The Sun.
London, England, 1849-09-13 00:00:00

THE

COURT-MARTIAL on COMMANDER

PITM A N.
TUESDAY—ELEVENTII DAY.
PLYMOUTIT, SEPT. 11.—The Court assembled this
morning at nine o'clock, on beard her Majesty's ship
Impregnable, 104, in Hamoaee, for the purpose of
gearing the prisoner go into his defence. The court
was more crowded to-day than on any former occa-
sion, most of the naval men residing in the port and
its neighbourhood, and many military officers being
also present. The marines and sailors also showed
an unusual interest in the trial.
On the application of the prisoner the Court con-
sented to his defence being read by his professional
friend ; and
Mr. J. E. Elworthy accordingly read it. It was
a very elaborate and carefully drawn up document,
which occupied the learned gentleman upwards of
an hour in reading. After referring to the length of
time over which the investigation had extended, and
to the anxiety with which he now proceeded to ad-
dress the Court in his defence, the prisoner remarked
that he had maintained in her Majesty's service, for a
period of 23 years, a character which he had hoped had
placed him above the reach of calumny. It had been left to
t wo individual,con victed of heinous offences to mark that
character. He could not express the mingled feelings
of surprise, and, if he might be allowed to say so, of
indifference, with which he had first heard of these
charges against him ; of surprise, because he had
never before heard such gross conduct imputed to
him ; of indifference—nay, if he might be permitted
to say it, of contempt—not only for the source from
which the charges emanated, but also for the charges
themselves, feeling assured that they could not be
proved. He was not singular in this feeling of. sur-
prise. Those who had best known him had been
imbued with a similar impression, when they had
heard of the aspersions so profusely, recklessly, and
falsely cast upon hini.—(ln corroboration of this
statement, extracts were read from several letters
recently addressed to Commander Pitman, by officers
of high rank and standing in the service, who one
and all expressed astonishment at the position in j
hich he was placed, as they had never heard the
slightest complaint, during the time he had served
with them or under them, for severe or unofficerlike
conduct, and had never seen anything themselves to lead
them to suppose that he could be guilty of such conduct.
The letters also bore strong and favourable testimony
to the prisoner's general character.). This then was
the impression which bad been made on those whose
opinions were most valuable and valued. With this cha-
acter he appeared before that Honourable Court, and
the charges on which he had been arrainged, alleged
conduct of the deepest moral turpitude—cruelty in j
the exercise of a duty w here cruelty was expressly
forbidden—falsehood in the record of facts where he
had no earthly interest but to be true and correct—
and,
if this were not enough—as if one single act, if it I
could be proved, would not justify all the trouble
that had been taken, and its result amply satisfy the
revengeful feelings which had dictated this prosecu-
tion, it was further alleged that it was through his
unskilfulness, as a seaman—through his inability to
navigate the ship—that she had struck upon the
Prates shoal. The defence then referred to the
charges, which the prisoner observed had been framed
't with forensic strategy ;" and with a view, as he
believed, to enable one of the prosecutors to be
present while the other was being examined, so as to
avoid, if possible, the inconvenience of contradictions
and cross-swearing. He was confirmed in this
belief by the, fact.that (in consequence, as he consi•
dered of the prosecutors not having been both present
at the same time), Mr. Graham had not been called at
all. When he commissioned the Childers, in February,
1846, it unfortunately happened that the detachmentof
Marines of the Portsmouth Division was on duty in
Ireland ; and .the detachment which was sent on
board contained in consequence many men of bad
character. Thus at the beginning he was deprived
of the support of this most valuable arm of the ser-
vice ; for many of these men were amongst the worst
in the ship; and they who should have been examples
of goad became promoters of evil. Had it been
otherwise,
,his ship would have been nearly without
punishment—at all events, without severe punish-
ment. Nothing but the recklessness of the prose-
cutors could have induced them to refer to the officers
who bad left the ship: it would be for the Court to
say, whether even one officer had left her in.conse-
quence of a misunderstanding with himself, And
who were they by whom these charges were made T
He approached this part of the case with anxiety,
because the parties of whom be must speak were at
present under sentence for their offences; he would
most willingly have avoided referring to those events,
and to that conduct which had proved so fatal to their
own prospects, so highly prejudicial to the comfort
and discipline of the ship, and out of which had
originated all the present proceedings. He was
compelled to lay before the Court the character of
the prosecutors ; it was essential to his defence; and
first he would inquire in what position Mr. Elliott
came before the Court, at the opening of the present
