Regiment, and therefore to forbid_ a similar, selection ; but
while I must thus abstain front an obvious propriety, I must
not omit to state that my communications have not been less
satisfactory ; and that I am suremy Prosecutor will admit, that
up, to the moment of instituting these charges, I have.ever beer. -
on good terms with all my brother Officers. . One name I can-
not forbear to mention, froth the lasting honour which it con-
fers on our Regiment, and the high estimation in which it is
holden everywhere ;—it is that of Major-General Sir John
Elley, lately in command of the Corps; anti I trust
he will forgive me for desiring io put the seal of his most
worthily distinguished name to those of the eminent persons
I have before mentioned. I shall only presume to say,
that he alwayi -did me the- honour of his most condescend-
ing kindness while my CoMmanding Officer, and up to the
last week continued the same conduct, heartily wishing, in
common with Lord Hardwicke, that 1 could obtain a Ma-
jority. Since I have been tilaced in -this unhappy • reverse
of condition, I addressed, rather too late, a formal let-
ter to imch of my three Commanding Officers., and though in
England, Scotland, and Ireland, have received the answers
which I lay before you. I cannot but feel gratified, in men
timing Sir John Ityng (a name associated with England's
glory), who, though employed with his usual activity in .the
command of the most extensive district:in England, lost not a
post in answering according to its terms.- Nor can my grafi-
'tilde be less to Major-General Balfour..-Sir. John Elley is the.
third. 1 shall now, Gentlemen, proceed to call only two wit-
nesses to prove the facts I have stated in-this address, and then
leave my case in your hands ; only returning my most grateful
thanks for the attention which you have Ofordett to it through-
out, and the desire which you have manifested to aid the search
after truth, so honourable to the character of a British Court-
Martial.

• Captain JEBB then observed; that something was-said about.
the Duke of Wellington having reprimanded him ; if Lis Grace
were pleased to do so, on. any one' of the. charges before the
Court, such a reprimand being a punishment, the charge would
not be maintainedshere.
Lieutenant-Colonel Clement Hill was then called, who proVed
that he wax in command of the regiment on the 2d and. 3d of
March ; that Captain Jebb was absent;. that when he returned
he apologized for having been detained by his friend, but that
it was the first .time, and-he readily excused it. - . •
Mr. George Whitehead proved that Captain Jebb had,in
consequence of becoming security for Mr. Radcliffe for 1050/.
been, on the departurz'ot Mr. Radcliff, taken, into the custody
of the Sheriff by his clients in April and August last ; that Mr.
_Radcliff was a man of 6,0Q0/. ivvear, as he knew from good
authority, and that his bill would have been discoUnted by
witness's Bankers, Chambers and CO., but for some dill:deuce
between pitrties who had considered Captain Jebb as hardly
used in the business, and would not have taken any proceed-
ings against him but for the departure of Mr. Radcliff.
S. Buxton, Esq. being called, stated his knowledge of tlinse
arrests of-Captain Jebb in April and August; his -having rea-
son to expect liberation immediately, as lie had sent to witness,
who had paid the money in one instance, and Captain Jcb,;)'s
brother in the other.

Mr. SCOTT then tendered the documents to be delivered in
as evidence of what had been stated in the address, among
which were securities for between 5 and 441.101. due to Capt. Jebb. •
These letters were then produced,' as the answers to'a letter
of Capt. Jebb to each of the Commanding-M=s of the regi-
ments in width he had served,,the 119th Pout, Scotch Grevs,
and the Blues, being from Sir J. Byng, Geri: Baltbur, and sir
John Elley, whol all testified to his character 'as'in Officer and
a Gentleman ; and the latter—rthat,there was no duty which he
would not perform with energy.
The defence here closed. Col. Hill required half an hoer-to
reply, which was gpinted..
On the Court being opened, he readit. It was in substance.
—That his charges were chiefly proved ;-119 knew nothing ot
Capt. Jebb's being confined till he heard it in the Court;—anti
lie trusted it would be believed he hail. only brought forward
these charges for the good of the service, and not from any other
motive. The Ciutrt ththi rostd for -deliberation of 'sentence,
when the proceedings will be laid before --his Majesty for his
approval. •
The Ist (or the King's) -Regiment of, Dragoon Guards (Ge-
neral W. Cartwright, Colonel) is ordered to assemble at Man-
cheater, for the purpose of being, inspected by Major-General
Lord Edward Somerset, K.C.B. and M. 1).: •
Two troops of the above ICegimait have received orders to.
March from Nottingham on the Ist of October, for Moriches.;
ter, where they are expected to arrive on Saturday the sth- of
October, leaving at Nottingham a barrack guard. •
The 14th Regiment of Light. Dragoons (with the exception
of one troop quartered at Abergavenny) has received orders 'to
assemble ,at Coventry on the Ist of October, in order to be
inspected on the.3d of the said month by the above General
Officer.

