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

13-1

THURSDAY,

Cape, was adverie to the attack of an enemy on that
Settlement, which, as I before observed, was a rea-
son assigned by Commodore Johnstone and General
Meadows, for not venturing on such a measure; and
that, on that account also, no hostile operationsTwere
to be apprehended in that quarter et the time of
my • departure for the Rip de la Plata. I have
shewn too,•that I' took the most active- and effectual
measures of precaution to afford proteaion to •the
trade of his ,Majesty's subjects in: every quarter,
and' that, even had I remained with my squadron in
Simon's Bay (for I could not have kept it in safety
in Table Bay), there was little or no probability of
my being able to take posaeasion of any ships of the
enemy which might put in there, .or intoany of the
bays or harbours of the Cape or parts adjacent.
I must - now 'reply to the continuation or sequel
of the charge, coupled as it is in a manner not, as I
conceive, the meat-candid, with the preceding parts,
which- I have answered, and I, hope refuted. This
sequel runs thus, "'all which he, the said Sir Home
Popham, did, notwithstanding that he had received
laprevioos information of detachments of the enemies'
lithipktaeing at sea, •and in the neighbourhood of the
-.Cape; and tiotwithstandinghe had been apprised that
a French squadron was expeaedat the Mauritius, of
which be informed us by his letter to our Secretary,
dated the 6th of April, 1806, only fou'r days prior
t: to bkdeparture•frorn the Cape to the Rio de la Pla-
ka."-r-I have called the manner in which this sequel
of the charge is concluded, uncandid, for it'conveys
to the mind, that I left the Cape at the very moment
when detachments of the enemies' ships were expect -
ed there, of whose arrival in the neighbourhood of
the Cape I had received previous intimation. That
this is not a fair orcandid interpretation will be ma-
nifest, when it shall be seen by the perusal of my
:letter of the gth April, to Mr. Marsden, and by au
examination into the particulars of the information
asserted or implied to hive been thus given .by one
to the Admiralty, respeaing detachments of the ene-
mies' ships, that my expressions in one part of the
said letter completely explain those previously used,
either in another part of that letter, or any prior in-
telligence given by me respeaing the enemy's ships
in other letters,- and that I had in my communica-
tions to the Admiralty fairly disposed of Willeau-
mez's-squadron, which in fa& was the French squa--
dron said to have been expeaed at the Mauritius..
What, Sir, can be more 'uncandid than thus to al-
lude to part of a letter, and by not adverting to some
other part of the said letter, make it appear that the
'Writer (and that writer the Commanding Officier of a
British squadron in a distant quarter) stank as it
were, before his Judge, self-conviCted of improper
condua by his own official communications ? My
respea to the Court, and the controul which I have
endeavoured to impress upon my feelings and my.
language, prevents me froinziying way to the setx.ia-
lions which naturally arise in my breast while lam
commenting on such a proceeding. Justly as I have
a right to complain of it, I shall content myself with
pointing it out to the notice of the Court, and with
proving to the conviction of all the lion. Members of
which it is composed, that there is no just ground
for the interpretation which is attempted to be im-
pressed on their minds, that I not only knew of the
:expected arriral of detachments of the enemy's ships
at the time when I left the Cape with my squadron,
but bad myself aaually given to the Secretary of the
Admiralty information to that effe&. A perusal of
. the letter in question, with a few remarks upon it,
will be sufficient wholly to do away the imputation
to which I have just alluded.
Diadem, Tale Bay, oth April; ifiil6.
SIR—As the.season is now very far advanced
for lying in this Bay; and the weather, par:icuh'rly
unsettled for, the tittle of the year, .1 propose quitting
• it- with' the squadron immediately, more especially
as from the length of time that has elapsed since
we -heard of Admiral Willeaumez's fleet, it is very
improbable, and inconsistent with the situation he
was in, that he should come here at present."
Thus, Sir, in the very first paragraph of this let-
' ter; so tar from my saying that 1 had received pre--
vtous information of detachments of the enemy's
Ships being at sea, and in the neighbourhood of the
Cart, I begin by saying, that as the season is very
far aaVanced for lying in this Bay, and the weather
particularly unsettled for the time of the year, I pro-
pOsed-quitting, k with the squadron immediately, as-
sighing, as an additional reason for my departure,
that, as the length of time that has elapsed since we
heard of Admiral Willeaumez's fleo, it is very impro-
bable; consistent with the situation he, vi-a,; in, that
he should come here .at present.' I then proceeded to
remark, that " to determine his position at this mu-
mein would beimposiible, and it would be almost
equally difficult *to decide on the best 'mode of ap-
plying the exertions of the squadrOn the ensuing
twa'rnonths to the greatest advantage." From the
foregoing paragraph.; it is, I think, pretty clear
that I was under no apprehension from the arrival of
a hostile force at the Cape, or in any of the adjacent
bap or harbours. My next` paragraph in the said
letter is, that " The intelligence we received by La
Volontaire, and which has already been transmitted
to you (that is, to Mr. Marsden) for their Lordships
information, appears materially to incline to the sup-
position, that the West Indies is the destination of
Adiniral Willeaumez's fleet ; but (the Court will be
.4,tleased, 1 hope, to give the next paragraph their
particular attention, while I observe, that this is the .
part on which. this,-unfounded interpretation of the
letter rests) General Anker, the late Governor of
Tranquebar, who is just arrived here on his way to
Europe, informed me in the course of conversation,
that a French squadron was expeEted at the Mauri-
tius, but that it was impossible fur that Island to
supply any flour to it, without looking to Rio de is
Plata, or the Coast of Braids, for a supply ; on
which 'consideration I think employing ti,e ,qua-.
*droa' in eruiiing a short, titer,off that Coast, 1:;5; ead
of remaining idle, will be,a disposition fraught with

