OF

Ar ten o'clock precisely, the several General and Lieutenant-general Officers, summoned to form the Court, assembled in the Great Hall, and soon after took their stations at the table according to their rank, in the following order:

his counsel, the King's aid-de-camp, and other attendants on the General sat. On the right of the President, another table was provided, where the Adjutant and assistant Adjutant-generals, who assisted on the part of the prosecution, sat at the head; the deputy Judge Advocate at the foot, and the short hand

Generals. Hon. J. C. Norton,

dows, K. B.

Viscount Lake,

Miles Stavely,

side.

The business of the Court was opened by the Judge Advocate reading the warrant for summoning the Court Martial, and calling over the names of the members.

The deputy Judge Advocate was then ordered by the Court to read the several charges as follow:

First Charge.That Lieutenant-general Whitelocke, having received instructions from his Majesty's principal Secretary of State, to proceed for the reduction of the province of Buenos Ayres, pursued measures il calculated to facilitate that conquest; that when the Spanish commander had shewn such symptoms of a disposition to treat as to express a desire to communicate with

K. B.

The Judge Advocate, the Honourable Richard Ryder, took his seat at the head of the table, on the right hand of the President. Lieutenant-general Whitelocke stood a little in the rear on the left of the President at a table, where

command, upon the subject of terins, the said Lieutenant-general Whitelocke did return a message, in which he demanded, amongst other articles, the surrender of persons holding civil offices in the government of Buenos Ayres, as prisoners of war. That the said Lieutenant-general Whitelocke in making such B.

an offensive and unusual demand, tending to exasperate the inhabitants of Buenos Ayres, to produce and encourage a spirit of resistance to his Majesty's arms, to exclude the hope of amicable accommodation, and to increase the difficulties of the service with which he was entrusted, acted in a manner unbecoming his duty as an officer, prejudicial to military discipline, and contrary to the articles of war.

Second Charge. That the said Lieut. general Whitelocke, after the landing of the troops at Ensinada, and during the march from thence to the town of Buenos Ayres, did not make the military arrangements best calculated to insure the success of his operations against the town; and that having known, previously to his attack upon the town of Buenos Ayres, upon the 5th of July, 1807, as appears from his dispatch of July the 10th, that the enemy meant to occupy the flat roofs of the houses, he did nevertheless, in the said attack, divide his forces into several brigades and parts, and ordered the whole to be unloaded, and no firing to be permitted on any account; and under this order to march into the principal streets of the town, unprovided with proper and sufficient means for forcing the barricadoes, whereby the troops were unnecessarily exposed to destruction, without the possibility of making effectual opposition; such conduct betraying great professional incapacity on the part of the said Lieutenant-general Whitelocke, tending to lessen the confidence of the troops in the conduct of their officers, being derogatory to the honour of his Majesty's arms, contrary to his duty as an officer, prejudicial to good order and military discipline, and contrary to the articles of

War.

Third Charge. That the said Lieutenant-general Whitelocke did not make, although it was in his power, any effectual attempt, by his own personal exertions or otherwise, to co-operate with or support the different divisions of the army under his command, when engaged with the enemy in the streets of Buenos Ayres, on the 5th of July, 1807, whereby those troops, after having encountered and surmounted a constant and welldirected fire, and having effected the

purport of their orders, were left without support or further orders, and considerable detachments under Lieutenantcolonel Duff, and Brigadier-general Craufurd, were thereby compelled to surrender; such conduct on the part of Lieutenant-general Whitelocke tending to the defeat and dishonour of his Majesty's arms, to lessen the confidence of the troops in the skill and courage of their officers, being unbecoming and disgraceful to his character as an officer, prejudicial to good order and military discipline, and contrary to the articles of

war.

