THE KING’S WARRANT
Well, believe this
No ceremony that to
great ones ’longs,
Not the king’s
crown, nor the deputed sword,
The marshal’s
truncheon, nor the judge’s robe,
Become them with one
half so good a grace,
As mercy does.
It was a very common feeling that
Heywood and Morrison, the former in particular, had
been hardly dealt with by the Court in passing upon
them a sentence of death, tempered as it was with
the recommendation to the king’s mercy.
It should, however, have been recollected, that the
Court had no discretional power to pass any other
sentence but that, or a full acquittal. But earnestly,
no doubt, as the Court was disposed towards the latter
alternative, it could not, consistently with the rules
and feelings of the service, be adopted. It is
not enough in cases of mutiny (and this case was aggravated
by the piratical seizure of a king’s ship) that
the officers and men in his Majesty’s naval service
should take no active part; to be neutral
or passive is considered as tantamount to aiding and
abetting. Besides, in the present case, the remaining
in the ship along with the mutineers, without having
recourse to such means as offered of leaving her,
presumes a voluntary adhesion to the criminal party.
The only fault of Heywood, and a pardonable one on
account of his youth and inexperience, was his not
asking Christian to be allowed to go with his captain, his
not trying to go in time. M’Intosh,
Norman, Byrne, and Coleman were acquitted because
they expressed a strong desire to go, but were forced
to remain. This was not only clearly proved, but
they were in possession of written testimonies from
Bligh to that effect; and so would Heywood have had,
but for some prejudice Bligh had taken against him,
in the course of the boat-voyage home, for it will
be shown that he knew he was confined to his berth
below.
In favour of three of the four men
condemned without a recommendation, there were unhappily
no palliating circumstances. Millward, Burkitt,
and Ellison were under arms from first to last; and
Ellison not only left the helm to take up arms, but,
rushing aft towards Bligh, called out, ‘D n
him, I’ll be sentry over him.’ The
fourth man, Muspratt, was condemned on the evidence
of Lieutenant Hayward, which, however, appears to
have been duly appreciated by the Lords Commissioners
of the Admiralty, and in consequence of which the
poor man escaped an ignominious death.
The family of young Heywood in the
Isle of Man had been buoyed up, from various quarters,
with the almost certainty of his full acquittal.
From the 12th September, when the court-martial first
sat, till the 24th of that month, they were prevented,
by the strong and contrary winds which cut off all
communication with England, from receiving any tidings
whatever. But while Mrs. Heywood and her daughters
were fondly flattering themselves with everything
being most happily concluded, one evening, as they
were indulging these pleasing hopes, a little boy,
the son of one of their particular friends, ran into
the room and told them, in the most abrupt manner,
that the trial was over and all the prisoners condemned,
but that Peter Heywood was recommended to mercy; he
added that a man whose name he mentioned had told
him this. The man was sent for, questioned, and
replied he had seen it in a newspaper at Liverpool,
from which place he was just arrived in a small fishing-boat,
but had forgotten to bring the paper with him.
In this state of doubtful uncertainty this wretched
family remained another whole week, harassed by the
most cruel agony of mind, which no language can express.
The affectionate Nessy determined
at once to proceed to Liverpool, and so on to London.
She urges her brother James at Liverpool to hasten
to Portsmouth: ’Don’t wait for me,
I can go alone; fear and even despair will support
me through the journey; think only of our poor unfortunate
and adored boy, bestow not one thought on me.’
And she adds, ’yet, if I could listen to reason
(which is indeed difficult), it is not likely that
anything serious has taken place, or will do so, as
we should then certainly have had an express.’
She had a tempestuous passage of forty-nine hours,
and to save two hours got into an open fishing-boat
at the mouth of the Mersey, the sea running high and
washing over her every moment; but, she observes,
’let me but be blessed with the cheering influence
of hope, and I have spirit to undertake anything.’
