e Court-Martial held in the year
1792, by which Court Mr. Peter Heywood was condemned for being
concerned in the mutiny on board the _Bounty_. I felt this to
be necessary, from having entertained a very strong opinion
that it might be detrimental to the interests of his Majesty's
service, if a person under such a predicament should be
afterwards advanced to the higher and more conspicuous
situations of the navy; but having, with great attention,
perused the minutes of that Court-Martial, as far as they
relate to Mr. Peter Heywood, I have now the satisfaction of
being able to inform you, that I think his case was such an
one, as, under all its circumstances (though I do not mean to
say that the Court were not justified in their sentence),
ought not to be considered as a bar to his further progress in
his profession; more especially when the gallantry and
propriety of his conduct, in his subsequent service, are taken
into consideration. I shall, therefore, have no difficulty in
mentioning him to the commander-in-chief on the station to
which he belongs, as a person from whose promotion, on a
proper opportunity, I shall derive much satisfaction, more
particularly from his being so nearly connected with you.--I
have the honour to be, etc.

(Signed) SPENCER.'

It is not here intended to follow Mr. Heywood through his honourable
career of service, during the long and arduous contest with France, and
in the several commands with which he was entrusted. In a note of his
own writing it is stated, that on paying off the _Montague_, in July,
1816, he came on shore, after having been actively employed _at sea_
twenty-seven years, six months, one week, and five days, out of a
servitude in the navy of twenty-nine years, seven months, and one day.
Having reached nearly the top of the list of captains, he died in this
present year, leaving behind him a high and unblemished character in
that service, of which he was a most honourable, intelligent, and
distinguished member.

CHAPTER VIII

THE LAST OF THE MUTINEERS

Who by repentance is not satisfied,
Is nor of heaven nor earth; for these are pleased;
By penitence th' Eternal's wrath's appeased.

Twenty years had passed away, and the _Bounty_, and Fletcher Christian,
and the piratical crew that he had carried off with him in that ship,
had long