o_199m9vaui14ib1cnu10di10pocoj4h.pdf

THE LAST NEGOTIATION 219
ment as would please them." *
Of these six conditions
the fourth alone amounted to a demand for a definite
concession. The first would normally follow a return to
duty. The last had already been granted. The second
was quite irrelevant. The third was of little importance
if only the crews were loyal, and in any case the seamen
would probably have been willing to waive it for the sake
of a free pardon. The fifth was unnecessary, for in
regard to treason the seamen were in the position of
ordinary citizens. The sedition acts gave power to the
administration to arrest all
persons suspected of treason.
But the authorities on shore had no intention of imprisoning
any seamen against whom they had no particular
evidence. They only wanted to secure the ringleaders.
The project was as a matter of course refused. It was
given to Captain Knight, who sent it to the Admiralty,
although he must have known very w-ell that his trouble
was in vain. 2 It seems that the Board sent their answer
by Admiral Peyton, the commander at the Downs; for
they licensed him on the next day to communicate with
the mutineers, to supply them with copies of the
proclamations and acts of Parliament, and to give them
an ultimatum, demanding unconditional surrender. 3 So
this last effort towards compromise failed, and the seamen
were left with the choice of surrender or escape, for there
was no longer any chance of success.
It was already clear that the mutineers were in a bad
plight.
In spite of their bold criticisms of the ministry,
their alleged store of provisions, and their boast that it
was in their power to " have shaken the very foundations
1. A.S.M. 137, Daniel Price's Pocket-Booh, paper 7. The crews
which subscribed to this statement of demands were those of the
Montague, Xassau, Agamemnon, Lion, Standard, Inflexible and others.
It is noteworthy that the committee of the Inflexible were ready to make
their peace, for the committee included some of the most active of the
mutineers.
2. Captains' Letters, K 126 (Digest). The project was sent to Captain
Knight by Parker : it may be supposed, therefore, that the delegates as
a whole had given their assent to it.
3. A.S.M. 137, 11 June. A fresh copy of the proclamations was
issued on 10 June. The original is in A.S.I. 4172.