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

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 27, 1822

THE ARMY.

DEFENCE OF CAPTAIN JEBB,
OF TUE ROYAL MORSE-CITARDS (BLUE).
Hyde-Park Barrcicks, Sept. 26..
This morning, at ten o'clock, the COurt again assembled,
pursuant to their adjournment from Tuesday, when Captain
JOHN JEBB entered the Court, accompanied by his -Counsel
and several friends.,-Colonel was examined, as were
also the Quartermaster and Adjutant,. but •,nothing material
occurred—Captain JEBB then rose, and requested Oat his
Counsel might be permitted to read his address, as, from some
interlineations, it was inconvenient for him to do it.—A long
discussion took place, after which Captain JERB read it him-
self, as follows _ _

Colonel, President, and Gentlemen of this Hon. Court—l
shall not detain you, by prefatory observations longer than is
absolutely necessary to explain to your just sense of military
discipline my actual position in the case before you. Having
.had the honour to serve in two of the best regiments in his
.Majesty's service--the 29th Foot and the Scots Oreys, and
nearly fifteen years in the Blues, with peauliar. approbation,
• I am sure you will recognise the feelings with which I am,
for the first time in my life, put on my trial ; and on charges
which, thotigh in their full extent they individually imply
not any thing derogatory to my cltardst4 as a adldier, are
yet, collectively; .-very repugnant' M. my 'spirit as a gentle-
man. Whence they have arisen, I shall not seek to dis-
cover ; but of.this, I trust, I shail,be able to convince you,
that either they must have been generated by an extraordinary
misconception. of one mind in one year, or the highly distin-
guished pepons, whose testimonials I am unwillingly obliged.
to produce, must have most extraordinarily have mistaken toy
character for upwards .of twenty years, and to the present mo-
ment. My first knowledge of these charges took. place when
having been, under circumstances hereafter to be • described,
absent for a part .of four days, which came not under the de-
signation of absence without leave. _On the 10th of last month
I was ordered to attend Sir Robert Hill, When he was pleased
to prOpose arrangements, which, however prOfitable -to me in
some points of view, I could not accede to with that sense of
honour which I hope ever has, and ever will, direct me. lam
thus before you, Gentlemen, and dm happy to 'leave to your
discrimination.and experience the decision, of my case. You
have heard the evidence, and have, no doubt remarked the tone
in which much of it wits given I shall now.proceed to ex.
amine what it has "proved.
In support of the first charge there ha been produced an
order of Sir Robert Hill's, made last year in the country quar-
ters, and, as .far as I have been able to construe, it:applied
chiefly to the. Clerks of Troops, and the'adjustment of their
accounts. This I know, that neither myself nor any other Of-
ficer ever considered it in the light of an imperative command
that he should pay the Quartermaster of his troop any charge
which may arise against him, often of the most trifling
amount, precisely on the Quarter-day ; or rather, as would
appear from the evidence on another charge, to the very mo-
ment the clock strikes 12 on Quarter-day, whether he shall be
present or not, op duty, or on leave. It is a inatter, as you
know Gentlemen, entirely between his Quartermaster and
himself; unleiS, indeed, the latter, or rather in his person, the
service, should sustain any injury, which is not even asserted
in this case. The witness called to prove a violation of this
order did, indeed, in answer to a question put to him by me;
to ascertain that fact, say, in a manner that could not be
lost upon the Court, that it had injured his character ; and
when asked how,_ explained it by his having received notice oe
a bill which he had received in payment from Captain Jebla
• and for which he had obtained •cash from Mr. Jennings,- of
Windsor, being unpaid. That bill, Gentlemen, was the secu-
rity for a valuable consideration, of a person, as you will hear
proved, of West India property to the value of 60001. a year,
and was payable at his merchant's, an eminent finis in London,
where many thousands had been paid on his account, and
where I could not but suppose so small an amount would be
readily paid. And how, long did it remain unpaid ? The
Quartermaster has informed you four days why it was even
thus long, I shall, I hope, satisfactorily explain. I was then
at Salt Hill, where I heard, to my astonishment, of its ntri-
payment on one day ; the following day I went to Mr. Jen-
nings_ to satisfy him on the subject, and relieve the,Quarter-
master from every responsibility. I had to go to London for '
the money, to return to Salt Bill, and then to go to Windsor •
with the money. Mr. Jennings was satisfied—he would have
indulged me in any way ; but I accepted no indulgence ; I got
the money as quickly as the three distances would allow, and
I as promptly paid it. I know not what may be the refine- -
ment of my ,Quartermaster's ideas upon his personal charac-
ter, but this we all know, that the most opulent merchant in
London, who should indorse a bill to the Bank of England,
which was not paid when due, would consider the very deli-
cate nature of his character injured by its passage through his
hands ; nor could he do more than pay it hirhself when re-
turned to him.

