BENEVOLENT EXERTIONS IN FAVOUR OF THE NEGRO AND HOTTENTOT
POPULATION.—CAPTAIN EDWARD BRENTON’S PLAN FOR THE RESTORATION
OF JUVENILE DELINQUENTS.—ITS CONNECTION WITH THE CAPE, AND
FAILURE.—THE ESTABLISHMENT AT SIMON’S TOWN BROKEN UP AT THE
DEATH OF BUONAPARTE.—RETURN TO ENGLAND.
The letter with which the last chapter was closed, is one of many that
remain, and which might have been inserted in this Memoir with advantage,
if it had not been desirable to restrain the size of a volume, which
already exceeds its proposed dimensions; and if enough had not been
already said, to answer the purpose for which their insertion might
be desirable, the completion of the portraiture of the subject. The
reader therefore is at liberty to infer from the tone of one letter, the
character of the correspondence in general; and he may perhaps admit
that it is one of the felicities of the age to see such a correspondence
existing in such a quarter of the world. While men whose lot is cast in
the extreme corner of Africa; that portion of our world, which has seemed
throughout the history of man to have been resigned to barbarism; are
found discussing such topics, and in such a spirit, the wilderness may
indeed be said to blossom as a rose, and the desert is like the garden of
the Lord.
But interesting and profitable as such communications must have been to
both parties concerned, they were neither of them men likely to leave
their talents unimproved, or to allow religious conviction to evaporate
in religious discussions. They felt that the light they had received
was to shine before men; and the love of Christ, the principle on which
their whole mutual scheme of belief centred and moved, constrained them
to live, not for themselves, but for others; and to evince the gratitude
they felt for the mercy that had visited them, and the love which burnt
within their own breasts towards Him who had made them what they were, by
acts of kindness and benevolence to all around them.
We find Sir Jahleel accordingly at one time warmly interested in the case
of the captured Negroes, who had been set at liberty in the Cape, and
were employed in the Government works and dockyard. An Act of Parliament
had rescued these poor creatures from slavery, but the boon of freedom
had been bestowed in a manner which rendered it a slight, or at least
a questionable blessing; and such was the condition in which they were
left in the colony, that some doubts might have been felt, whether their
happiness would not have been consulted, if the ship which conveyed them
from Africa, had been allowed to complete its course, and to discharge
its cargo in the West Indies. The men were captured, and were in
consequence declared free by law; but they were set free in a country
where they were strangers and destitute of all means of subsistence;
and where the means of support were not provided for them at first, nor
always attainable by any efforts of their own. The consideration of the
Colonial Government had gone so far, as to have assigned them employment
in the dockyards; but it was not easy to persuade an emancipated Negro,
that it was necessary to work; nor was it easier to teach him how to work
so as to make him useful. On this account it seemed necessary to treat
them like children, to convert their slavery into a servitude, limited in
time and measure; and to consider them as apprentices, that some kind of
restraint might thus be exercised over those, who were in point of fact
made free, but who seemed hardly capable of making a proper use of their
freedom. The form of apprenticeship assimilated their condition in the
colonial law to that of the Hottentot; but in doing this, it exposed them
to all the injuries under which that injured race of men were groaning,
through the system which the Dutch laws had established; and which left
them too much at the mercy of the Boors to be regarded as independent or
secure.
We have seen in an earlier part of the memoir how earnestly Sir Jahleel
strove to obtain protection for these people; and we cannot be surprised
if his efforts, extended to the Government at home, as well as to that of
the colony, should have brought him into connection with that individual,
who filled at the moment the glorious, though unsolicited office of being
the advocate of the oppressed throughout the world. While resident at
the Cape, Sir Jahleel was induced to address himself to Mr. Wilberforce,
and not only to call his attention to the stealthy modes in which the
trade in slaves was carried on through the channel of Mozambique, and
to the danger of the Cape becoming a depôt for that nefarious traffic;
but likewise to the state of the emancipated Negroes, and the native
population of the colony. Mr. Wilberforce, whose ear was ever open to the
cry of distress, felt at once the value of his new correspondent, and
the importance of the appeal. The case of the Cape colony was included
in the succeeding measures for the abolition of the slave trade. Public
attention was drawn to the existence of the traffic on the eastern coast
of Africa, and in the Indian Ocean; and that quarter of the world was
protected from the encroachment of the evil, which has blighted the
prosperity of the west.
Sir Jahleel Brenton’s zeal in behalf of the emancipated Negroes led him
likewise to consider the state of the Hottentot population at the Cape;
and here he found Dr. Philip engaged in a long, and almost hopeless
contest with the Colonial Government, in behalf of that despised and
injured people. The original natives of the country, they had been
reduced by the Dutch settlers to a state of servitude, in some degree
worse than slavery; as the master felt, that while both slave and servant
were equally at his disposal and equally under his control, the slave
had been purchased, and had cost him something; and the servant had come
under his dominion for nothing. Both therefore were to all intents
bondmen; for the servant had no power of changing his master, at least
no power which he dared to exercise; and the circumstance of his having
been born to nominal freedom, availed nothing, where the law was framed
for the sole purpose of securing the master’s rights; and where distance
from the seat of Government, and the wild independence of the Boor’s
life, made an appeal to justice all but impossible. The character of the
Dutch settlers likewise, sordid and covetous on principle, and at that
time filled with hatred of the British influence, as being the dominion
of a conqueror; and of British intercourse as likely to introduce a rival
and encroaching population; placed them in an attitude of suspicion
and defiance. Every attempt made by the Government to ameliorate the
condition of the Hottentots was viewed with jealousy by the Boors, as an
abridgement of their own rights; and every disposition in the Hottentots
to complain was crushed by increased severity, as if it were an act of
insurrection. The very efforts of the missionaries to convey to that
benighted race the knowledge of the gospel, were contemplated with
prejudice and ill-will by the colonists. In consequence every obstacle
was thrown in their way. The attendance of the servants was forbidden
at all occasions of social worship, or religious instruction. The wish
for instruction was considered a crime in the Hottentot; and all that
the fierce violence of a brutal mind could suggest, was too often done
by the farmers, to subdue the rising spirit of religion, whenever it had
been excited by the preaching of the missionaries in their neighbourhood.