One troop of the 14th Light Dragoons is directed to march
from Coventry on the 4th of October,_ to Bosworth, and on the
following day to Loughborough, where it is ordered to re-
main during the absence of the King's Dragoon Guards from
Nottingham.
_ _ _

Cori;Oral George, whose trial by a Regithental Court Martial
was noticed in our paper on Tuesday was convicted, and. was
on Wednesday sent to Brixton gaol for twelve months,

MR. O'MEARA.

Copy of the Official Letter which notified to-Mr. O'MEARA
his removal from the situation of a Surgeon in the Navy,;—
Admiral/-Office, Nozi. 2, 1818.
SIR—I have received and laid before the Lords Commis-
sioners of the Admiralty your letter (and its inclosure) of the
28th ult. in which you state several particulars of your con-
duct in the situation you lately held at St. Helena, and re-•
quest " that their Lordships would, as soon as their important
duties should allow, connnunicate to you their judgment
thereupon." •
Their Lordships have lost no time in considering your state-
ment ; and they command me to inform you; that (even with-
out reference to the complaints made against you by Lieut.-
General Sir H. Lowe) they find 'in your admissions ample
grounds for marking your proceedings with their severest
displeasure. But there is one passage in your said letter of
such a nature as to supercede the necessity of animadverting
upon any other part of it.
This passage is as folloWs :—" In the third interview which
Sir Hudson owe had with Napoleon Buonaparte in the.month
of May, 1818, he imposed to the latter to send Lire away and
to replete me by 'Mr. Baxter, who had been several years sur-
geon in the Corsican Rangers... This proposition was rejected
with indignation thy Napoleon Buonaparte, upon the ground
of the indelicacy of a propdsal to substitute an Army Sur-.
geon for the private Surgeon of his own choice.
" Failing in this attempt Sir. Hudson Lowe adopted the re-.
solution of mani:estizt; great confidence in me by loading the
with civilities, invitin; me constantly to dinner with him; co/14
versing for hours together with me atone, both in his own house
and grounds, and at Longwood, either in my own room or
under the trees and elsewhere. On some of these occasions he
made to me observations upon the benefit which would result'
to Europe from the death of Napoleon Buonaparte, of which
event he spoke in a manner which, considering his situation and
mine, was peculiarly diStreising to me."
It is impossible to doubt the meaning which this passage
was intended to convey, and my Lords can as little doubt that,
the insinuation is a caluminous falsehood ; but if it were true,•
and if so horrible a suggestion were made to you, directly or
indirectly, it was your bounden'auty not to have lost a moment
in communicating it to the Admiral on. the spot, or to the
cretary of State, or to their Lordships..
An overture so monstrous in itself, and so deeply involving
not merely the personal charatter of the Govenor, brit the
honour of the nation, and the important interest committed to.
his charge, should not have been reserved in
.your own breast
for'two years, to be produced at last, not (as it would appear)
from a sense or public duty, but in furtherance of your per-.
sonal hostility against the Governor. ,

Either qii:cliarge is in the last degree false and chlumnious,
or you can have no. possible excuse for having hitherto sup.:
pressed it.
In either case, and without adverting to the general tenor of
your conduct, as stated 'in your letter, my Lords consider you
to be an improper person to continue in his Majesty's service,
and they have directed your name to be erased from the list of
Naval Surgeons accordingly.—l have, &c. J. W. cnoimit.
Mr. O'Meara, 28, Cheater-place, Kennington.-