it was inflicted by the instrument used, a malicious intent to destroy this man, or a wilful disregard of human life-in case you see all the circumstances in that light, you will give the benefit of such a view of them to the prisoner, and acquit him. I see no medium between that and a conviction of murder.

make out, in your minds, that malicious intent which I before explained, and which it is necessary you should fasten upon the prisoner, before you convict him,—or arose from a real intent to suppress that mutiny.

Taking all these circumstances into your consideration, you will do as wise men in your situation always do; if you see the case clear on the one side or the other you will pronounce your verdict accordingly; and if there should be rational, serious, sober, solid doubts in your minds of the guilt of the prisoner, you will give him the benefit of such doubts. The jury withdrew, and in about half an hour returned with a verdict of GUILTY.

You will take all these facts into your consideration; and, if I may be allowed to prescribe the mode to you, settle first in your own minds the fact whether there was a mutiny; if you are of opinion there was no mutiny, there was then no ground for any thing that followed; if you are of opinion there was a mutiny, you are then to consider the degree of it, and whether there was as much attention paid to the interest of the person accused as the circumstances of the case would admit, by properly apprising him, and giving him an opportunity for justifying himself if he could, as the prisoner's witnesses have stated. Next, you will consider the ex-ing of the 21st, accompanied by a notice to tent of the punishment; whether, supposing that there might be a mutiny or mutinous conduct, eight-hundred lashes, with an instrument such as has been described, and in that climate (punishment beyond all ordinary measure when inflicted in a novel manner)

The prisoner was ordered for execution on the 22nd, and his body to be dissected and anatomised. A respite was sent on the even

the following effect;-"You are to give the necessary directions that the sentence shall be executed on Monday, as no farther respite will be granted." He was, however, again respited till Thursday, the 28th, when he was executed pursuant to his sentence.

649. The Trial of WILLIAM CODLING, Mariner; JOHN REID, Mariner; WILLIAM MACFARLANE, Merchant; and GEORGE EASTERBY, Merchant; for wilfully and feloniously destroying and casting away the Brig Adventure, on the High Seas, within the Jurisdiction of the Admiralty of England; at a Session of Oyer and Terminer and Gaol Delivery for the Admiralty of England; holden at Justice Hall, in the Old Bailey, on Tuesday the 26th of October: 43 GEORGE III. A. D. 1802.*

Old Bailey, October 26th, 1802.

BEFORE

The right hon. sir William Scott, knt. LL.D. Judge of the High Court of Admiralty; The right hon. lord Ellenborough, lord chief justice of his majesty's Court of King'sbench;

[The Grand Jury were called over and sworn.]

Sir William Scott.-Gentlemen;-You are called upon to discharge the office of grand jurors for the jurisdiction of the Admiralty of England-an office of great extent in point of local authority, and of great importance in its operation. It extends over all criminal acts done by the king's subjects upon the sea in every part of the globe. You have to inquire of such acts committed, wherever the ocean rolls; and in the beneficial intercourse which now connects all the nations of the world, and of which your own country enjoys so fair a portion, it is not needful that I should enlarge upon the necessity of preventing, by a vigilant civil discipline, all disorders • Taken in short-hand by Joseph Gurney, which by obstructing its peace and freedom, and William Brodie Gurney.

The hon. sir Alexander Thomson, knt. one of the barons of his majesty's Court of Exchequer;

And others his majesty's commissioners of Oyer and Terminer and Gaol Delivery for the Admiralty of England.

VOL. XXVIII.

might endanger its existence.

N

The mode of inquiry is the same which you are in the habit of pursuing in the administration of our domestic justice;-for it is conformed by statute to the practice of the common law. You have to apply the same rules of evidence, and the same principles of justice; you will be guided by the same sentiments of humanity; you will do well to remember that something of allowance is due to men of uncultivated understanding, of rough and boisterous habits, arising naturally out of their course of life, and often acting under the pressure of necessities which call for strong and even violent exertions of power -such as other modes of life do not require, and therefore are not admitted to justify or

excuse.

