CAPTAIN SAMUEL BARBER, of the Northumberland Regiment, being called upon by the Prosecutor, and duly sworn, informs the court he can give no evidence, but what related to the court of enquiry on Captain Dale's conduct, of which he, Captain Barber, was a member.

The court deem his evidence, therefore, inadmissible.

The further prosecution of this charge is declined by Major Hedley, as the evidence of his principal witness is deemed by the court inadmissible, from its being confined to the occurrence of a court of enquiry.

The court adjourns till Monday the 14th instant, at ten o'clock.

Monday, the 14th May, 1810.

The court having assembled this day, pursuant to adjournment, and the members being all present, proceed to the examination of the accounts laid before them; when the prisoner, Captain Dale, requested to be allowed two days for preparing his defence, which the court agrees to, and adjourns accordingly to Thursday morning next, the 17th instant, at ten o'clock.

Thursday, 17th May.

The court having assembled, and the members being all present, the prisoner enters upon his defence.

THE PRISONER'S ADDRESS.

Mr President, and Gentlemen of the Court,

It now becomes my duty to defend myself against the charges which have been preferred against me, by Major Hedley, and I do sincerely rejoice that, after a long period of most painful suspence, an opportunity has at length been afforded me of vindicating my aspersed character before a tribunal so composed as that which I have the honor to address. Before I proceed to enter upon my defence to the charges which the Prosecutor has thought proper to prefer against me, I must beg leave to advert to the address which the Prosecutor has thought proper to put upon your minutes, and thus to make part of the proceedings against me. I now think it necessary to explain my reasons for the liberty which I took in protesting against the admission of that paper upon the minutes of the court martial. This address (unlike the statements of counsel in courts of law) remains upon record, and is calculated to leave impressions, meant insidiously to supply the defect of evidence. It even goes so far as to detail conversations with a person who is no more, and the substance of which conversations, even if the man had been living, could not have been given in evidence against me; and what is, if possible,

still more glaringly unjust, it details circumstances irrelevant to the charges before the court, and which circumstances I cannot therefore be allowed to bring evidence to disprove. Such are the reasons which induced me, with great submission, to object to this address being received, and I repeat these reasons now, merely, that the court may clearly understand that it was not from a wish that any part of my conduct should be hidden from investigation that I made the objection. Such parts of the address as detail only that which is evidence, and relevant to the charges, I am perfectly ready to repel by proof. I complain only of those parts which detail what is not evidence, or which are irrelevant, and, consequently, cannot be allowed to be repelled by proof. It is some consolation to me, however, that the indulgence and liberality which I have so eminently experienced from this court, and for which I shall be for ever grateful, afford a sufficient proof that you, at least, feel, and make allowances for the unpleasant situation in which that unprecedented address has placed me.

The Prosecutor, however, has done me the favor to relieve me from a part, at least, of the abuse he has in his address so liberally heaped upon me, by bringing forward as a witness, Mr Elder, the gentleman with whom I kept my recruiting account, and who has, I trust, sufficiently proved, that it was neither from embarrassment in my circumstances, nor from any sordid or unworthy motive, that the money mentioned in the charges was not sooner paid. The Prosecutor has proved for me, that I had an unlimited letter of credit from my friend, Mr Charleton, and that I could have money whenever I pleased from Mr Elder, whether he was in possession of bills upon the regimental agents or not; in consequence of these facilities, I did, in fact, when I saw a favourable opportunity of recruiting, (I mean at Newcastle Races) actually pledge my own credit, and that of Mr Charleton, for a sum of money more than three times the amount of the sums I am now charged with having withheld from my brother officers. This sum, I was, of course, in advance to the service, from the time it was borrowed until I drew my first bills on the agents. Mr Elder, however, was brought here, as it would seem from his examination, not for the purpose of proving any thing relative to the charges, but to deprive me of any advantage which I might derive from the credit of having acted with disinterested zeal for the good of the service, and an attempt has been made to shew that there was no merit in acting in the way I did, because the money I had advanced was not paid out of my own pocket. Now, I would submit to the court, if it made the slightest difference to the service, whether I or my banker advanced the money, or whether that money were advanced solely upon my own credit with the banker, or as a consequence of my credit with Mr Charleton, which induced him to make himself responsible,and, was I not personally liable upon my own bills of exchange

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which I drew at Newcastle, and which are before the court? All that I mean, with great deference, to contend is, that I incurred responsibility, by which the service received considerable benefit, and I sustained a loss, though certainly a small one, in Mr Elder's charge for interest. Whenever I speak of being in advance, I beg the court to understand that I mean merely to say that my account with Mr Elder was in advance; for speaking of myself personally, I never interfered with the money at all, except to transmit it as it was wanted to the different parties under my command: every bill which I drew upon the agents, as the court will see by examining the indorsements upon each bill, was paid to Mr Elder, and he furnished either myself or my serjeant with money whenever the service required it. This was precisely the nature of my account with him; but, gentlemen, if the Prosecutor had not taken the trouble to call Mr Elder, there would still have been sufficient evidence before you, to prove that my conduct was neither produced by embarrassments in my circumstances, nor a mean desire to retain in my hands the money which belonged to others. If the court will take the trouble to refer to my drafts and estimates, which are in evidence before them, they will see that my first draft for bounties drawn on the 7th July, and which included the £40. which I was allowed to have in advance, was for £108 5s. consequently, at the time I drew that draft, I was £68 5s. in advance ;-my next draft was drawn for £50 8s. on the 20th July, when I was, of course, £10 8s. in advance;—the next, for £51 9s. on the 20th August, when I was £11 9s. in advance; and my last draft, within the period of the present charges, was for £77 14s. on the 14th September, when I was £37 14s. in advance. It is clear, that instead of being in advance, I might, if I pleased, have estimated and drawn a fresh bill after every recruit which I got, and, consequently, might have had £40, or thereabouts, constantly in hand. With respect to my drafts for pay, the first draft of any consequence, was drawn on the 7th July, and included the pay of the whole party, from the 24th June to 24th July, consequently, I had been the amount of the pay in advance from the 20th June to 7th July:-On the 20th July, I drew for pay and marching money for a division of recruits going to the regiment; but, with respect to the pay of my parties, I did not draw for the month's pay from 25th July to 24th August, until the 24th August, whereas, I might have drawn for it on the 24th July, and was, consequently, the amount of this draft out of pocket a whole month. My next draft for pay and marching money, from 25th August to 24th September, was not drawn until the 29th August, whereas, it might have been drawn on the 24th August. I have, perhaps, laboured this part of the subject more than I otherwise would have done, from my anxiety to convince the court that I could not possiby be actuated, in my money transactions with the