It is a painful and humiliating fact that the local regulations of
Protestant colonies have been uniformly less favourable to the spiritual
improvement of the natives, than those established in Roman Catholic
colonies. Not that Protestantism is less lenient in its character, or
less congenial with liberty than Romanism, for it is confessedly more
so; but the Protestant colonies having been formed in later times, and
at times when the church had lost that influence with the state, which
it once possessed; the colonial legislation in all the later European
settlements was constructed on purely secular grounds, and religion had
no voice, because the church had no power.
The Dutch system of Government at the Cape had in other respects much
to recommend it. The established religion of the mother country had
been introduced in the colony, and been endowed. The character of the
settlers, at least of those in the town, would have borne comparison with
that of any colony belonging to other European nations; and the Boors
themselves, when political or personal jealousies did not intervene, were
found hospitable, kind, and correct in general behaviour. The misfortune
of the colony arose from the degree of power which was possessed by
individuals, not prepared to exercise it properly, and who were subject
to great and obvious temptations to abuse it; and thus it happened that
the condition to which the Hottentots were reduced under the Dutch law
was such, that it became the imperative duty of the British Government
to take some steps towards correcting an evil, which seemed intolerable
and disgraceful to a civilized country. These measures were regarded
by the Boors, an uneducated, prejudiced, and overbearing race, as a
breach of contract between the Government and themselves; and as an
illegal encroachment on those rights which were guaranteed to them when
the colony became a part of the British Empire. And these feelings,
stimulated by designing men on one side, and aggravated by want of
consideration and of conciliatory proceedings on the other, finally led
to those acts of resistance which have required military interference,
and have endangered for a time the peace and prosperity of this valuable
colony.
Sir Jahleel witnessed the working of elements of evil, which were to have
their fuller development after he had left the colony. He saw the state
of the Negro and the Hottentot population, and he did what he could to
ameliorate the condition of each. Had his power been greater, or even had
his residence at the Cape been longer, he would have done much towards
correcting the evil, and improving the general state of the society;
for he possessed in no ordinary degree the qualities which fit man for
command, or enable him without command to exercise influence on the
minds of others. He had clearness of view, correct judgment, decision,
and firmness, combined with patience, sweetness of temper, and the most
conciliatory manners. Beyond this, he knew more accurately than most
men, the nature of that foundation which must be laid as the security
for all permanent prosperity. If the efforts which he did make, were not
attended with complete success, their failure may be ascribed with more
reason to the inveterate character of the evil, and to the strength of
the opposition raised against them, than to any mistake on his part; and
a dispassionate consideration of Cape politics during the last twenty
years will justify the wisdom of his proceedings, and will leave room for
nothing but regret, that his views were not adopted by those who had the
power and opportunity of carrying them on to perfection.
The British Government it is true has done much towards the protection
of the oppressed and ill treated Hottentot. The measures set on foot to
check the trade in slaves, and to prevent the introduction of slavery
into the colony have been successful; and in these respects, the plans
which were commenced during Sir Jahleel’s residence at the Cape may
seem to have been brought to the conclusion that he wished. But the
efforts made for the amelioration of the state of the Hottentots were
not so immediately successful, and the end which he there had in view
has not been accomplished in the most satisfactory manner. At the time
when the freedom of the Hottentots was secured by law, the Boors were
not convinced that their interests were properly considered in the
transaction. Means were not taken to explain to them the real nature
of the alteration, which the executive Government felt it necessary to
introduce; and men, ignorant as they were in general, and from national
prejudice disposed to suspect evil in the measures of their new rulers,
were easily persuaded to think that the British Government wished to be
generous at their expence; and to establish a character for benevolence,
by depriving them of what they considered as their rights. A compensation
for the Hottentots, whom they regarded as slaves, was awarded; and a
compensation, which if it had been paid on the spot, and in the currency
with which they were familiar, would have satisfied all their wishes. But
from a strange fatality of error, this compensation was paid in bills on
London, and not in a currency with which they were familiar. The Boor
unused to mercantile transactions, and unable to negociate the payment of
such securities in the wilderness where his life was past, was obliged
to put the bills into other hands, in order to obtain their liquidation.
Dishonest adventurers introduced themselves, who offered to undertake
the business; but who fixed their own terms, and made their own bargain;
and the unfortunate farmer receiving a mere fraction of that which he
considered to be the value of his slave, felt that he had been swindled
out of his property, by the form of a legal transaction, and looked on
the Government as the cause of the loss he had sustained.
The resentment which this treatment gave rise to, led to that singular
movement of which we have been obliged to hear so much; and which is
only practicable in pastoral nations; when the Boor population, with all
its property of herds and flocks, quitted the territory which it used to
occupy, and advanced into the Cafir districts, proclaiming as it went its
own independence, and seeking a new settlement in the wilderness, exempt
from the vexatious interference of the British Government.
As a secession like this militated against all principles of society,
and must have led to an aggression on the property of the Cafir tribes,
which would have exposed the colony to acts of retaliation on their
part, it was necessary that the movement should be checked, and that
the rebellious emigrants should be reduced to submission. This has not
however been effected without bloodshed and difficulty; and the state of
the colony exhibits a melancholy picture of the danger which results from
ill-combined or precipitated measures, even when the object in view is
one of unquestionable usefulness. The error in execution however must not
be allowed to impugn the wisdom of the original design. Had Sir Jahleel
Brenton been able to carry out the whole of his benevolent purpose, the
feelings of the Boor masters would have been consulted, as well as the
security of the Hottentot servant. Allowance would have been made for the
jealousies of a prejudiced and ignorant class of men; and no unnecessary
offence would have been given. All inevitable suspicion would have been
provided for and removed, and the success of the scheme might have been
secured by the patience and discretion with which it was advanced to its
completion.