Vk otf, it f.i.:.;
*44).11,,..fr.!:
.G.kt; .v.z,÷ti.::::,,,,?,
.i,,,,.....__;,i.5:t-t!.4_.1:..1.',.;.:4:.:.'viVV'5.,,,....45....,.....,,,,:i,-;.fi,::.::,xz::;::a.:t
,$,........1".",,, 4tro
'4:1•V*47.6.1ti:.,,, ~..,'•
7,..., ~.i •I.i :k y‘\A\;:v.v:
leillifig W •
,At

NialrCH 12, 1807.

some advantage, and which, I hope,. will appear so
evident to their Lordships as to induce them to ap-
prove of the measufe."
Here, Sir, I have stated my reasons for supposing
that the ulterior ddstinatiou of .Admiral Willeau-
tuez's squadron was the': West Indies; and' in the
same paragraph of my letter, I add what was men-
tioned to me by-General Anker, the-late Governor of
Trauquebar, in the course of general conversa-
tion, respecting a French squadron expei.ted at
the Mauritius. But it 'is to be remarked ,that this
was . not given to me by General ,Anker, or re-
peated by me to Mr. Marsden, as positive intelli-
gence, but. merely as a matter of conjetlure.—: f:
Every Member of- this Honourable .Court must be,
aware that, in the progress of a war, a variety of.
rumours obtain circulation, respea-ting thernovements •
and supposed destination of the hostile naval forees,,,,j
and that in a distant quarter of the globe, some of •i
those rumours are wafted in opposite directions; tilt..
the event proves that a report concerning - exh-
peeled arrival of one squadron, at a particular place, ..
has originated from the circumstance of that squadron,,
having fallen in with a vessel bound to that place,
and conveyed throughher sotneintelligence calculated
to deceive and mislead, as to the real objefa of its
deStination, while this false intelligence-has the ima-
ginary etrea of dividing, or multiplying this one squa-
dron into two detachments, and thus creating a
double cause, either of alarm or precaution.
This was the .case in the present instance—the
squadron alluded -to by General Anker was no
other than Willeaumez's squadron, which, as I
rightly imagined, would either put into the Rio de la
Plata, or the Brazils, for water and refreslunents,and
then .proceed to the West Indies; which conje6.ture
induced me to diipateh a vessel to AdmiralCochrane;
on that station, to enable .hint to be prepared against
the enemy's arrival.
, .
I, next informed the Admiralty of my then intend-
ed disPosition.of the squadron under my command,
in these terms :

