bound to fulfill the agreement. But in all contracts, if one
party fail to perform his share of the compact, is not the other
virtually absolved from his liability? Who is there who will not
answer in the affirmative?

Having settled the principle, then, let me apply it to the
particular case in question. In numberless instances had not
only the implied but the specified conditions of the articles
been violated on the part of the ship in which I served. The
usage on board of her was tyrannical; the sick had been inhumanly
neglected; the provisions had been doled out in scanty allowance;
and her cruises were unreasonably protracted. The captain was
the author of the abuses; it was in vain to think that he would
either remedy them, or alter his conduct, which was arbitrary and
violent in the extreme. His prompt reply to all complaints and
remonstrances was--the butt-end of a handspike, so convincingly
administered as effectually to silence the aggrieved party.

To whom could we apply for redress? We had left both law and
equity on the other side of the Cape; and unfortunately, with a
very few exceptions, our crew was composed of a parcel of
dastardly and meanspirited wretches, divided among themselves,
and only united in enduring without resistance the unmitigated
tyranny of the captain. It would have been mere madness for any
two or three of the number, unassisted by the rest, to attempt
making a stand against his ill usage. They would only have
called down upon themselves the particular vengeance of this
'Lord of the Plank', and subjected their shipmates to additional
hardships.