It has seemed but just to anticipate events, and to name what is now a
matter of colonial history, in order to guard the subject of this memoir
from the imputation of having originated, or pressed forward measures,
which have led to painful results, and to a temporary disturbance of the
peace of the country. There is every reason to hope that the movements
which have thus been glanced at, are by this time effectually subdued,
and that the pacification of the colony is secured; but it was necessary
to shew that the real causes of the Boors’ insurrection were not the
restoration of the Hottentots to the rights of human beings, but the
working of national prejudices, inseparable from the condition of a
conquered settlement; and the resentment cherished by covetous, but
ill-informed men, who thought they had been atrociously wronged by a
Government, which in their hearts they hated.
The farmers might have been gradually convinced, had proper pains been
taken to explain the nature of the change, that it was not right to
hold a fellow-creature in the sort of bondage to which the natives
were reduced; and had proper measures been adopted in the payment of
the compensation money, they might have been made to feel that a fair
equivalent was given to them by the Government, which vindicated the
slaves from their property, and curtailed the power they had been
accustomed to exercise over them.
Sir Jahleel’s intimacy with Dr. Philip continued, though the
correspondence seems to have dropped after he left the Cape, in
proportion as other means were adopted for the improvement of the colony.
But his agency was at a subsequent period most advantageously employed in
furtherance of a benevolent plan, which originating with Captain Edward
Pelham Brenton, was sanctioned and supported by his brother, for rescuing
the juvenile delinquents which haunt the streets of London, from their
life of misery and sin. It was found on enquiry, that a large portion
of this wretched class, which it was at one time calculated amounted
to nearly 15,000 lads and boys, living without a home or shelter, or
anything like regular employment; consisted of deserted orphans, or of
boys who had escaped from the metropolitan workhouses. These unhappy
outcasts of society either earned a precarious living by sweeping the
streets, and holding horses at markets, and places of public resort,
or else maintained themselves by petty acts of plunder. Their dwelling
was found in the uninhabited houses on the outskirts of London, the dry
arches of bridges, or some such like receptacle; and here they were
congregated together at night, if they failed in finding admission to
some of the haunts of infamy and vice. Their habits necessarily exposed
them to the suspicion of the police, and their wants soon brought them
under its notice. The commission to prison for some petty theft put the
stamp of crime on the character, and introduced them to the acquaintance
of more advanced and hardened accomplices. The first imprisonment
therefore was speedily followed by another. Crime followed crime by a
kind of necessary sequence, though crime became more atrocious as it
was repeated; and after a succession of imprisonments had been found
ineffectual to reclaim an offender, who had no means of living but by the
offence, which subjected him to punishment; the unhappy lad received a
final sentence of transportation, and was sent to fill up the measure of
his sufferings and his guilt in a penal colony.
Captain Brenton conceived that something might be done for these poor
creatures, and that if it might be done, it should be done. He had
seen the wonderful effect produced on the mind by the discipline of
a king’s ship, when that discipline was tempered by discretion and
kindness; and he resolved to make an experiment on that class, which the
world was disposed to regard as the most lost and the most hopeless,
the juvenile delinquents of the metropolis. The enquiries he had made
into the cases of individuals had satisfied him, that their misery was
often the occasion of their crime; and that they were driven by want of
necessaries, which they had not any possible means of obtaining, to the
acts of dishonesty which exposed them to punishment. Many of them had
assured him, and with appearances of sincerity, which it would have been
inhumanity to doubt, that they hated the life that they were leading; and
that they should embrace with thankfulness any course of labour, which
offered them security and food; and he was willing to make an experiment
on a small scale, of what might be done towards recovering these outcasts
of the world. Premises were taken in the parish of Hackney, and fitted
up for the accommodation of seventy or eighty boys. A man eminently
qualified for the situation of the head of such an establishment was
found, and found willing to undertake it. An outfit of the simplest and
most economical kind was provided, with cots for the boys to sleep in,
spades and other tools for working in the garden, and the usual supply
of school requisites for their education. In a little volume entitled
‘The Bible and the Spade,’ Captain Brenton explained the plan of his
benevolent undertaking; and the place was soon filled with boys swept
from the streets of London, and for the first time in their lives brought
under the influence of Christian education; and allowed to taste the
comforts of a settled home, cleanliness, warmth and a regular supply of
food.
The first results were highly satisfactory. The mixture of kindness and
vivacity in the master’s manner, seemed to awaken the sluggish energies
of the idle, and to attach the affections of boys, who had hardly ever
been addressed in such a tone before. Activity prevailed in the school,
and in the garden; and what was of still more importance, a sense of
self-respect, and a desire of honest independence, began to shew itself
in the boys, and to encourage hopes of the commencement of a moral
change in the character of the inmates. The effect to be expected from
the discipline of the school, would however have been less encouraging,
if the boys were to have been returned to the society from which they
were rescued, as soon as they were discharged. It could not have been
hoped that such a change of habit as this temporary withdrawal from
evil produced, should resist the temptations with which they would then
be surrounded; and Captain Brenton shewed as much knowledge of human
nature as benevolence, when he arranged as a subsidiary, but essential
part of his system, the transfer of his pupils to a new and less exposed
situation. The friendly services of Dr. Philip were therefore here called
in to provide for these reclaimed delinquents, places of employment
at the Cape. The services of an English boy, though ill-educated and
rude, were of some value to colonists, who were dependent on the half
reclaimed savages of the country; and the mere recollection of what these
boys had known of the usages of civilized life, enabled them to imitate
what their masters had never seen. The demand accordingly increased.
The boys who had gone out, and who had found situations as servants, or
cattle-keepers, wrote back favourable accounts of their condition; and a
resource seemed opened, which might have relieved London of some of its
misery, and might have carried some new comforts into the wilderness of
the Cape.
It is with regret that the conclusion of the attempt must be reported;
but it is well that men should be aware, that he who endeavours to assist
the worst of his species, must lay his account to expect from them the
worst of treatment in return.
Captain Brenton had been induced at the request of a worthless couple,
to admit their son into the refuge, and to send him to the Cape as an
apprentice. The parents when they found that the boy was gone, conceived
that they had got the means of extorting money from his benefactor.
