Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. III, No. XVII, October 1851Various
History
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. III, No. XVII, October 1851
Various
American literature -- Periodicals; Civilization -- Periodicals; Culture -- Periodicals
The mutiny subsided on the 16th of May, when Parliament passed an act to
raise the seamen's wages, and the royal pardon was bestowed on the
mutineers; not, however, before some sacrifice of human life had ensued,
as Admiral Colpoys, on the recommencement of the mutiny on board the
_London_, had ordered the marines to fire on the people, and three
seamen fell. The funeral of these unfortunates was described to us as a
singularly impressive and touching spectacle. The townspeople were
fearful of some violence or riot on the part of the sailors when they
landed to bury their dead, and consequently closed their shutters and
retired into their houses. The mournful procession moved therefore
through deserted and silent streets on its way to the village
church-yard, in which the victims were to be interred. But there was no
cause for alarm. The men walked silently and solemnly, two and two,
after their slain comrades, a stern, quiet sorrow legible on their
weather-beaten faces; and nothing could exceed the reverence and
propriety of their conduct beside the grave. It is a quiet, pretty
village church-yard in which these most pardonable rebels have their
resting-place, not far from which is the large grave where three hundred
bodies of those who perished in the _Royal George_ are buried.
One can scarcely forbear wondering at the little real mischief which
proceeded from this alarming mutiny. It afforded, on the whole, a noble
display of the principal characteristics of the British seaman--the
frolic-spirit peculiar to him manifesting itself even when he is most
sadly and seriously in earnest. A captain of marines, who was especially
the object of the mutineers' aversion, was brought on shore by them, and
compelled to parade up the High-street to the "Rogue's March," which was
drummed before him. He was a tall, gaunt old man, with a singularly long
neck. The day after his expulsion from his ship, the crew sent a man to
his house with a message, ordering him to "come on board again and be
hanged!" The unpopular veteran sent back his compliments; but
considering his throat unbecomingly long _naturally_, he did not wish to
have it stretched: he declined, therefore, accepting their invitation.
The men went away laughing. The people and the times were both
extraordinary.
WOMAN'S OFFICES AND INFLUENCE.
BY PROF. J. H. AGNEW, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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