From Liverpool she set off the same night in the mail
for London; and arrived at Mr. Graham’s on the
5th October, who received her with the greatest kindness,
and desired her to make his house her home.
The suspense into which the afflicted
family in the Isle of Man had been thrown, by the
delay of the packet, was painfully relieved on its
arrival in the night of the 29th September, by the
following letter from Mr. Graham to the Rev. Dr. Scott,
which the latter carried to Mrs. Heywood’s family
the following morning.
’Portsmouth,
Tuesday, 18th September.
’SIR, Although a stranger,
I make no apology in writing to you. I have
attended and given my assistance at Mr. Heywood’s
trial, which was finished and the sentence passed
about half an hour ago. Before I tell you
what that sentence is, I must inform you that
his life is safe, notwithstanding it is at present
at the mercy of the king, to which he is in the strongest
terms recommended by the Court. That any unnecessary
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 knowledge, and perhaps
unaccompanied by many others of a pleasing kind.
To prevent its being improperly communicated
to Mrs. or the Misses Heywood, whose distresses
first engaged me in the business, and could not
fail to call forth my best exertions upon the occasion,
I send you this by express. The mode of communication
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, everybody 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: for he will require a great
deal of tender management after all his sufferings;
and it would perhaps be a necessary preparation
for seeing his mother, that one or both his sisters
should be previously prepared to support her on so
trying an occasion.’
On the following day Mr. Graham again
writes to Dr. Scott, and among other things observes,
’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 one of the other gentlemen who
remained in the ship, and not to Mr. Heywood.’
On the 20th September Mr. Heywood
addresses the first letter he wrote, after his conviction,
to Dr. Scott.
’HONOURED AND DEAR SIR, On
Wednesday the 12th instant the awful trial commenced,
and on that day, when in Court, I had
the pleasure of receiving your most kind and parental
letter, in answer to which I now communicate
to you the melancholy issue of it, which, as
I desired my friend Mr. Graham to inform you
of immediately, will be no dreadful news to you.
The morning lowers, and all my hope of worldly joy
is fled. On Tuesday morning the 18th the
dreadful sentence of death was pronounced upon
me, to which (being the just decree of that Divine
Providence who first gave me breath) I bow my devoted
head, with that fortitude, cheerfulness, and resignation,
which is the duty of every member of the church of
our blessed Saviour and Redeemer Christ Jesus.
To Him alone I now look up for succour, in full
hope that perhaps a few days more will open to
the view of my astonished and fearful soul His
kingdom of eternal and incomprehensible bliss, prepared
only for the righteous of heart.
’I have not been found guilty
of the slightest act connected with that detestable
crime of mutiny, but am doomed to die for not
being active in my endeavours to suppress it.
Could the witnesses who appeared on the Court-martial
be themselves tried, they would also suffer
for the very same and only crime of which I have
been found guilty. But I am to be the victim.
Alas! my youthful inexperience, and not depravity of
will, is the sole cause to which I can attribute
my misfortunes. But so far from repining
at my fate, I receive it with a dreadful kind
of joy, composure, and serenity of mind; well
assured that it has pleased God to point me out as
a subject through which some greatly useful (though
at present unsearchable) intention of the divine
attributes may be carried into execution for
the future benefit of my country. Then why
should I repine at being made a sacrifice for the
good, perhaps, of thousands of my fellow-creatures;
forbid it, Heaven! Why should I be sorry
to leave a world in which I have met with nothing
but misfortunes and all their concomitant evils?
I shall on the contrary endeavour to divest myself
of all wishes for the futile and sublunary enjoyments
of it, and prepare my soul for its reception
into the bosom of its Redeemer. For though
the very strong recommendation I have had to
his Majesty’s mercy by all the members of the
Court may meet with his approbation, yet that
is but the balance of a straw, a mere uncertainty,
upon which no hope can be built; the other is
a certainty that must one day happen to every mortal,
and therefore the salvation of my soul requires my
most prompt and powerful exertions during the
short time I may have to remain on earth.
