Section 21 of 28 - Table of Contents
'_Third. That, upon being called to by the captain, I
laughed_.--If this was believed by the Court, it must have
had, I am afraid, a very great effect upon its judgement; for,
if viewed in too serious a light, it would seem to bring
together and combine a number of trifling circumstances, which
by themselves could only be treated merely as matters of
suspicion. It was no doubt, therefore, received with caution,
and considered with the utmost candour. The countenance, I
grant, on some other occasions, may warrant an opinion of good
or evil existing in the mind; but on the momentous events of
life and death, it is surely by much too indefinite and
hazardous even to listen to for a moment. The different ways
of expressing our various passions are, with many, as variable
as the features they wear. Tears have often been, nay
generally are, the relief of excessive joy, while misery and
dejection have, many a time, disguised themselves in a smile;
and convulsive laughs have betrayed the anguish of an almost
broken heart. To judge, therefore, the principles of the
heart, by the barometer of the face, is as erroneous as it
would be absurd and unjust. This matter may likewise be
considered in another point of view. Mr. Hallet says I laughed
in consequence of being called to by the captain, who was
abaft the mizen-mast, while I was upon the platform near the
fore hatchway, a distance of more than thirty feet: if the
captain intended I should hear him, and there can be no doubt
that he wished it--if he really called to me, he must have
exerted his voice, and very considerably too, upon such an
occasion and in such a situation; and yet Mr. Hallet himself,
who, by being on the quarter-deck, could not have been half
the distance from the captain that I was, even he, I say,
could not hear what was said to me: how then, in the name of
God, was it possible that I should have heard the captain at
all, situated, as I must have been, in the midst of noisy
confusion? And if I did not hear him, which I most solemnly
aver to be the truth, even granting that I laughed (which,
however, in my present awful situation I declare I believe I
did not), it could not have been at what the captain said.
Upon this ground, then, I hope I shall stand acquitted of this
charge, for if the crime derives its guilt from the knowledge
I had of the captain's speaking to me, it follows, of course,
that if I did not hear him speak, there could be no crime in
my laughing. It may, however, very fairly be asked, why Mr.
Hallet did not make known that the captain was calling to me?
His duty to the captain, if not his friendship for me, should
have prompted him to it; and the peculiarity of our situation
required this act of kindness at his hands.[29] I shall only
observe further upon this head, that the boatswain, the
carpenter, and Mr. Hayward, who saw more of me than any other
of the witnesses, did say in their evidence, that I had rather
a sorrowful countenance on the day of the mutiny.
'_Fourth. That I remained on board the ship, instead of going
in the boat with the captain_.--That I was at first alarmed
and afraid of going into the boat I will not pretend to deny;
but that afterwards I wished to accompany the captain, and
should have done it, if I had not been prevented by Thompson,
who confined me below by the order of Churchill, is clearly
proved by the evidence of several of the witnesses. 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 showing, by the following
statement:--
'There remained on board the ship after the boat put off,
twenty-five men. Messrs. Hayward and Hallet have proved that
the following 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 eighteen. 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 nineteen, none of whom, we may
reasonably suppose, were ordered to be kept below. Indeed, Mr.
Hayward says, that there were at the least eighteen of them
upon deck, when he went into the boat; and if Thompson, the
sentinel over the arm-chest, be added to them, it exactly
agrees with the number above-named; there remains then six, to
whom Churchill's order, "_keep them below,"_ might apply,
namely, 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 speaking to the officers. Could M'Intosh have been one
of them? _No_, for he was with Coleman and Norman, desiring
the captain and officers to take notice that they were not
concerned in the mutiny. It could then have applied to nobody
but to Mr. Stewart and myself; and by this order of Churchill,
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.
(Signed) 'P. HEYWOOD.'
