The Sun.
London, England, 1812-07-06 00:00:00

COrniT MARTIAL.

; .
-A Court Martial to ingtiire into thC conduct of
fir James Atlin' Wood, oil the Poiiyee; and Capt.
Robert CaMpliell, Of the Trer4epdou; during the
tine they were in sight of the L'Orierit squadrdit,
da the 10th and I.lth of March last, took: place on
Monday ; the businesS of the Conft connnepced
by reading the corresponde&ie Between Sir J. A.
Wood, ,Capt. Campbell, and Lord Keith : in con-
sequence of this correspondence; and the stbse-
ent report of the Court of Inquiry, at Plyninuth
into the COnduct of the several ships on these days,
While in sight of the French squadro\i; we under-
stand the Lot ds of the Admiralty directed the pre-
sent Cburt Martikl. There were no regular
Charges, but the
,object of the Court appeared to
be to Ascertain it any blame were imputable
to these Commanders, for their conduct on that
day.

DIL3II3ERS OF THE COURT.
President, Sir Richard Bickerton.
Vice Admiral Otway Rear Admiral Hargoo:i
Rear A►dtniral Foley R. Admir. Sir C. Hamiltori,i3t
Capt. C. W. Paterson Capt. G. Fowke
-- Sir John Gore A. Skene
- E. L. Gower - W. Fothergilt
- H. Heathcote - F. Mason.

The, first witness called, was CApt. Jackson; of
his Majesty's- ship Poictiers, who, after being ihily
sworn, stated, " On the morning Of the 10th of
March, a little after 7 o'clock,. Vshant bearing
RN.'E. 71eagues, the officer of the watch came in
to. me, and reported that some strange sails were
seen on the lee-beam, standing to the northward,
wind N. E: and
_byE. the TremendonS and Poic-
- tiers at that time. being on, the opposite tack to
the Southward, . the ' enemy about--the distance,
of 14 or 15- miles.. I immediately went upon deck
with a glass, and the first look I had of them, and
from the appearance of their sails, r had no doubt
of their being French ships, and immediately
_or-
dered the signal to be made of strange ships of the-
line, 3 in number, but it. afterwards turned out
there were four line of battle ships. The Tre-
mendous having answered and affirmed the signal,
we- bore up towards the enemy with all sail, in chase,
steering
_N,. by W. Shortly after,We bore up, and the
enemy bore up also and made all possible sail
from us.—We continued the chase till about a
quarter past 'nine. o'clock. The Poictiers and
Tremendous, at that time; were within hail of
each other, when Capt. Campbell hailed me, and
said, I am a
.good deal at a loss to know what to
do :—What would you advise ? I replied, if you.
do not think we strong enough tca.ittackthem,
we are, under any circumstances, capable of try-
ing to prevent their getting into Brest, and by
following them close up, something might join
us in the course of the day, to enable us to bring
them to action : previous to this I had ordered
the Poictiers to be prepared for -action.- The two
ships continued the -'chase tinder all sail, until
about halt past nine o'clock, when the enemy
hauled his wind upon the starboard tack, and ap-
parently offering us .battle. Capt. Campbell then
made my signal to come within hail, and ordered
me to work to windward and send information by
a vessel (which was 'then coming down from the
eastward) to Sir R. King (commanding the Eng-
lish squadron off L'Orient) of.the enemy being at
sea. I immediately tacked and worked up to join
this vessel, ann a little before 12 o'clock succeed-
ed in coming up-. with her and wrote a letter to
Sir R. King, acquainting him with the circum-
stances before-mentioned. At this time the Myrtle
with 'a small convoy, hove in sight to windward.
I immediately sent. the letter by an officer to
the master of the merchant vessel together with
an order, desiring him to work up to windward,
and whoever the man of war might be, then in
sight, with the convoy, to proceed with that let-
ter with all'possible dispatch to Sir IL King, and
that I believed he would find him in Quiberon'
Bay, or some port of the neighbouring coast. - At
this time I had separated from the Tremendous --
about eight or nine miles, and the enemy under
all sail. As soon as the dispatches were sent off I
made all sail after theTremendous„endeavouring by
every possible means to recover the distance which
I-had lost in consequence of separating from her.
Some time in the afternoon the-Hyacinth hove in
sight, with a convey to windward, and consider-
ing that Capt. Campbell Would•be desirous of hav-
ing another man of war with him, for the
.purpose
of sending • dispatches, I took upon myself to re-
call the Myrtle from her convoy, to join ttie•Tre-
mendous, which ship I pointed out to her, and
made the signal to Captain Campbell that I had
done so. About three o'clock in the afternoon
Capt. Campbell made my signal a second time, to
send the dispatches .by the -Myrtle : at this time I
had cleared within three or four miles of the
Tremendous, and the• Myrtle was then coming
down to windward. According to order •Which
had received, I shortened sail and-allowed her
to come up with me,- Is:lien the Captain of the
Myrtle came on board by signal, and tendered
him to -proceed with the letter which I had given .
him -to Sir It. King, and if he'could, without de-
lay, to communicate with the' Hyacinth, as-she
had nut answered the signal which Capt. Camp-
bell had made to her of the enemy, and to ac-
quaint her that the enemy's squadron supposed
from L'Orient, were -then in sight, steering to
westward and to be guided for the safety of the
convoy accordingly. The Polctiers bore up im-
mediately, and again made all pgossible sail to
close with the Tremendous, which we were then
separated from about 9 miles. The Tremendous
at this time running under all sail towards the -
enemy, which then being or bearing W. by N. of
the Poictiers, about 16 or 17 miles according to
the best of my judgment. A little after 4 o'clock,
two sail were discovered from the mast-head,
upon the lee beam, bearing W.S.W. by R. Robin-
son (the enemy's squadron, at that time bearing
about W. and by_ N. about two -miles -or less
suppose) when sir. Edgar the second Lieutenant,
immediately went to the mast-head, with the best
signal-man I had, in whom, I placed great cdnfi-
dence, to ascertain what they were, when the
commanding officer said it was their opinion that
they were a line of battle ship and a frigate ; I
did not go to the mast-head myself because as the
day was then closing, and being at a considerable
distance from the Tremendous, I was very anx-
ious to ascertain the distinguishing night signal,
by Which Capt. Campbell meant to shew for art ac-
tion. The two strange ships in the W.S.W..when first

