It is a perilous employment of life that you have followed; in this way of life the most enormous crimes that man can commit, are MURDER AND PIRACY.  With what detestation would you in early life have looked upon the man who would have raised his hand against his officer, or have committed piracy! yet now you both stand here murderers and pirates, tried and found guilty—­you Wansley of the murder of your Captain, and you, Gibbs, of the murder of your Mate.  The evidence has convicted you of rising in mutiny against the master of the vessel, for that alone, the law is DEATH!—­of murder and robbery on the high seas, for that crime, the law adjudges DEATH—­of destroying the vessel and embezzling the cargo, even for scuttling and burning the vessel alone the law is DEATH; yet of all these the evidence has convicted you, and it only remains now for the Court to pass the sentence of the law.  It is, that you, Thomas J. Wansley and Charles Gibbs be taken hence to the place of confinement, there to remain in close custody, that thence you be taken to the place of execution, and on the 22d April next, between the hours of 10 and 4 o’clock, you be both publicly hanged by the neck until you are DEAD—­and that your bodies be given to the College of Physicians and Surgeons for dissection.

The Court added, that the only thing discretionary with it, was the time of execution; it might have ordered that you should instantly have been taken from the stand to the scaffold, but the sentence has been deferred to as distant a period as prudent—­six weeks.  But this time has not been granted for the purpose of giving you any hope for pardon or commutation of the sentence;—­just as sure as you live till the twenty-second of April, as surely you will suffer death—­therefore indulge not a hope that this sentence will be changed!

The Court then spoke of the terror in all men of death!—­how they cling to life whether in youth, manhood or old age.  What an awful thing it is to die! how in the perils of the sea, when rocks or storms threaten the loss of the vessel, and the lives of all on board, how the crew will labor, night and day, in the hope of escaping shipwreck and death! alluded to the tumult, bustle and confusion of battle—­yet even there the hero clings to life.  The Court adverted not only to the certainty of their coming doom on earth, but to THINK OF HEREAFTER—­that they should seriously think and reflect of their FUTURE STATE! that they would be assisted in their devotions no doubt, by many pious men.

When the Court closed, Charles Gibbs asked, if during his imprisonment, his friends would be permitted to see him.  The Court answered that that lay with the Marshal, who then said that no difficulty would exist on that score.  The remarks of the Prisoners were delivered in a strong, full-toned and unwavering voice, and they both seemed perfectly resigned to the fate which inevitably awaited them.  While Judge Betts was delivering his address to them, Wansley