" As this letter is to be conveyed by a foreign.
ship, I shall not enter into any minute detail, bat
say it is my intention to proceed oft' Rio de la Plata
in the first instance, to send the Raisonable to her.
destination by the time fixed; the Diomede to Rio
de Janeiro, to procure rice for the colony, of which
it is in the greatest want, and return immediately to
False Bay with the other ship, unless I should hear
that Admiral Linoisis at St. „Catherines, preparing
to cruize for the outward-bound ships ; in which
case I shall endeavour to iutereept -.him; if it does
not infringe on the time of my return to the Cape,
to receive their Lordships' commands in conse-
quence of the dispatches conveyed by L'Espoir."
The letter concludes'i,s follows :

When I have the opportbhity, of a safe conveyanee, I
hope the reasods I shalt then-give wii I be sultieient to satisfy
their LwasltZps of the expsiettey of the nx.-asures I ataltbout
to adopt." _ _

Ha.ving thus brought the whole of this letter of
the 9th of April, .1806, before the Court, I sub-
mit to their consideration, whether, on a candid
and dispassionate review of its contents, lam not_
borne out in asserting that no passage in it can he
fairly and justly construed so as to imply that I
apprehended or ekpe6.lcd the arrival of a French
squadron at the Cape about the period of my
departure from that • settlement on • the Expedition'
to the Rio de la Plata ; and my intended de-
parture to that river before any communication.
had taken place with Gen. Baird as to troops, and
bethre therefore I could contemplate the Expdi-
tion to Buenos Ayres, is a proof of the interpretation
I put upon the intelligence received. namely, that no
hostile squadron could then be expeded at the Cape,
but if there was any truth in the intelligence that •it
was more likely to meet a French squadron in the
Rio de la Plata than at the Cape. AS to the circum-
stance of my leaving the Cape only four days after
having written to Mr. Marsden this letter of the fifth
April, my reasons are._ fully detailed in.. the official-
letter addressed to him on the t eth April, which
has been read_tb- the Court; as part of the charge;
and which I beg may be considered as now again
read. These reasons are ti till More enlarged upon in
a letter addressed to. the Admiralty, from St. Helena;
under date bf the 30th ,of April,. to Which- the
letter of that date,. read on the part of the pro-
secution-, is only an • addenda, and therefore 1 must
now desiie to haie the material letter read in this
place. - -
The Court is thus in possession of the reasons
given to the Admiralty for having come to a deter,
tnination to proceed- to the Rio 'de la Plata- on •the
13th April, 1806 ; 'and from 'the Validity of those
reasons, added to the explanation into which I have
entered, by My letter of the 9t h of April, I should
hope I have fully and - Clearly vindicated myself from
this part, and repelled the insinuation intended to be
conveyed by the manner in which my said letter is
therein mentioned. Must it not appear to this 'll*.
Court, and to the world at large, not a little extra-,
ordinary that the same Admiralty Board which
could liberally bestow their applause on the conduct
of the Captain of a frigate, -in the destruction of an
insignificant French privateer, 'could withhold their
approbation from another Officer who commanded
a squadron of his Majesty's ships; and all those who
had a6ted under him, and were employed, in the
capture of a settlement deemed so important, in a -
military, political, and commercial point of view,
as the Cape' of Good. Hope. The capture of the
Cape, with reference to the thanks Of Parliament,
so gratifying to those who received them (to which
it would be a presumption iu me to suppose I had
any claim), I may venture, I believe, to state,
is the first instance of a capture of this descrip-
tion having been made byj a joint armament, in '
which some expression of approbation, at -least
how the Lords of the Admiralty, has:not been be-
stowed on those of the Navy, who have successfully
performed their orders. . For it must be recolleEte.,.
that as to the. Cape' the orders were specific and pr 3--
c.se and -those concerned in the entcrprize were