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

[PRICE SIXPENC E.

engaged in the stria' performance of their duty
And here, Sir, I may be allowed to remark-,
the withholding from those under my, comm.eme
national and invariable reward of zeal, valour, and
e.perseverance, successfully exerted in•their Countr,
cause, was to them the more mortifying, as the
-army in whose efforts and gallantry they fully parti-
cipated, were cheered by the approbation of their
superiors, and' had the consolation of being intbrmer;,;
tisavtheir labours and success were acceptable to
those itYwhose approbation they look for encourage-
ment and reward. On this occasion, I hope it e ill
not appear vanity on my pail to spew the differeht
light -imwhich our construaions were received by
the Governor-General in Council; who were pleased
~to transmit to the themost flattering testimonies cf
- their approbation.
To myself and.my associates, some of whom had
-engaged most actively in
,the service on shore, and
all *of whom had exerted themselves in the landing
and assisting the troops with that ardourearai per-
. sever-ante so' charadenstic to British seamen, to
which I had, as -their Commander, eodearoured to
do justice; not one solitary expresSion of 'approba-
tion was, as the Court have seen, communicated in
the answer of the Admiralty.—Yet I am condemned
for having exposed, even to imaginary hezard; that
acquisition which appears not to have been worth
those thanks of our superiors-the value of which,
though so easy and cheap for them to bestoW,
need not expatiate upon in a Court of British Of-
ficers, whose aCtious and whose. lives would be to
the world the best proof of the estimation in which
they are justly held, The importance of the cap-
•ture was passed over in silence When • I and those
employed under me Might have been gratified ; hut
it is loudly enhanced, and made. the shhieta of a
criminal charge, when the (shied is to depress me.
Whence this difference ? leave it, Gentiem.,re
your refleCtions—l leave it to the refieCtioas of my
Country. , . „
By perthissiOn of the Court, I shall nest proceed
as I have already done in part, that what-
ever; dissatisfaCtion the Admiralty Board (which had
succeeded to that Board uuder whose orders I sailed
from England) thought proper to manifest fur my
having exercised my own discretion,. its undertakihg
the subiequent expeditioneo the Rio de la Plata, yet
my conduel in the exception of that enterprize was
such, as. to draw from them the most unqualified ap-
probation, as appears from the letter of. the 25th of
September, which I have already read in My d. fence.
The natural inference to, be. drawn from the perusal
of that letter is, the Admiralty Boarti, at the time
when it waF written, considered my recal as a suf-
ficient mark of, their disapprobation; ot. my having.
left the Cape. with my squadron, and attacked Bue-
nos Ayres, without orders. .But .the ptinegyrie
passed cm my condaCt, and those under my cons-
bated, strongly marks the high opinion entertairied
of the importance of the conquest; for it Mr. Mars-
den's letter of the 25th of September, adenowe
ledgitig the receipt of rue account of the surreilder of
Buenos Ayres aud its dependencies,be compared with
his letter in ans wer to mine of the 14th of January,
announcing to hins time capture of the Cape, it is fair
to inier,frOui the circumstance of the Admiralty Board
having expressed their tosquahlted *probation of My
conduCt its the conquest of Buenos Ayres, and of
their having withheld from me every satistaaion in
regard to my proceedings in the reduCtion of the
Care, that in their estimation of the coniparative•
importance to the country of the two places, they-
set a much higher value on the acquisition of Buenos
Ayres than on that of the ~Cape. But, Sir, if my
nieleet zeal for the I.ervice of my Country has,
iii the, opinion of any of the Members of this
Hon.' .Court, carried we beyond the exact limit of
uncestriaed instructions, I. submit that I have al.=
ready suffered a more than adequate punishment, not
merely by having been deprived of-my late command,
but from the degrading manner in which I was su_
pers'eded., and recalled, as must appear to this Hon.
Court, whets they find that my solicitations for time
use even of a transport was. peremptorily refuSed,
and that I was left to take my passage to England
in a small prize brig, with the aggravated circum-
stance of -the few men of the squadron put on.board
to navigate this.vessel ho'rne., being taken from her
by the orders of my successor, Admiral Stirling- to
whom I wasscarcelyk.nown, and to whom I could
hover have given personal offence. For the protif of
these- taus I refer to the evidence of Capt. King.— .
Wh'uther-the person who gave these orders, ..or the,
Admiral who executed them; thought they were the
best means_of upholding the character of a 'British
()dicer commanding in chief, or whether they or he
judged. this was the most proper Method of shewing
others their extent of power, I will not presume
to deterinioe, but of cots:Alta so u;;ltatural, so un-
precedented, and so unhandsome, I assure myself
no Member a this Court, nor any other person now
present, can recollea an instance. Humble, hoW-
ever, as my accommodation was, and exposed as
was to capture in a vessel without a single guts Li
defend her, I reached this country without eccideot.
The delay of... Admiral Stirling's arrival in the Rif) (1,,‘
la Plata, °Wing to the very unusual length of his
passage, I shall always consider as a provideetiel
circumstance ; for I can assert, Withodt tear o:
tradiaion, that his orders were to evacuate the
settlenicet, and, but for this circutost:h;cc, whiee
alferded time. for . . the arrival of the Pheesenr
sloop with. ce.unter orders, South Ameriea ceoue'l
-have been abandoned.; whereas I may now sete-
ly venture to predict, that the arrival of time '
force under General- Achmuty has long ,i 41,„„ me-
paieal the tnistOrtuise which betel my galiatit frienn;
Genert:l- Bertsford, by-putting the 'rim lush -
sion Of "eorionte,i,reiete and I trust nut 01q
that distinguished Neer and Ins brave ermy troru
the ),'eels, of the enemy, but fully punished the
e. et it();t.! unless, AV,tlt), I%ll' 1)0()I',.• ;1'
aua -thtecomplete Qom ma of et thee-
Lay, vieetteU the one, and avasied thcoece4-se