niers, that the British posts within the town had fired, and actually shot two Spaniards. This representation was brought by a Spanish officer to the Plaza del Toros, when I was walking with Gen. Whitelocke. The Spanish General complained of this breach of the truce, and said he would not be answerable for the lives of the British prisoners. I returned with the Spanish officer, taking with me an escort and a flag of truce, with an assurance that what had arisen was unknown at our head-quarters, and must have arisen from some mistake. On arriving at the great square leading to the fort, I found it occupied by about three thousand of the armed rabble, who, in the most insulting way, refused to acknowledge the flag, or allow me to pass. They at the same time insulted the escort, by spitting at us, and firing over our heads, with a view to intimidate us, as I suppose; and we were detained in this way for nearly half an hour, when two Spanish officers and some dragoons mounted, came, and conducted me to the barrier of the fort, into which, on being opened, the rabble forced their way. I was with some difficulty conducted to the room where Gen. Liniers was, the avenues of which were at that time filled with an armed rabble, who were calling out for Col. Pack, or "Signior Pack," as they called him. General Liniers was at this time addressing hintself to a numerous body of the rabble, who had forced their way into the room where he was with several British officers, who were prisoners, and at that moment had seized on the most turbulent by the neck. I delivered to Gen. Liniers the orders I had received from Gen. Whitelocke, which he apparently explained to the mob, and they seemed in some measure tranquillized. There were at this time one or two priests behind Col. Pack's chair, with a view to protect him, as I should suppose they had been all dining, the cloth was on the table. I then asked for a Spanish escort, and obtained one, in addition to my own, for this became absolutely necessary. On going out of the fort into the great square, found the violence of the mob had very much increased-they offered the same violence to me. I was detained by them more than an hour, during which time I was apprehensive we should have fallen a sacrifice; and it was an hour before we got through them to the Plaza del Toros, where I made the same report I have done

now.

Capt. Whittingham's evidence was to the same effect as that of the preceding witness. He was of opinion that a communication might have been opened with the Residencia on the 5th; but no attempt was

made by the General, personally or otherwise, to communicate with the attacking columns, except those stated by the above witness, whose evidence was read over in Court to Capt. W.

Lieut.-Colonels Bourke and Bradford were the last witnesses examined for the prosecution. It is unnecessary to enter in to any detail of their evidence, as it was to the same effect as that of the other officers who were with General Whitelocke on the 5th of July. They were both of opinion that the General, at the head of the forces under Colonel Mahon, and those a head-quarters, could have penetrated to the centre of Buenos Ayres on the 5th of July, and that the co-operation of that force would have afforded the best prospect cf success, and of restoring the fortune of the day. Of the General's reasons for remaining stationary in the rear, separated from his army, instead of forcing his way to join it, and direct its future operations, they were unable to give any account.

DEFENCE.

The evidence on the part of the prosecu tion being closed, General Whitelocke, on the 30th day of the trial, (March 14.) be gan his defence, of which the substance follows:

He began by stating the satisfaction which he felt in being at length permitted to claim the attention and indulgence of the Court. He had long looked forward to this opportunity of explaining his con duct in South America, and the causes which led to the result which constite ted the subject of the investigation in ques tion. The disappointment of his hopes had prepared him to meet a strong and g neral feeling corresponding with his ow the natural and almost necessary attendant upon public disappointment. But feeling conscious that he had zealously endeavoured to perform his duty, it was with sur prise and mortification that he found opi nions to his prejudice entertained in higher quarters, and that calumnies injurious to his character had been made the subject of official discussion. And when the editors of the daily papers, on hearing that Govern ment had determined on an investigation of his conduct, actuated by a sense of decent propriety and common justice, immediate ly forbore any further comments, a subaltern officer employed on the expedition, with the knowledge of his being under ar rest, had published a libel upon the conduct of himself and others, which libel had beetl patronized and distributed by a Field Officer of another regiment. Irritated by these attacks, he still abstained from answering

any

any of the calumnies which had been propagated against him, and awaited his day of trial for his justification. This he mentioned, lest it should be conceived that he had countenanced a vindication of his conduct which had been published by some person unknown to him. He considered his trial as an appeal from popular clamour to honourable and candid minds; and he flattered himself that he should, in this respect, have found a protector even in his prosecutor; and that, considering his ano. malous, he hoped he might say, without offence, his almost incompatible duties, he would have divested himself of every feeling connected with public prejudice; and have permitted his trial to have commenced at last, without the extraordinary comment which had excited so much surprise in all who heard it" a comment," said General Whitelocke," which, in the situation he fills, and considering the last character he is to sustain after the proceedings are completed, and your deliberations com mence, of an adviser on points on which you may require his assistance, I can hardly think, could be deemed justifiable at any period of such a trial, after any evidence, however strong, had been adduced.”

