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arrival, put under an arrest by ourwa order, and is now at Porism utb, awaiting his trial.-We' send herewith, for the support of the charge, the necessary papers.

And we do hereby require and direct you forthwith to assemble a court-martial, which court (you being the president thereof) is hereby required and directed to inquire into the conduct of, and try the said captain sir Home Popham for the of fences of which he is charged accordingly. Given under our hands this second day of March, 1807. Thomas Grenville.

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ever submitted to a court-mar tial. He could not help thinking it strange, that he should be brought to trial for having employed the means placed at his disposal in making a successful attack on a posses sion belonging to the enemy, instead of suffering them to remain inactive and dormant. Nor did he conceive that it was less unprecedented to criminate an officer, entrusted with a command of some importance, for having exercised that discretionary power, without which no service could be carried on with energy or effect, when the result of such an act, so far from having been attended with any ill consequence, was, on the contrary, glorious to his majesty's arms, and honourable to the country. Nor had he the smallest hesitation to assert, that if the administra. tion by which he was selected for the command he had the honour to hold had still remained in power, he should have received thanks and ap probation, instead of having been superseded, recalled, and then very unexpectedly put under arrest and brought to trial. He had to observe, that it seemed rather singular no notice whatever of an intention to bring him to trial was intimated to him when first ordered home from the Rio de la Plata. Had the design of his prosecutors been then known to him, he might have procured a variety of evidence highly important to his case. He would undertake to shew that not only an expedition to South America was a favourite object with Mr. Pitt, that he had it in con. templation, and actually took some steps to carry it into execution in the course of his former administration; but that he never lost sight of it, being only restrained from attempting the execution of it by political reasons, which no longer existed when he felt it his duty, for the interest of his country, to pro ceed from the Cape of Good Hope

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upon this long projected expedition. As to the discretion he exercised, he trusted he need not say, were not our naval and military commanders employed on foreign service, in distant quarters, allowed a latitude for the exercise of their discretion, what ill consequences would often arise to his majesty's service. He mentioned the coup de main which put the British crown in possession of Gibraltar. Sir George Rooke had no orders for undertaking that bold en terprize, nor was he arraigned by his superiors at home for having exercised his discretion on that occasion. In the American war, sir Peter Parker and general Dalling, the then naval and military commanders at Jamaica, concerted an expedition against the Spanish settlement of Omoah, which was to a certain degree successful. No blame was attached to either of those officers for having directed this attack without orders. At the beginning of the late war in 1793, lord Hood entered Toulon, and afterwards attacked Corsica, without orders, and against the opinion of the general, who would not co-operate with him yet that admiral was not brought before a court martial for having so acted; nor was it ever known that his conduct was censured. In 1796, lord St. Vincent (then sir John Jervis) sent the heroic Nelson to attack Teneriffe, in consequence of information which he received, that two ships had loaded their treasure there. But that enterprize, though productive of a great effusion of British blood, was not censured. These precedents clearly proved the existence of that discretionary power on which he had acted. But he had yet to cite a case still more in point, since the officer whom he was going to mention commanded on the very station which he was accused of having left unprotected, and who actually prepared to embark the

troops on board his squadron, with which he was ready to sail from the Cape to the Rio de la Plata, in order to attack those identical settlements which were the objects of his enterprise. The late sir Hugh Christian had carried his intention so far as he had stated, when an account reached him from India, stating the urgent. necessity of sending the military reinforcements to our army in the Carnatic. After dwelling upon various other points in his favour, sir Home concluded with an animated appeal to the justice and liberality of the court.

The examination of evidence for the prisoner then commenced. Lord viscount Melville, Mr. Sturges Bourne, and Mr. Huskisson, gave their respective testimonies. The former stated that the administration of which he had made a part had several communications with genera! Miranda, with respect to his projects on South America; and that he knew with certainty that sir Home Popham had been employed confidentially by that cabinet, Mr. Huskisson stated the different interviews sir Home had had with the late minister and himself on the subject of South America, and the anxiety expressed by Mr. Pitt to make use of the naval superiority of the country for the pur pose of obtaining an advantage there, and admitted that it had been constantly an object that was deemed very desirable.

Fourth Day, Tuesday March 10, The court having met at nine o'clock, resumed the examination of witnesses. Mr. Marsden, secretary to the admiralty, was the first evidence; but what he stated was not material to the cause. Mr. Wilson, a merchant of London, concerned in the trade to Rio de la Plata, deposed, that he had strongly pointed out to Mr. Pitt and the privy council the propriety of

making a conquest in that part of Spanish America, and also that he had several conversations on the subject with sir Home Popham. Mr. Brown, master attendant at the Cape, and captain King, of the Diadem, stated, that although the whole of the naval force was taken away by sir Home, the Cape was notwithstanding left. in perfect security, from its excel

lent state of defence.

