"My dear Charles,"

"Alnwick, 20th August, 1809,"

"I cannot tell you how shocked and distressed I was on receiving your letter this evening, on the sudden death of poor Dodd. I feel most sincerely for his wife and child, who will, I fear, be deprived of many comforts his industry procured them. I dare say Mrs Dodd will want money to bring her to the north. Will you have the goodness to give her £2. on my account, besides defraying the expence of the funeral, which I would wish to do. Will you also be so good as to settle the account standing between him and me; the last time we settled was at Christmas. I wished also to settle with him before I left Ipswich, but he was at that time so busy, he had not my account ready, though he promised to forward it immediately to the north. It has never arrived. I wrote to him lately, requesting he would send it to me. I should think there can only be a trifling balance between us, and I dont know in whose favor. I send you an account of the sums I have advanced him since settling last with him, and also the charges which I know he had against me. There is also, I believe, a small bill of Serjeant Neil's, which he paid; there will be his allowance for paying the company since Christmas; there will also probably be some other charges he may have against me; all of which, however, I have no doubt you will find correct in his book. Pray get from Mrs Dodd a small account book, which I left with her husband, containing an account of sums lodged by some of the men in my hands. By a letter I had from Serjeant Dodd a few days ago, he mentioned that he had given to Corporal Batey (whose account you will find in the said book) £7, which sum, Dodd desired I would pay to Pescot of my company, who is on sick furlough; this I shall immedi ately do. I gave Batey's wife £2 when at Newcastle, which makes £9 in all, which he has had from me since I left the regiment. I mentioned in my letter to Dodd, that I wished my wings to be the same as the light company, only a little larger. Will you give directions to that effect.

"You will also find charged against me the expences of Serjeant Renwick's funeral. Having the greatest dependance on

1

poor Dodd's integrity, I am you find in his hand writing. the account as you find it."

certain every thing will be correct You may, therefore, safely settle

A short time after the serjeant's death, an unfinished account with me was found in one of his books. This account, if, from its irregularity, it could be called an account, was brought no further down than March, 1809. None of the sums which I had paid the serjeant, since our last settlement, were inserted in this book; the settlement itself was not noticed, and several sums of money, which I had paid the serjeant previously to that settlement, were also omitted. In consequence of these various omissions, the balance, upon casting up the account in the book, appeared to be in favor of the serjeant. The real balance of the account, however, was in my favor, or if not in my favor, then had I been guilty of fabricating the account contained in my letter to Mr Charleton, and that for the purpose of defrauding this serjeant's widow and her helpless child. Were I capable of such an act, I would, indeed, be unfit to remain in civilized society. Soon after the serjeant's book was discovered, Lieutenant Colonel Coulson wrote me a letter, stating the apparent balance against me upon that book, and I immediately wrote him an answer, of which the following is a copy. (I ought to observe that, previously to writing this letter, I had discovered that the serjeant had obtained £7. from me, by stating that he had paid that sum, when he, in fact, had not paid it; but, in justice to his memory, I must observe that this was the only act of any thing like dishonesty which I ever knew him to be guilty of.)

"Dear Colonel,"

"Alnwick, 17th October, 1809."

"I have just received your letter. It astonishes me much to think that Serjeant Dodd should only keep an account of what money he expended on my account, without giving me credit for the sums I have at different times advanced him. What his motive could be I cannot conceive. I have a book of my own, in which I have posted the different sums I have advanced him since Christmas; at that time we settled, and a balance of a few shillings, due him, I credited him with in my book. I shall be in Newcastle, on Thursday. I will see you, and bring my book with such letters as I have received from Dodd. You will be surprized to find from a letter, which I will shew you, that just before his death he wrote me saying he had given £7. to Corporal Batey for me, and desired I would give the same to Pescot for him, which I did, and I now find that he never gave any money at all to Batey. This was an act of dishonesty which I think must make any account of his doubted.

"Having, however, lately learnt that he had borrowed several sums of different people, and died much distressed in his cir

cumstances, I had given directions to Mr Charleton (as soon as he returns to the regiment) to collect every bill he owed and to pay them on my account; for though I am at this moment considerably out of pocket by him, yet I will willingly lose a great deal more, rather than that, through a pay serjeant of mine, any reflections should fall upon the regiment."

"His widow, too, who perhaps knows no more of the real state of his account than appears in his book, may also suppose I bwe him money; to her, therefore, I have ordered such a sum to be supplied as will relieve her distresses.

"Lieut. Colonel Coulson,

Northumb. Regiment,
Newcastle."

"Believe me, &c.

E. DALE."

The court will now, I dare say, be astonished to hear that, from the motives mentioned in my letter to Colonel Coulson, I did voluntarily pay off the late serjeant's debts, to the amount of nearly £15. I afforded his widow some pecuniary relief, for which she expressed much gratitude, and never made any application to me for any debt or pretended debt due to her husband; and that I was by these means actually above £30. out of pocket by this serjeant, not only before the present charge was brought forward, but before the court of enquiry, mentioned in the Prosecutor's address, was either held or spoken of; in fact, before I could have the slightest idea that I could possibly have had any disputes or trouble upon the subject.