They pretended to be anxious about their child, and to be dissatisfied
with the representations made to them of his position. They carried
their complaint to the Lord Mayor, and declared that the boy had been
kidnapped. The public papers took the cause up with violence, and added
publicity to the charge. The boy was sent for from the Cape, but before
he could be brought back, a sudden attack of gout, to which Captain
Brenton was subject, and which came on, the evening subsequent to a
public meeting, carried him off; and left the refuge at Hackney Wick a
monument of his benevolence, and of the ingratitude that he met with. It
is to be hoped however that the benefit of his example will not be lost.
The public seems now to be agreed that steps must be taken to remove the
evil of such a population of juvenile delinquents; and will probably
feel that as prevention is better than cure, it will be expedient to
withdraw those who have once fallen, from the scene of past exposure, and
to assist their removal to a country where a new course of life may be
commenced under happier circumstances. The advantages of possessing such
an agency as that of Dr. Philip, will then at least be appreciated, and
the public will endeavour to renew a system, which twenty years ago was
denounced.[26]
The time however came, when the more active part of Sir Jahleel’s life
was to be closed, and he was to be withdrawn from his sphere of labour
at the Cape. The general pacification which ensued after the battle of
Waterloo justified the reduction of all our colonial establishments; and
in the year 1821, Sir Jahleel received directions to wind up the accounts
of the Naval Commissioner at the Cape, and to place the dockyard on a
reduced scale. It was not possible that he should leave the Cape without
deep feelings of regret, increased by the recollections of what he had
lost, and what he had left there; but no regret that he experienced at
leaving a place endeared to him by so many associations, could equal that
of those who seemed to lose in him, the protector, the patron, and the
friend whom they had learnt to value and appreciate. During the years of
his residence there, he had been occupied unremittingly in some work of
benevolence or kindness. There was hardly a class in society which had
not received some benefit through his intervention; and there were many
who felt that but for him they should have received none. The society in
which he had moved were conscious that the mind that had added charms
to their intercourse, and elevation to its tone, was to be withdrawn;
while the poor and the oppressed, whether English or Dutch, Hottentot or
Negro, felt that the resource to which they should have applied in the
first place, and with the greatest hope of relief, was taken from them;
and that no door would be found, to which they could turn with equal
confidence, when that of the Commissioner’s was closed.
The brief narrative of his voyage home may be given in his own words, and
as it is with this that his own memoir of his life concludes, it is well
that he should tell the tale of his last experience on an element, where
he had done so much and suffered so much.
“When the news of the death of Buonaparte, which took place at St.
Helena, on the 5th of May, 1821, reached England, orders were dispatched
to the Cape of Good Hope for reducing the establishment of the dockyard
at Simon’s Bay, and leaving the stores in the charge of a clerk and a
foreman of the shipwrights, to assist in the repair of such ships as
might occasionally arrive. On the 6th of November, 1821, I embarked with
my family on board the Vigo, bearing the flag of Rear Admiral Lambert.
We arrived at St. Helena on the 21st, and after staying there a week,
we proceeded on our way to England. Having got to the northward of the
Tropic, we experienced very bad weather, a continuance of heavy gales
from the Westward. In one of these gales, an event occurred, which should
be recorded, as it shews from what very slight causes the most serious
accidents may arise. In the evening of the 26th December, the wind having
moderated, a reef was let out of the main topsail, and the top gallant
mast and yard were got up. It continued however to freshen again in the
night, and before morning it was found necessary to close reef the main
topsail again, to get down the yard and to shape the top gallant mast.
While employed in the latter operation, the ship took a very heavy lurch,
(she was then scudding) and the people who had hold of the mast rope were
violently thrown to leeward. The force this circumstance gave to the mast
rope, lifted the heel of the top gallant mast above the cross trees, and
rendered all further efforts to strike the mast unavailing. Before any
fresh efforts could be made, the topmast springstay gave way, and the
topmast stay soon followed, when the mast went, a few feet above the cap,
and falling upon the lee topsail yard-arm, carried that away; and the
accumulated wreck coming down upon the main yard, carried away the lee
lift, by which the weather quarter of the main yard, coming in contact
with the top, gave way, carrying with it the weather side of the top
crosstrees; thus rendering the mainmast completely disabled, as far as
its sails were concerned. At this moment the ship broached too, against a
tremendous sea, but providentially without any serious damage. From this
circumstance may be seen the importance of not delaying to get down a top
gallant mast in time, when a gale is evidently increasing. We arrived at
Spithead on the 1st of January, 1822, and it was a singular coincidence
that we had left England precisely on that day seven years before.”
With his return to England the more active part of Sir Jahleel Brenton’s
professional life was closed. In one sense it might have been said to
have ended, when he fell wounded on the deck of the Spartan; for from
that time he was incapable of supporting the fatigues inseparable from
active service, and nothing but zeal for his profession, combined with a
more than ordinary measure of firmness of mind, could have carried him
through the duties of the situations which he subsequently filled. The
manner in which the duties of the Commissioner’s office at the Cape, and
those of situations still more important which he filled at home were
afterwards discharged, may serve to shew that man’s powers of usefulness
are not limited by the powers of the body; and the supremacy of mind is
exhibited most distinctly, where the corporeal part only hinders the
exertions which are required from the man.
His first object in returning to England was to seek for the children
committed to his charge the shelter and advantages of home; and the
affection which bound all the members of his large family together, soon
secured to him and them every human consolation and support.
The length of the war which was at last closed, and the general
pacification of the world that followed on the death of Napoleon,
precluded all idea of active service; and though the feeling which had
animated his professional life still existed, and a hope that he might
yet have to hoist his own flag, and be again entrusted with command,
never was entirely lost, he prepared himself for pursuits of a different
kind, and endeavoured to improve the leisure which he had so gloriously
won.
Shortly after his return home he received a gratifying proof of the
opinion entertained of the services he had rendered to his country, by
his appointment to the temporary command of the Royal Charlotte Yacht, at
the request of His Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence, when the yacht
was employed to convey the Duke and the Duchess to Antwerp, in the summer
of 1822.
