fears may not be productive of misery to the family, I must add, that the King’s Attorney General, who with Judge Ashurst attended the trial, desired me to make myself perfectly easy, for that my friend was as safe as if he had, not been condemned! I would have avoided making use of this dreadful word – but it must have come to your knowlege, and, perhaps, unaccompanied by others of a pleasing kind. The mode of communication to his mother and sisters I must leave to your discretion; and shall only add, that, although from a combination of circumstances, ill-nature, and mistaken friendship, the sentence is in itself terrible, yet it is incumbent on me to assure you, that from the same combination of circumstances, every body who attended the trial is perfectly satisfied in his own mind, that he was hardly guilty in appearance – in intention he was perfectly innocent. I shall of course write to Commodore Pasley, whose mind, from my letter to him of yesterday, must be dreadfully agitated, and take his advice about what is to be done, when Mr. Heywood is released. I shall stay here till then; and my intention is afterwards to take him to my house in town, where I think he had better stay till one of the family calls for him, as he will require a great deal of tender management after all his sufferings; and it would perhaps be a necessary preparation for seeing Mrs. Heywood, that one or both of his sisters should be previously prepared to support her upon so trying an occasion. I can only say that they would make me very happy in taking the charge out of my hands j and if to spend a few days in London will not be disagreeable to them, I have a daughter, who, though young, will feel herself bound to make their stay, however short it may be, as agreeable as possible. I have the honor to be, &c.
In a subsequent letter from the same gentleman to Dr. Scott, we find the following passage:
“It will be a great satisfaction to his family to learn that the declarations of some of the other prisoners, since the trial, put it past all doubt that the evidence upon which he was convicted must have been, to say nothing worse of it, an unfortunate belief on the part of the witness, of circumstances, which either never had existence, or were applicable to another gentleman who remained in the ship, and not to Mr. Heywood.”
The points of evidence alluded to by Mr. Graham were as follow:– 1st. That Mr. Peter Heywood assisted in hoisting out the launch. 2d. That he was seen by the Carpenter resting his hand upon a cutlass. 3d. That upon being called to by Lieutenant Bligh, he laughed. And, 4th, That he remained on board the Bounty, instead of accompanying Lieutenant Bligh in the launch. Mr. Heywood’s comments on this evidence are here submitted to the reader’s consideration,
