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[Page 3]
my mind was like a sieve which contained nothing - it received the flashes of injury, but left no traces to enable me to counteract them altogether, which I could easily have done, had my Indictment been fairly laid, and I had had time to have examined it; but as it stood a series of offences appeared as if I had been generally guilty of them, while only a few solitary instances were endeavored to be proved.
I allow that "Repeated Drunkenness" may wth. [with] Justice stand as a charge, for here the crime is specifically alledged; but surely a general charge of repeated Insults, Tyranny, Oppression, ill userage, and unofficer like conduct might not to be admitted, without specifying the Act under each particular head which the Defendant is said to be guilty of, and also the time and to whom - to allow it is saping all my military discipline; it is subversive of all order, and it perverts justice to the accused - it deprives him of his common right, and and subjects are enabled thereby to make malicious accusations. In such instances is the time allowed by a Court Martial sufficient to find evidence for a Defence? no certainly not; and if that is the Plea for admitting them, it is of or will end in pernicious consequences.
The conduct of my Prosecutor was low & disgraceful, even in the face of the Court; one evidence he called a Liar, another a drunkard, both of which qualifications he possessed in a high degree.