I point this observation to your attention the rather, because I see that the calendar contains two or three charges of murder alleged to have been committed by captains upon some of their crews. It is most true, that inhumanity is not discipline; and that no murder is so foul as that which is committed under an abuse of authority; but you will recollect withal, that the safety of great property, and what is much more, of many lives often depends upon prompt and compulsive acts, and that strong acts of that nature are apt to produce strong resentments on the part of those who are the objects of them. On charges of this kind you will look into the facts with all the anxiety which the magnitude of such imputed crimes require; but in no species of accusations is it more material to inspect the characters and motives of those who bring them.

the possession of those to whom it belongs, and in the possession of those, for whose benefit it is indeed employed, but who may have a corrupt interest in its destruction. The law is its protection: you will therefore grudge no time or labour in prosecuting your inquiry into the truth of such a charge, if it occurs; but you will conduct your inquiry with minds perfectly free from prejudice against the individuals charged-nothing that you may have heard,-nothing that you may have read, must be suffered to mix itself with, and give a colour to, your judgment; you must begin and close your inquiry with ears and eyes shut to every thing but the evidence now to be adduced.

Gentlemen, I shall not detain you longer from the performance of your important duties, than by remarking that if any question of law respecting either jurisdiction or other matter should arise in the course of your inquiries, you will do well, by finding the hill to leave such question, to this court, which has more convenient and satisfactory means of deciding it.

The Grand Jury having brought in a Bill of Indictment against the Prisoners, they were arraigned, and severally pleaded not guilty.

THE Indictment set forth that William Codling late of London mariner and John Reid late of the same place mariner after the twenty-fourth day of June which was in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and twenty-five to wit on the eighth day of August in the forty-second year of the reign I have to congratulate you that the return of king George the third upon the high sea of peace has relieved you from the pressure within the jurisdiction of the Admiralty of of one odious class of cases-those of men England to wit about the distance of one deserting their king and country, and fighting league from the coast of Sussex were on board the battles of the public enemy on board his a certain vessel called the Adventure and that ships against the lives and property of their the said William Codling was then and there fellow subjects-an offence which the relax- master of and belonging to the said vessel and ation of principle produced by the late occur-the said John Reid was then and there an rences of the world has made unhappily but too prevalent in our own time and country.

-an

One peculiar case will call for the most diligent application of your powers of inquiry, -the offence of sinking a ship and cargo with intent to defraud the underwriters, offence most justly rendered capital by statute. To you, who are commercial men, it is unnecessary to say much on its malignity; it strikes at the root of the maritime commerce, and, consequently, of the power and the security of this country, so intimately connected with the prosperity of its maritime commerce. It is owing to the property of that class of men, the insurers, who by dividing the risk, increase the security of private individuals, and give the benefit of large capitals to the adventurer of slender means, that our commerce has triumphed in its activity over all competition. But it is property that peculiarly requires the protecting vigilance of the law, for it is property out of

officer belonging to such vessel and that the said vessel was then and there insured for divers sums of money amounting in the whole to a large sum to wit the sum of seven hundred pounds of lawful money of Great Britain by Robert Shedden Joseph Marryat Thomas Rider William Ness James Honyman and James Nash who had before that time to wit on the first day of July in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and two at London aforesaid severally and respectively underwritten a certain policy of insurance on the said vessel

That the said William Codling and the said John Reid so respectively being such master and officer belonging to the said vessel as aforesaid on the same eighth day of August in the forty-second year aforesaid with force and arms on the high sea aforesaid &c. wilfully and feloniously did make divers to wit three holes in and through a certain part of the said vessel called the larboard run and

to wit on the eighth day of August &c. on the high sea &c. an insurer on the said last-mentioned vessel against the form of the statute &c. and against the peace &c.