There is a note in Marshall's _Naval Biography_,[30] furnished by
Captain Heywood, which shows one motive for keeping him and Stewart in
the ship. It is as follows:--'Mr. Stewart was no sooner released than he
demanded of Christian the reason of his detention; upon which the latter
denied having given any directions to that effect; and his assertion was
corroborated by Churchill, who declared that he had kept both him and
Mr. Heywood below, knowing it was their intention to go away with Bligh;
"in which case," added he, "what would become of us, if any thing should
happen to you; who is there but yourself and them to depend upon in
navigating the ship?"' It may be suspected, however, that neither
Christian nor Churchill told the exact truth, and that Mr. Heywood's
case is, in point of fact, much stronger than he ever could have
imagined; and that if Bligh had not acted the part of a prejudiced and
unfair man towards him, he would have been acquitted by the Court on the
same ground that Coleman, Norman, M'Intosh, and Byrne were,--namely,
that they were detained in the ship against their will, as stated by
Bligh in the narrative on which they were tried, and also in his
printed report. It has before been observed, that many things are set
down in Bligh's original manuscript journal, that have not appeared in
any published document; and on this part of the subject there is, in the
former, the following very important admission. 'As for the officers,
whose cabins were in the cockpit, there was no relief for them; _they
endeavoured to come to my assistance, but were not allowed to put their
heads above the hatchway_.' To say, therefore, that in the suppression
of this passage Bligh acted with prejudice and unfairness, is to make
use of mild terms; it has more the appearance of a deliberate act of
malice, by which two innocent men might have been condemned to suffer an
ignominious death, one of whom was actually brought into this
predicament;--the other only escaped it by a premature death. It may be
asked, how did Bligh know that Stewart and Heywood endeavoured, but were
not allowed, to come to his assistance? Confined as he was on the
quarter-deck, how could he know what was going on below? The answer is,
he must have known it from Christian himself; Churchill, no doubt, acted
entirely by his leader's orders, and the latter could give no orders
that were not heard by Bligh, whom he never left, but held the cord by
which his hands were fettered, till he was forced into the boat.
Churchill was quite right as to the motive of keeping these young
officers; but Christian had no doubt another and a stronger motive: he
knew how necessary it was to interpose a sort of barrier between
himself and his mutinous gang; he was too good an adept not to know that
seamen will always pay a more ready and cheerful obedience to officers
who are _gentlemen_, than to those who may have risen to command from
among themselves. It is indeed a common observation in the service, that
officers who have risen from _before the mast_ are generally the
greatest tyrants.[31] It was Bligh's misfortune not to have been
educated in the cockpit of a man of war, among young gentlemen, which is
to the navy what a public school is to those who are to move in civil
society. What painful sufferings to the individual, and how much misery
to an affectionate family might have been spared, had Bligh, instead of
suppressing, only suffered the passage to stand as originally written in
his journal!
The _remarks_ of young Heywood above recited, were received and
transmitted by his sister Nessy in a letter to the Earl of Chatham, then
first Lord of the Admiralty, of which the following is a copy.
'_Great Russell Street, 11th Oct_. 1792.
'MY LORD,--To a nobleman of your lordship's known humanity and
excellence of heart, I dare hope that the unfortunate cannot
plead in vain. Deeply impressed as I therefore am, with
sentiments of the most profound respect for a character which
I have been ever taught to revere, and alas I nearly
interested as I must be in the subject of these lines, may I
request your lordship will generously pardon a sorrowful and
mourning sister, for presuming to offer the enclosed [remarks]
for your candid perusal. It contains a few observations made
by my most unfortunate and tenderly beloved brother, Peter
Heywood, endeavouring to elucidate some parts of the evidence
given at the court-martial lately held at Portsmouth upon
himself and other prisoners of his Majesty's ship _Bounty_.
When I assure you, my lord, that he is dearer and more
precious to me than any object on earth--nay, infinitely more
valuable than life itself--that, deprived of him, the word
misery would but ill express my complicated wretchedness--and
that, on his fate, my own, and (shall I not add?) that of a
tender, fond, and alas! widowed mother, depends, I am
persuaded you will not wonder, nor be offended, that I am thus
bold in conjuring your lordship will consider, with your usual
candour and benevolence, the "Observations" I now offer you,
as well as the painful situation of my dear and unhappy
brother.--I have the honour, etc.