’As this is too tender a subject
for me to inform my unhappy and distressed mother
and sisters of, I trust, dear Sir, you will either
show them this letter, or make known to them the truly
dreadful intelligence in such a manner as (assisted
by your wholesome and paternal advice) may enable
them to bear it with Christian fortitude.
The only worldly feelings I am now possessed
of are for their happiness and welfare; but even these,
in my present situation, I must endeavour, with God’s
assistance, to eradicate from my heart, how hard
soever the task. I must strive against cherishing
any temporal affections. But, my dear Sir,
endeavour to mitigate my distressed mother’s
sorrow. Give my everlasting duty to her, and
unabated love to my disconsolate brothers and sisters,
and all my other relations. Encourage them,
by my example, to bear up with fortitude and
resignation to the Divine will, under their load
of misfortunes, almost too great for female nature
to support, and teach them to be fully persuaded
that all hopes of happiness on earth are vain.
On my own account I still enjoy the most easy
serenity of mind; and am, dear Sir, for ever
your greatly indebted and most dutiful, but ill-fated,
‘PETER HEYWOOD.’
His next letter is to his dearly beloved Nessy.
’Had I not a strong idea that,
ere this mournful epistle from your ill-fated
brother can reach the trembling hand of my ever dear
and much afflicted Nessy, she must have been informed
of the final issue of my trial on Wednesday morning,
by my honoured friend Dr. Scott, I would not
now add trouble to the afflicted by a confirmation
of it. Though I have indeed fallen an early
victim to the rigid rules of the service, and though
the jaws of death are once more opened upon me,
yet do I not now nor ever will bow to the tyranny
of base-born fear. Conscious of having done
my duty to God and man, I feel not one moment’s
anxiety on my own account, but cherish a full and
sanguine hope that perhaps a few days more will
free me from the load of misfortune which has
ever been my portion in this transient period
of existence; and that I shall find an everlasting
asylum in those blessed regions of eternal bliss,
where the galling yoke of tyranny and oppression
is felt no more.
’If earthly Majesty, to whose
mercy I have been recommended by the Court, should
refuse to put forth its lenient hand and rescue
me from what is fancifully called an ignominious
death, there is a heavenly King and Redeemer ready
to receive the righteous penitent, on whose gracious
mercy alone I, as we all should, depend, with
that pious resignation which is the duty of every
Christian; well convinced that, without His express
permission, not even a hair of our head can fall to
the ground.
’Oh! my sister, my heart yearns
when I picture to myself the affliction, indescribable
affliction, which this melancholy intelligence
must have caused in the mind of my much honoured mother.
But let it be your peculiar endeavour to watch over
her grief and mitigate her pain. I hope,
indeed, this little advice from me will be unnecessary;
for I know the holy precepts of that inspired
religion, which, thank heaven! have been implanted
in the bosoms of us all, will point out to you, and
all my dear relatives, that fortitude and resignation
which are required of us in the conflicts of human
nature, and prevent you from arraigning the wisdom
of that omniscient Providence, of which we ought
all to have the fullest sense.
’I have had all my dear Nessy’s
letters; the one of the 17th this morning, but
alas! what do they now avail? Their contents
only serve to prove the instability of all human
hopes and expectations; but, my dear sister,
I begin to feel the pangs which you must suffer
from the perusal of this melancholy paper, and
will therefore desist, for I know it is more than
your nature can support. The contrast between
last week’s correspondence and this is
great indeed; but why? we had only hope then;
and have we not the same now? certainly. Endeavour
then, my love, to cherish that hope, and with
faith rely upon the mercy of that God who does
as to Him seems best and most conducive to the
general good of His miserable creatures.