Fifth Day, Wednesday March 11; The president, as soon as the court had opened, having asked sir Home Popham whether he had any other evidence to advance? He replied, that he had it in his power to produce several other witnesses; but from the time the trial had already occupied, and from an unwillingness to trespass further on the attention of the court, he would decline any further evidence, if the court should think it unnecessary. He then presented a list of papers, which he wished to have read in his defence, and entered on the minutes. Those which in cluded his correspondence with the admiralty were admitted by the court; but others were considered as inadmissible evidence.

Sir Home Popham then addressed the court in the following terms :

I here close my defence, and throw myself entirely upon the justice and wisdom of this honourable court. I have suffered much in my feelings and character; but I do trust and hope your judgment will relieve the one and rescue the other. If, in my zeal for the service, I have exceeded the limits of due discretion, I trust it will appear that I was solely actuated by an anxious desire to promote the interests, the honour, and the glory of my country. Aided by my brave followers, and under the protection of Divine Providence, I was put into possession of two capital cities, in two different quarters of the globe,

Upon an examination of my defence,
I trust it will be found that

The head and front of my offending
Hath this extent-no more."

I retire, trusting in your wisdom and justice for my honourable acquittal.'

Sir Home Popham having, with his friends, withdrawn, about eleven o'clock, the court was cleared, and, after four hours' deliberation, was: again opened; when sir Home hav ing taken his place at the foot of the table, the members being covered, the judge advocate proceeded to read the sentence as follows:

This court having maturely considered the nature of the charges, heard all the evidence, and having fully deliberated upon the whole of this case, are of opinion, that the charges have been proved against the said captain sir Home Popham; that the withdrawing, without orders so to do, the whole of any naval force from any place where it is directed to be employed, and the employing it in distant operations against the enemy, more especially if the succesa of such operations should be likely to prevent its speedy return, may be attended with the most serious inconvenience to the public service, as the success of any plan, formed by his majesty's ministers for operations against the enemy, in which such naval force might be included, may, by such removal, be entirely pre

vented. And the court is further of opinion, that the conduct of the said captain sir Home Popham, in withdrawing the whole of the naval force under his command from the Cape of Good Hope, and the proceeding with it to the Rio de la Plata, was highly censurable;-but in consi

deration of circumstances, the court doth adjudge him to be only severely reprimanded and he is accordingly hereby severely reprimanded.'

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try,

Where Ruin hovers o'er the fatal die;
Or, wrapt in Gallantry's alluring 'guise,
The slighted wife's unguarded hour surprise;
When Fashion thus employs her direful art,
To warp the passions, and pollute the heart,
The scenic Muse her empire should disown,
Indignant rise, and pull her from her throne;
And hence our zealous Bard, no stranger
here,

Attempts to check her in her mad carcer:
Well may he hope to gain in such a cause,
What oft before has cheer'd him-your ap-
plause.

Then aid his effort for so just an end,
And Fashion may appear as Virtue's friend;
So shall your kindness lead our rising youth
To honest Nature, and to simple Truth.

EPILOGUE TO THE SAME.

Written by Mr. Colman. Enter TROT and COSEY (squabbling a little before entering).

Trot. THERE's a dispute, good folks, between us two,

Cosey. Which, with your leaves, we'll argue before you.

Cosey.

express'd; Trot-Namely

Trot. Now for the question

That is soon

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Cosey Trot.-.

Both.

is best?'

Trot.-Give me the Country-I shall trun

dle down

With rapture:
Gosey

in Town.

Yes. You leave your wife

Your back once turn'd, she'll spin away your guineas;

Then who's to bring you more?
Trot

Jennies.

My spinning

Cosey-But tell me what the Country boasts?

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Trot.
Its hills,
Dales, lawns, and groves, and streams for
cotton-mills;

Walks through plough'd fields, to circulate
your blood.-
Cosey. Curse Country dirt!
Trot.-

London mud!

And damn the

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Main:

Doom'd by the axe to vegetate no more, They form the Wooden Walls of Britain's shore.

Casey-Away with rural life! A life of voids!

Place me, say I, among the folks at Lloyd's; Where, though with noise of business almost stunn'd,

I cry, Hail England's Patriotic Fund!
Whose store a Nation's opulence imparts,
Whose aim denotes a Nation's glowing hearts.
Blest Wealth! that gives our wounded Tars
relief,

Or soothes their Widows' and their Orphans' grief.

Trot.-Come, since the bulk of Britons shew such spizit.

Ket's own beth Ton and Country have their merit.

Casey Strike hands! Agreed! Let Eng. lishmen ne'er doubt on't, But stick together, in the Town, or out on't. May unanimity ne'er be forgotten! Thrive all our Trades!

Trot.Particularly Cotton! Cosey-(coming forward)-Say, then, with us, to-night, if so it please ye, Success to Town and Country! Both.

AIR,

And we're easy.

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And my vigor impair'd by decay.

Ah me! what remains, but to utter this

pray'r,

With fervor conceiv'd in my heart-? That Heaven propitious may smile on the Fair,

And bounteous each blessing impart.

May I live to behold her consign'd to the

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