"My Lord,-The Court having heard the witnesses I have been enabled to call, it will be unnecessary to add any thing to their testimony in point of fact, or to observe upon it by way of illustration. It is, I trust, sufficient to do away any suspicion which may have fallen upon me, and to remove every implication of guilt which, while unexplained, might by possibility have attached to me. It is true I have, by the absence of Captain Bligh, Simpson, and Tinkler, been deprived of the opportunity of laying before the Court much that would at least have been grateful to my feelings, though I hope not necessary to my defence; as the former must have exculpated me from the least disrespect, and the two last would have proved, past all contradiction, that I was unjustly accused. I might regret that in their absence 1 have been arraigned, but, thank Heaven, I have been enabled, by the very witnesses who were called to criminate me, to oppose facts to opinions, and give explanation to circumstances of suspicion.

"It has been proved that I was asleep at the time of the mutiny, and waked only to confusion and dismay. It has been proved, it is true, that I continued on board the ship, but it has been also proved I was detained by force; and to this I must add, I left the society of those with whom I was for a time obliged to associate, as soon as possible, and with unbounded satisfaction resigned myself to the captain of the Pandora, to whom I gave myself up, to whom I also delivered my journal* (faithfully brought up to the preceding day), and to whom I also gave every information in my power. I could do no more; for at the first time we were at Otaheite it was impossible for me, watched and suspected as I was, to separate from the ship. My information to Captain Edwards was open, sincere, and unqualified, and I had many opportunities given me at dif

This journal, it is presumed, must have been lost when the Pandora was wrecked.

ferent times of repeating it. Had a track been open to my native country, I should have followed it; had a vessel arrived earlier, I should earlier with the same eagerness have embraced the opportunity, for I dreaded not an inquiry in which I foresaw no discredit. But Providence ordained it otherwise. I have been the victim of suspicion, and had nearly fallen a sacrifice to misapprehension. I have, however, hitherto surmounted it, and it only remains with this Court to say, if my sufferings have not been equal to my indiscretion.

"The decision will be the voice of honour, and to that I must implicitly resign myself.

"P. HEYWOOD."

Mr. Morrison's Defence

Sets out by stating that he was waked at daylight by Mr. Cole the boatswain, who told him that the ship was taken by Christian; that he assisted in clearing out the boat at Mr. Cole's desire, and says, "While I was thus employed Mr. Fryer came to me and asked if I had any hand in the mutiny; I told him no. He then desired me to see who I could find to assist me, and try to rescue the ship; I told him I feared it was then too late, but would do my endeavour; when John Millward, who stood by me, and heard what Mr. Fryer said, swore he would stand by me if an opportunity offered. Mr. Fryer was about to speak again, but was prevented by Matthew Quintal, who, with a pistol in one hand, collared him with the other, saying, 'Come, Mr. Fryer, you must go down into your cabin;' and hauled him away. Churchill then came, and shaking his cutlass at me, demanded what Mr. Fryer said. I told him that he only asked me if they were going to have the long-boat, upon which Alexander Smith (Adams), who stood on the opposite side of the boat, said, 'It's a d-d lie, Charley, for I saw

6

him and Millward shake hands when the master spoke to them.' Churchill then said to me, 'I would have you mind how you come on, for I have an eye upon you.' Smith at the same time called out, Stand to your arms, for they intend to make a rush.' This, as it was intended, put the mutineers on their guard, and I found it necessary to be very cautious how I acted; and I heard Captain Bligh say to Smith, 'I did not expect you would be against me, Smith;' but I could not hear what answer he made."

He says, that while clearing the boat, he heard Christian order Churchill to see that no arms were put into her; to keep Norman, M'Intosh, and Coleman in the ship, and get the officers into the boat as fast as possible; that Mr. Fryer begged permission to stay, but to no purpose. "On seeing Mr. Fryer and most of the officers going into the boat, without the least appearance of an effort to rescue the ship, I began to reflect on my own situation; and seeing the situation of the boat, and considering that she was at least a thousand leagues from any friendly settlement, and judging, from what I had seen of the Friendly Islanders but a few days before, that nothing could be expected from them but to be plundered or killed, and seeing no choice but of one evil, I chose as I thought the least, to stay in the ship, especially as I considered it as obeying Captain Bligh's orders, and depending on his promise to do justice to those who remained. I informed Mr. Cole of my intention, who made me the like promise, taking me by the hand and saying, 'God bless you, my boy; I will do you justice if ever I reach England.' I also informed Mr. Hayward of my intention; and on his dropping a hint to me that he intended to knock Churchill down, I told him I would second him, pointing to some of the Friendly Island clubs which were sticking in the booms, and saying, 'There were tools enough:' but (he adds) I was

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suddenly damped to find that he went into the boat without making the attempt he had proposed."

He then appeals to the niembers of the Court, as to the alternative they would themselves have taken:-"A boat alongside, already crowded; those who were in her crying out she would sink; and Captain Bligh desiring no more might go in-with a slender stock of provisions,—what hope could there be to reach any friendly shore, or withstand the hostile attacks of the boisterous elements? The perils those underwent who reached the island of Timor, and whom nothing but the apparent interference of Divine Providence could have saved, fully justify my fears, and prove beyond a doubt that they rested on a solid foundation: for by staying in the ship, an opportunity might offer of escaping, but by going in the boat nothing but death appeared, either from the lingering torments of hunger and thirst, or from the murderous weapons of cruel savages, or being swallowed up by the deep.

"I have endeavoured," he says, "to recall to Mr. Hayward's remembrance a proposal he at one time made, by words, of attacking the mutineers, and of my encouraging him to the attempt, promising to back him. He says he has but a faint recollection of the business-so faint, indeed, that he cannot recall to his memory the particulars, but owns there was something passed to that effect. Faint, however, as his remembrance is (which for me is the more unfortunate), ought it not to do away all doubt with respect to the motives by which I was then influenced?" And, in conclusion, he says, "I beg leave most humbly to remind the members of this honourable Court, that I did freely, and of my own accord, deliver myself up to Lieutenant Robert Corner, of H. M. S. Pandora, on the first certain notice of her arrival."

William Muspratt's Defence

Declares his innocence of any participation in the mutiny; admits he assisted in hoisting out the boat, and in putting several articles into her; after which he sat down on the booms, when Millward came and mentioned to him Mr. Fryer's intention to rescue the ship, when he said he would stand by Mr. Fryer as far as he could; and with that intention, and for that purpose only, he took up a musket which one of the people had laid down, and which he quitted the moment he saw Bligh's people get into the boat. Solemnly denies the charge of Mr. Purcell against him, of handing liquor to the ship's company. Mr. Hayward's evidence, he trusts, must stand so impeached before the Court as not to receive the least attention, when the lives of so many men are to be affected by it-for, he observes, he swears that Morrison was a mutineer, because he assisted in hoisting out the boats; and that M'Intosh was not a mutineer, notwithstanding he was precisely employed on the same business-that he criminated Morrison from the appearance of his countenancethat he had only a faint remembrance of that material and striking circumstance of Morrison offering to join him to retake the ship-that in answer to his (Muspratt's) question respecting Captain Bligh's words, "My lads, I'll do you justice," he considered them applied to the people in the boat, and not to those in the ship-to the same question put by the Court, he said they applied to persons remaining in the ship. And he notices some other instances which he thinks most materially affect Mr. Hayward's credit; and says, that if he had been under arms when Hayward swore he was, he humbly submits Mr. Hallet must have seen him. And he concludes with asserting (what indeed was a very general opinion), "that the great misfortune attending this unhappy business is, that no one ever attempted