Shortly after his return from Antwerp he married Miss Harriet Brenton,
his cousin, fourth daughter of the late James Brenton, Esq. one of the
Judges of Halifax, in Nova Scotia; and though still incapable of active
service, and suffering at intervals extreme pain from his wound, which
shewed a continual tendency to inflammation, he was much occupied in
attending Committees in London on professional subjects, to which he was
called by the Lords of the Admiralty. During the same period he had the
happiness of making the personal acquaintance of Mr. Wilberforce, whom he
had previously only known by correspondence, or as a public character;
and he shared with every one who had the privilege of knowing that
excellent man, the feelings of fascination which belonged to the warmth
of his heart and the powers of his conversation.
The state of his health at the close of 1823 rendered it desirable that
he should remove to Bath, where, in the commencement of the following
year, his youngest daughter, Harriet Mary, was born. During this period
his correspondence with Mr. Wilberforce, and with his respected friend at
the Cape, Dr. Philip, offer many interesting specimens of the zeal with
which he laboured, under circumstances that would have chilled the spirit
of most men, to promote the welfare both temporal and eternal of all who
had ever been placed beneath his care. But it seems unnecessary to extend
the Memoir of such a life by extracts that only repeat the exhibition of
a character more effectually pourtrayed by actions; and enough has been
already said to enable the reader to understand and appreciate the mind
by which that character was formed.
In the year 1825 Sir Jahleel received the appointment of Colonel of
Marines, and removed to a cottage in Hampshire, where he had opportunity
for indulging his taste for country pursuits, which, next to those of
his profession, were the objects of his preference and his favourite
resource. In this retirement he regained in a considerable degree both
health and strength, and with returning powers he felt himself justified
in applying for employment on active service. In consequence of his
application he was appointed in November, 1829, to the command of
H.M.S. Donegal, at that time stationed as the Guard Ship at Sheerness.
He retained this command however only till the summer of 1830, when he
was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral of the Blue. This increase of
rank was however accompanied by a very serious diminution of income; and
on leaving the Donegal he thought it expedient to take a small house
at Stoke, near Plymouth, which for the time became his home; and here,
though occasionally suffering severely from his wound and from gout, he
found in his home circle, and the resources which his pencil and his
books supplied, the materials of a very happy existence.
In the following year a situation of a very different kind was proposed
to him, in the appointment of Lieut. Governor to Greenwich Hospital;
and as the circumstances under which the offer was made, and finally
accepted, are honourable to all the parties engaged in the transaction,
and serve to reflect light on the character of our subject; the Editor
feels that on this occasion he may introduce some portions of a
correspondence which in its original form might have been considered
private. The proposal was made by Sir James Graham, then First Lord of
the Admiralty, in the following letter.
ADMIRALTY, 24th JULY, 1831.
“SIR,
“The situation of Lieutenant Governor of Greenwich Hospital
has become vacant by the death of Captain Brewell, and it has
been determined to offer the appointment to a Rear Admiral. The
salary is £800 a year, with apartments and other contingent
advantages; but of course the half-pay of the officer holding
the situation ceases, and his future promotion and chance for
active employment is stopped.
“The duties also of Lieutenant Governor require constant
residence, and active exertion; for the discipline and good
order of this great establishment depend very much upon his
attention and regular care; and no officer is worthy of the
appointment who is not prepared to second Sir Richard Keats
in the constant and anxious endeavours which he makes, and in
his exemplary zeal to uphold the character and to sustain the
honour of that institution which is the pride of our naval
history.
“Considering your services, your wounds, and your distinguished
reputation, I have thought it my duty to recommend you to His
Majesty for the appointment; and the king has been graciously
pleased to command me to offer it to you, as a mark of his
favour and approbation. I have stated to you explicitly the
conditions, and you will not accept the situation with any
other prospect.
“At all events, in offering it to you, I am glad of an
opportunity of proving my respect for your character, and my
sense of the services which you have rendered to your country.
“I have the honour to be, &c.
“Signed, J. B. GRAHAM.”
“REAR-ADMIRAL SIR JAHLEEL BRENTON.”
To this letter, kind and flattering as it was, the following answer was
returned; and if the reader bears in mind that it was written from a
cottage, by a man whose narrow income hardly allowed him to offer to
his wife and child anything beyond the comforts of a very quiet home,
and to whom the situation at Greenwich must have seemed comparative
affluence; he will know how to appreciate the high professional spirit
which revolted at the conditions proposed, and refused the offer of the
dignified and agreeable position at the hospital, if it was to preclude
all the opportunities of active employment in the service.
“DEVONPORT, JULY 26th, 1831.
“SIR,
“I have the honour to acknowledge your letter of the 24th, and
to assure you that I feel most grateful for the flattering
manner in which you are pleased to mention my services, and for
your great kindness in recommending me to His Majesty, to fill
the situation of Lieutenant Governor of Greenwich Hospital.
“As you have been pleased to enumerate the conditions attached
to the acceptance of this office, I feel convinced you will
expect that I should be guided in my decision by the view I
take of them; and this induces me respectfully to decline the
kind offer, as I cannot willingly give up the hope of active
service and of future promotion.
“I am well aware how many there are of my brother officers,
and those of distinguished reputation, who are candidates for
employment; and how very few are the situations to which we are
eligible; but I shall most cheerfully submit to your decision
upon our respective claims, and should no opportunity offer for
my being called into active service, I shall in my retirement
have the comfort of feeling, that my professional life has been
amply rewarded by the approbation it has received from His
Majesty and the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty.
“As I conceive that His Majesty was pleased to express his
consent to my receiving the appointment, with a view to its
being acceptable to me, I trust I shall not appear insensible
to the high honour of his most gracious approbation in thus
declining it; and I am the more confirmed in this assurance,
from His Majesty’s having in his answer to my request for the
appointment of Commissioner at Portsmouth, expressed himself in
the following manner.