berate, charges the prisoners Codling and Reid, with destroying the vessel in question, which is called the Adventure, with a view to prejudice certain underwriters, who had unFifth Count-The same as the first with derwritten a policy upon that ship; and the the variation in the name of the vessel which indictment farther goes on, to charge, that the in this count is stated to be called " Adven-two other prisoners, Easterby and Macfarlane, ture" instead of "The Adventure" as in the being the owners of that ship, procured Codfirst count and with another variation statingling and Reid to commit the offence which I Reid to have been "a mariner" on board the vessel instead of "an officer" which by the first count he is stated to be

Sixth Count-The same as the second with similar variations

Seventh Count-The same as the third excepting the two variations above

Eighth Count-The same as the fourth with the like variations.

Counsel for the Prosecution.

Mr. Garrow [afterwards a Baron of the Exchequer.]

Mr. Gibbs [afterwards Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas.] Mr. Knowles.

Mr. Marryat.

Solicitors.-Messrs. Crowder & Lavie.

Counsel for the Prisoner, William Codling.

Mr. Fielding.

Mr. Gurney.

Solicitor.-Mr. Chetham.

Counsel for John Reid.

have already stated: this, gentlemen, it is hardly necessary to state to you is by the wisdom of the law made a capital offence in each of the persons now at your bar: the cause is of the last possible importance; it calls upon you, and upon the Court, for the most deliberate, anxious and painful attention; it does so for the reason which I have already stated to you, that it involves the question of the life and death of the four persons at the bar: it is too of the last importance, as the crime imputed to them affects the vital interests of the country which we inhabit.

A wise and prudent policy, in order to protect and preserve the commerce of the country, which it has extended to a magnitude which is truly astonishing and hardly credible, has induced those who engaged in it, to divide the risks which are inseparable from that commerce, and the navigation by which it must necessarily be carried on, amongst the many, upon whom, when they fall, the pressure is but lightly felt, instead of leaving all its disadvantages and perils to crush the private adventuring individual, who would be

Mr. Serjeant Bailey [afterwards a Judge of too often ruined if the whole loss were to be

the King's Bench.]

Mr. Gurney.

Solicitor.-Mr. Chetham.

Counsel for George Easterby.

The Hon. Thomas Erskine [afterwards Lord Chancellor Erskine.]

Mr. Wetherell.

Mr. Harrison.

Solicitor.-Mr. Lee-Temple.

Counsel for William Macfarlane.

borne by himself: we have therefore the good fortune to see that which exists, and can exist only in this country, that a body of respectable individuals, comparatively few in number, in the heart of this metropolis, take upon themselves these risks, not only as they affect the commerce of this country, but also insure the commerce and navigation of the world, affording to the ship-owner and merchant, at the price of a small deduction from their profits, a complete indemnity against all the calamities and losses to which they would other

Mr. Serjeant Best [afterwards a Judge of wise be exposed. If crimes like this now

the King's Bench.]

Mr. Knapp.

Solicitor.-Mr. Humphreys.

The Jury.

Thomas Loveland.

George Speer,

John Garton,
Samuel Conder,
Robert Scothrup,
Rd. Bartholomew,
James Jackson,
Chris. James Hayes.

imputed to the prisoners, can be perpetrated with impunity, it is not too much to say, that, this system so wise and beneficial, must from this day cease; and I am afraid the commerce of the country, and all its best and dearest interests, intimately connected with that commerce, could not long survive.

Gentlemen, I have taken the liberty of sayJoseph Aldridge, Joseph Newdick, ing thus much to you, not (God knows) with Edward Frisby, a view to excite any prejudices against the priJohn Kirke, soners at the bar, but with a very different intention; the case is of importance, and I [The Indictment was opened by Mr. Marryat.] therefore desire your attention, but I at the same time desire of you, that if you have Mr. Garrow.-May it please your Lordship, heard any thing of this cause, before you came Gentlemen of the Jury; The indictment here-if you have had the misfortune, a misagainst the four persons at the bar, upon fortune which I take every opportunity of dewhose fate you are now called upon to deli-ploring, and shall continue to do so, until it