COURT-MARTIAL ON CAPT. WARRINGTON, Of the 3rd Dragoon Guards.

The sudden death of Lieut.-Colonel Brereton having interrupted the investigation into the conduct of the Military during the Riots, the Commander-in-Chief directed a Court-Martial to be held on Capt.Warrington, who was in command of a troop of the 3rd Dragoon Guards on that important occasion.

The Court was composed of the same Officers as on the trial of Colonel Brereton, and was held at the same place. Major-General Sir CHARLES DALBEAC was again the Prosecutor. The proceedings commenced on Tuesday the 17th Jan. when the following Charges were exhibited against the Prisoner :

I. That he, Captain Warrington, being on the night of Sunday, the 30th of October, 1831, in the personal command of a troop of the 3rd regiment of dragoon guards in the city of Bristol, at a time when that city was the scene of most outrageous and alarming riots,-insomuch that the said troop had been repeatedly called out by order of the Magistrates to quell the rioters, and at a time when several public and other buildings in the said city had been fired by the rioters, some whereof were already consumed, and others were still in flames; and at a time when by reason of the circumstances aforesaid, it was peculiarly necessary that the said troop, being then the only military force in Bristol, should act in the most prompt and effectual manner for the protection of the city, and that he, Captain Warrington, as the commander of the same, should use every exertion for that purpose, subject to the orders of Lieut.-Colonel Brereton, who then held the chief military command in the city; and when it therefore behoved the said Capt. Warrington to forward instantly and without delay to the said Lieut.-Brereton, every requisition that might be made, or intelligence that might be conveyed to him, Captain Warrington, or to the quarters of the said troop, calling for the services of the said troop in the city, or shewing the same to be necessary; nevertheless he, Captain Warrington, being, between eleven and twelve o'clock on the said Sunday night, applied to at the said quarters, where he was in command, by Mr. Thomas Kington, a merchant in Bristol, and informed by him, as the fact was, that the rioters were about to fire the Custom-house of Bristol, and that the presence and services of the troop were

urgently and immediately required in Queen-square, where the Custom-house then stood, in order to save that building, or to that effect, did not only refuse to order out the said troop, or any part thereof, or to take any step for the purpose so stated, but used no means of conveying the information so received by him, or the purport thereof, to the said Lieut.-Col. Brereton, or of obtaining from the said Lieut.-Col. Brereton any orders applicable to the occasion: the said Capt. Warrington thereby, as far as in him Jay, leaving the said Custom-house at the mercy of the rioters, by whom in fact the same was shortly afterwards set on fire and totally destroyed.

II. For that afterwards, that is on Monday morning, the 31st Oct., 1831, he, Capt. Warrington, being, as before, in the personal command of the said troop of the 3rd dragoon guards, then the only military force in Bristol, and when the riots were raging in that city with increased and destructive violence, a letter being, about half-past three o'clock on the said morning, delivered to, and left with, the said Capt. Warrington at the quarters of the said troop, where he was then in command, which letter was from C. Pinney, Esq., the Mayor of Bristol, and was addressed to Lieut.-Col.Brereton, or the Officer "com. manding his Majesty's troops."-[The letter was here recited.] -And he, Capt. Warrington, having then read the said letter, and it being thereupon his bounden duty either to act on the said letter without delay, or if his orders did not allow of his so doing, then in that case immediately to transmit the said letter or to communicate the contents or purport thereof to the said Lieut.-Col. Brereton; nevertheless he, Captain Warrington, neither acted on the said letter as aforesaid, nor transmitted or communicated the same, or the contents or purport thereof to Lieut.-Col. Brereton, but on the contrary retained such letter in his possession, without taking any step whatever in reference to, or in consequence of, the same, until some time afterwards, when he was applied to by a Magistrate in person; by reason of which conduct on the part of him, Capt. Warrington, the said troop remained inactive in its quarters for upwards of an hour after his receiving the said letter; during which interval of time the rioters being left without opposition or control, sacked and fired several houses, and destroyed a great amount of other property.

III. For that during the said 30th and 31st of October, 1831, while the said rioters were perpetrating acts of gross and increasing outrage in the city of Bristol, so that the said city for many successive hours appeared in imminent danger of destruction, at periods when it was peculiarly important that the said troop of the 3rd Dragoon Guards, being then the only military force in the city, should be commanded and directed in the most efficient manner, for the protection of the city under every emergency that might arise, and when for that purpose it was necessary that the said Capt. Warrington, he being the only commissioned officer in Bristol with the said troop, excepting a young Cornet of not more than sixteen months' service in the

army, should constantly remain at or within immediate call of the quarters of the said troop, while the troop continued there, in order to superintend and direct any movement required of it, and that in case of the troop or any detachment thereof being ordered out to meet and put down the rioters, he, Captain Warrington, should himself accompany and command the same, and that he, Capt. Warrington, should at every moment be ready and on the alert for the performance of the said services : nevertheless he, Capt. Warrington, greatly neglected or violated his duty in the said several respects, and especially in the following instances:

1st.-In that he, the said Capt. Warrington, at or about four o'clock in the afternoon of the said 30th of Oct., when a detachment of the said troop, consisting of two-thirds, or thereabouts, of the disposable part thereof, was ordered out to the city gaol, which was then attacked and threatened with destruction by the rioters, permitted such detachment to march to that service under the sole command of the said Cornet-he, the said Capt. Warrington, meanwhile remaining inactive in quarters.