“‘_I trust whenever His Majesty shall command a promotion of
flag officers, I shall have the pleasure of seeing you become
an Admiral, in that state of health which may enable you in
that exalted rank to be of more service to your king and
country._’
“I beg leave in conclusion to repeat how deeply and sincerely
grateful I feel, for the approbation you have so kindly
expressed upon my conduct; which under all circumstances will
be a source of the greatest satisfaction, and which I hope to
retain to the end of my days.
“I have, &c.
“J. BRENTON.”
“TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE SIR J. GRAHAM.”
It might have been apprehended that the correspondence would have been
closed by this reply; and that Sir Jahleel Brenton might have been
left to experience in retirement and poverty the consequences of his
inveterate attachment to the active duties of his service.
It is satisfactory to know that this was not the result; that William
IV. then king, remembered the hopes which he had held out as Duke of
Clarence, and Lord High Admiral; and that the first Lord had the pleasure
of bestowing the situation which he had been so glad to offer. The next
post brought the following letter from the Admiralty.
“ADMIRALTY, JULY 29th, 1831.
“SIR,
“I have had the pleasure of receiving your letter in reply
to mine of the 24th, and I have been induced by the highly
honourable feelings which you have expressed upon declining the
acceptance of the situation of Lieutenant Governor of Greenwich
Hospital, to propose to the King, that His Majesty should
make some alterations as to the conditions upon which the
appointment was offered to you; being in hopes that the country
may still have the benefit of the services of so distinguished
an officer, should an occasion offer for your having a command
afloat.
“His Majesty has been pleased to signify to me his royal
pleasure that the appointment should be offered to you, with
the understanding, that when your turn for a flag promotion
comes for your being raised to the rank of Vice-Admiral, you
may exercise a choice, and either take the step resigning the
appointment, or hold the appointment forfeiting the promotion.
“If this relaxation in the conditions I before mentioned to you
be satisfactory, I shall be glad to hear that you consider the
appointment as one you would like to fill, and I shall be glad
to have a reply from you at your earliest convenience.
“I have, &c.
“J. B. GRAHAM.”
This gratifying communication from the First Lord removed the
difficulties which had prevented Sir Jahleel from accepting with
thankfulness a situation so comfortable in itself, and so full of
interest for one who felt as he did for the welfare of seamen in general.
The answer, which was written the next day, announced his acceptance of
the appointment, in the following words:—
“DEVONPORT, 30th JULY, 1831.
“SIR,
“I have the honour to acknowledge your letter of yesterday,
which I have just received; and I lose not a moment in assuring
you how truly and sincerely grateful I feel for your kindness,
and for the steps you have been pleased to take in my behalf
with His Majesty.
“I can in consequence no longer feel any objection to the
honourable situation, to which you have had the goodness to
nominate me, and hope to fulfil the duties of it in such a
manner as to merit the continuance of your approbation. I hope
in a few days to have the honour of expressing in person the
deep sense I have of the interest you have so kindly manifested
in my behalf.
“I have the honour, &c.
“J. BRENTON.”
The appointment having been offered and thus thankfully received, no
time was lost in taking possession, and in entering on the duties of the
office. Sir Jahleel went up at once to London, and presented himself
at the Admiralty; and had there a long and satisfactory conversation
with Sir James Graham, who said that he was so much impressed by the
sentiments contained in his letter that he had sent it to the King; that
His Majesty was also struck with the statement, and had of his own mind
suggested the arrangement. Sir James further recommended his waiting on
the King, and when Sir Jahleel observed that he had no uniform in town,
overruled the objection, and advised him to leave all with Sir Herbert
Taylor to settle. In a letter addressed to Lady Brenton on the occasion,
he says, “I went to St. James’s, and had a most gracious interview with
His Majesty; who made me sit down and have a long conversation with him.
He asked how I liked the arrangement, and whether I clearly understood
the conditions. I said, I understood them to be, that as soon as it came
to my turn to be promoted to a Vice-Admiral, I should have my choice
between remaining as Lieutenant Governor, and taking my rank. No, said
His Majesty, that is not it. You shall keep the Lieutenant Governorship
as Vice-Admiral; but when you are to have a flag at the main, then you
shall choose whether you remain or take the promotion; but not before.
He then asked after my health, which I told him was quite good with the
exception of a little gout. Gout is nothing said he. No, replied I, and
I hope yet to have the pleasure of serving your Majesty at sea. To this
he said, that was of course out of the question at present. He then
talked of the squadron, as to their sailing, &c. He added many very civil
things, and then wished me a good morning, saying, this was a busy day
with him. So much for the interview.”
Sir Jahleel was happy to find that the situation at Greenwich in point
of household accommodation and comforts, exceeded his expectation, and
offered all that he could have wished to find. He was equally pleased
with the reception he met with from that distinguished officer, Sir R.
Keats, the Governor, and the other official neighbours whom he found
there; nor was he less delighted by finding among the pensioners who were
thenceforth to be under his control, some of those who had shared the
perils and the glories of his active service. In a letter to his sister,
in describing the Hospital, he writes, “I have found several of my old
shipmates there, and amongst others my old steward of the Spartan, John
Davis, who is very useful in attending to the needful, and may be more
so when the things come. I was not a little amused yesterday at the old
carpenter’s mate of the Spartan, who accosted me with congratulations,
and said, ‘Here we are sir, laid up together in Greenwich tier;’
thinking, I dare say, what lucky fellows we both were to get into such a
snug berth; and there is some truth in it too.”
It was in the month of September, 1831, that Sir Jahleel took possession
of his apartments at Greenwich Hospital, with a mind relieved from the
dread of having relinquished all hopes of active employment, and with an
earnest desire to devote all the energies of his mind and heart to the
welfare and improvement of the establishment. With what zeal he entered
on the duties of his office, and with what tender concern he watched over
the people committed to his charge, the men who were the objects of his
care, and those who were the associates of his employment can testify.
It was hardly possible to have conceived a man more perfectly fitted for
the situation which he had to fill at Greenwich; and the old veterans
who had either known or heard of his character as an officer, and were
prepared to receive their new Lieutenant Governor with the honour due to
his gallantry and achievements, were delighted to find the tenderness of
a parent exhibited in his consideration of their wants, and to see the
kind cheerfulness of a sailor tempered by all the dignity of a Christian
in his manners and conversation.
