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.[31] It was Bl