see'; were on the latijOard tack; and appeared to
be lyhig to. A short time after they taek&l, and
stood to the nOrthward; upon a wind : at about
o'clock it was observed that they had again
tacked._ After the close of the day, tee night sig=7
'zialS were made for an enemy, arid were repeated
by the POictiers, ,and apparently answered by the
Strangers; in such a manner as left no doubt ijl .rhy
mind of their being. friends. About half-past
o'clOck, we Were Still in 'pursuit of the enemy,-
' and the night being extremely dark and squally, A
a light was disbovelvd on the lee boW,. Which 1.
was at first at 'some loss to ascertain whether it
was froth the Tremendoas or an enemy's squa==
dron ; soon after I foutid that \the vessel which had
the light was on the larboard tack, I immediately
Shortened sail and afterwards wore round, and not
then seeing the Tremendous, I made the private
signal to ascertain whether it was her or not that
had shewn the light. Shortly After the Trernitn-
dons made tin{ signal at the mast-head, when IrUn
down and was hailed by Capt. Campbells saying,
he had just Wore clear of the enemy, and he be-
hewed they
:had put before the wind, and
asked me what I thought of the strangers to
leeward. I told him I made them out to be
a line of battle ship and a frigate, and there
Was no doubt of their being friends,
_as they
had answered all our signals, except the two
last, but we would still continue the night sig.
pals, 'and I had'am doubt but tii a should get hold
cif thefh, as the last blue-light signal .made.on the
lee beam, did not appear to me to be More than
five miles from us. GT- tain tampbeli then burnt
another blue light ; E then allied him what his
intentions were, and what he Meant to do.that
night. lle said he should wear.. round and stand
to the. N. and by W. and hoped we shohld see
them again in the morningi and directed me to
keep close to him during the night. At day-light
in the morning I reported several sail broad on .
the lee bow, close together, and which I had no ,
doubt were the enemy's squadron, bearing about
N.byW. at the distance as I judge Labout 23 or 24 •
miles. I ordered the signal to be made,for them
immediately,and the Tremendous_ ordered the mine,
and I believe both signals were at the Mast-head
touther. Capt. Campbell therrinade the signal to
chase, and both ships.bore up with All sail ; the
Wind now got more to the east; and light, and the.
ships going about 3 or four knots an hour, we
continued to clias-e till a quarter before nine, When
we lost sight or them, they apparently having a • .
stronger breeze than us ; or which I think more,
probable; the-haze coming over the horizon ob-
scured . them. At half past 12 o'clock the Tre-
inendons shortened sail and. brought- to, the
Poictiers at this time was aboutthree4niles astern,
Captain Campbell made my signal to 'go on board
and advised with me what was to be done under
the present eirumstances ne said he had run as far
after them as:there was any probability of falling
in with any of our ships, and his.mindjwas made
up on the -subject, and he should now return to
Brest; and said, that in proceeding `further it
would be dividing the country from the two
effective ships : in answer to which I said, that I
did not consider dividing 'the country front' the
the ships of so much consequence, as there would
be three or four ships relieved from the blockade
of L'Orient ; and that, if they. were bound to
Amerita,which I thought very probable,-theAdmi-
ml on that station would be very glad to see such an
addition as our two ships to his force, and I
thought the Admiralty would approve of it ; and
the chances were, if we got sight of them again,
that some' opportunity would offei in the course
of the pasiage, by gales or othenirise, of bringing
them to action.