With regard to the inconsistent accounts which I am stated to have given before the court of enquiry, I am really, as the court must see, placed in a cruel situation. The Prosecutor has detailed circumstances, which the established rules of courts martial expressly forbid from being either proved or disproved here. The court will, I am sure, recollect that I did every thing in my power to have this account investigated. The charge extending to a period beyond three years, I voluntarily offered to take the account from a shorter period. I offered to admit in evidence the serjeant's book, which was clearly not evidence, upon condition that the Prosecutor would allow to be read in evidence the letters and account which I have now inserted in my defence, but THIS WAS REFUSED; and the court having rejected the book, it became, of course, contrary to all rule to examine the members of the court of enquiry, as to what passed before them relative to the account in that book, and the court could certainly not act otherwise than they did, in rejecting such evidence. As I cannot, then, be allowed to bring evidence to explain the inconsistency complained of, may I be permitted, with submission, solemnly to pledge my word (and, from the testimonies to my

character which I shall have the honor to bring before the court, I trust my word will be believed) that the inconsistency in question was simply this:-The court of enquiry examined me relative to some money which I stated I had paid to the serjeant, and for which credit was not given in his book. The time when the money was paid, was, of course, of no importance; the only fact of importance to be ascertained was, as I conceive, whether I paid the money, without receiving credit for it. Speaking entirely from memory, and of a transaction long since past, I certainly did state the time when the money was paid erroneously. It struck me almost immediately afterwards that I was mistaken; and, upon making further enquiries, I was fortunate enough to obtain positive proof of the payment of the money, though not at the time I had stated. I, without loss of time, spoke to one of the officers of the court of enyairy, and explained to him my mistake; and this correction of an erroneous date is the inconsistency with which I ain charged.

I have nothing more to add in the way of defence; but, gentlemen, I must inform you, that about three weeks ago an offer was made to me, ON THE PART OF THE PROSECUTOR, to compromise these charges, and submit the matter to an ARBITRATION. After having been four months deprived of the society of my brother officers, and held up to the view of society as a criminal, I could not, by any private mode of settlement, consent to compromise my honor; that honor I leave with perfect confidence in your hands, and I doubt not that it will come out unstained.

I shall now conclude, by returning my most unfeigned thanks to the court, for the liberality and attention which, in the course of this prosecution, I have experienced, and which have impressed me with a sentiment of gratitude, which I shall carry with me to the grave.

(Signed,)

EDWARD DALE, Captain Northumb. Regiment.

LIEUTENANT RICHARD NICHOLSON, of the Northumberland Regiment, being called upon, and duly sworn, is examined as an evidence by the Prisoner.

Q. 1. Were you one of the officers under my command in Northumberland, on the recruiting service, during the period mentioned in the first charge?

A. I was.

Q. 2. Whether I did, or not, inform you, the first time I saw you after the 26th June, that I had drawn for the marching allowance, and state to the court, if I assigned any and what reason for not dividing it immediately among the officers?

A. Captain Dale told me the first time he saw me, that he had drawn for the marching money, but as there was no

specified sum mentioned from Ipswich, he had drawn nine pence per mile, according to a distance he had given in, and that he thought I had better not receive it until he had heard from the war office, whether the charge was approved or not.

Q. 3. Did you consent to this arrangement?

A. I did.

Q. 4. Do you remember being at Wooler, where you were stationed, about the latter end of September, and did I, or not, offer to pay you your marching allowance ?

A. You did.

Q. 5. Whether, or no, you declined to receive it?

A. I did decline it.

Q. 6. Did I, or not, soon afterwards, send it to

auy application on your part?

A. You did send it to me.

Cross examined.

Q. 7. By the Prosecutor. On what day was it you received your marching allowance?

A. On or about the 6th October.

Q. 8. By the court-Were you put to any inconvenience for want of the marching allowance from the time you first declined receiving it from Captain Dale, and the period when you did receive it, without application being made?

A. Not any.

The Prisoner declines calling any more evidence on this charge, and proceeds to his defence on the second and third charges.

Second and Third Charges.

SERJEANT WILLIAM KEYS, of the Northumberland Regiment, being called on, and duly sworn, is examined as an evidence by the prisoner, Captain Dale.

Q. 1. Were you with Lieutenant Morrison's party at Hexham, on the recruiting service last year, and for what period? A. I was; I went to Hexham in the middle of July, and left it on the 25th October.

Q. 2. Upon those occasions, when Lieutenant Morrison was absent from the party, how did he enable you to obtain money to carry on the service?

A. He empowered me to draw money on a Mr Hunter.

Q. 3. Did Lieutenant Morrison leave instructions with you, whenever he absented himself from his party, to send all his letters, which came to Hexham with the Alnwick post mark, to him by an orderly?

A. He did.

Q. 4. Whether you did, or not, send Daniel Carmichael,