Star. — 1826-09-11 (London, England)

RIO JANEIRO, JUSZ 28. . .  Lord Piinsonhy proceeds to Buenos Ayres, in the Doris, Sir John Gordon Sinclair, -when she has refitted. The Thetis returns to England direetly. The Doris has brought us accounts from the River Plate of the Imperil squadron, consisting of the Netheroy frigate, Captain Norton, mounting 38 gulls, two 22-gun corvettes, sever al 18-grin brigs, schooners, and gun-boats, having grit a confounded • hammering: 'The frigate and two brigs were taken by the Buenos Ayrean squadron sw•hich was composed of only two small ships and three brigs! Several of the Brazilian vessels made a bolt after the first broadside. The wreck of the blockading squadron has returtiel to Monte Video, quite crest fallen. The Buenos Ayrean vessels are manned entirely •pith English and Yankees, who were all very hearty in the cause. Most of the Brazilians, though officered by EnAlish, have a very mixed crew, and mostly impressed nii n. Imperial' justice has just made a most conspicuous figure here. It seems that the Redwing captured a slave schooner, on the coast of Africa, and put on board her Lieutenant, a Master's Assistant (Mr. Faulkner, whose passing certificate shows that he was examined fur a Lieutenant in 1815), and four men ; but the Lieutenant being afterwards taken out, and put on board a French vessel, he took the papers belonging to the schooner with him. The schooner parting company in a gale of wind, was afterwards boarded by a BraHap sloop of war, who finding no papers on board, sent her in here as a pirate. The officer and crew were sent to prison, and the vessel has since been condemned as a pirate.' The Redwing's stern chain, and several other 6 King's stores,' ate on board the schooner, which ought to have been sufficient evidence that the vessel was not a pirate. Notwithstanding, no rept esentations of the circumstances yei made by Our authorities have availed anything; the crew ate continued in prison, with every expectation, that Imperial justice will finish the case, by banging the pirate's crew  In the regulations established by the King in Council, relating to his. Majesty's service at Sea, and lately published by authority of the Admiralty, we are glad to find, that Art. G. Chap. 8. under the heads of Courts Martial, is amended. The former instructions on this subject, directing a junior Officer in the command of a post ship to take precedence, at Courts Martial, of a senior Officer in the command of a sloop, were not in strict accordance with the 12th Section of the Courts Martial Statutes rand we submit, that no regulations established by the King in Council can destroy the er..e'ct, nor do away with the meaning and intention of an Act of Parliament. Courts Martial should be governed, in respect to evidence, at any rate, by the same rules and principles as the Courts of Common Law ; and their general proceedings should fellow the same totirse, when not rep:Wed by Act of Parliament. We regret to state, that there is a woeful deficiency of legal knowledge existing in the navy. In perusing the minutes of the proceedings of eine Court Martial that occurred, some years ago, in the East Indies, we were astounded. On foreign stations, these Courts are deprived of the necessary legal advice and assistance of a qualified Judge Advocate; for the person generally appointed, from necessity, to officiate as Judge Advocate, is totally incompetent to discharge the functions attached to his important office. In Civil Courts, on trials for murder, we often notice hair-breadth distinctions oracle between the cis cumstances necessary to constitute that crime, and those that constitute the crime of an inferior degree of homicide ; with these nice distinctions every member of a Court Martial should be well acquainted. Under the impression that a knowledge of these facts will produce on the minds of every one that has a faithful regard for the good of his Majesty's service, we did hope to see, in the regulations lately published, the instructions relating to Naval Jurisprudence considerably extended. About one hundred short and explicit rules of evidence, strictly applicable to naval cases, prepared by the Law Officers of the Admiralty, and issued with general printed instructions, would carry an authority with them superior to that of any work that has been published on the subject and would serve as a material guidance, in •regard to evidence, to Courts M.irtial held on foreign stations. The Jasper, Capt. Blackwood, will sail hence in a few days with specie for Berniuda, Halifax, and Newfoundland, and thence to the Mediterranean.