On the 14th the _Martha_ schooner anchored in the cove from Bass
Strait, whence she had brought with her one thousand seal skins and
thirty barrels of oil, which had been procured there among the islands.
The court of criminal judicature being assembled on the 16th, two mates
of the _Walker_ were brought before it, and tried for using menaces
to a person who had stopped their boat when attempting to land spirits
without a permit; but as he had not any special authority for making the
seizure, or detaining the boat, they were acquitted.
One man, John Chapman Morris, was found guilty of forgery by the the same
court, and received sentence of death; but as this had been determined by
the majority of one voice only, whereas the letters patent for
establishing the court expressly say that five of the members are to
concur in a capital case, this business must, as provided also by the
patent, be referred to the King in council. It was hoped that this
circumstance would but seldom occur, as the object of it must, during the
reference, remain a prisoner, with all the miserable sensations that a
person would experience under sentence of death.
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