The Judge-Advocate had stated, indeed, that he should follow the example of his predecessors upon similar occasions, by abstaining, in this stage of the proceedings, from any detailed observations upon the charges. The only case of importance, he believed, in which a Judge-Advocate had stood in a similar situation to the present, was on the trial of the late Lord Sackville, on which occasion the late Sir Charles Morgan, then Mr Gould, made no address whatever to the Court on opening the prosecution; and, in his reply, most studiously avoided offering a single observation that could in the most distant way be considered as addressed to the passions of the Court, although the circumstances which gave rise to that trial had excited more of popular feeling than any which had before occurred; so much so as to leave it, possibly for ever, a subject of historical dispute, whether the judgment of the Court was not in some manner influenced by that feeling.

He put it to the liberality and candour of the Right Honourable the Judge-Advocate, whether he had not some little right to complain, and cause to lament, that he had not followed the example of his predecessor, and abstained from stating to the public (for such an address could not be intended for the Court) that hopes had been (as he was pleased to say) justly as well as generally entertained of discovering new markets for our manufactures, and giving A wider scope to the spirit of mercantile

enterprise, and opening new sources of treasure, although every information as to the state of South America, and the hostile and implacable spirit of its inhabitants towards us, had proved that those hopes were completely fallacious. He repeated his regret that the Judge-Advocate had not abstained from calling in aid of those charges the attempts daily made to exclude our trade from the Continent of Europe. Well might reports to his (the General's) prejudice sur vive and continue, if, in a Court of Justice, these topics could be enforced with such studied strength of expression, by a person, whose rank, and station in life, and public character, could not but stimulate the already too much exasperated state of the public mind upon the transactions now in question.

A great and important expedition had failed, and as no difficulty could have exist→ ed as to the selection of particular events and facts which led to this failure, little did he expect that he should have been called upon to recollect and defend every act, every order, every expression, and almost every thought, not of himself only, but of others-every detail, however minute-in short, as the prosecutor had avowed and stated, not merely the causes which prevented the reduction of Buenos Ayres, but his whole conduct in the expedition, Still less could he have supposed that the protection of the Court was necessary to prevent a prosecutor, educated in legal habits, from pursuing him even to his private moments, and requiring his secretary to state all the conversations that, in the confidence of their relative situations, had passed between them; and yet it was at this point only that, through the interposition of the Court, the prosecutor had stopped his inquiries.

He entreated the Court calmly to review the evidence, and to separate and throw aside the opinions as to his operations founded upon the experience acquired by misfortune, and not upon any thing that was or could be previously known,up on which alone he could have acted, and upon which he was to be judged. He would put it to the Members of the Court, who had commanded important expeditions, whether any long train of military operations, however successfully terminated, could stand the test of such an inquiry as had been instituted into the present. He most earnestly entreated the attention of the Court to these and a variety of other less impor tant general observations; that they would bear them in mind, as applicable to many observations which he should have to make upon the evidence in detail.

He then proceeded to the subject of in

quiry. He maintained, that he should prove false information to have been given to Government, both by his instructions, and the evidence produced and to be produced. This was necessary to his defence; for unless the political situation of that country, and the dispositions of the inhabitants to wards us, were fully understood, no judgment could be formed upon the propriety of his conduct; and the fallacy, and consequent disappointment of our hopes, had given rise to the greater part of the exasperated feeling which had been excited. It had been conceived, that the dissatisfaction which had been excited in South America, by the restrictive jealousy of the Spanish Government, had rendered that country ripe for revolt from the parent state. It was never conceived that such a routed antipathy could exist against us as their deliverers, as to justify the assertion that we had not, when we arrived in America, one single friend in the whole country: little was it conceived that the whole population were originally hostile to us; still less that they had become hostile from any thing that had occurred in the capture of Buenos Ayres, or while we retained possession of it. The first admission would have coLdemned the original attack; and the last would Have implicated the conduct of those who took, and for a short time retained the possession of Buenos Ayres.

Monte Video had been represented as containing a small garrison of disaffected troops; and his instructions actually supposed, that after effecting his first obje, 3000 men would, in any case, in addition to the troops he might raise in the country, be amply sufficient to retain and keep possession of the settlement. He was directed to use precaution as to the forming this local force-and it was stated in his instructions," "that much aid might be derived from this source towards securing his Majesty's possessions, and avoiding the necessity of too large a demand on the regular forces of the country." Such was the impression of this country and Government on his accession to the command. The able officer who commanded at Monte Video had discovered the reverse of this to be true, that they were equally inimical to us and their own Government; and on a disorder arising, in which the Viceroy was said to have been made prisoner by his own people, Sir Samuel Auchmuty wrote to those who possessed the supreme government in Buenos Ayres, making them an offer of British protection. His letter was answered by Gen. Liniers, the Audienza, and the Cabildo, all of whom treated his offer with indignation and contempt; and in this sentiment Sir Sam. Auchmuty found

