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was so harsh and offensive as to be exceptional, even at a period when 

 it was deemed that disciphne could not be enforced without the use of 

 profane and opprobrious epithets." I may add that a gentleman who 

 married one of the Heywood family writes to me as follows : "My wife's 

 aunt, Mrs. Aislabie, was often heard to say that previous to the mutiny 

 Fletcher Christian was considered a man of high character ; and her 

 uncle Captain Peter Heywood, has repeatedly declared that Christian 

 was nearly driven mad by the unfeeling conduct of Captain Bligh." As 

 to the question of the manner in which the mutiny was carried into effect, 

 Morrison's account of it, which substantially agrees with that given by 

 Captain Bligh himself, puts Christian in the light of performing a painful 

 duty with gentleness and consideration, rather than of gratifying his 

 revenge upon a man who had cruelly wronged him. Not a drop of 

 blood was shed, no personal indignity was offered to Bligh or any of his 

 companions, and in supplying the boat with a fair stock of provisions 

 and handing to Captain Bligh his own sextant and chart. Christian plainly 

 showed that he had no design upon the lives of the castaways. And it 

 must be remembered also that the mutiny occured at no great distance 

 from groups of islands, some of which were known to yield abundance 

 of food, and to be inhabited by tribes not unfriendly to the countrymen 

 of Captain Cook. That Christian rushed upon his fate blindly and 

 rashly, and with a culpable disregard of the issues of the proceeding to 

 everybody concerned, the best friends to his memory cannot deny ; but 

 notwithstanding all this I hope you will now agree with me that up to 

 this period Fletcher Christian was more sinned against than sinning; 

 and when we come to the few incidents which survive of the rest of his 

 career, I think you will still find more traces of good than of evil. 



Meanwhile I will for a few minutes follow the fortunes of Captain 

 Bligh and his eighteen companions whom we have seen cast adrift in the 

 mid-Pacific, crowded into the launch of the " Bounty," which was an 

 open boat no more than twenty-three feet long, six feet nine inches 

 broad, and two feet nine inches deep. If the mutiny was, as I have 

 endeavoured to show, fairly chargeable upon Captain Bligh's own mis- 

 conduct, one must acknowledge that adversity had upon him the effect 



