The Sun.
London, England, 1845-09-22 00:00:00

COURT-MARTIAL AT LEEDS.

A General Court martial, consisting of fifteen rota-
hers, presided over by General Sir William Warr°,
K C. 8., has been sitting at Leeds since the Ist initant.
by order of the Duke of Wellington, for the trial of
Lieutenant W. Augustine llyder, 10th Royal Ilussari.
on a charge preferr. d against him by Colonel Vande-
leur, the Colonel of that regiment. The Court did not
conclude its sittings till Thursday afternoon; but its deci-
sion will not be publicly known till after the finding shall
have have received the given's approbation. Mr. Warren
was specially retained to conduct the defence, and the
charge woul.l appear at first sight to be of a very stale an:l
trivial character, consisting of an alleged attempt by
Lieutenant Ryder, when the regiment was stationed at
B.illincollig, in Ireland, in October, 1842, to trick his
Colonel out of two months' leave of absence, by pn.posing
at ohaorAsler;
whichl ce rwtahsa
tto
ips'essshoff a should
ds
the Colonel, for the period above mentioned, and then to
be returned to Mr. Oliver. The inquiry into this charge,
hisen d
or Lieutenant
charger
beforeryd e
however, soon led to very important disclosures ; and an
incident occurred during the trial of a totally unprece-
dented kind in the annas of courts-martial, or, indeed,
of any other court. The prisoner's defence consisted
of a point blank denial of the charge, and an assertion
that it had been concocted between Mr. Oliver and
Colonel Vandeleur,—the former from spite, arising out
of a quarrel about the ppm nt for a horse sold by him
to Lieutenant Hyder, in October, 1842 ; and the latter,
in °relir to shield himself from a serious charge of sys-
tematic ill-treatment and oppression of Lieutenant
Hydcr, preferred by that gentleman against Colonel
Vandeleur to the Duke of Wellington early in April lasi.
The prisoner succeeded clearly in showing that
Colonel Yandeleur did not prefer the present charge till
after he had been required to answer that against
himself Ey Lieutenant nyder ; and in order to show
the connexion between Colonel Vandeleur and Mr. Oliver
is getting up the charge, required the production of a
!cwr writtc n by Colond Vandeleur to Mr. Oliver,
dated the 9th of May last, I which it appeared, hsd
elicited Mr. Oliver's letter emtaining a statement of
the charge. An order from the Horse Guards
had been obtained for the production of the
letter in question, which the witr ess had accord-
ingly brought from Ireland to Leeds on the morning of
the first day's sitting of the court-martial. During a tem-
porary adjournment of the court, however, it appeared in
evidence, that Col. Vandeleur took Mr. Oliver into
room adjoining. that in which the Court held its sittings,
and he and Mr. Oliver then actually destroyed all the
letters which the former had written to Mr. Oliver, in•
c'tling that of the 9th of May. The discovery of this
filet, which was elicited during a very severe cross-exa-
mination of Mr. Oliver, produced a profound sensation
in the Court, and excited great interest and astoni.h-
flint in military circles. It is supposed diet very serious
notice of the transaction will be taken by the authorities
at the Horse Guards, and that a second court-martial
may be speedily locked for. Lieutenant ilyder's ac-
quittal is regarded as a matter of course, and the de-
struction of the document in question has excited great
public indignation at Leeds.—Times.