the whole population to partake, who had been inflamed against the English, by every species of exaggeration and falsehood. The natives of the country were indeed disposed to follow the steps of the North Americans, and to erect an independent state. If we could promise them independence, they would instantly revolt against the Government; but though nothing but independence would perfectly satisfy them, they would prefer our Government, either to their present anarchy, or the Spanish yoke, provid ed we would promise not to give up the country to Spain at a peace; but, until such a promise was made, we must expect to find them open or secret enemies. The truth of this information, received from Sir Samuel Auchmuty, was confirmed by every day's experience. They were unable to procure intelligence upon which they could place the least reliance. They could neither procure guides, nor accurate accounts of the country. Force procured them all they possessed, good-will nothing. Having gone through this second serious of preliminary remarks, the General then replied more particularly to the charges.

Before proceeding to give a detailed narrative of the proceedings against Bueno Ayres, he would call the serious attention of the Court to the manner in which the prosecution had been conducted against him. He meant nothing personal with res pect to the learned and respectable Gentle man, whose high official situation naturally intrusted him with this department of the trial: he had no hesitation in ascribing this to the Honourable Gentleman's zeal for the service of his country.

The charges had been attempted to be made out in a most unprecedented manner; not by direct, nor even by circumstantial evidence only, but witnesses were repeat edly invited to give their opinions, who in most instances had not even the sanction of experience to entitle them to form correct notions of the particular service upon which they were acting: it was also peculiarly unfair, he thought, to put questions terd ing to produce a recital of conversations which the witnesses either overheard were parties to, and which sometimes they could only detail from hearsay; and what made the inconsistency of this kind of pro cedure more striking, many of the conver sations alluded to had taken place among persons not at all implicated, either as witnesses or parties. The defence then stated, at full length, from the instructions givea by Ministers at his setting out, the reasoos which induced them to fit out an addities al armament for the complete subjugation of that country.

The defence then went into a narrative

of the measures taken by Gen. Whitelocke, from the period of his landing at Monte Video, to ensure the success of the expedition. The great exertions he made to procure horses for mounting the cavalry had been proved by every witness examined, and the difficulties attending the procuring of guides, or accurate information respecting the country, were great beyond all measure. These difficulties arose partly from a want of confidence of the inhabitants in the British army, and partly from the immoral and unprincipled dispositions of the natives themselves. Our readers will und the General's narrative of the march to Buenos Ayres at full length in our account of the evidence. When he came to speak of the mistakes that had arisen from his not effecting a junction with Gen. Gower at the Chuelo, the defence entered at great length into this branch of the evidence, tending to attach the blame to Gen. Gower. With respect to the attack itself upon the town, and the circumstances which led to the adoption of the plan, the defence endeavoured to prove that it was the best which could have been adopted under similar circumstances; although he hoped the Court would recollect that it was proved, by almost all the witnesses, that it seemed to be a plan extremely repugnant to his feelings. The defence concluded with a solemn and impressive appeal to the Court; what was dearer to him than his life was in their hands, and he fully relied upon their candour and justice.

The General's counsel then proceeded to read to the Court extracts of letters from Sir Samuel Auchmuty, while at Monte Video, detailing the peculiar difficulties attending the subjugation of the country. Two parties Sir Samuel stated to exist in South America: one was ready for revolt at all times, and the other only waited for an opportunity of joining the strongest party, whether British or Spaniards.

The public dispatches from the West Indies, in the year 1794, in which Lieut.-Col. Whitelocke is mentioned as having displayed the greatest possible gallantry and intrepidity, were then read.

The General proceeded next day to call, as witnesses, Lieut.-Col. Burke and Gen. White. Col. Burke spoke to the handwriting of Gen. Gower, in a letter written by him to Gen. Whitelocke on the morning of the 3d of July, in which Gen. Gower expresses it to be his intention to turn the head of the Chuelo, and not to ford the river at the Chico pass; and Col. Burke also swore, that this was the substance of the conversation he had with Gen.

Gower at the moment he delivered the let

ter into his hands, to carry it to Gen. Whitelocke.

General White was then called; and, in the opinion of this witness, no officer could have a higher character for gallantry and personal bravery, or knowledge of his duty as an officer, than Gen. Whitelocke. This evidence alluded to Gen. Whitelocke's services when a Lieut.-Colonel in the year 1794, and when engaged in the attack of Port-au-Prince in St Domingo.

