CAPTAIN PITMANS CASE.
very absence of which tended to confirm conclusions adverse to Captain Pitman. From a set of small pamphlets which he has just published, however, it would appear that he had at hand evidence that would have amply rebutted the evidence against him.* The charges of tyranny were capped by the statement that Cap- thin Pitman called Mr. Graham "a liar," and that he was vexa- tiously rigorous ; those of cruelty, by an account of a boy made to wear a fmmel, and of a private who jumped overboard to escape a flogging. By these documents it would appear that Captain Pit- man could at once have justified the epithet imputed to him, and could also have shown reason to believe that he did not use it ; that the boy was an incorrigibly dirty boy, but that his punishment was not severe; and that the man Matthews was also incorrigibly irre- gular, but that he jumped overboard in consequence of a warning by Mr. Graham, and not of a threat by Captain Pitman, that he would be flogged. The concurrent testimony of a great num- ber of officers to Captain Pitman's general kindness of disposition is overwhelming.
At the same time, we cannot overlook the peculiar professional light in which his conduct may be viewed by brother officers, es- pecially when we notice the style of some. We are inelined to be- lieve that the Childers was sent to sea with a crew hastily got to- gether and composed of very bad materials' but among an enumeration of bad qualities it is startling to find such a state- ment as this of two sailors—" I never met with two more deter- mined and vexatious characters, and Gillman was a Chartist of the worst description "! No doubt, Chartist propagandism is wholly out of place on board ship ; but to be a Chartist is to hold -certain opinions, and mere opinion is not criminal. The evidence given by the writer of such phrases needs sifting. The impression created by the pamphlets is' that Captain 'Pit- man did not attain justice at the trial, because he was erroneously advised that his exculpatory evidence was unnecessary' that was not too rigorous, but rather the reverse, and thus lost that pro- tection to a commander which he derives from a close adhesion to rule ; finally, that a court-martial is among the very worst ma- chines for getting at the truth.
• "Papers relative to the Court-martial held on Commander J. C. Pitman, at Plymouth, August 1849." With accompanying Documents. Published byllr. J. King.
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