Star.
London, England, 1815-05-13 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF MR STAR.

London, May 9, 1915.
Sin—The above inclosed printed copy of a Pro-
clamation issued n the name of his Royal Highness
the •Prince Regent, by his Excellency Sir Ralph
James Woodford, Bart. Governor of Trinidad, has
just reaci.ed me ; and, though it appears to be some-
what obscure and unintelligible In an English reader,
yet, as the British army is immediately and necessa-
riy concerned in its promulgation, I trust you wilt
give it publicity, through the medium of your Paper.
Libel ality is more generally admired than despised.
ficnce it is not my intention to characterize one act
lif indiscretion, by the indignity of another.—But my
sole object is ui apprize the British Army, in ge-
r.eisl, of the foreign municipal law to which' they
will become amenable, and by which they are now
to be governed, in point of moral duties, on being
eatintled at Trinidad. This foreign municipal law is
na other than the immaculate Spanish Code, which
avith the Mutiny Bi►l and the Articles of War, will.
for to a pretty voluminous, if not a very useful wade-
mecum for the British soldiery.
Many of the Officers of the British Army, and
:tome of the flower of that army in which the name

of the Commander of the Forces on the Leeward
LI Ind station, stands highly distinguished, have had
opportunities of
,witnessing Spanish manners and
Spanish customs These Officers will, therefore,
perhaps be enabled to duly appreciate the advantages
which are likely to result to their brave companions
in arms, from the Spanish Code, which has so long
and so unhappily distracted, and, as I ant informed,
nearly completed the total ruin of the unfortuaate
island of Trinidad. To the consideration of the ra-.'
tional aad enlightened part of that army, the follow-
ing observations are therefore respectfully submitted.
By the Mutiny Bill, and by that Bill only, which
is annually passed in Parliament, his Majesty is au-
thorized “ to ftirm, make, and establish, Articles of
War, for the better government of his Majesty's
forces, which Articles shall be judicially taken no-
tice of by all Judges, and in all Courts whatsoever."
Sect. 33.
In exercise of this power, his Royal Highness the
Prince Regent, in the name and on the behalf of his
Majesty, was pleased to order, by a clause in the
g4th section of the Articles pf War, (011814), that
notwithstanding its being directed si in the 11th sec-
tion of these our rules and articles, that every Com-
manding Officer shall deliver up., to the Civil Magi:-
hate, all persons under his command, who shall be
accused of any crimes which are punishable by the
inown laws if the land ; yet, in our garrison of Gi-
braltar, and the island of Malta, or in any place le-
yond the sea:, where our forces now are or may be
employed, where (here is noform of our CIVIL judicature
in force, the General, Governor, or other Officer
Commanding in Chief, for the time being, is to ap-
point General Courts Martial as occasion may re-
quire, for the trial of any such persons under his
command, accused of any wilful murder, theft, rob-
bery, rape, coining, or clipping the coin of Great
Britain or Ireland, or any foreign coin current in the
garrison or place under his command, or of having
used violate, or committed any offence against the
person or property of our subjects, or of any others
entitled to our protection, &c."
4nd by the Proclamation accompanying this letter,
his Royal Highness has been pleased, for the. reascns
;herein eyed, to annul the provisions of that clause at
Iwo 1 is 9 *CAA ll) ordain; 4, that the

