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wrong and outrage. Morrison, after concluding a detailed history of the 

 mutiny, goes on to say : " Mr. Christian, now finding himself master of 

 the ship, ordered the plants to be thrown overboard, and the cabins 

 cleared, which was finished by the ist of May," and after a council of 

 war it was agreed to sail back to Otaheite. The remembrance of how 

 the winter had been spent there caused this decision to be hailed by 

 a general shout of "Hurrah for Otaheite!" But Lady Belcher states, 

 on the authority, as she has informed me, of her step-father, Peter Hey- 

 wood, that Christian was himself a changed man. "A reaction had 

 taken place ; passion and resentment had cooled. He stood with his 

 arms folded in moody thought and with his eyes riveted in the direction 

 of the boat. Nor was it a matter of surprise that such should have been 

 the case. What would be the result of the mutiny to himself? Degrada- 

 tion ; and should he ever fall into the hands of his countrymen, the death 

 of a felon." 



Before pursuing the " strange eventful history" of the mutineers, 

 and of Captain Bligh and the other castaways, I will ask you to consider 

 the verdict which impartial posterity should pronounce upon Fletcher 

 Christian's part in the mutiny. I suppose nearly everyone now-a-days 

 will admit that individuals as well as nations have an ultimate right to 

 rebel against injustice and tyranny. In this case, therefore, the 

 great question to direct our judgment is, whether or not the treat- 

 ment of Christian by Captain Bligh was such as to give a moral warrant 

 to the act of mutiny ; and if this can be settled in the affirmative, there 

 remains the lesser question, whether or not the mutiny of the "Bounty" 

 was undertaken in as humane a manner as could reasonably be expected 

 under the circumstances. I do not hesitate to say that a careful investi- 

 gation of all the data which exist relative to Christian's character, and to 

 the incidents connected with the mutiny, has led me to a conclusion in 

 his favour upon both of these questions. I believe it can be clearly 

 established — first, that Captain Bligh's treatment of Christian was so 

 offensive and brutal, that no man, and least of all one who had been 

 born and bred a gentleman, and who probably inherited through his 

 mother the independent spirit of the old race of Cumberland "statesmen," 



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