(To be vontinued.)

Owing to the present low price of the Funds;
Farmers and other per Sons, under the authority
of the Land Tax Act, may make themselves Free-
holders for the small suns of about £4O, by pur-
chasing the Land TaX upon the Farms which they
occupy, or any other in theneighbourhood ; which,
will enable them not only to oblige their Land-
lord with a Vote for the 't2.ounty, but entitle them
and- their children to receive Forty Shillings a year
for ever, without therisk or ,expence of title deeds,
parchments, &c. for the Land Tax may he redeem-
ed, so as to produce very near five per cent: into-
rest for money.----X5 a year Land Tax at 55 per
cente the present price of 3 per cents; will cost
:€l9O. 16s. Brl.—Such an opportunity has nut of 7
fered since the year 1804. • .
We copy the following from a Paper of yester-
day :7—Robert Hepburn Ker, who, by a/late de-
cision in the Howe of Peers, was found entitled
to the DukedoM of Roxburgh, and 100,001.
sterling in the funds, was some years ago "a' pan-
pelt- in, the city of Kingston, Jamaica, and died
there in 1801, in the hospital, and- was -buried at
the expellee of the parish."

SMITHFIELD MARKET, °Jura 6.
This day's Market was pretty well supplied-With
prime Beasts, and the show of Cattle in general
was considerable; Beci", Mutton, . and Veal, were
dearer; Lamb is cheaper; Pork sold it last price";
and the trade for the 'most part was somewhat
brisk.—The sates in the Hay,- Market weria rather
lively.; Straw and Clover have got up in price;
Hay fetched last price.—We subjoin an accurate
statement of the prices and numbers :

TQ sink the Offal, per Stone of 81b. , •
Beef, ss. 4d. to 6S. 4d. Mutton, ss: 6d: to 65."6d. Veal,
6s. 6d. to is. 6d. Lamb,-6s. od. to Bd. Pork, ss.od. to 6s.•Bd.
Beasts, 1915. Sheep and Lambs, 16,200. Gal es, 139. Pigs,
290.

SMITHFIELD HAYMAIMET.
Hay, 41. 10s. to 51. 10s. Straw, 21. Ss. to 31. 3s, Clover; 51.
[Os. to 71. 10s. • •

CORN EXCHANGE, JuLy 6.7—This day the Fresh
arrivals of Wheat make. a middling supply, samples
of fine quality in demand, and sales in general
fully. maintain last prices quoted ; Rye, together
with Barley and Malt, are named at little fluctua-
tion ; White Pease dull in sale
.; very few Grey ;
beans of the two sorts also fully keep their prices ;
there are•likewise tolerable supplies of Oats, and
this. article nearly -at the last quotation in Flour
no variation. •

•
Wheat ---110 s. 1425. 1603. Tick Beans - - - 755, 80s.
Fine ditto - - 16'2s. 1655. Oats 7. - - = 555.575. 60s.

Rye
Barley - - - 6.15. 71s.
Malt - - - - 945. 102 s.
White Pease (boil.) 78s. 84s.
Grey ditto - 755. SOS.
Beaus • - 765. 625.

Poland ditto -. 61s. 6425:
Potatoe ditto - 641. 655.
Rape Seed - - - 77,1. 7SI.
Fine Flour - -115 s. 140 s
-Settonds . - - 1 Lai: 115 s.