“From the opposite ends of a horizontal balance hang (left) a triangle from which are suspended the corpses of thirteen sailors, and (right) the body of a military officer in uniform (Governor Wall); all have bandaged eyes. The balance hangs in front of a stone building, in the centre of which is an open door showing men seated at a council table, a messenger stands in the doorway giving a dispatch box marked ‘GR’ to another messenger, saying, “Deliver this Immediatly He must Die.” The pilastered doorway is inscribed: ‘Justitiae Soror Fides’; above it are kneeling statues of Truth and Justice; between them they support an inscribed tablet: ‘It is determined that British Justice shall never be Stained by Partiality, while the poor & ignorant suffer for their Folly the Rich shall also suffer for their Brutality and Infamy.’ On the wall are two placards: (left) ‘An Account of the Mutiny’, and (right) ‘A Full True and Particular Account of the Trial of . . . For the Murder of. . .’ This is headed by a print of a man being tied to a cannon and flogged, while an officer looks on and soldiers stand at attention.”–British Museum online catalogue.
- Title: The balance of justice [graphic] : NB in a few days will be published the old gunner lashed to the shrouds.
- Published: [London: Pud. March 3d 1802 by S.W. Fores, 50 Piccadilly, 3 March 1802]
Catalog Record & Digital Collection
802.03.03.01+
Acquired November 2013
“A broadside on the trial of the robber James Maclaine; with an etching showing the interior of a court room, the judges seated on the left, Maclaine standing on the right, in the middle background a lady standing, giving evidence in his favour; and with engraved title and letterpress text giving an account of the trial in three columns.”–British Museum online catalogue.