2dly. In that the said Capt. Warrington did afterwards, in the course of the said 30th of Oct., the troop having been in its quarters, altogether absent himself from the said quarters, and from the neighbourhood thereof; and remained absent from the same for a very considerable time, during which time, namely, at or about eight o'clock in the evening, a detachment of the troop, consisting of nearly the whole of the disposable part thereof, being called out to protect the palace of the Bishop of Bristol from a vio lent attack made thereon by the rioters-such detachment proceeded to the said palace under the command of one troop officer only, being the young Cornet before mentioned.

3dly. In that he, Capt. Warrington, having returned to the said quarters, during the absence of the detachment on the said service, he in place of thereupon proceeding to join the same, or of waiting its return, did, before the return of the detachment to quarters, which was about 10 o'clock the same evening, retire to his bed.

Lastly. In that he, Capt. Warrington, between four and and five o'clock in the morning of the said 31st of October, when a detachment of the troop, consisting of about twothirds of the disposable part thereof, was again called out to stop the progress of the rioters in destroying the buildings in Queen-square, did again permit the said detachment to proceed on such service, under the sole command of the said young Cornet, while he, the said Captain, himself remained in quarters.

Such conduct as aforesaid, on the part of the said Captain Warrington, evincing a want of the vigour and activity requisite in the situation in which he was placed, being highly unbecoming and disgraceful to his character as an officer, and calculated to bring dishonour on his Majesty's service.

The President, Sir HENRY FANE, expressed his readiness to afford every possible accommodation to Capt. Warrington, and requested to know when he would be ready to meet the Charges. Capt. Warrington named the 25th, when, he trusted, he should be enabled to bring forward evidence to justify his conduct, notwithstanding the melancholy event of the death of Lieutenant-Colonel Brereton, which had deprived him of the principal evidence in his favour.

Second Day-Wednesday, Jan. 25, 1832.

The Court having met this day pursuant to adjournment, the Charges were then read over seriatim to Captain Warrington, who pleaded to each Not Guilty.

Sir CHARLES DALBIAC then rose, and in a manner evincing, when he had occasion to allude to the unhappy termination of the previous Court Martial on Colonel Brereton, considerable feeling and emotion, delivered the following address:

"Mr. President, and the Members of this Honorable Court, It is with feelings of an afflictive nature that I present myself for the second time before a General Court Martial in the character of a public prosecutor. I appear at the suit of the King, to conduct the prosecution in the trial of Capt. Warrington, the prisoner at your bar. I say it is with feelings of an afflictive nature that I find myself once more engaged in this most invidious line of duty; nor is there, I am persuaded, a single member of the Court who will affirm that this expression is too strong for the occasion. The office which I have to sustain is attended, at all times, and under any circumstances, with infinite pain and embarrassment. What then must it be when carried on, as it were, under the very shadow of that awful catastrophe, with which all who now hear me, scarcely less than the Prosecutor in this trial, have been so recently and so painfully affected? What must it be, when every step we take, every witness we examine, every fact we touch upon, may, peradventure, call up the remembrance of events, which, as connected with the proceedings of a former Court, every generous heart would willingly

consign to oblivion? And yet under these overwhelming recollections, my duty calls upon me to proceed right onward. I must tread the very same ground which is stamped with images of sadness; I must inevitably revert, at times, to those very proceedings which have been brought to so calamitous and so tragical a termination. I need hardly add, however, that my own feelings will irresistibly prompt me, throughout this trial, to spare the Court, the public, and myself, but especially those who through friendship or consanguinity, are more intimately concerned, the pain of any reference to a general Court Martial recently held within this Hall, whenever the course of our proceedings will, by possibility, enable me to abstain from it.

"But I will dwell no longer on the emotions which oppress me, under this renewed demand upon my exertions, well assured that they must be fully understood by every member of the present Court. I will address myself at once to the task which lies before me, forming as it does a series of painful but unavoidable duties, closely connected with each other. The nature of this connexion, with respect to the present case, will be best understood from a brief detail of the circumstances which have led to the trial of Capt. Warrington, as well as to my being commanded to conduct the prosecution; which circumstances I will accordingly submit for the information of the Court.

"Gen. Lord Hill had commanded a Court of Enquiry to assemble at Bristol, on the 17th November, to investigate the conduct of the Officer who held the command of the troops, during the unfortunate occurrences which took place in this city on the 29th, 30th, and 31st Oct.; which Court was composed of the following Officers :-President: Major-General Sir C. Dalbiac; Members: Col. Sir E. Miles, 89th regiment; Col. Ferguson, 52d Light Infantry; Lieut.-Col. Lord Loughborough, 9th Lancers; Major Walcot, Royal Horse Artillery.

"Capt. Warrington's Troop of the 3rd Dragoon Guards had formed a part of the force which was placed at the disposal of the Municipal Authorities of Bristol, upon the occasion above referred to, Capt. Warrington being himself in command of the troop; his evidence, therefore, was deemed essential to the investigation, to