er was extremely bad, but running out upon the alarm of
this firing, the first thing I saw was Mr Cozens on the ground weltering in
his blood: he was sensible, and took me by the hand, as he did several
others, shaking his head, as if he meant to take leave of us. If Mr Cozens'
behaviour to his captain was indecent and provoking, the captain's, on the
other hand, was rash and hasty. If the first was wanting in that respect
and observance which is due from a petty officer to his commander, the
latter was still more unadvised in the method he took for the enforcement
of his authority; of which, indeed, he was jealous to the last degree, and
which he saw daily declining, and ready to be trampled upon. His mistaken
apprehension of a mutinous design in Mr Cozens, the sole motive of this
rash action, was so far from answering the end he proposed by it, that the
men, who before were much dissatisfied and uneasy, were by this unfortunate
step thrown almost into open sedition and revolt. It was evident that the
people, who ran out of their tents, alarmed by the report of fire-arms,
though they disguised their real sentiments for the present, were extremely
affected at this catastrophe of Mr Cozens, for he was greatly beloved by
them: their minds were now exasperated, and it was to be apprehended, that
their resentment, which was smothered for the present, would shortly shew
itself in some desperate enterprize. The unhappy victim, who lay weltering
in his blood on the ground before them, seemed to absorb their whole
attention; the eyes of all were fixed upon him; and visible marks of the
deepest concern appeared in the countenances of the spectators. The
persuasion the captain was under, at the time he shot Mr Cozens, that his
intentions were mutinous, together with a jealousy of the diminution of his
authority, occasioned also his behaving with less compassion and tenderness
towards him afterwards than was consistent with the unhappy condition of
the poor sufferer: for when it was begged as a favour by his mess-mates,
that Mr Cozens might be removed to their tent, though a necessary thing in
his dangerous situation, yet it was not permitted; but the poor wretch was
suffered to languish on the ground some days with no other covering than a
bit of canvas thrown over some bushes, where he died. But to return to our
story: the captain, addressing himself to the people thus assembled, told
them, that it was his resolution to maintain his