During the period of his office, that excellent establishment, the
Naval School, was re-organized; various improvements were introduced in
the internal economy of the Hospital; libraries were formed for the
amusement of the inmates in their hours of leisure; and much was done
for the amelioration of their general habits. But his usefulness was
not limited to the precincts of the Hospital. Placed as he was at an
easy distance from the metropolis, he was able to obey many calls of
benevolence; and to lend his help to many excellent institutions, whether
connected with the navy or not. The Sailors’ Home, an establishment
which the country owes to the devoted and disinterested labours of
Captain Elliot, and the few who laboured with him; and in which the
country has incurred a debt which she never will be able to repay; was
from its commencement an object of the deepest interest to Sir Jahleel
Brenton; and his advice, his interest, his assistance, as far as his
means permitted, were always given, and given without reserve to the
promoters of the work. At the same time, the condition of the seamen
belonging to the port of London, the snares to which they were exposed,
the treatment that they met with from their employers, were the subject
of his continued thought and exertions.
It was during this period likewise that he was able to lend some help
to his brother, Captain Edward Brenton, in his praiseworthy exertions
in behalf of that wretched class, the scandal and the plague of our
metropolis,—the juvenile delinquents; exertions, to which reference has
already been made, and which the world seems now disposed to estimate
more justly than it did at first. He attended the last meeting of that
association, though in a state of health which rendered the effort very
painful; and both he and his brother were attacked by gout the next day.
This attack in Captain Brenton’s case terminated fatally, and in Sir
Jahleel’s was accompanied with considerable danger and long confinement.
In the year 1833 Sir Jahleel went over to France, and passed a fortnight
of great enjoyment with his sister and brother-in-law at St. Omers. He
here had the opportunity of retracing the beautiful scenes with which he
had been familiar in his boyish days, and enriched his portfolio with
many interesting sketches.
The next year he visited the same beloved relatives at Paris, and on that
occasion a little circumstance occurred, which it seems right to mention,
both as exhibiting the firmness with which he held his own religious
principles, and the respect paid to that firmness by an individual who
occupies a very important place in the history of our times. As his stay
in Paris lasted some weeks, Sir Jahleel felt it his duty to pay his
respects to H. M. Louis Philippe, whom, as Duke of Orleans, he had met
in the Mediterranean, and with whose mother, the Duchess of Orleans, he
had been intimately acquainted while Commissioner at Port Mahon. It was
not the season for public presentations, and he therefore communicated
his wish in a private note addressed to one of the officers of state,
who had the charge of arranging such interviews; and the reply fixed the
following Sunday evening for the time of reception. Sir Jahleel returned
an answer expressing his deep regret that he could not obey the summons
of His Majesty on that day, as it was one which he regarded as sacred,
and which he invariably devoted to other objects.
It is gratifying to be able to add the reply which this answer obtained,
and as the document is in existence, it is well to repeat the original
of a message, as honourable to him who dictated it, as it was to him who
received it.
PALAIS DE NEUILLY, LE 21 JUILLET, 1834.
“AIDE DE CAMP DE SERVICE PRES DU ROI,
“L’aide de Camp de Service a l’honneur d’informer Monsieur le
Contre Amiral Brenton, que le motif, qui l’a empéché de venir
hier a Neuilly a été apprecié par le Roi; et que Sa Majesté l’y
recevra demain Mardi 22 Juillet, a 8 heures du Soir.”
At the time thus designated Sir Jahleel presented himself at Neuilly.
He was received by the King with his usual condescension and kindness,
and was introduced to the Queen and the family circle by which he was
surrounded.
This interview was soon followed by an invitation to dine at the
Tuilleries, and the King apparently made a point of testifying his
respect for the scrupulous firmness, with which the honour of his first
invitation had been declined.
During the latter part of Sir Jahleel’s residence at Greenwich, he
took great interest in the Society which was formed for the relief of
Shipwrecked Mariners, and carried on an extensive correspondence on
the subject. He likewise wrote and published his Appeal to the British
Nation, on the state of the seamen, with the intention of creating a
feeling for the Sailors’ Home and the Seamen’s Refuge; and this work was
followed by a more enlarged and pointed appeal, under the title of “The
Hope of the Navy.”
The publication of this work led to the following letter from the
excellent Mrs. Fry, which seems worth inserting, as exhibiting the
contest in her mind between customs which she condemned, and principles
which she approved of and admired.
“UPTON WEST HAM, 10, 6, 1840.
“DEAR FRIEND,
“I now forward thee the answers from Thomas Webber, and shall
be much pleased if he can get into the Hospital at Greenwich.
“I feel obliged by thy kind attention to my request. Previous
to my writing to thee, and thinking of the case of T. Webber, I
had written to Nisbet respecting thy book, advising its being
recommended for our ships of war. Thou knowest most probably
that my views are, that pure Christian principle must lead
out of all war, and bring peace eventually to all mankind;
therefore I could not encourage the circulation of any book
that promoted war. But I think in this the Christian spirit is
so much upheld, that it will on the whole promote the love of
peace on earth, and good will to men.
“I think the retirement of the country will be very pleasant to
Lady Brenton and thyself. I hope you will find it useful to you.
“I remain,
“With Christian regard and esteem, thy friend,
“ELIZABETH FRY.”
In these happy occupations, interrupted frequently by severe attacks
of gout, but always resumed as soon as returning strength permitted;
with a mind which watched the progress of events with anxiety, but
which drew from the faith by which it lived, a fund of cheerful and
overflowing kindness which nothing could repress; he passed the years
of his residence at Greenwich. The death of his brother, Captain E.
