Chapter LXII
A good defence not always good against a bad accusation--Peter winsthe heart of his judges, yet loses his cause, and is dismissed his ship.
The next day I commenced my defence, and I preferred calling my ownwitnesses first, and, by the advice of my counsel, and at the request ofSwinburne, I called him. I put the following questions:--"When we weretalking on the quarter-deck, was it fine weather?"--"Yes, it was."
"Do you think that you might have heard any one coming on deck, in theusual way, up the companion ladder?"
"Sure of it."
"Do you mean, then, to imply that Captain Hawkins came up stealthily?"
"I have an idea he pounced upon us as a cat does on a mouse."
"What were the expressions made use of?"
"I said that a spy captain would always find spy followers."
"In that remark were you and Mr Simple referring to your own captain?"--
"The remark was mine. What Mr Simple was thinking of, I can't tell; butI _did_ refer to the captain, and he has proved that I was right." Thisbold answer of Swinburne's rather astonished the court, who commencedcross-questioning him; but he kept to his original assertion--that I hadonly answered generally. To repel the second charge I produced nowitnesses; but to the third charge I brought forward three witnesses toprove that Captain Hawkins's orders were that I should send no boats onshore, not that I should not send them on board of the men-of-war closeto us. In answer to the fourth charge, I called Swinburne, who statedthat if I did not, he would come forward. Swinburne acknowledged that heaccused the captain of being shy, and that I reprimanded him for sodoing. "Did he say that he would report you?" inquired one of thecaptains. "No, sir," replied Swinburne, "'cause he never meant to doit." This was an unfortunate answer.
To the fifth charge, I brought several witnesses to prove the words ofCaptain Hawkins, and the sense in which they were taken by the ship'scompany, and the men calling out "Shame!" when he used the expression.
To refute the other charges I called one or two witnesses, and the courtthen adjourned, inquiring of me when I would be ready to commence mydefence. I requested a day to prepare, which was readily granted; andthe ensuing day the court did not sit. I hardly need say that I wasbusily employed, arranging my defence with my counsel. At last all wasdone, and I went to bed tired and unhappy; but I slept soundly, whichcould not be said of my counsel, for he went on shore at eleven o'clock,and sat up all night making a fair copy. After all, the fairest court ofjustice is a naval court-martial--no brow-beating of witnesses, anevident inclination towards the prisoner--every allowance and everyfavour granted him, and no legal quibbles attended to. It is a court ofequity, with very few exceptions; and the humbler the individual, thegreater the chance in his favour.
I was awoke the following morning by my counsel, who had not gone to bedthe previous night, and who had come off at seven o'clock to read overwith me my defence. At nine o'clock I again proceeded on board, and in ashort time the court was sitting. I came in, handed my defence to thejudge-advocate, who read it aloud to the court. I have a copy still byme, and will give the whole of it to the reader.
"Mr President and Gentlemen,--After nearly fourteen years' service inhis Majesty's navy, during which I have been twice made prisoner, twicewounded, and once wrecked; and, as I trust I shall prove to you, bycertificates and the public despatches, I have done my duty with zealand honour; I now find myself in a situation in which I never expectedto be placed--that of being arraigned before and brought to acourt-martial for charges of mutiny, disaffection, and disrespecttowards my superior officer. If the honourable court will examine thecertificates I am about to produce, they will find that, until I sailedwith Captain Hawkins, my conduct has always been supposed to have beendiametrically opposite to that which is now imputed to me. I have alwaysbeen diligent and obedient to command; and I have only to regret thatthe captains with whom I have had the honour to sail are not now presentto corroborate by their oral evidence the truth of these documents.Allow me, in the first place, to point out to the court, that thecharges against me are spread over a large space of time, amounting tonearly eighteen months, during the whole of which period Captain Hawkinsnever stated to me that it was his intention to try me by acourt-martial; and, although repeatedly in the presence of a seniorofficer, has never preferred any charge against me. The articles of warstate expressly that if any officer, soldier, or marine has anycomplaint to make he is to do so upon his arrival at any port or fleetwhere he may fall in with a superior officer. I admit that this articleof war refers to complaints to be made by inferiors against superiors;but, at the same time, I venture to submit to the honourable court thata superior is equally bound to prefer a charge, or to give notice thatthe charge will be preferred, on the first seasonable opportunity,instead of lulling the offender into security, and disarming him in hisdefence, by allowing the time to run on so long as to render himincapable of bringing forward his witnesses. I take the liberty ofcalling this to your attention, and shall now proceed to answer thecharges which have been brought against me.
