Wansley.  No sir, I believe I have said enough.

The District Attorney rose and moved for judgment on Gibbs, in the same manner as in the case of Wansley, and the Court having addressed Gibbs, in similar terms, concluded by asking what he had to say why the sentence of the law should not now be passed upon him.

Charles Gibbs said, I wish to state to the Court, how far I am guilty and how far I am innocent in this transaction.  When I left New Orleans, I was a stranger to all on board, except Dawes and Church.  It was off Tortugas that Atwell first told me there was money on board, and proposed to me to take possession of the brig.  I refused at that time.  The conspiracy was talked of for some days, and at last I agreed that I would join.  Brownrigg, Dawes, Church, and the whole agreed that they would.  A few days after, however, having thought of the affair, I mentioned to Atwell, what a dreadful thing it was to take a man’s life, and commit piracy, and recommended him to “abolish,” their plan.  Atwell and Dawes remonstrated with me; I told Atwell that if ever he would speak of the subject again, I would break his nose.  Had I kept to my resolution I would not have been brought here to receive my sentence.  It was three days afterwards that the murder was committed.  Brownrigg agreed to call up the captain from the cabin, and this man, (pointing to Wansley,) agreed to strike the first blow.  The captain was struck and I suppose killed, and I lent a hand to throw him overboard.  But for the murder of the mate, of which I have been found guilty, I am innocent—­I had nothing to do with that.  The mate was murdered by Dawes and Church; that I am innocent of this I commit my soul to that God who will judge all flesh—­who will judge all murderers and false swearers, and the wicked who deprive the innocent of his right.  I have nothing more to say.

By the Court.  Thomas J. Wansley and Charles Gibbs, the Court has listened to you patiently and attentively; and although you have said something in your own behalf, yet the Court has heard nothing to affect the deepest and most painful duty that he who presides over a public tribunal has to perform.

You, Thomas J. Wansley, conceive that a different measure of justice has been meted out to you, because of your color.  Look back upon your whole course of life; think of the laws under which you have lived, and you will find that to white or black, to free or bond, there is no ground for your allegations; that they are not supported by truth or justice.  Admit that Brownrigg and Dawes have sworn falsely; admit that Dawes was concerned with you; admit that Brownrigg is not innocent; admit, in relation to both, that they are guilty, the whole evidence has proved beyond a doubt that you are guilty; and your own words admit that you were an active agent in perpetrating this horrid crime.  Two fellow beings who confided in you, and in their perilous voyage called in your assistance, yet you, without reason or provocation, have maliciously taken their lives.