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 towards Mr. Leonard, the plaintiff in the above action, had been such as to render it necessary for a court-martial to be granted, according to the wishes of the complainant. Their report stated that there was no just ground for a court-martial to try Lieutenant Shield on the charges of tyranny and oppression, alleged against him by Mr. Leonard; but on the contrary, it appeared from the testimony of all the Master’s-Mates and Midshipmen on board the Saturn, that the general tenor of Lieutenant Shield’s conduct had been the very reverse of tyrannical and oppressive; and moreover, that the circumstances of the alleged tyranny and oppression originated from Mr. Leonard’s having neglected his duty, in the first instance, and disobeyed the orders of his commanding officer, subsequent thereto, in a contemptuous and seditious manner.

During this investigation, the court discovered that a combination of the Mates and Midshipmen of the London and Edgar had been formed on board these ships; and in consequence thereof, letters of a seditious nature written to and circulated among the Midshipmen of the other ships of the squadron, all tending to the hindrance of the public service, and to the subversion of good order and discipline in the fleet. And it appearing to the court that Mr. Edward Moore, a Midshipman belonging to the London, had been principally concerned in those meetings, &c., they directed the said gentleman to be confined, and submitted to the Admiralty the necessity of his being tried for the same; adding at the same time their opinion, that the discipline and good order of the fleet would be at an end, were such combinations to pass without the most exemplary punishment. Mr. Moore was in consequence tried by a court-martial; and the charge preferred against him being in part proved, he was sentenced to be imprisoned for the space of one calendar month in the prison of the Marshalsea, and to be severely reprimanded, and admonished to be more circumspect in future.

At the commencement of the French revolutionary war, the Saturn was ordered to the Mediterranean, on which station Lieutenant Shield was promoted to the rank of Commander, in la Sincere of 20 guns, one of the Toulon prizes. He subsequently commanded the Berwick 74, and Windsor Castle, a second rate, the latter bearing the flag of 