New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1843-01-19

Cromwell asked forgiveness of Lent Gansevo5r be
proved lbe Captains OF the o.eloP and forecasEe Stew
and Anderson.
Charles Sseart recalled. heard Cromwell, shortly be-
fore It's execution, ask Lieut. GanseTo0tt forgiveness
AndFeao anderson recalled. saw Cromwell jest before
execution lake bold az Lieut. GauSevoo1ts land, and heard
/ nm ak bin 10 forgive him.
.joirn Ford, sworn. l in the service; have
been was ward-room stewart OF the Somers; I le her
SIX eight days before her last cruise The night before
the Soers sailed anie Mckinley, Of the of the
Somers al the ;!me SAID something TO about nutay
owed me- some s,Ie change Towsrds evening went On
shore ard alter go OF the boat Mckinley lecb
side and said Steward there will be unipy board
this time 10. certain; You may b. glad you not gong
or! ia her, surprising we run out OF Little slereSts time
! did before"
Capt Mackenzie here stated that he wished lay before
The Court fuller explanation OF The motives which guided
him in ordering The execution OF those than con.
iaiHed in is report 10 The Secretary OF the Navy, they
wouiG allow hun
The Judge Advocate then read the preamble which he
said would raise the whole question whether II might be
adaIittetI or not He "a 10 objection 10 il
The President thea said that would be received by The
Court statement OF ordering The eEecuJn
1t thea read By The Judge Advocate a follows:
Nay Il oLcase tie Court:
Although it has been determined by the Court
that written defence of my conduct, fonrded on
an examination OF the evidence that has been adj
duced, is unnecessary, and, under the circumstan-
ces, inadmissible, trust that the Court viii not
refuse io receive from brief statement OF the
reasons that produced the conviction in my mind,
on which I acted, that the execution of the ring
mers necessary to the preservation of the yes
sci. 1t is true that these reasons may be collected
from my report TO the Secretary OF the Navy,
which has been read before the Court; but they
are nowhere stated in connection, nor with that
distnc;ness and brevity that are necessary 10 i'm
press their force on the minds of others. My
port to the Secretary was intended to be full his
tory OF all the proceedings board the Somers,
for his information alone and was far, very far,
from being framed with any direct view to my
own vindicalion.
| proceed, then, under the permission of the
Court to submit the following facts and considera
tons as the reasons that chiefly determined my
conduct. How far their reality su!ficescy is
established by the evidence, are questions that,
without a single remark, shall Lave to the
judgement OF the Court.
First, l was influenced by nay deep conviction of
the reality of the plot disclosed by MIR. Spencer
to MIR. Wales. Although | received the first
communication with increduity, yet when l re-
Aected upon the earnest and solemn in
which the disclosure was made, and the strong
impression of the reality and mminence of tie
danger made upon the mind of Mr. Wales himself,
my doubts vanished and my mind was Gi!ed with
the most earnest socitude to discover and adopt
the proper means for arresting the horrors with
which were threa at once determined
to adopt no measure but after mature dsliberation
to shrink from none that the preservation of the
lives of those entrusted 10 my care, the honor of
my country md my sense of duty should demand
Whether the influence of this determination is not
apparent in all my subsequent acts, l submit to
the judgement of the Court i believed then in
the existence of plet in which, by the declara-
ration of Mr.. Spencer, at least twenty of the
crew were commemorative nature of this plot, in
volving the murder of the officers and large por-
ton of the crew, and the commission of almost
every crime, convinced me that those who had
agreed to it capable of carrying it into exc
cution and committing any atrocty. This opinion
was further confirmed by my previous knowledge
OF the depraved character of the crew, and byhe
fact that many of them, although men in strength
and size, still boys in age, and consequently
would be little likely to resist temptation and more
easily allured by the pleasures held ont TO them as
accompanying the life of pirate Having stated
the which produced the conviction in my
mind of the existence of the plot, it only remains
for me TO state those which induced me TO change
my original determination to bring the prisoners
to the United States for trial, aad to deem their
immediate execution necessary.
was inhuenced-First, By the insubordinatios
of the crew manifested after we had left the coast
Of Africa, ana very much increased alter the arrest
of the prisoners; their gloomy and angry looks,
their secret conferences broken off when officer
appeared: their increased reluctance in the per-
;ormance OF their duty the actual diso5edence CT
some the attempt OF several TO communicate with
the prisoners. All these circumstances convinced
that there danger OF q rescue. and that
this scheme was in constant agitation.
Secondly, by the uncertainty under which We
labored as TO the extent of the mu,iny, and the
inu!ty and danger OF attempting to ascertain, by
an examination of the crew, how many were TO be
relied on. Let us suppose that the whole crew
had been examined, and all had protested their in
nocence and ignorance: Could we have believed
and trusted them2 Would the uncertainty have
been rersoved or diminished OR the contrary,
must not the universal denial have increased end
justified our suspicious of universal guilt? We
must s,il have believed that many guilty, and
could not have known that any were innocent. II
the examination had resulted in the discovery OF
the certain guilt ct many OF The suspected our dit
6cultes would have been still greater. To confne
and guard them impossible. To leave them
at large, with knowledge that their guilt was
known and that, If they arrived In safety, death
might be their doom, 10 render them des-
peratc and an outbreaks inevitable.
Thirdly, by the exhaustion of The officers, and
| by the impossibilily that they could much longer
sustain the fatigue 10 which they were subjected;
and by the fact that, from loss of and contin-
ual exerton, we're daily losing strength, whilst
hat of the mutneers, from Increasing numbers,
was daily becoming greater.
Fourthly, oy the conviction that. even If il were
possible for the officers TO defeEd themselves and
their vessel in fair weather, ii storm should arse,
calling the attention Of TIA officers and petty off
GERS from The prisoners to the necessary duties OF
taking care OF the vessel, it weud nave been easy
for few resoiute men 10 have released the pfi,-
oners and taken possession OF the vessel.