The Boatswain says, that just before he left the ship I went below, and in passing him said something about a bag, (it was that I would put a few things into a bag and follow him); the Carpenter says he saw me go below at this time; and both those witnesses say, that they heard the master-at-arms call to Thompson ‘to keep them below’ The point, therefore, will be to prove to whom this order, ‘keep them below,’ would apply. The Boatswain and Carpenter say they have no doubt of its meaning me as one; and that it must have been so I shall have very little difficulty in shewing, by the following statement:
“There remained on board the ship after the boat put off, 25 men. Messrs Hayward and Hallet have proved that the following men were under arms: Christian, Hillbrant, Millward, Burkitt, Muspratt, Ellison, Sumner, Smith, Young, Skinner, Churchill, M‘Koy, Quintal, Morrison, Williams, Thompson, Mills, and Brown – in all 18. The Master, and upon this occasion I may be allowed to quote from the Captain’s printed narrative, mentions Martin as one; which makes the number of armed men 19, none of whom, we may reasonably suppose, were ordered to be kept below. Indeed Mr. Hayward says that there were at the least 18 of them upon deck when he went into the boat; and if Thompson, the centinel over the arm-chest, be added to them, it exactly agrees with the number above named: there remains then 6, to whom Churchill’s order, ‘Keep them below,’ might apply, viz. Heywood, Stewart, Coleman, Norman, M‘Intosh, and Byrne.
“Could Byrne have been one of them? No, for he was in the cutter alongside. Could Coleman have been one of them? No, for he was at the gangway when the Captain and officers went into the launch, and aft upon the taffrail when the boat was veered astern. Could Norman have been one of them? No, for he was with Coleman, speaking to the Captain and the officers. Could M‘Intosh have been one of them? No, for he was with Coleman and Norman, desiring the Captain and the officers to take notice that they were not concerned in the mutiny[1]. It could then have applied to nobody but Mr. Stewart and myself: and by this order of Churchill’s, therefore, was I prevented from going with the Captain in the boat.
“The foregoing appear to me the most material points of evidence on the part of the prosecution. My defence being very full, and the body of evidence in my favour too great to admit of observation in this concise manner, I shall refer for an opinion thereon to the minutes of the court-martial.
We have reason to believe that these comments produced as great an effect upon the mind of Lord Chatham, as even the recommendation to royal mercy, which had been forwarded by Mr. Hey wood’s judges. Certain it is, that they
- ↑ See the Bounty’s Voyage, p. 157.
