“So I took the Glass, which was one of your Hollands Glasses, made in the Form of a Beaker, without a Foot, holding about three Quarters of a Pint, and filling it to the Brim, said, Gentlemen, here is the aforesaid Health. What Health is that, said Russel? Why, says I, the same Health you all have drank, The King of England’s Health. Why, says Russel, who is King of England? I answer’d, In my Opinion, he that wears the Crown, is certainly King while he keeps it. Well, says he, and pray who is that? Why, says I, King George at present wears it. Hereupon he broke out in the most outrageous Fury, damning me, and calling me Rascally Son of a B—; and abusing his Majesty in such a virulent Manner, as is not fit to be repeated, asserting, with bitter Curses, that we had no King.
“I said, I admir’d that he would begin and drink a Health to a Person who was not in being. Upon which, he whipp’d one of his Pistols from his Sash, and I really believe would have shot me dead, if the Gunner of the Scooner had not snatch’d it out of his Hand.
“This rather more exasperated Russel, who continu’d swearing and cursing his Majesty in the most outrageous Terms, and asserting the Pretender to be the lawful King of England, &c. He added, That ’twas a Sin to suffer such a false traiterous Dog as I was to live; and with that whipp’d out another Pistol from his Sash, and cock’d it, and swore he would shoot me through the Head, and was sure he should do God and his Country good Service, by ridding the World of such a traiterous Villain. But the Master of the Scooner prevented him, by striking the Pistol out of his Hand.
“Whether it was with the Fall, or his Finger being on the Trigger, I cannot tell, but the Pistol went off without doing any Damage: At which the Master, and all present, blamed Russel for being so rash and hasty; and the Gunner said, I was not to blame; for that I drank the Health as it was first propos’d, and there being no Names mention’d, and King George being possess’d of the Crown, and establish’d by Authority of Parliament, he did not see but his Title was the best. But what have we to do, continued he, with the Rights of Kings or Princes? Our Business here, is to chuse a King for our own Commonwealth; to make such Laws as we think most conducive to the Ends we design; and to keep ourselves from being overcome, and subjected to the Penalty of those Laws which are made against us. He then intimated to Russel, That he must speak his Sentiments freely, and imputed his Quarrel with me, to his being hinder’d from breaking thro’ their Articles: Urging, that he would appear no better than an Infringer of their Laws, if the Matter were narrowly look’d into: And that it was impossible ever to have any Order or Rule observ’d, if their Statutes were once broken thro’. He put him in Mind of the Penalty, which was Death, to any one who should infringe their Laws; and urg’d, That if it were once admitted that a Man, thro’ Passion, or the like, should be excused breaking in upon them, there would be an End to their Society: And concluded with telling him, that it was an extraordinary Indulgence in the Company, not to remind him of the Penalty he had incurr’d.
“Russel, still continuing his Passion, answer’d, That if he had transgress’d, it was not for the Sake of his own private Interest, but for the general Good of the Company; and therefore did not fear, neither in Justice could he expect, any Severity from the Company for what he had done; and for that Reason, whatever he (the Gunner) or those of his Sentiments, thought of it, he was resolv’d, whatever came of it, to pursue his present Humour.
“Then says the Gunner to the rest, Well, Gentlemen, if you have a Mind to maintain those Laws made, establish’d, and sworn to by you all, as I think we are all obligated by the strongest Tyes of Reason and Self-Interest to do, I assure you, my Opinion is, that we ought to secure John Russel, so as to prevent his breaking our Laws and Constitutions, and thereby do ourselves, and him too, good Service: Ourselves, by not suffering such an Action of Cruelty in cold Blood, as he more than once attempted to commit, as you are Eye-witnesses of, and, I believe, most on Board have been Ear-witnesses to the Pistol’s going off; and all this for no other Reason in the World, but through a proud and ambitious Humour, conceiting he is the Man that is not to be contradicted, and that his Words, though tending to our Ruin, must yet be receiv’d as an Oracle, without any Opposition.
“At which they all said, It was a pity the Master should suffer, neither would they permit it; and speaking to Russel, they said, they would not allow him to be so barbarous: That they had always valued themselves upon this very Thing of being civil to their Prisoners, and not abusing their Persons: That, ’till now, he himself had been always the greatest Perswader to Clemency, and even to the forgiving Provocations, and permitting them to go from ’em with as little Loss as could be, after they had taken what they had Occasion for: But now, said they, you are quite the Reverse, to this poor Man, and for no other Reason, that we know of, but, as the Gunner said just now, because we would not yield a greater Power to you alone, then you with the whole Company have when conjoin’d; that is, that you at any Time, to gratify your own Humour, shall have Liberty, not only to dispense with our Laws, but to act against the Sentiments of the whole Company.
“Russel answer’d, That he never did oppose the Company before; neither could he believe any present could charge him with any Cruelty in cold Blood, ever since he belong’d to the Company; but that he had a Reason for what he did, or would have done, if he had not been prevented. Hereupon the Master interrupting him, said, Capt. Russel, we know of no Reason for your passionate Design, but what we have told you; and, as you have been told before, it reflects a Revenge against the Company; but not being able to effect that, you turn it on that poor Man the Master of the Sloop, and, as it were, in despite of the Company, because they have decreed him his Sloop again, that he may provide a Living for his Family, you would barbarously, nay brutishly, as well as to the Company contemptuously, murder that poor Man, who has given you no Occasion to induce you to such an Action that we know of; and if he has given you any sufficient Cause to be so offended at him, we promise you this Instant, to deliver him up to you, to suffer Death, or what other Punishment you think fit to inflict on him.
“Russel told them, That he had been in the Company almost from the first, and he challeng’d any one to charge him with Singularity, or Opposition to the Company, or of Cruelty to any one Prisoner before that Rascal, as he call’d me, and that therefore they might be assur’d, he should not have taken up such Resentments against me, if he had not a sufficient Reason to provoke him to it, which he did not think proper at that Time to divulge.
“Then, says the Gunner, neither do we think proper that you shall take any Man’s Life away in cold Blood, ’till you think fit to acquaint the Company with the Reasons for it; and I think it was your Place to satisfy the Company, before you took the Liberty to attempt the Life of any Man under the Company’s Protection, as I think all Prisoners are: And, to say the Truth, I do verily believe, you have no other Reasons to give than those hinted by the Master and me; and therefore, I think it but Reason, to use such Methods as may prevent your passionate Design, and secure the Prisoner ’till Morning, and then send him on Board the Commodore, who, with the Advice of the Majority, may order the Matter as he thinks best.