'To me it has ever occurred that diffidence is very becoming, and of all human attainments a knowledge of ourselves is the most difficult; and if, in the ordinary course of life, it is not an easy matter precisely to account for our own actions, how much more difficult and hazardous must it be, in new and momentous scenes, when the mind is hurried and distressed by conflicting passions, to judge of another's conduct; and yet here are two young men, who, after a lapse of near four years (in which period one of them, like myself, has grown from a boy to be a man), without hesitation, in a matter on which my life is depending, undertake to account for some of my actions, at a time, too, when some of the most experienced officers in the ship are not ashamed to acknowledge they were overcome by the confusion which the mutiny occasioned, and are incapable of recollecting a number of their own transactions on that day. 'I can only oppose to such open boldness the calm suggestions of reason, and would willingly be persuaded that the impression under which this evidence has been given is not in any degree open to suspicion. I would be understood, at the same time, not to mean anything injurious to the character of Mr. Hallet, and for Mr. Hayward, I ever loved him, and must do him the justice to declare, that whatever cause I may have to deplore the effect of his evidence, or rather his opinion, for he has deposed no fact against me, yet I am convinced it was given conscientiously, and with a tenderness and feeling becoming a man of honour. 'But may they not both be mistaken? Let it be remembered that their long intimacy with Captain Bligh, in whose distresses they were partakers, and whose sufferings were severely felt by them, naturally begot an abhorrence towards those whom they thought the authors of their misery,--might they not forget that the story had been told to them, and by first of all believing, then constantly thinking of it, be persuaded at last it was a fact within the compass of their own knowledge.