case ? He was then under sentence of a court- martial,
and if this were not enough, it had been shown,
proved on oath before this Honourable Court, that he
had seriously and frequently committed himself by
drunkenness. If he had not behaved to this man in
a manner more considerate and forbearing than he
deserved, he would not, he could not, have remained
in the ship. He must refer to one scene, as indicative
of the feeling which actuated his conduct towards him. j
The Court would recollect that it was in evidence
that Mr. Elliott was drunk when on the Prates shoals;
in consequence of the seriousness of the offence,
which was only a repetition of that which had oq-
curred before, he determined to represent. his condu4t
to the Commander•in-Chief. On that day he came
on deck in a state of intoxication, and was fohnd
drunk by the boatswain, Mr. Hely ; he was taken
below, and the same day prisoner saw him sitting
aft with a hatchet in his hand, chopping the quarter
gallery. The hatchet was taken from him by Mr.
Storey, the carpenter, and he (the commander) asked
Dr. Rogers and dr. Brake to endeavour to get
him below, which they did. Subsequently Mr.
Elliott expressed his regret, and promised that there
should be no recurrence of the scene ;- and, in con-
sideration of this and of his family, he consented to
look it over. This was his conduct to the prose-
cutor, Mr. Elliott, on an occasion when, perhaps, he
should have better performed his duty had he been less
" inconsistent" and more " severe." Mr. Elliott was
totally unknown to him before he joined the Childers,
so was Mr. Graham ; but he must state what had
come to his knowledge of him since. If he had
known it earlier he should certainly have prevented
him from joining the ship at all, and thereby pre-
served Mr. Elliott from the contaminating influence
of his-character, and have saved both him •and hid-
self much anxiety. He had much to inform the Cou'rt
of with respect to Mr. Graham's character, but before
he did so he would respectfully submit that, in order
to ascertain whether or not his charaCter had been
cruel, they must first inquire who were the persons
over whom he had the control, because that which
would be cruelty on the part of an officer placed in
command of a crew of good characters, would be very
tar from cruel if the character of the crew were bad.
Mr. Graham had entered the service about fifteen
years ago, and, when serving in the Belvidere, Capt.
the Honourable George Grey, he had been com-
pelled to apply for his discharge to the shore, for
having, while caterer of the mess, purloined the
mess money; be had no certificate given to
him, and was therefore unable to produce it.
In 1843, while serving in the Satellite, he was
again turned out of the mess, and remained out for
I some months, taking his meals during that time in
the carpenter's cabin. At Monte Video he was tried
by court-martial and reprimanded ; and he worked
his way home from Rio to England as a foremast-
man in a merchant vessel. In 1846 he was appointed
to the President, but his character having preceded
him, the midshipmen of that ship represented to the
Commanderin-Chief that they would not receive him
into the ship, and he then obtained an acting orderas
lieutenant of the Childers. After he had
.been on
board for some time, and when he was directed to
join the President, he expressed a desire to continue in
the Childers; and as his conduct up to that time had
'been good, and as Lieutenant Carter was desirous of
joining his patron, Admiral Dacres, at the Cape, he
applied to the Commander-in-Chief, at Mr. Graham's
own reqnest, to sanction an exchange, which was
acceded to. He could not help remarking that this
request was made after the alleged acts of cruelty to-
wards White, Haigh, and Sanger, which were now.,
sought to be brought forward to substantiate the
charge against himself. After Mr. Graham had been
thus permitted to remain, he was in the habit of
associating with the Ship's company, giving them
spirits and drinking with them. It was stated,
on oath, before this Honourable Court; that on one
occasion the officer of the watch, Mr. Berkeley, found
him drinking in the forecastle, and ordered him out.
It had already been proved that a man named... Reed,
a marine, had been found drunk in Mr. Graham's
cabin, and that after he (Corn. Pitman) had expressed,
by order, that Reed should no longer act as . Mr.
Graham's servant, or go into the gun room. Reed
was confined for 14 days in the naval prison at
Shanghai, and during that time Mr. Graham sent a
letter to him (the commander), in which he acknow-
ledged that it was his fault that Reed had been sent
to prison.• At' Woosung he came on board so drunk
that he (COno. Pitiian) was ibout to report himto
the Commander in. chief, when he produced a letter,
which he said announced to him the death of his
father, occasioned by the death of his sister, 'who had
fallen from a horse and been killed; he added that his
father's house had , been burnt down, and that his
remaining sisters were entirely dependent upon him
for support. This letter, coupled with deep mourn-
ing, in which he appeared at the time, left uo doubt
upon his (Commander Pitman's) mind that his state-
ment was true, and he accordingly did not report him,
but he subsequently met Commodore Ilutnridv, who
told him that the whole story was' a fabriCtition.