This extraordinary play is loosely based on the famous archer-shee case, in which a young cadet, expelled from the royal naval college at osborne on a charge of petty theft, was finally vindicated after the matter had be...This extraordinary play is loosely based on the famous archer-shee case, in which a young cadet, expelled from the royal naval college at osborne on a charge of petty theft, was finally vindicated after the matter had become a public and parliamentary scandal. This trial, stemming from an incident which in itself seemed relatively unimportant, soon developed into a spectacular and significant struggle on the outcome of which certain fundamental principles of democracy were at issue.