The Sun.
London, England, 1866-06-20 00:00:00

IREL AND.

D ÜBLIN, June 19.
The fracas in the county of Dublin Militia, of
which an ex parte statement was published in a
pamphlet by Lien tenant Flood, who has since gone
to Australia, and of 'which a summary has appeared
in The Sun, having been referred to the Lord. Lieu-
tenant, his Excellency 'has given his decision upon
it, and this decision has been promulgated in the
regiment, and printed for private circulation by
Captain Caulfeild. It is but common justice to the
gentlemen that your readers should be made ac-
quainted with the result, which was communicated
to the Earl of Meath by Colonel Smyth, Inspector-
General of Militia. Lord Kimberley having care-
fully examined the documents and put the case
against Captain Caulfeild very strongly, came to the
following decision :
"Captain Caulfeild being the aggressor, and the whole
affair having originated by his own improper act, should
be reprimanded by his commanding officer for the unjusti-
fiable act of opening a letter with which he had no concern
whatever, and having done so, forwarding the same with a
very offensive letter from himself to Lieutenant Flood, in-
stead of bringing the matter to the notice of his command-

ing officer in the first instance, as it was his duty to have
done ; and that Lord Meath may be pleased to caution the
adjutant to refrain from such a step in future ; and that his
Lordship be good enough also to point out to the adjutant
that in a military point of view he should have rested sa-
tisfied with the decision of his commanding officer in the
case, especially as Mr. Flood expressed his willingness to
withdraw his offensive letter upon receiving an apology
from the adjutant, who was the original aggressor, and

therefore bound to make the first advance, relying upon his
commanding officer implicity that his character should come
out of the affair unimpeached and without reproach. That,
as the matter has been referred for the decision of higher
authority, Lord Meath should therefore make known to
the regiment that the charge against Captain Caulfeild of
conduct unbecoming the character of an officer and a
gentleman' is totally devoid of foundation in the real spirit
of the term, and that ho is fully exonerated from any such
imputation. That Lieut. Flood should bo informed by
Lord Meath that, even making full allowance for the irri-
tation ho experienced from the act of the adjutant, and the
unjustifiable threat contained in his letter of the 22d of
Jan., he should not have charged Capt. Caulfeild with con-
duct unbecoming the character of an officer and a gentle-
man, either in his reply to Capt. Caulfeild or in his letter
to the Earl of Meath—such an imputation being applic-
able to wilful, scandalous conduct, and not to an unac-
countably mistaken notion of duty."
Prefixed to this decision is a letter from Lord
Meath, as colonel of the regiment, to Capt. Caul-
feild, referring to facts which go far to account for
the error of judgment into which Capt. Caulfeild
was, unfortunately, betrayed, and which ought to
have been frankly acknowledged at first, as he now
admits it to have been altogether unwarrantable.
These facts, the colonel says, he is fully aware mate-
rially influenced him in opening the letter. le says
that—

" Prior to our list training you reported to me that
Lieut. Flood was then confined for debt in Kilmainham
Gaol ; my directions to you then were not to bring the
matter officially Wow me, as I had a strong feeling that
his f iiends would lay his debts, and thus enable him to
appear when the rqineent should be called out, but that in
case it came to you; knowledge that he had again been put
in gaol for debt you were forthwith to inform me of it, so
that I might lay a statement of it before the Inspector-
General of Irish silitia. I should have refrained from
granting my sanction to the circulation of any further
observations connected with this subject, during the
voluntary absence from this country of one of the par-
ties, had I not porceived that a large circle of your
friends and acquaiatances,having been irregularly made
acquainted with a ortion of the facts were entitled to be
put in possession cf the whole, and the decision of autho-
rity on the subject, I deplore the absence of Mr. Flood, in
consequence of theßssertion he makes in page 7, line 14, of
the correspondenceho has published—viz., that he had not
received one applittion fur payment ; whereas, I am in
possession of the telitimony on oath of the Paymaster-Sor-
geant that ho has received letters on different occasions
from the postman drected to ' Lieutenant Flood, County
of Dublin Militia,' narkod on the back or top of tho enve-
lope, '3d, sth, 7th, and 10th application for a small ac-
count,' and that t 0 three first enumerated were re-ad-
dressed and poatedto Mr. Flood, Itaheny-house; and the
fact of some of thee having passed through the office is
corroborated on oati by the orderly room sergeant. I can-
not close this conunmication without referring to a subject
on which your honour and gentlemanly feeling ha% o been
impugned (after so
hany years of intimate acquaintance)
without giving ex Pbssion to the sincere and thorough con-
viction I entertain e( the high standard of your honour and
the integrity of yotr mind, notwithstabding the late grie-
vous error in judtment you have committed.—Yours
faithfully, "MEATH, Colonel."
At the sitting the court-martial yesterday the
President annogiced that the prosecution was
closed, and called on the prisoner for his defence.

The prisoner answered that he had no defence to
make, but he handed in a lengthened protest, which
was read. The Court then adjourned till 2 o'clock.
When it was re-opened the Deputy-Judge-Advo-
cate addressed the Court on the whole case, after
which the proceedings terminated.

At the same time another court-martial sat in the
mess-room of the 85th Regiment to try Corporal
Chambers, of the 61st Regiment, on similar
charges, and also for having deserted with his re-
gimental clothing and necessaries. He pleaded
guilty to the charge of desertion, but with respect to
the first—not having given notice to the command-
ing officer of an intended mutiny in her Majesty's
forces stationed in Ireland—he refused to plead at
all, because it was " vague, uncertain, and indefi-
nite,/'and did not necessarily show an offence which
the Court had jurisdiction to entertain. After the
production of evidence the trial concluded. At this
trial Col. Sawyer, 6th Dragoon Guards, presided;
Capt. Whelan, 61st Regiment, prosecuted ; and
Major Me!n, assisted by Mr. Johnson, barrister,
officiated as Deputy-Judge-Advocate.