so criminal, that, if he had been adjudged intentionally guilty of them, on proper and undoubted proof, he would have been precluded from all hope of future employment; whilst others were of so inferior a nature, that, if guilty, a censure was the utmost to be deprecated: whilst this judgment is couched in terms so vague and uncertain, that it is impossible to collect whether he was found guilty of a part of every charge, or of some one, or of more than one of the whole charges of which one is a part. If it means the former, it is in direct contradiction to the minutes, which state, that the last charge was abandoned, and for reasons which must have acquitted the defendant. Again, if it means the latter, it is ambiguous and uncertain to which of the charges it is to apply; for it is as applicable in terms to that which was not tried, or to any of which they thought him not guilty, as to any others; and it would only prove that they perfectly acquitted him of some, by only finding him guilty of a part. The judgment, therefore, is so vague and uncertain, on a subject which imperatively calls for the utmost certainty, that I do not feel how the sentence founded on it can be consistently enforced. Having thus stated my impression on the case, I do not feel it necessary, nor would it become me, to analyse the evidence, in order to guess on what part of it the court formed their decision; for, after all, it would be but guessing. I shall, therefore, content myself with stating my opinion, after having attended, with all the care I am capable of bestowing on the evidence, as applicable to the charges, as well as to the sentence, as founded on that application, that it is informal, irregular, and illegal, notwithstanding which, I cannot, from the nature of the subject, point out any mode in which Captain Browne can procure redress: the only amends he can look to, must be found in the justice and honorable feelings of the Board of Admiralty, in whose power it lies to restore the situation he has been deprived of, and to the prevention of which I can perceive nothing on the face of these proceedings: to that tribunal he will have a right also to submit any of those facts which, although capable of proof, did not occur to his recollection at the time of the trial.
On receiving this most satisfactory legal opinion, Captain Browne presented a memorial to the Admiralty, containing not only the heads of the charges, but the whole substance of the minutes, and some official documents sufficient in themselves to refute the assertions of his accuser, that he had been guilty of fraud and a false muster. The following are extracts:–