NESSY HEYWOOD.'
Whether this letter and its enclosure produced any effect on the mind of
Lord Chatham does not appear; but no immediate steps were taken, nor was
any answer given; and this amiable young lady and her friends were
suffered to remain in the most painful state of suspense for another
fortnight. A day or two before the warrant was despatched, that
excellent man, Mr. Graham, writes thus to Mrs. Heywood.
'MY DEAR MADAM,--If feeling for the distresses and rejoicing
in the happiness of others denote a heart which entitles the
owner of it to the confidence of the good and virtuous, I
would fain be persuaded that mine has been so far interested
in your misfortunes, and is now so pleased with the prospect
of your being made happy, as cannot fail to procure me the
friendship of your family, which, as it is my ambition, it
cannot cease to be my desire to cultivate.
'Unused to the common rewards which are sought after in this
world, I will profess to anticipate more real pleasure and
satisfaction from the simple declaration of you and yours,
that "we accept of your services, and we thank you for them,"
than it is in common minds to conceive; but, fearful lest a
too grateful sense should be entertained of the friendly
offices I have been engaged in (which, however, I ought to
confess, I was prompted to, in the first place, by a
remembrance of the many obligations I owed to Commodore
Pasley), I must beg you will recollect that, by sending to me
your charming Nessy (and if strong affection may plead such a
privilege, I may be allowed to call her _my_ daughter also),
you would have over-paid me if my trouble had been ten times,
and my uneasiness ten thousand times greater than they were,
upon what I once thought the melancholy, but now deem the
fortunate, occasion which has given me the happiness of her
acquaintance. Thus far, my dear Madam, I have written to
please myself. Now, for what must please you--and in which,
too, I have my share of satisfaction.
'The business, though not publicly known, is most certainly
finished, and what I had my doubts about yesterday, I am
satisfied of to-day. Happy, happy, happy family! accept of my
congratulations--not for what it is in the power of words to
express--but for what I know you will feel, upon being told
that your beloved Peter will soon be restored to your bosom,
with every virtue that can adorn a man, and ensure to him an
affectionate, a tender, and truly welcome reception.'
At the foot of this letter Nessy writes thus:--
'Now, my dearest mamma, did you ever in all your life read so
charming a letter? Be assured it is exactly characteristic of
the benevolent writer. What would I give to be transported
(though only for a moment) to your elbow, that I might see you
read it? What will you feel, when you know assuredly that you
may with certainty believe its contents? Well may Mr. Graham
call us happy! for never felicity could equal ours! Don't
expect connected sentences from me at present, for this joy
makes me almost delirious. Adieu! love to all--I need not say
be happy and blessed as I am at this dear hour, my beloved
mother.--Your most affectionate,
N. H.'
On the 24th October, the king's warrant was despatched from the
Admiralty, granting a full and free pardon to Heywood and Morrison, a
respite for Muspratt, which was followed by a pardon; and for carrying
the sentence of Ellison, Burkitt, and Millward into execution, which was
done on the 29th, on board his Majesty's ship _Brunswick_, in Portsmouth
harbour. On this melancholy occasion, Captain Hamond reports that 'the
criminals behaved with great penitence and decorum, acknowledged the
justice of their sentence for the crime of which they had been found
guilty, and exhorted their fellow-sailors to take warning by their
untimely fate, and whatever might be their hardships, never to forget
their obedience to their officers, as a duty they owed to their king and
country.' The captain adds, 'A party from each ship in the harbour, and
at Spithead, attended the execution, and from the reports I have
received, the example seems to have made a great impression upon the
minds of all the ships' companies present.'
