would probably have superseded the necessity of troubling your Lordships with this memorial, and saved him from, that severe and inexpressible anguish of mind to which he has been exposed by the disappointment of those hopes which he had every reason, at one time, to flatter himself were well founded.
“That your memorialist, in proof of his disinterested zeal for the public service, begs leave to advert to one circumstance which occurred soon after he had been appointed to the Cameleon, and which gained him not only the commendations of his superior as well as brother officers on the station, but also the approbation of Earl Moira and the Supreme Council at Calcutta. In April 1816, H.M. sloop Challenger having arrived at Madras, with 600,000 dollars on board, consigned to the government of Bengal, and treasure to a great amount for the merchants of Calcutta, and the senior officer being under the necessity of detaining the said sloop, that her commander might sit as a member of a court-martial then about to be assembled for the trial of Captain Robert O’Brien,[1] your memorialist volunteered to receive on board the Cameleon all the treasure in the Challenger, and convey the whole to its destination, without benefit or participation whatever for freight-money allowed by Government, or the East India Company, which he accordingly executed, as appears by the correspondence herewith produced.
“That your memorialist, although never wounded in battle, has received severe hurts in the service, having had his collar-bone broken by an accident on board the Albion, and his right leg broken, in erecting sheers on board the Arrogant, at Bombay; your memorialist being then charged with the duty of equipping the said ship for the purpose of masting the Minden, at the time she was ready to be launched.
“That your memorialist, from such long servitude in the East Indies, has been of late years afflicted with a chronic disease of the liver, and is at this time in a state of extreme debility, owing to a severe attack with which he was seized on his arrival at Portsmouth. Without trespassing further on your Lordships’ time, he refers them to three certificates transmitted herewith, from Dr. Wright (physician at Haslar), Mr. Morrison (acting surgeon of the Cameleon), and Mr. Rowe (surgeon at Portsmouth).
“Your memorialist, therefore, humbly trusts your Lordships will take all the circumstances of his services and claims for promotion into your favourable consideration; and your memorialist, as in duty bound, will ever pray.
Six days after the date of the above memorial, a letter was laid before the Board of Admiralty, signed by George Spain, of East Cowes, in the Isle of Wight, accusing Lieutenant