Fourth Charge. That the said Lieutenant-general Whitelocke, subsequently to the attack upon Buenos Ayres, and at a time when the troops under his command were in possession of posts on each flank of the town, and of the principal arsenal, with a communication open to the fleet, and having an effective force of about five thousand men, did enter into, and finally conclude a treaty with the enemy, whereby he acknowledges in the public dispatch of the 10th July, 1807, that "he resolved to forego the advantages which the bravery of his troops had obtained, and which advantages had cost him about two thousand five hundred men in killed, wounded, and prisoners;" and that by such treaty he unnecessarily and shamefully surrendered such advantages, totally evacuated the town of Buenos Ayres, and consented to deliver up to the enemy the strong fortress of Monte Video, which had been delivered to his charge, and which at the period of the treaty and abandonment, was well and sufficiently garrisoned and provided against attack, and which was not, at such period, in a state of blockade or siege; such conduct on the part of Lieutenant-general Whitelocke tending to the dishonour of his Majesty's arms, and being contrary to his duty as an officer, prejudicial to good order and military discipline, and contrary to the articles of war.

Judge Advocate.-" Lieutenant-general Whitelocke are you guilty of these several charges, or not guilty ?"

General Whitelocke." Not guilty." President." All persons who are summoned to give evidence upon this Court Martial, are desired to withdraw.”

Rear-admirals Murray, Generals Gower, Craufurd, and other officers who were witnesses then withdrew.

Judge Advocate.-On the part of General Whitelocke, I am to submit to the Court that he requests that the Adjutant and Quarter-masters-general belonging to the expedition may be permitted to attend in Court, conceiving that they may be of use to him in his defence. It is not necessary for me to state that the evidence of these witnesses will be material for the prosecution, and that in order to comply with General Whitelocke's request it will be necessary to deviate from the general rule of Courts Martial, of precluding all witnesses on both sides from being present. This is a point for the Court to decide upon, whether they will think fit to accede to the request.

The Court was then cleared, and after some time the doors were again opened, and General Whitelocke having resumed his station, was informed that his request could not be complied with.

The JUDGE ADVOCATE then rose and addressed the Court nearly as follows: President, and General Officers of the Court Martial,

"Though you are met together on the most important occasion the military history of this country has afforded, or ever called for an inquiry into, I shall not long detain you in opening these charges. The subject is too painful for unnecessary prolixity, and the events are too recent and too deeply impressed upon the memory and the feelings of every man, to require a statement that will take up much time in this early part of the proceedings. You are already acquainted that the expedition entrusted to the command of General Whitelocke, which was, in the opinion of those that planned it, as more than an adequate force to accomplish its object, (the reduction of Buenos Ayres) has totally failed failed with the deplorable loss of a large portion of the gallant army en gaged in it; and failed not only in the object of its intention, but ended in the absolute surrender of those valuable advantages the valour of the British troops had, under another commander, previously acquired in the important posşession of Monte Video,

"By this unfortunate event those: hopes have been defeated which had been so justly and universally entertained of discovering new markets for our manufactures-of giving a wider field to the spirit and enterprize of our mer chants-of opening new sources of treasures and new scope for exertion, in supplying either the rude wants of nations emerging from barbarism, or the artificial demands of luxury and refinement in those remote regions of the globe. Important as these objects may at all times be considered by this country, the universal state of Europe, and the daily attempts making to exclude us from our accustomed intercourse with the continent, have increased the importance of these objects,and added to the disappointment of those hopes. This disappointmenthas also been painfully embittered by the disgrace which a failure under all such circumstances has affixed on the

British arms. A diminution of military fame must by us be considered as a national calamity, and at no period so severely felt as this, when our militarycharacter is become more than ever es->

sential, not only to our honour and our fame, but to the independence, to the li berties, and to the existence of Great Britain.

"It is certainly a great consolation, that whatever misfortune our military renown has sustained, the conduct of the troops had no share in the opprobrium. I believe we shall find that the more those proceedings of the 5th July shall be examined into, the more apparent it will become, that no troops ever displayed more courage-and, with the exception of what may be connected with the subject of these charges, (though I must hope that the result of this inquiry may prove this exception to be undeserved) that no officers ever displayed more coolness, conduct, determination, and devotion to their cause, even in the course of the most victorious triumph, than was displayed by the British officers during the whole of this destructive engagement. Under the pressure of this severe and public misfortune, which has been so aggravated by the accumulated weight of all the considerations to which I have alluded, the propriety and the necessity of this inquiry