The same warrant that carried with it affliction to the friends of these
unfortunate men, was the harbinger of joy to the family and friends of
young Heywood. The happy intelligence was communicated to his
affectionate Nessy on the 26th, who instantly despatched the joyful
tidings to her anxious mother in the following characteristic note:--
_Friday, 26th October, four o'clock._
'Oh, blessed hour!--little did I think, my beloved friends,
when I closed my letter this morning, that before night I
should be out of my senses with joy!--this moment, this
ecstatic moment, brought the enclosed.[32] I cannot speak my
happiness; let it be sufficient to say, that in a very few
hours our angel Peter will be FREE! Mr. Graham goes this night
to Portsmouth, and to-morrow, or next day at farthest, I shall
be--oh, heavens! what shall I be? I am already transported,
even to pain; then how shall I bear to clasp him to the bosom
of your happy, ah! how very happy, and affectionate
NESSY HEYWOOD.'
'I am too _mad_ to write sense, but 'tis a pleasure I would
not forgo to be the most reasonable being on earth. I asked
Mr. Graham, who is at my elbow, if he would say anything to
you, "Lord!" said he, "I can't say anything"; he is almost as
mad as myself.'[33]
Mr. Graham writes, 'I have however my senses sufficiently about me not
to suffer this to go without begging leave to congratulate you upon, and
to assure you that I most sincerely sympathize and participate in the
happiness which I am sure the enclosed will convey to the mother and
sisters of my charming and beloved Nessy.'
This 'charming' girl next writes to Mr. Const, who attended as counsel
for her brother, to acquaint him with the joyful intelligence, and thus
concludes. 'I flatter myself you will partake in the joy which,
notwithstanding it is so excessive at this moment, as almost to deprive
me of my faculties, leaves me however sufficiently collected to assure
you of the eternal gratitude and esteem with which I am,' etc.
To which Mr. Const, after congratulations and thanks for her polite
attention, observes, 'Give me leave, my dear Miss Heywood, to assure you
that the intelligence has given me a degree of pleasure which I have not
terms to express, and it is even increased by knowing what you must
experience on the event. Nor is it an immaterial reflection, that
although your brother was unfortunately involved in the general calamity
which gave birth to the charge, he is uncontaminated by the crime, for
there was not a credible testimony of the slightest fact against him
that can make the strictest friend deplore anything that has passed,
except his sufferings; and his uniform conduct under them only proved
how little he deserved them.'
Mr. Graham's impatience and generous anxiety to give the finishing
stroke to this joyful event would not permit him to delay one moment in
setting out for Portsmouth, and bringing up to his house in town the
innocent sufferer, where they arrived on the morning of the 29th
October. Miss Heywood can best speak of her own feelings.
'_Great Russell Street, Monday Morning, 29th October,
half-past ten o'clock--the brightest moment of my existence_!
'MY DEAREST MAMMA,--I have seen him, clasped him to my bosom,
and my felicity is beyond expression! In person he is almost
even now as I could wish; in mind you know him an angel. I
can write no more, but to tell you, that the three happiest
beings at this moment on earth, are your most dutiful and
affectionate children,
'NESSY HEYWOOD. 'PETER HEYWOOD. 'JAMES HEYWOOD.
'Love to and from all ten thousand times.'
The worthy Mr. Graham adds,
'If, my dearest Madam, it were ever given for mortals to be
supremely blest on earth, mine to be sure must be the happy
family. Heavens! with what unbounded extravagance have we been
forming our wishes! and yet how far beyond our most unbounded
wishes we are blest! Nessy, Maria,[34] Peter, and James, I
see, have all been endeavouring to express their feelings. I
will not fail in any such attempt, for I will not attempt
anything beyond an assurance that the scene I have been
witness of, and in which I am happily so great a sharer,
beggars all description. Permit me however to offer my most
sincere congratulations upon the joyful occasion.'
This amiable young lady, some of whose letters have been introduced into
this narrative, did not long survive her brother's liberty. This
impassioned and most affectionate of sisters, with an excess of
sensibility, which acted too powerfully on her bodily frame, sunk, as is
often the case with such susceptible minds, on the first attack of
consumption. She died within the year of her brother's liberation. On
this occasion the following note from her afflicted mother appears
among the papers from which the letters and poetry are taken.