"I am accused of having held a conversation with an inferior officer onthe quarter-deck of his Majesty's brig _Rattlesnake_, in which mycaptain was treated with contempt. That it may not be supposed that MrSwinburne was a new acquaintance, made upon my joining the brig, I mustobserve that he was an old shipmate, with whom I had served many years,and with whose worth I was well acquainted. He was my instructor in mymore youthful days, and has been rewarded for his merit, with thewarrant which he now holds as gunner of His Majesty's brig_Rattlesnake_. The offensive observation, in the first place, was notmine; and, in the second, it was couched in general terms. Here MrSwinburne has pointedly confessed that _he_ did refer to the captain,although the observation was in the plural; but that does not prove thecharge against me--on the contrary, adds weight to the assertion of MrSwinburne, that I was guiltless of the present charge. That CaptainHawkins has acted as a spy, his own evidence on this charge, as well asthat brought forward by other witnesses, will decidedly prove; but asthe truth of the observation does not warrant the utterance, I am gladthat no such expression escaped my lips.
"Upon the second charge I shall dwell but a short time. It is true thatthere is a general order that no stoves shall be alight after a certainhour; but I will appeal to the honourable court, whether a firstlieutenant is not considered to have a degree of licence of judgment inall that concerns the interior discipline of the ship. The surgeon sentto say that a stove was required for one of the sick. I was in bed atthe time, and replied immediately in the affirmative. Does CaptainHawkins mean to assert to the honourable court, that he would haverefused the request of the surgeon? Most certainly not. The only error Icommitted, if it were an error, was not going through the form ofawaking Captain Hawkins, to ask the permission, which, as firstlieutenant, I thought myself authorized to give.
"The charge against me, of having sent away two boats, contrary to hisorder, I have already disproved by witnesses. The order of CaptainHawkins was, not to communicate with the shore. My reasons for sendingaway the boats"--(Here Captain Hawkins interposed, and stated to thepresident that my reasons were not necessary to be received. The courtwas cleared, and, on our return, the court had decided, that my reasonsought to be given, and I continued.) "My reasons for sending away theseboats, or rather it was one boat which was despatched to the twofrigates, if I remember well, were, that the brig was in a state ofmutiny. The captain had tied up one of the men, and the ship's companyrefused to be flogged. Captain Hawkins then went on shore to theadmiral, to report the situation of his ship, and I conceived it my dutyto make it known to the men-of-war anchored close to us. I shall notenter into further particulars, as they will only detain the honourablecourt; and I am aware that this court-martial is held upon my conduct,and not upon that of Captain Hawkins. To the charge of again holdingdisrespectful language on the quarter-deck, as overheard by Captain.Hawkins, I must refer the honourable court to the evi
dence, in which itis plainly proved that the remarks upon him were not mine, but those ofMr Swinburne, and that I remonstrated with Mr Swinburne for using suchunguarded expressions. The only point of difficulty is, whether it wasnot my duty to have reported such language. I reply, that there is noproof that I did not intend to report it; but the presence of CaptainHawkins, who heard what was said, rendered such report unnecessary.
"On the fifth charge, I must beg that the court will be pleased toconsider that some allowance ought to be made for a moment ofirritation. My character was traduced by Captain Hawkins, supposing thatI was dead; so much so, that even the ship's company cried out _shame._I am aware, that no language of a superior officer can warrant a retortfrom an inferior; but, as what I intended to imply by that language isnot yet known, although Captain Hawkins has given an explanation to his,I shall merely say, that I meant no more by my insinuations, thanCaptain Hawkins did at the time, by those which he made use of withrespect to me.
"Upon the other trifling charges brought forward, I lay no stress, as Iconsider them fully refuted by the evidence which has been alreadyadduced; and I shall merely observe, that, for reasons best known tohimself, I have been met with a most decided hostility on the part ofCaptain Hawkins, from the time that he first joined the ship; that, onevery occasion, he has used all his efforts to render me uncomfortable,and embroil me with others; that, not content with narrowly watching myconduct on board, he has resorted to his spy-glass from the shore; and,instead of assisting me in the execution of a duty sufficiently arduous,he has thrown every obstacle in my way, placed inferior officers asspies over my conduct, and made me feel so humiliated in the presence ofthe ship's company, over which I have had to superintend, and in thedisciplining of which I had a right to look to him for support, that,were it not that some odium would necessarily be attached to thesentence, I should feel it as one of the happiest events of my life thatI were dismissed from the situation which I now hold under his command.I now beg that the honourable court will allow the documents I lay uponthe table to be read in support of my character."
When this was over, the court was cleared, that they might decide uponthe sentence. I waited about half an hour in the greatest anxiety, whenI was again summoned to attend. The usual forms of reading the paperswere gone through, and then came the sentence, which was read by thepresident, he and the whole court standing up with their cocked hats ontheir heads. After the preamble, it concluded with saying, "that it wasthe opinion of that court that the charges had been _partly_ proved, andtherefore, that Lieutenant Peter Simple was dismissed his ship; but, inconsideration of his good character and services, his case was stronglyrecommended to the consideration of the Lords Commissioners of theAdmiralty."