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officers under my command, by the unworthy motives which have been imputed to me. As it is pretty clear, I trust, that my conduct could not proceed from selfishness, was it then, I would ask, produced by negligence, or inattention to the service on which I was employed? Without hesitation, I answer, no; and I do with perfect confidence entreat the court to refer to my letters to Lieutenant Morrison, which have been produced by the Prosecutor as evidence against me, and then decide whether there was any thing like negligence or inattention in any part my conduct. It has been attempted to be imputed to me, as an act of negligence, that I was in possession of recruiting instructions, which would have enabled me to obtain pay and bounties long before I did obtain them; and, therefore, that I had no occasion to raise money upon my own or Mr Charleton's credit previously to drawing my first bills upon the agents; but, gentlemen, before you listen to these imputations, let me entreat you to read the instructions alluded to. It will then be seen that the letter from the war office of the 16th June, (which it is admitted I received on the 19th, before I began to recruit) superseded all the former instructions; and in this letter it is stated that "forms of the estimates, &c. will be furnished from this office, upon application from the officers." Surely, then, it must be admitted, that I could not estimate for the money nntil I got possession of the forms of the estimates. I immediately applied for these forms, and I got the recruiting instructions of the 24th June, upon which I afterwards acted, on or about the 1st July, after I had paid away considerably above £200. in bounties to recruits, and in advances to the different officers under mand, to enable them to carry on the service. Not anticipating the possibility that an officer on the recruiting service could be limited to the trifling sum of £40. in advance, I gave to the officers under my command, besides paying bounties, nearly three times that sum, and it was owing to the circumstance of Lieutenant Morrison having got £40. of that money, which, by the way, he had in his pocket, expending it gradually of course, nearly two months, that I have to attribute the misfortune of having had an account current with him at all. Having thus, I trust, cleared away part of the calumnies with which I have been assailed, I shall proceed to answer the charges in the order in which they stand. The first charge, then is,

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First, "For improperly, while in the command of a recruiting party in Northumberland, withholding the marching allowances from the officers under his command on the recruiting service, until the month of October, 1809, notwithstanding, he had actually received part of the same early in the month of July, and the remainder in the months of August or September, 1809, contrary to his duty as an officer, and to the prejudice of good order and military discipline."

My plain and simple answer to the charge is, that there was nothing like withholding in the case. When I estimated and drew for this money, I conceived, that as no definite sum was allowed. (I having been ordered to charge 9d. per mile, according to the shortest distance from the regiment) I would receive some communication from the war office, either approving or disapproving of the charge made. All the officers were made acquainted with my ideas upon this subject, and that I wished them not to receive the money, until I should receive the communication alluded to; not one of them expressed the slightest objection to this arrangement, and the moment they applied for their money they got it; two of them, indeed, got it without application, and I now must beg leave to draw the attention of the court to my letters to Lieutenant Morrison upon this subject, which have been brought forward for the purpose of supporting an assertion, that I have been guilty of evasion, equivocation, and concealment. A letter from me has been produced, dated 1st July, acknowledging the receipt of my recruiting instructions, by which I was ordered to draw for this marching allowance of 9d. per mile. A letter from me, of the 25th July, has also been produced, and an attempt has been made, in the examination of Mr Morrison, to impress upon the minds of the court an idea that in that letter I had denied the receipt of my recruiting instructions. I hope and believe that this misrepresentation has not been wilful; but, lest any member of the court should, for a moment, have been misled by it, I shall beg leave to quote the words of my letter of 25th July: they are as follow, "I have estimated our marching allowance, and have drawn for it; and, as soon as I know it is granted, I will pay each officer." Now waving the absurdity of my telling the same person, on the 1st July, that I had got my instructions, and on the 25th July, that I had not got them, I would put it to the good sense of the court, whether it be not clear, beyond the possibility of doubt, that this letter proves directly the reverse of the fact which it was produced to establish. I expressly tell Mr Morrison, that I have drawn for the money, and I am sure I need not point out to the court, that the expression, as soon as I know it is granted I will pay each officer," relates to the communication I expected from the war office, either approving or disapproving of the charge which I had made. I ought to state to the court, that I am neither in possession of any letter, nor have the slightest recollection of having received any letter from Mr Morrison, prior to this date, requesting payment of the marching allowance; and I have not the slightest doubt, in my own mind, (and I think that the expression that has been quoted from the letter, bears me out in the assertion) that this letter was simply a communication from me, of my having got the money, and not an answer to any application for the money, on the part of Mr Morrison. At the meeting with Mr Morrison, on the