To prove the breach of the order, Quartermaster Speed said
that he had regularly presented the accounts every three months
to me, and I had not settled them, nor taken any steps so to do,
not, as he several times repeated, according to the order; that
is to say, his new construction of. it ; and in corroboration
pointed out in his book, an instance where he said I had paid
five quartera at once-: In this it is evident he was, in common
with other witnesses, in error. However this payment was
made to him in June, 1821, just fifteen months ago, and that
neither before, nor during these fifteen months, had he, either
from his legal precision. in' construing orders, or his extreme.
sensibility of character, discovered that, I had done him wrong, -
the Regiment wrong, the service, or in fact any wrong at all,
till the present occasion, when charges, for the first time in my
long service, were to be framed against-me, as he informed me,
and he was peculiarlycalled upon to contribute to them. 1 say
peculiarly, fivm the circumstance of his acquainting me of it a
few days ago, that he had been even interrogated whether the
last money which I paid him• was really money. Gentlemen,
this witness has been my -Quartermaster and Clerk of my
Troop for seven, years. It is not my habit to indulge in &mi.
liarity with such persons, and therefore there was no propitia-
tion on my part, if the order had even been by him construed,
or others, to this nicety of payment of the current accounts.
The account was settled and the order virtually obeyed, when
it was submitted to me that sums, such as Is. ad. for the Vete-
rinary Surgeon, 74d. for Barrack damages, 3s. for clerking, Is.
for nails for the stables, a few shillings for repair of arms, and
were admitted by me to be correctly charged, and he could
have the money when he wanted it. He distinctly, in his evi-
dence, said that he never asked me for money, though he after-
wards, on interrogation, endeavours, rather singularly as a wit-
ness, to-argue that the bare exhibition of his book to me four
times a year, was a demand of money, equally singularly and
gratuitously swearing that I knew the order. On being cross-
examined, he acknowledged, though very unwillingly, that so
far from his former evidence of opinion, that shewing the book
was an instantaneous demand of payment, I had had to apply
to him for' my account, that I had asked him at times if he
wanted money.? and that he had answered in the negative, as
he afterwards desired to qualify it, that he did not want it im-
mediately, that he was in no great hurry.
Will this evidence, Gentlemen, admit of the constructive
disobedience with which only in the present month, September,
lam charged to have been guilty in June, 1821 ? In the lapse
of time, and with an utter unconsciousness of having ever been
guilty of any act unbecoming the character of an Officer or a
Gentleman, you must be aware there may. have been many
facts and incidents that I might have adduced in my favour,
which are now lost to me : it was upon this wise principle that
his Majesty has, been pleased to signify his displeasure against,
and the Duke of York to prohibit in General (Wen, charges •
being withheld till they should accumulate, for the purpose of
being Collectively brought forward at a distant period.
It will, I am sure, Gentlemen, be borne in mind by you, that
Quartermaster Speed proved that I was not in debt to hh-a in •
any way at the period of instituting these charges. He said my •
last payment was on the 19th of August. I think I can prove.
it was even much earlier; so that, in fact, I am, not charged
with the evil, if any, till after I have evinced its entiie,remedy,
and that without being conscious of any necessity for it.
On the second charge, Gentlemen, I shill trouble you but,
very shortly. The Messman, Corporal Bell, after a very inco—
herent testimony, proved, or rather 1 admitted, my having given ,
him a draft upon the Agents for my mess account, amounting,
to 251. ; that the Agents declined paying it; and, that, on my
being,informeti of it, I gave him another for 52/. (it was for
31t. 75.), which included the 25/. and what had occurred sub..
sequently ; and was not therefore, as would appear from the
charge,•two separate bills' fcli two separate sums and separate
accounts : that I expressed my surprise, and accompanied the,
new draft by a letter to Messrs. Greenwood and Co. Corporal
Mayor, the Mess Clerk, besides something he had heard from
the Messman, proved his having presented these at the Agents',
and that their Clerk said he would see Mr. Cox upon, it, so that'
my application appears evidently tp have been grounded. He