The Sun.
London, England, 1803-07-12 00:00:00

common,men of the' Regiment two days t. fie'. they
so as to charge this to Governtnent, and to
jout it into the tr,ekets of these Officers, at the ex,
,pence of the l'oblic; this was the -constant, invari,
able pranice with respe;A to-all the Soldiers who
died in the Regiment,• except those who. died in
'Hospitals, of which the returns of these Officers
were correCt, becaik-e of these registers were kept
wbi,,4l would have been the means of detediog any
. false return that- might ha.ve been Made. Instead
Of 'making out the list from the Casual-book, of
ail that happened to the Regiment, the pay list was
male out first, and then all die other lists were made
to accommodate that list. 'This was done with a
view to commit fraud on Government, and fraud had
been committed on Government to as much extent
as %v.'s possible in this tse. That these false ac-
counts were made out by Captain M'enniming was
beyond all doubt ; that Lieutenant-Colonel Hel-nun.
signed a certificate, as of a true account, was like.
wise indisputable ; the only thing that c')uld be
made a question was, whether Colonel flepburn
knew this account to he false; now upon that, the
Serjeant concerned in .making. out the list would
prove that he remonstrated with Captain M'Cum.
ming on this mode of making out the list, that he
assigned his reason for doing it, that he had been
,over.cliargcd'forsome things in the We3t Indies on
account of Government, and that he had no other
way but this of reimbursing himself, &c. and- that
. the Colonel heard ail this and did not object to it,
but actually signed a certificate of the truth of the
_whole mattes, when he most, have known the false.
hood of These things would be clearly proved,
for the Jury would have all the book; of the ac-
count.of the Regiment, both original and spurious,
that was, the false- account which the Defendant
mode out, and which Colonel Hepburn certihed to'
he true,
.knowing it to be false, and the genuine.
CasuaLbook, from whence ail the returns ought to
have been made, by which the, fraud would be at
once deteded. When that wai- laid before the'
Jury, the case would be quite clear; but he would
strengthenit by the evidence of the S 'do:int, who
was concerned in making oat the ltsLs, and •who
would relate the whole case.

The books of the Regiment, as they were trant..
fitted by the Defendants to Messrs. Cox and Green-
wood, Army Agents, and by them laid before Go.
verment, and in which the Charges were made
opened by the ATTORNEY GENERAL, were pro..-
.duced, and the material items of them read, •

Joseph Winn, who had been 'Serjeant ,of the
Regiment ever since the year 1782,, gave a full ac.
count of the manner in which the impositkn was
practised. .He proved all the lists produced of re.
turns of the Regiment to have been written out by
Capt. M'Cumming, aid certified as true hy'Colonel
Hepburn. He proved that the Pay List, which
ought to have been made from the Muster Roll,
and the Muster Roll corretted from the Casual.
book, was made out first, and the,.Muster 'Roll
made conformable to the Pay List. That in that
list a great number were charged as Serjeants who
only received pay as Privates, and many more as
Corporals, who received pay as Privates only. That.
all the men who died in the West lUdies were con.
tinued on the list two days After their death, as if
they had received, pay, and Government charged
with it acedrdingiy. That it was 'Capt. M.Cum_
ming's order that it should he so, and that on the.
Witness remonstrating with him in the presence of
Colonel Hepburn, the Cap:ain said he had been
overcharged in the West Indies on account of the
service, and these were the ~tny means hi had of
reimbursing himself; that the C,donel did not oh,
jed to this ; and atterwards signed a certificate of
the truth of' this return, when, no ti.uilat, he must
. have known it to have been take. rim very first
item in the account was hit 42 Serjeants, when there
were only 21 in the Reg.inent. Cutporals over.
stated in like rminrer. In a word,. this- Witness
proved the whole case as iyCned by the ATTORNEY
GENERAL, and the books slimed clearly
.the tuts
position. The .Regiment, when it went to the
West Indies, was iOOO strong, but suffered from
the•yellow fever a mortality' so 'great, that there
came, home no more than one hundred and thirty• of
them.

On the part of Capt. M'Cumming all defence was
entirely given up, his learned Counsel saying that
he would•reserve what he had to say on behalf of his
Client for' the season when he should he brought up
to receive the Judgment of the Court.
For Colonel Hepburn Mr. ERICKI.NE addressed
the Jury : He admitted that there was a fraud prat.
tised upon Government to the extent which- bad
been stated, which no one lamented more than him.
self, but his Client's case was, thlat he had froth an
unhappy negligence signed this CertiAcate, with;
out being, aware of its containing this • false ac.
count. He submitted, that Serjeant Morton
had misrepresented the fans as to the conversation
which took place between Captain M'Cumming and
Colonel Hepburn in the presence of Captiin
van ; and he called Captain Sullivan, who positively
swore that no such conversation as that related by
Serjeant Morton ever- took place between the Colo.
nel and Captain M'Cutnming in the. hearing of Cap,
lain Sullivan.
Sir James l'ultency gave the Colonel a good cha.
raver.

But 'the' ATTOHNIT GENERAL, in his reply,
which was a very able one, insisted that Serjeant
Morton spoke the truth, and that this Captain had
at one time been charged With a connedion- in this
fraud. He maintained it WAS impossible to doubt
but that the Colonel knew these accounts werefalse
at the time ite signed his Certificate of the truth of
them, and that`thertfure it was the duty of the jury
to.find him guilty. With regard to the 'ease of
Captain MlCumming, it ,was given up. It was
a lamentable thing to see men in so :honourable a
station degrade,themselves,- but Juries must do jut.
tice to the Public, however hard they might bear
upon 'an
Lord 11114aNucqtotrort made many appropriate
and very able observlttions on the importance of the
'case, and left to the Jury' whether they could, up
the whole of the evidence, entertain a tilubt that
ColonelHephurn, at the time he signed the certi.
fica:e, not liave known it to he false. As to