’Bear it then with Christian
patience, and instil into the mind of my dear
and now sorrowful sisters, by your advice, the same
disposition; and, for heaven’s sake, let not
despair touch the soul of my dear mother for
then all would be over. Let James also employ
all his efforts to cheer her spirits under her
weight of woe. I will write no more. Adieu,
my dearest love! Write but little to me,
and pray for your ever affectionate but ill-fated
brother.
’P.S -- I
am in perfect spirits, therefore let not your
sympathizing feelings
for my sufferings hurt your own precious
health, which is dearer
to me than life itself. Adieu!
In a letter to his mother he assures
her of the perfect tranquillity of his mind; advises
her not to entertain too sanguine hopes, but at the
same time not to be uneasy; and he adds, ’A minister
of the gospel, who now attends me, has advised me
not to say too much to any of my dear relations, but
now and then I cannot avoid it.’ To his
dearest Nessy, who encourages him to take hope, he
says, ’Alas! it is but a broken stick which
I have leaned on, and it has pierced my soul
in such a manner that I will never more trust to it,
but wait with a contented mind and patience for the
final accomplishment of the Divine will.... Mrs.
Hope is a faithless and ungrateful acquaintance,
with whom I have now broken off all connexions, and
in her stead have endeavoured to cultivate a more
sure friendship with Resignation, in full trust
of finding her more constant.’ He desires
her to write through her brother James who is with
him; and says that the reason for his having desired
her not to write much was, lest she might hurt herself
by it; and he adds, ’from an idea that your
exalted sentiments upon so tender a subject ought
not to be known by an inquiring world; but,’
he continues, ’do just as you like best:
I am conscious that your good sense will prompt you
to nothing inconsistent with our present circumstances.’
To this she replies, in the true spirit of a character
like her own. ’Yes! my ever dearest brother,
I will write to you, and I know I need not
add, that in that employment (while thus deprived
of your loved society) consists my only happiness.
But why not express my sentiments to yourself?
I have nothing to say which I should blush to have
known to all the world; nothing to express
in my letters to you but love and affection, and shall
I blush for this? Or can I have a wish to conceal
sentiments of such a nature for an object who I am
so certain merits all my regard, and in whom the admiration
of surrounding friends convinces me I am not mistaken.
No, surely; ’tis my pride, my chiefest glory,
to love you; and when you think me worthy of commendation,
that praise, and that only, can make
me vain. I shall not therefore write to you,
my dearest brother, in a private manner, for it is
unnecessary, and I abhor all deceit; in which I know
you agree with me.’
To her sister Mary in the Isle of
Man she says, ’With respect to that little wretch
Hallet, his intrepidity in court was astonishing; and
after every evidence had spoken highly in Peter’s
favour, and given testimony of his innocence, so strong
that not a doubt was entertained of his acquittal,
he declared, unasked, that while Bligh was upon
deck, he (Hallet) saw him look at and speak to Peter.
What he said to him Hallet could not hear, (being
at the distance of twenty feet from Bligh, and Peter
was twenty feet farther off, consequently a distance
of forty feet separated Mr. Bligh and my brother);
but he added that Peter, on hearing what Mr.
Bligh said to him, laughed and turned contemptuously
away. No other witness saw Peter laugh but Hallet;
on the contrary, all agreed he wore a countenance
on that day remarkably sorrowful; yet the effect of
this cruel evidence was wonderful upon the minds of
the Court, and they concluded by pronouncing the dreadful
sentence, though at the same time accompanied by the
strongest recommendation to mercy. Assure yourselves
(I have it from Mr. Graham’s own mouth), that
Peter’s honour is and will be as secure as his
own; that every professional man, as well as every
man of sense, of whatever denomination, does and will
esteem him highly; that my dear uncle Pasley (who
was in town the night before my arrival) is delighted
with his worth; and that, in short, we shall at length
be happy.’
