PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY J. & J. HARPER, AND SOLD BY THE PRINCIPAL BOOKSELLERS THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES. PREFACE. THE Editor of this little volume (for he presumes not to write Author) has been induced to bring into one connected view what has hitherto appeared only in detached fragments (and some of these not generally accessible)-the historical narrative of an event which deeply interested the public at the time of its occurrence, and from which the naval service in particular, in all its ranks, may still draw instructive and useful les sons. The story in itself is replete with interest. We are taught by The Book of sacred history, that the disobedience of our first parents entailed on our globe of earth a sinful and a suffering race in our time there has sprung up from the most abandoned of this sinful family-from pirates, mutineers, and murderers a little society which, under the precepts of that sacred volume, is characterized by religion, morality, and innocence. The discovery of this happy people, as unexpected as it was accidental, and all that regards their condition and history, partake so much of the romantic, as to render the story not ill adapted for an epic poem. Lord Byron, indeed, has partially treated the subject; but by blending two incongruous stories, and leaving both of them imperfect, and by mixing up fact with fiction, has been less felicitous than usual; The King's Warrant for the Pardon of those recommended by the Court to his Majesty's Mercy, and for the Execution of those condemned 214 THE EVENTFUL HISTORY OF THE MUTINY OF THE BOUNTY. CHAPTER I. OTAHEITE. "THE gentle Island, and the genial soil, The bread-tree, which, without the ploughshare, yields Without a furnace in unpurchas'd groves, And flings off famine from its fertile breast, BYRON. THE reign of George III. will be distinguished in history by the great extension and improvement which geographical knowledge received under the immediate auspices of this sovereign. At a very early period after his accession to the throne of these realms, expeditions of discovery were undertaken," not," as Dr. Hawkesworth observes, "with a view to the acquisition of treasure, or the extent of dominion, but for the improvement of comnierce, and the increase and diffusion of knowledge." This excellent monarch was himself no mean proficient in the science of geography; and it may be doubted if any one of his subjects, at the period alluded to, B |
