o_199m9vaui14ib1cnu10di10pocoj4h.pdf

;
328 THE NAVAL MUTINIES OF 1797
sion of the Mutinies; but the failure to find any concrete
evidence of the treasonable work was almost universal,
and at the present time there are hardly any examples to
be found of the revolutionary literature that was known
to be in use among the seamen. 1
Nevertheless, some slight records still exist of a movement
that must in reality have been very considerable
and widespread. Graham believed that the " secret
enemies " on shore had used the slopsellers as their
agents ; and at last he obtained evidence from a cordwainer
of Portsea, that a slopseller named Charles
Brassett had taken a number of books to Spithead in
the middle of April, and had distributed them among the
seamen of the Ramillies. 2, It may be remembered that
Hagan, of the same ship, was believed to have taken
seditious pamphlets on boards Cunningham said there
could be little doubt "that the conspiracy was encouraged
and kept alive by some parties in secret, who must have
prepared the inflammatory handbills which were circulated,
and who contrived to escape detection"; and he
added that the handbills were distributed throughout the
fleet. 4
These few instances,
though they are vague and unsatisfactory,
may serve to establish the fact that revolutionary
propaganda had been undertaken in the navy
but they give no information in regard to the organizations
by which the work was directed. Something more
1. I have not seen any of these pamphlets and handbills. But there
is a mention in the Digest (Plymouth Comt., 29 May) of seditious
papers, which may still be in existence. And it is possible that some
may be found among the captains' letters.
2. 11 May, A.S.I. 4172. Shapland, the cordwainer, was an eyewitness
of Brassett's work in the fleet.
3. See above, p. 319.
4. Cunningham, p. 96. The discontent on the Mars before the second
mutiny at Spithead (see above, p. 53) must have been due, in part
at least, to the papers that were taken on board. According to a
letter from Portsmouth published in the Times (13 May), men of the
Duke and the Mars had been carrying on a secret correspondence with
traitorous people on shore ; and the crew of the Mars had led the other
crews to distrust the government.