Page 337 - for-the-term-of-his-natural-life

speak, was clanked away with, amid a buzz of remark and
surmise.
* * * * * *
The trial progressed without further incident. Sylvia was
not called, and, to the astonishment of many of his enemies,
Captain Frere went into the witness-box and generously
spoke in favour of John Rex. ‘He might have left us to starve,’
Frere said; ‘he might have murdered us; we were completely
in his power. The stock of provisions on board the brig was
not a large one, and I consider that, in dividing it with us,
he showed great generosity for one in his situation.’ This
piece of evidence told strongly in favour of the prisoners,
for Captain Frere was known to be such an uncompromis-
ing foe to all rebellious convicts that it was understood that
only the sternest sense of justice and truth could lead him
to speak in such terms. The defence set up by Rex, moreover,
was most ingenious. He was guilty of absconding, but his
moderation might plead an excuse for that. His only object
was his freedom, and, having gained it, he had lived honest-
ly for nearly three years, as he could prove. He was charged
with piratically seizing the brig Osprey, and he urged that
the brig Osprey, having been built by convicts at Macqua-
rie Harbour, and never entered in any shipping list, could
not be said to be ‘piratically seized’, in the strict meaning
of the term. The Court admitted the force of this objection,
and, influenced doubtless by Captain Frere’s evidence, the
fact that five years had passed since the mutiny, and that
the two men most guilty (Cheshire and Barker) had been
executed in England, sentenced Rex and his three compan-

For the Term of His Natural Life