From this time a daily correspondence
passed between Peter Heywood and his sister Nessy,
the latter indulging hope, even to a certainty, that
she will not be deceived, the other preaching
up patience and resignation, with a full reliance
on his innocence and integrity. ’Cheer
up then,’ says he, ’my dear Nessy; cherish
your hope, and I will exercise my patience.’
Indeed so perfectly calm was this young man under
his dreadful calamity, that in a very few days after
condemnation his brother says, ’While I write
this, Peter is sitting by me making an Otaheitan vocabulary,
and so happy and intent upon it, that I have scarcely
an opportunity of saying a word to him; he is in excellent
spirits, and I am convinced they are better and better
every day.’
This vocabulary is a very extraordinary
performance; it consists of one hundred full-written
folio pages, the words alphabetically arranged, and
all the syllables accented. It appears, from a
passage in the Voyage of the Duff, that a copy
of this vocabulary was of great use to the missionaries
who were first sent to Otaheite in this ship.
During the delay which took place in carrying the sentence into execution,
Commodore Pasley, Mr. Graham, and others, were indefatigable in their inquiries
and exertions to ascertain what progress had been made in bringing to a happy
issue the recommendation to the fountain of mercy: not less so was Nessy
Heywood: from Mr. Graham she learnt what this excellent man considered to
be the principal parts of the evidence that led to the conviction of her unhappy
brother, which, having understood to be the following, she transmitted to her
brother:
First. That he assisted in hoisting out
the launch.
Second. That he was seen
by the carpenter resting his hand upon a cutlass.
Third. That on being called
to by Lieutenant Bligh, he laughed.
Fourth. That he remained
in the Bounty instead of accompanying Bligh
in the launch.
On these points of the evidence, Mr.
Heywood made the following comments, which he sent
from Portsmouth to his sister in town.
’Peter Heywood’s
Remarks upon material points of the evidence
which was given at his
trial, on board the Duke, in
Portsmouth Harbour.
’First. That I assisted in hoisting out the launch -- This boat
was asked for by the captain and his officers, and
whoever assisted in hoisting her out were their
friends; for if the captain had been sent away
in the cutter (which was Christian’s first
intention), he could not have taken with him more
than nine or ten men, whereas the launch carried nineteen.
The boatswain, the master, the gunner, and the carpenter
say, in their evidence, that they considered me as
helping the captain on this occasion.
’Second. That I was seen
by the carpenter resting my hand on a cutlass -- I
was seen in this position by no other person than
the carpenter no other person therefore
could be intimidated by my appearance. Was
the carpenter intimidated by it? No.
So far from being afraid of me, he did not even look
upon me in the light of a person armed, but pointed
out to me the danger there was of my being thought
so, and I immediately took away my hand from
the cutlass, upon which I had very innocently
put it when I was in a state of stupor. The Court
was particularly pointed in its inquiries into
this circumstance; and the carpenter was pressed
to declare, on the oath he had taken, and after
maturely considering the matter, whether he did,
at the time he saw me so situated, or had since
been inclined to believe, that, under all the circumstances
of the case, I could be considered as an armed
man, to which he unequivocally answered, No;
and he gave some good reasons (which will be
found in his evidence) for thinking that I had
not a wish to be armed during the mutiny. The
master, the boatswain, the gunner, Mr. Hayward, Mr.
Hallet, and John Smith (who, with the carpenter,
were all the witnesses belonging to the Bounty),
say, in their evidence, that they did not, any
of them, see me armed; and the boatswain
and the carpenter further say, in the most pointed
terms, that they considered me to be one of the
captain’s party, and by no means
as belonging to the mutineers: and the master,
the boatswain, the carpenter, the gunner, all declare
that, from what they observed on my conduct during
the mutiny, and from a recollection of my behaviour
previous thereto, they were convinced I would
have afforded them all the assistance in my power,
if an opportunity had offered to retake the ship.
’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. 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, 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. 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.
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.’
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, 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.’
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.’
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, Jath,
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.