cognizance of all criminal offences, not provided For,
or made punishable by the several Mutiny Acts"
(though there is but one in force at the same time)
" shall, in future, belong to the tribunal of his Ala.
jetty's Governor and Commander in Chief of the said
island, accompanied byhis Assessor, and to no other,"
under the criminal law of Spain ; though I am in-
formed, that the Spanish laws expressly provide and
enact, that the military shall only be tried by their own
peculiar fuero or tribunal,—a Court Martial.
Upon this a considerable doubt occurs to me; and
that doubt is, whether the expression. " where there
no form of our civil jsurscature in force," is to b:: taken
in a confined or in an enlarged sense; that is to say,
whether 4. our civil jai:satyrs" do nut, by necessary
and rational implication, with relation to the 33d
clause of the Mutiny Bill, mean and refer to that
form of civil judicature, where British laws are in
force ?—Or may this expression of his Royal High- •
ness, emanating from the authority of an act of the
British Legislature, be carried so far as to extend to
such foreign law as may happen to be in force,‘ in a
cot:et:coal dominion of the King ?
As I am no lawyer, perhaps I may have an erro-
neous view of the subject; but it strikes me, that the
exceptive words, 44 where there is no form of our civil
judicature in force," ought, to be understood in a li-
teral and legal sense, to mean such courts of justice
.is are not consonant to the laws and constitution of
England. For suppose these exceptive words had
been used in the body of the. Mutiny Act, instead of
in the Ankles of War, would anyone infer, that the
Legislature meant, or contemplated, a Spanish or .
any other foreign tribunal ? And, on the other
hand, can it be said that they exclude the Courts of
Jamaica, where, thank GOD, British laws have so
long prevailed, from exercising jurisdiction over such
public offences as might be committed there by mill-
tar men ? The 14th section of the Mutiny Bill pro-
vides, " that nothing in this Act contained, shall
exempt any officer or soldier, from being proceeded
against by the ordinary course of law ;" and the 15tli
section says, " that if any Officer, Non-commissioned
°dicer, or Soldier, shall be accused 9f any capital
crime, or of any violence or offence, against the
vers-a, estate, or property of any of his Majesty's
subjects, *filch is punishable by the known laws cf the
land, the person so accused shall be delivered over to
die Civil Magistrate."
Sorely then, no one will, as it would seem idle to
contend that the ordinary course of law, or the known
! ran of the land, or the Civil Magistrate, sa designated
it, a statute of the United Kingdom, can have any
:elation to di •fir,•ign possessions of his Majesty under
foreign kw: ! Not is it altogether immaterial to re-
collect, that the military do not go to Trinidad as
citizens of their own tree will, but as soldiers in the
service, and by the command of his Majesty.—
Hence, if I 2M right in my premises, the jurisdic-
tion which Courts Martial have over such offences
as come within the letter and meaning of the '24th
section of the Articles of War, does not seem to be
naked away by the Proclamation; which, probably, will
be productive of-as much confusion as remedial good.
But, as this is a new and nice, if not a great po-
liticatquestien, 1 confess my inability to pursue tt
any farther ; and, therefore, I must leave it to the
wise heads and big wigs to be determined—
,' On lex incerta, ibi tea nulls."
Of all known judiciary Codes, however, I have
been credibly informed by gentlemen who have long
resided in the Spanish dominions, that the Spanish
Criminal Law is the most deficient, imperfect, and
dilatory, if not one of the worst and most disgusting,
criminal codes in the {town world, favouring only
life, without the slightest regard to liberty. Indeed,
I feel myself authorised to say, there is scarcely a'
well informed Spaniard in the Spanish dominions
who does not decry the criminal law of Spain and
her Indies, as a chimera to the attainesent and ends
of public justice ! Perhaps, on this subject, tli •
present Chief Judge of Trinidad might be capable of
inruiabing a great deal of confirmatory information,
if his judicial situation did not preclude him from
openly avowing it.
But whether the criminal law of Spain be suitable,
or well or adapted, to the character and genius of
the Spani..h nation, it is not my province particularly
to enquire. AU I wish to ask, and all I put is—Can
a soldier, serving in the Brisish Army at Trinidad,
be legally and constitutionally iticd and punished
there, by the Spanish, or any other foreign criminal
law ? It the affirmative of t!:is question be insisted
upon by anyone, I beg leave, as a British subject,
to enter my humble, but solemn protest, against it.—
And, as to the expediency of the measure, that might
be answered in this way :
The Spanish laws are conceived, penned, and pro. i
mulgated in the Spanish language. The British sol-
diery, in general, speak and understand no other laa-
guage but their mother-tongue, whether it be Lag.
lisle Irish, Scotch, or Welch. They may be capable
of reading and understanding the pl.sin language of
the Mutiny Bill, and the Articles of War ; but, if
you were to put a Greek lexicon, or the Hebrew bible
into their hands, would they be able to find out the
• word for obey ? This is plain and analagous reason-
ing to the understanding of the British soldiery ; and,
it you wish them to perform that which they are ca-
pable of, do not place them in the darkness of a su-
perstitious dungeoq, andahen punish them, by Spa.
nine law, for not seeing cliarly at Trinidad.
But, if it is your intention to turn their bayonets
into brief:, and mike them Spanish lawyers, then
64 comes the tug of war." In that case it will be in-
cumbent on the Imperial Parliament of the United
Kingdom, to enact, or for his Royal Highness the
Prince Regent, to order and proclaim, so long as
Trinidad continues to be governed by Spanish laws,
• that the Officers and soldiers of the British army
shall, as a previous and indispensable qualification,
not only learn, but make themselves masters of the
' Spanish language, before they be permitted to serve
• his Majesty at that Island.
• But, if this should be neither practicable nor con-
stitutional, it will then be expedient, for the purposes
of material justice, to nominate a Learned Doctor of
the Civil Law, who understands the Spanish lan-
! gone, or a Spanish Advocate, who understands the
English language, as the professional and legal de-
fender of the pour veteran British soldier at Trinidad;
for while the Governor of that colony has occasion
14r, and constint recourse to, the assistance and ad-
vice of- a•tipaniili•Assessor*, it is but fair, all circum-

• Don Amcmio Gomez, who was AISCSIIer of the Captain Ga.
nerd Montevertle, at the time the last revolutionary war broke
out at Caraecae, from a viulatioas ai has beta all, ot. tke Si-
fitulatJun spade with Mira*.

stances being considered, that..the poor soldier should
have an efficient legal adviser assigned him, in the
same way, and for the same obvious purposes of
legal defence, ad firectunt videndi.
And, perhaps, this is the more necessary, because
I understand the Assessor of the Governor of Trini-
dad is the same as an Auditor with the Spaniards,
to whose opinion and advice the Governor, or Cap-
tain General, in the Spanish dominions, is obliged im-
plicitly to conform, according to the Spanish law.—
These may, at least, be said to be circumstances de-
serving of serious consideration ; and, to a mind habi-
tuated to logical reflection, they may, perhaps, be
considered as worthy of some attention.
Although lam a stranger to Spanish jurispru-
dence, yet, from the information I have received, I
have no hesitation in saying, that much practical
knowledge is necessary to the due understanding,
and much more to the due administration, of the
Spanish law.
Taking this, therefore, as my motto on the present
occasion, it is not reasonably to be expected that
even the scientific genius of a Wellington, and much
less that the uninformed, and perhaps unlettered pri-
vate soldier, should be capable of storming the phan-
toms and legal sophisms, of an abstruse or antiquated
Spanish law, whether it be of the sapient Alfonso, of
the noted Philip the Second, or, in more modern days,
one of Charles the Frurth of Spain ? To say rsiore
on this subject would be a waste of time, and a de-
parture from common sense.
It is, therefore, devoutly to be hoped, that his Ma-
jesty's Ministers will consider themselves responsible
for the consequences of their own act, agreeably to
tha comprehension of, Tug Sounza'a num).