APPENDIX TO CHRONICLE. 



281 



back to their ships with levity. On 

 the 13th of May the vessel sailed 

 to Palermo, and from thence to 

 Messina : here constraint was exer- 

 cised towards them : Italian senti- 

 nels, armed, were placed over them 

 to prevent their getting on shore. 

 At Messina his lordship obtained a 

 protection for them for six months, 

 inserting false names in the list, 

 and pledging, as he told his crew, 

 his word and honour that there 

 were no men-of-war's men on 

 board. The vessel then proceeded 

 on its course, and the 30th of 

 May was boarded by a boat from 

 his Majesty's ship the Active. 

 The officer of that ship had 

 heard rumours of deserters being 

 on board the Pylades, and sent 

 a lieutenant and a Midshipman 

 to search the defendant's vessel. 

 They were introduced to the de- 

 fendant, and told their business: 

 he denied that he had any such 

 men on board, and during the 

 search went through the ship v/ith 

 them with a lighted candle. They 

 asked if they had seen all the 

 crew ? The marquis, on his word, 

 assured them that they had, though 

 the seamen whom he had enticed 

 were concealed in a place under 

 the defendant's cabin. This part 

 of the evidence was the less liable 

 to objection, as the defendant had 

 himself acknowledged it in a letter. 

 The defendant then went by Milo, 

 to Patmos, where ten of the crew 

 were allowed to go on shore for 

 two or three days, and it was told 

 them titat the vessel would not sail 

 for thirteen days : the same even- 

 ing, however, it sailed without 

 them, leaving them in the greatest 

 distress. They went to Scio, to the 

 British consul, who took them in a 

 boat to the vessel of the Marquis ; 



but he would take only four of 

 them, and left the rest in a most 

 inhuman manner to find their 

 way back to England as they 

 could. Some of them had surren- 

 dered themselves to king's ships, 

 and had been tried by courts-mar- 

 tial ; but the two most material wit- 

 nesses, Lee and Lloyd, of the War- 

 rior, could not be produced in court, 

 as Leehad died at Athens,and Lloyd 

 had not yet returned to thiscountry. 



Other persons might have been 

 made defendants in this indict- 

 ment, but his lordship was selected 

 as being the principal, and in order 

 that the rest might bear evidence 

 in the history of the transactions. 



Captain Sprainger, of the War- 

 rior, was then called upon, who 

 stated, that in April, 1810, the 

 marquis was introduced to him by 

 letter from Admiral Martin. He 

 then gave a detail of all the cir- 

 cumstances mentioned by Dr. Ro- 

 binson relative to the services ren- 

 dered by him to Lord Sligo, and 

 the disappearance of two men of 

 his crew, together with his lord- 

 ship's assurance on his word of ho- 

 nour that he had them not, and 

 would not entertain them should 

 they offer themselves. The cap- 

 tain produced a letter which he 

 had afterwards received from Lord 

 Sligo, stating, " that in the course 

 of his voyage he found he had on 

 board some men-of-war's men, and 

 that he was determined to send them 

 onshore thefirstopportunity; what- 

 ever expenses he might incur on 

 their account, he should put down 

 to the score of humanity, and glory 

 in it; that he thought this explana- 

 tion necessary to Captain Sprain- 

 ger, who had treated him like a 

 gentleman; but the other captain 

 who complained, he should not 



notict; : 



