So far from their testimony being of any value in determining what his
conduct would be at sea, one would expect that the master who would
abuse and impose upon a man under his power, would be the most
compliant and deferential to his employers at home.
As to the appeal made in the captain's behalf on the ground of his
being poor and having persons depending upon his labor for support,
the main and fatal objection to it is, that it will cover every case
of the kind, and exempt nearly the whole body of masters and
officers from the punishment the law has provided for them. There
are very few, if any masters or other officers of merchantmen in our
country, who are not poor men, and having either parents, wives,
children, or other relatives, depending mainly or wholly upon their
exertions for support in life. Few others follow the sea for
subsistence. Now if this appeal is to have weight with courts in
diminishing the penalty the law would otherwise inflict, is not the
whole class under a privilege which will, in a degree, protect it in
wrong-doing? It is not a thing that happens now and then.
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