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iiorseouarcis, June, is n. Adjt.-ijrenCOURT MARTIAL, CHELSEA.Wednesday the trial of Lieutenant-Coloncl Johnson, of the 102d, or New South Wales Regiment, for mutiny and usurpa-tion, terminated, after thirteen days’ anxious investigation.4The Court consisted of the following Members:The Hon. G. M. SUTTON, Esq. Judge Advocate; Tieut.-Gen. W. KEPPEL, President;*Lieut.-Gen. Sir D. Baird, Colonel Burnet,Milner, - Tyers,Finch, •» --------- Anson,D. jVFDonald, * O'Laughlin,W. Dow deswell, - F. W. Butler,Major-Gen. Paget, Lieut,-Col. J. Lord Proby,Kerr, -■■■■■ -— Patterson.The charge against the prisoner was as follows **• That lie, Lieutenant-Colonel George Johnson, did, on the 26th of January, 1S(G, at Sydney, in the Colony of New South Wales, begin, excite, and join in a mutiny, by putting himself at the head of the New South Wales Corps, then under hiscommand, doing duty in the Colony, and seizing, and causing to be seized and arrested, and imprisoning and causing to be imprisoned by means of the above-mentioned military force, the person of William Bligh, Esq. then Captain-General and Governor in Chief of the territory of New South Wales.Our limits completely preclude the possibility of entering into any thing like a detail of the circumstances of this interesting case; the most we can pretend to give our readers is a succinct picture of the most prominent of’its features.—The prosecutor, Captain William Bligh, rendered celebrated by the affair of the ship Bounty, was in the year 1806 appointed by his Majesty to be Governor over New South Wales and all its ' dependencies. On his arrival at Sydney, he alledges, that he found the Colony in a very wretched and distressed state, in consequence of the recent overflow of the river Derwent, and. likewise from the excessive use of spirituous liquors, which was indulged in to excess by all ranks of the people, and more particularly by the oilicers of the 102dreginn nc, quartered irv the Settlement, who were particularly interested in the barter and traffic of that commodity to the people. 1 he measures he adopted to suppress these abuses produced such a happy reformation, that at the close of the year 1807 the Colony was in a state of prosperity, contentment, and happiness, unknown during the administration of any former Governor. At this period, a settler, named MlArthur, who h id formerly been an officer in the 10 2d regiment, and who was represented by the Governor to be discontented, in consequence of his restrictions upon the barter of spirits, was accused before the Criminal Court of the Colony, which was composed of six of the officers of the I(»2d.“udge Advocate of the Settlement, with seditious \and the Judge Advocate of the Settlement, witn seditious tices, in having refused to obey a Warrant of the Judge Advocate’s, for violating one of the Colonial Regulations. At thattrial, Mr. M‘Arthur objected to the Judge Advocate presiding,in consequence of his having a personal quarrel with him ; andmore particularly, he objected to his presence upon the established pr.nciples of British law, that no man could be prosecutor, judge, and juror in his own case. The officers of the Court took part with Mr. MfArthur, and refused to “allow tueJudge Advocuto to preside* Governor Bligh, on hearing A tms
Newspaper Details
London National Register
London, Middlesex, GB
Sun, Jun 09, 1811
Page 13
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
CA, USA 11 Apr 2021
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