General Whitelocke having then intimated that his defence was concluded,

The Judge Advocate then addressed the Court at great length. Before he made any observations on the charges themselves, he should, he said, take notice of the very unexpected attack made on him by Gen. Whitelocke in the opening of his defence, in which the General complained of the manner in which he had conducted the prosecution. He therefore felt himself called to vindicate his own character, and the Court was also called to maintain its own dignity. The conduct of the prosecution fell upon him, who was wholly unacquainted with military operations. General Whitelocke, in his defence, complained of the Judge Advocate's endeavouring to inflame the popular prejudice against him, when, on the contrary, he did unne cessarily go out of his way to impress the Court with the necessity of attending to the evidence, and that only; and to divest their minds of all prejudices and opinions; and he appealed to the judgment of the Court, how far he deserved that such imputations should be thrown out against him.

The next point the General complained of was, his calling evidence, and examining them by narration, in which he intimated much illegal evidence was admitted. The Court, however, was aware how necessary it was that the statement of transactions was before them, to enable them to form a just judgment.

Gen. Whitelocke next complained that the original charges were altered. It was well known, that in cases like these the charges are not made public, until the King has signed the warrant for holding the Court Martial; but when he sent a copy of the original charges to Gen. Whitelocke, previous to the warrant being issued, he expressly and decidedly stated, that it was probable some alterations might be made in them. But Gen. Whitelocke had advanced another point, which obliged him to state a circumstance not before referred to; Gen. Whitelocke asserted, that the evidence had been collected to convert public report and public clamour into matters of

se

serious charge. If he (the Judge Advo. cate) had done so, he should no longer desire to hold that station; but he would explain to the Court the circumstances to which this assertion had alluded, When he entered upon this business, he found among the charges one for misbehaviour before the enemy-he meant a charge of cowardice. At the time he felt, as he had since stated to the Court, that the dispatches of Gen. Whitelocke himself were sufficient to justify the charges that came before them for investigation; but he felt that, however the other charges might disgrace him as an officer, they could not as a man, though such a charge as this might sink him in society, whether proved or not proved, and would stigmatize him for ever. He thought, therefore, it ought not to be brought forward without a certainty of proof. It was under these considerations he submitted it to his Majesty's Council: but as to suppress such a charge, if well founded, would, on the other hand, have been as wrong, he did, though reluctantly, dete mine to see some of the officers of Gen. Whitelocke's Staff, with a view to ascertain facts, not to collect evidence, or to establish public clamour. The result of these inquiries was already known to the Court, as not affording the necessary proof; and they could say how far he merited this complaint against him.

There was also another observation for him to make. It was the complaint Gen. Whitelocke had preferred of his harsh treatment, that he had been pursued to his private moments, by the requiring of disclosures of conversations from his secretary. The only reply he should offer to this was, by reading to the Court the evidence alluded to. (Here the evidence of Col. Torrens respecting his transactions with the General was read.) He then adverted to the first part of the charges, namely, the requisition of the civil officers as prisoners of war; and upon this he must observe, Gen. Whitelocke had not brought forward one solitary precedent to jus tify such a measure. This charge stared, that instead of holding out to the Spanish Government such terms as would give a favourable impression of the British army, the General, on the contrary, called upon them to deliver up to him Their Magistrates, the very persons to

whom the inhabitants looked up for pre tection.

Gen. Whitelocke's private dispatch stated his reasons for abandoning the bombardment of the town, and for risk. ing the unfortunate plan which was the ground of the second charge against him. He had, he said, abandoned the bombardment, because it would irritate the inhabitants;-surely the requisition of the civil officers was more likely to irritate. It was for the Court to decide, whether Colonia, the only strong for ress besides Monte Video, should have been abandoned and dismantled, though it could have been maintained by a very small force. But compared with the points in the two after-charges, these were unimportant. He then retraced the march from Reduction to the arrival of the army at the Coral, and brought forward the leading occurren ces:That the advanced corps on the 2d defeated the enemy; the main body following, after a march of seven miles, were halted; that a cannonading was heard, and no means taken to learn from whence it proceeded, or the cause; that Col. Mahon, with the rear-guard, artı ved at Reduction, and opened a communication with the navy, yet received no further orders till the 6th; that ac cording to the positive testimony of Ge nerals Gower and Craufurd, if they had advanced on the town on the ad, it would have been captured, by the mea sure of entering on the westward, where they were not expected; that guides were not confronted; that the necessary orders for the march were not given and that no communication was kept up with the advanced corps, from the time it moved, though the main body had only marched seven miles.

On the points which applied to the plan, he meant to affer no observation; it was for the Court to decide upon its merits or demerits. It appeared that Gen. Whitelocke received information of the defence of the enemy from Mr White, which proved to be accurate: he arranged the plan of attack, without having made any reconnoissance of the town; he had not, in orders or other wise, intimated the station himself was to occupy; he had fixed no point of re treat, if retreat was necessary; that the gun-boats might have assisted in the altack; that, by his orders, Col. Mahon,