fence would bring disgrace upon all. The admiral refusing to pardon,
the occasion was seized to bring mutiny to a head. A plot to take
possession of the ship was formed, but was betrayed to the captain. The
outburst began with a tumultuous assembling of the crew, evidently,
however, mistrustful of their cause. After vainly trying to restore
order, the captain and first lieutenant rushed among them, each
collaring a ringleader. The rest fell back, weakened, as men of
Anglo-Saxon traditions are apt to be, by the sense of law-breaking. The
culprits were secured, and at once taken to the flag-ship. A
courtmartial was ordered for the next day, Saturday; and as the
prisoners were being taken to the court, St. Vincent, with a hard
bluntness of speech which characterized him,--a survival of the frank
brutality of the past century,--said, "My friends, I hope you are
innocent, but if you are guilty make your peace with God; for, if you
are condemned, and there is daylight to hang you, you will die this
day."

They were condemned; but the trial ended late, and the president of the
court told them they should have Sunday to prepare. "Sir," said the
earl, "when you passed sentence, your duty was done; you had no right to
say that execution should be delayed;" and he fixed it for eight the
next morning. One of the junior admirals saw fit to address him a
remonstrance upon what he termed a desecration of the Sabbath. Nelson,
on the contrary, approved. "Had it been Christmas instead of Sunday,"
wrote he, "I would have hanged them. Who can tell what mischief would
have been brewed over a Sunday's grog?" Contrary to previous custom,
their own shipmates, the partners and followers in their crime, were
compelled to hang them, manning the rope by which the condemned were
swayed to the yardarm. The admiral, careful to produce impression,
ordered that all the ships should hold divine service immediately upon
the execution. Accordingly, when the bell struck eight, the fatal gun
was fired, the bodies swung with a jerk aloft, the church flags were
hoisted throughout the fleet, and all went to prayers. Ere yet the
ceremony was over, the Spanish gunboats came out from Cadiz and opened
fire; but St. Vincent would not mar the solemnity of the occasion by
shortening the service. Gravely it was carried to its end; but when the
flags came down, all boats were ordered manned. The seamen, with nerves
tense from the morning's excitement, gladly hurried in