The Sun.
London, England, 1832-02-25 00:00:00

EIGHTH DAY'S PROCEEDINGS.

The Court having met, pursuant to adjournment
on Friday, the 3d day of February, 1832, proceeded
further to deliberate on the evidence produced on
the trial of Captain Warrington.
OPINION AND SENTENCE.

The Court having maturely and deliberately
weighed and considered the evidence which has
been adduced in support of the charges which have
been preferred against Captain William Henry War-
rington, of the 3d regiment of Dragoon Guards (the
prisoner before the Court), as well as what the said
prisoner has offered in his defence, came to the fol-
lowing decision:—
With respect to the first charge—namely,
" For that he, Captain Warrington, being on the
night of Sunday, the 30th of October, 1831, in the
personal command of a troop of the 3d regiment of
Dragoon Guards, in the city of Bristol, a a time
when that city was the scene of most outrageous
and alarming riots, insomuch that the said troop had
been repeatedly called out by order of the Magis-
trates to quell the rioters, and at a time when
several public and other buildings in the city had
been fired by the rioters,—some whereof were al-
ready consumed, and others were still in flames.—
and at a time when, by reason of the circumstances
aforesaid, it was peculiarly necessary that the said
troop, being then the only military force in Bristol,'
should act in the most prompt and effectual manner
for the protection of the city, and that he, Captain
Warrington, as the commander of the same, should
use every exertion for that purpose, subject to the
orders of Lieutenant-Colonel Brereton, who than
held the chief military command in the city, and
when it therefore behoved the said Captain War-
rington to forward instantly and without delay to the
said Lieutenant-Colonel Brereton every requisition
that might be made, or intelligence that might be
conveyed to him, Captain Warrington, or to the
quarters of the said troop, calling for the services of
the said troop in the city, or showing the same to be
necessary; nevertheless, he Captain Warrington,
being between eleven and twelve o'clock on the
said Sunday night applied to, at the said quar-
ters, where he was then in command, by Mr.
Thomas Kington, a merchant in Bristol, and in-
formed by him, (as the fact was), that the rioters
were about to fire the Custom-house of Bristol,
and that the presence arid services of the troop were
urgently and immediately required in Queen-square,
where the Custom-house then stood, in order to save
that building, or to that effect, did not only refuse to
order out the said troop or any part thereof, or to take
any step for the purpose so stated, but used no means
of carrying the information so received by him, or the
purport thereof, to the said Lieutenant-Colonel
Brereton, or of obtaining from the said Lieutenant-
Colonel Brereton any orders applicable to the occa-
sion; the said Captain Warrington thereby (as far
as in him lay) leaving the said Custom-house at the
mercy of the rioters, by whom, in fact, the same was
shortly afterwards set on fire and totally destroyed."
That he is Guilty thereof.
With respect to the second charge--namely,
" For that afterwards, that is, on Monday morn-
ing, the 31st October, 1831, he, Captain Warring-
ton, being (as before) in the personal command of the
said troop of the 3d Dragoon Guards, then the only
military force in Bristol, and when the riots were
raging in that city with increased and destructive
violence, a letter being about half-past three o'clock
on the same morning delivered to, and left with, the
said Captain Warrington, at the quarters of the said
troop, where he was then in command, which letter
was from Charles Pinney, Esq., the Mayor of Bristol,
and was addressed to Lieutenant-Colonel Brereton,
or to the officer commanding his Majesty's troops,'
and was to the following effect :
" Bristol, Three o'clock, Monday morning,
Oct. 31, 1831.
_

SIA,—I direct you u commanding officer of his
Alajesty's troops to take the most vigorous, effective, and
decisive measures in your power to quell the existing riot,
and prevent further destruction of property. I am, &e.

" CHARLES PINNEY.'
" And he, Captain Warrington, having then read
the said letter, and it being thereupon his bounden
duty either to act on the said letter without delay,
or if his order did not allow of his so doing, then
and in that case immediately to transmit the said
letter, or to communicate the contents or purport
thereof, to the said Lieutenant-Colonel Brereton;
nevertheless he, Captain Warrington, neither acted
on the said letter as aforesaid, nor transmitted or
communicated the same, or the contents or the pur-
port thereof, to Lieutenant-Colonel Brereton: but
on the contrary retained such letter in his possession
without taking any step whatever in reference to,
or in consequence of the same, until some time after-
wards, when he was applied to by a magistrate in
person; by reason of which conduct on the part of
Captain Warrington, the said troop remained inac-
tive in its quarters for upwards of an hour after his
receiving the said letter, during which interval of
time the rioters, being left without opposition or
controul, sacked and fired several houses, and des-
troyed a great amount of other property."
That he is Guilty thereof.

With respect to the third charge—namely,
" For that during the said 30th and 31st of Oc-
tober, 1831, while the said rioters were perpetrating
acts of gross and increasing outrage in the city of
Bristol, so that the said city, for many successive
hours, appeared in imminent danger of destruction
at periods when it was peculiarly important that the
said troop of the 3d Dragoon Guards, being then the
only military force in the dry, should be comm,* led
and directed in the most efficient manner for the
protection of the city under every emergency that
might arise; and when for that purpose it was
necessary that the said Capt. Warrington, he being
the only commissioned officer then in Bristol with the
said troop, excepting a young Cornet of not more
than sixteen months' service in the army, should
constantly remain at or within immediate call of the
quarters of the said troop, while the troop continued
there, in order to superintend and direct any move-
ment required of it ; and, in case of the troop, or
any detachment thereof, being ordered out to meet
and put down the rioters, he (Captain Warrington)
should himself accompany and command the same;
and that he (Capt. Warrington) should at every mo-
ment be ready and on the alert for the performance
of the said services, nevertheless he (Captain War-
rington) greatly neglected or violated his duty in
the said several respects, and especially in the fol-
lowing instances:—
" 1. In that the said Captain Warrington, at or
about four o'clock in the afternoon of the said 30th
of October, when a detachment of the said troop,
consisting of two-thirds, or thereabouts, of the dis-
posable part thereof, was ordered out to the city
gaol, which was then attacked and threatened with
destruction by the rioters, permitted such detach-
ment to march to that service under the sole com-
mand of the said Cornet, he, the said Captain War-
rington, meanwhile remaining inactive in quarters.
" 2. In that the said Captain Warrington did
afterwards, in the course of the said 30th October,
the troop being then in its quarters, altogether ab-
sent himself from the said quarters, and from the
neighbourhood thereof, and remained absent from
the same for a very considerable time ; during which
time, namely, at or about eight o'clock in the
evening, a detachment of the troop, consisting of
nearly the whole of the disposable part thereof,
being called out to protect the Palace of the Bishop