'My dearest Nessy was seized, while on a visit at Major
Yorke's, at Bishop's Grove near Tonbridge Wells, with a
violent cold, and not taking proper care of herself, it soon
turned to inflammation on her lungs, which carried her off at
Hastings, to which place she was taken on the 5th September,
to try if the change of air, and being near the sea, would
recover her; but alas! it was too late for her to receive the
wished for benefit, and she died there on the 25th of the same
month 1793, and has left her only surviving parent a
disconsolate mother, to lament, while ever she lives, with the
most sincere and deep affliction, the irreparable loss of her
most valuable, affectionate, and darling daughter.'[35]
But to return to Mr. Heywood. When the king's full and free pardon had
been read to this young officer by Captain Montagu, with a suitable
admonition and congratulation, he addressed that officer in the
following terms,--so suitably characteristic of his noble and manly
conduct throughout the whole of the distressing business in which he was
innocently involved:--
SIR,--When the sentence of the law was passed upon me, I
received it, I trust, as became a man; and if it had been
carried into execution, I should have met my fate, I hope, in a
manner becoming a Christian. Your admonition cannot fail to
make a lasting impression on my mind. I receive with gratitude
my sovereign's mercy, for which my future life shall be
faithfully devoted to his service.'[36]
And well did his future conduct fulfil that promise. Notwithstanding
the inauspicious manner in which the first five years of his servitude
in the navy had been passed, two of which were spent among mutineers and
savages, and eighteen months as a close prisoner in irons, in
which condition he was shipwrecked, and within an ace of
perishing,--notwithstanding this unpromising commencement, he re-entered
the naval service under the auspices of his uncle, Commodore Pasley, and
Lord Hood, who presided at his trial, and who earnestly recommended him
to embark again as a midshipman without delay, offering to take him into
the _Victory_, under his own immediate patronage. In the course of his
service, to qualify for the commission of lieutenant, he was under the
respective commands of three or four distinguished officers, who had sat
on his trial, from all of whom he received the most flattering proofs of
esteem and approbation. To the application of Sir Thomas Pasley to Lord
Spencer for his promotion, that nobleman, with that due regard he was
always known to pay to the honour and interests of the navy, while
individual claims were never overlooked, gave the following reply, which
must have been highly gratifying to the feelings of Mr. Heywood and his
family.
_Admiralty, Jan. 13th_, 1797.
'Sir,--I should have returned an earlier answer to your letter
of the 6th instant, if I had not been desirous, before I
answered it, to look over, with as much attention as was in my
power, the proceedings on the Court-Martial held in the year
1792, by which Court Mr. Peter Heywood was condemned for being
concerned in the mutiny on board the _Bounty_. I felt this to
be necessary, from having entertained a very strong opinion
that it might be detrimental to the interests of his Majesty's
service, if a person under such a predicament should be
afterwards advanced to the higher and more conspicuous
situations of the navy; but having, with great attention,
perused the minutes of that Court-Martial, as far as they
relate to Mr. Peter Heywood, I have now the satisfaction of
being able to inform you, that I think his case was such an
one, as, under all its circumstances (though I do not mean to
say that the Court were not justified in their sentence),
ought not to be considered as a bar to his further progress in
his profession; more especially when the gallantry and
propriety of his conduct, in his subsequent service, are taken
into consideration. I shall, therefore, have no difficulty in
mentioning him to the commander-in-chief on the station to
which he belongs, as a person from whose promotion, on a
proper opportunity, I shall derive much satisfaction, more
particularly from his being so nearly connected with you.--I
have the honour to be, etc.
(Signed) SPENCER.'
It is not here intended to follow Mr. Heywood through his honourable
career of service, during the long and arduous contest with France, and
in the several commands with which he was entrusted. In a note of his
own writing it is stated, that on paying off the _Montague_, in July,
1816, he came on shore, after having been actively employed _at sea_
twenty-seven years, six months, one week, and five days, out of a
servitude in the navy of twenty-nine years, seven months, and one day.
Having reached nearly the top of the list of captains, he died in this
present year, leaving behind him a high and unblemished character in
that service, of which he was a most honourable, intelligent, and
distinguished member.
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