Brenton, which took place after a very short illness in 1839, was a
severe blow; and his own constitution weakened by repeated attacks
of the same debilitating malady, led him to think that it might be
necessary to try change of air, as a palliative or a cure. He went for
this purpose to try the effect of the German baths; and through Ostend,
Brussels, and Cologne, reached Wisbaden. The waters at first appeared to
succeed admirably. His strength and spirits revived; the affectionate
relatives with whom he was travelling were delighted with his progress,
and flattered themselves with the hope that he was to derive some marked
and enduring improvement. At this time however his youngest daughter
was seized with fever, which was pronounced to be typhus; and from that
moment, anxiety for her absorbed every other feeling. Through the mercy
of God her life was spared, and the anxious parents were permitted to
carry back to England the child over which their anxieties had been so
painfully exercised. The union of intense feeling and patient resignation
which his conduct on this occasion exhibited, struck even those, who
had been accustomed to see him on previous occasions of trial; and left
impressions which it has been their delight subsequently to recall.
He returned to England, but shortly after his return was seized
with another fit of gout, more severe and more tedious than any he
had previously endured. But even then, his sick-room is described as
being the abode of patience and of peace; and when he was not actually
suffering from severe pain, it was the scene of constant cheerfulness.
The tenderness of his feelings for others overcame all sense of personal
suffering, and the gratitude which he shewed for every attention however
trifling, during his illness, was touching to all who had anything to do
with him.
With the spring of 1840 he began to recover his strength, and the first
use he made of that recovery was to resume his labours for the good of
others, and to occupy himself with schemes of benevolence. It was obvious
however that his strength was no longer equal to the exertions he had
been accustomed to make. The position that he occupied at Greenwich had
likewise lost some of its charms, for the promotion which took place on
the Queen’s coronation in 1838, would have raised him to the rank of
Vice-Admiral, and he had indulged the hope, that the promise which was
made him on accepting the appointment, that his rank should go on without
the alternative of resignation, would have been confirmed. This however
was not the case, and though the circumstances of his family induced him
to submit to what he regarded as a painful degradation, by retaining the
office at the sacrifice of rank; it was not without a severe struggle
that he resigned the hope of active employment, and submitted to the
conditions imposed on his situation.
The events which have been previously mentioned acted with greater power
on a mind which had been thus deprived of its chief object through life;
and when in 1840, a good service pension became available by the death of
Sir Sidney Smith; he determined on exchanging his situation at Greenwich
for that, and on retiring from public life. His first removal was to
Casterton, near Kirkby Lonsdale, where he occupied the Rectory house;
and in that delightful scenery, and in the society of the excellent
family at the hall, he found a retreat such as he had often imagined,
but perhaps had never met with before. Once settled there, he began to
enter into the objects of interest with which he was surrounded; and it
was hoped that the change of air and scene might have had a decided and
beneficial effect on his health. His mind certainly was cheered, and his
professional feelings gratified, by a letter received at this time from
the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, informing him that he had been
promoted to the rank of Vice-Admiral of the Blue, and that his name was
placed on the list of Flag Officers of the fleet, in the order in which
it would have stood, if he had not been passed over in the promotion of
the 28th June, 1838.
His residence at Casterton did not however continue beyond the first
year. The climate was found too humid, and the distance from medical
advice was severely felt by one, who was subject to sudden and severe
attacks, and who had been accustomed to the advantages connected with
Greenwich Hospital. On leaving Casterton he took a house at Elford,
in Staffordshire, and while residing there, he published the memoir
of his much beloved brother, Captain Edward Pelham Brenton, which has
been already named. He explains in the work the motives which led him
to undertake it. In the year 1840 he also published a pamphlet on the
importance of the coast fishery, both as forming a nursery for seamen,
and as opening to our increasing population a vast increase of the means
of subsistence.
In the midst of these calm and useful occupations the love of his
profession still retained its power. The change of place and prolonged
repose appeared to have been beneficial to his health; with returning
strength his desire for active employment revived; and his health and
spirits having been renovated by a visit to Portsmouth, he wrote to the
First Lord of the Admiralty, and asked for a command. This application
would no doubt have been complied with, and the last object of his
ambition attained, had it pleased God to spare his life; but a cold
caught early in the spring of the year 1844 brought on a fit of the
gout, from which he never rallied; and under this, his constitution
shattered by long extended suffering, gradually gave way. In the
commencement of this illness he expressed his firm conviction, that he
should not recover; but those around him, who had seen him rally on
former occasions, and felt that all the warmth and energy of his earlier
years remained unbroken, were unwilling to admit his apprehensions, and
flattered themselves that they arose only from the depressing effects of
the malady under which he laboured.
Three days previous to his death, Lady Brenton was reading to him the
fifty-ninth chapter of Isaiah, and it drew from him some strong and
striking declarations of his own state. He dwelt in confession on his
own unworthiness, but added the expression of his firm confidence and
lively hope in the merits of his Redeemer. He said that he felt that he
had nothing to plead, nothing to bring forward in his own behalf. Free
undeserved grace was his only hope; to that he looked, and it was on that
he rested; but it was in the full assurance of faith that he did so.
This was his last conversation. From that time he dozed almost
incessantly, and seemed unwilling to be disturbed to take the prescribed
medicine. But as soon as he perceived that the refusal distressed Lady
Brenton, who was his constant attendant, he immediately made the required
effort, and expressed his regret at having given her pain. On the
evening of Saturday, April 2nd, his sister, Mrs. John Brenton, found him
sufficiently awake to converse for a few minutes, when he inquired in his
usual affectionate manner after all the members of the family. He then
seemed pleased to find that she and Lady Brenton were conversing together
in his room, and expressed the delight he felt at seeing those he loved
around him.
He passed a restless night, but the medical report in the morning was
rather favourable; indeed it was so favourable, that every member of the
family except Lady Brenton, went to church both morning and afternoon.
Lady Brenton however during her solitary watching, felt an undescribable
alarm, for which she could not account, except from the constant stupor
of her husband. Uneasy without being able to explain the cause of her
uneasiness, she longed for the hour when his medical attendants would
again visit him. Providentially they were with her when the crisis came,
and they were standing with her by the bed side when a sudden spasm came
on, and in a moment all was over, and the vital spark had fled.
The narrative of a man’s life is his character. It is not the Editor’s
wish to add to this memoir of Sir Jahleel Brenton any laboured or
detailed description of its subject, for he feels, that if his readers
have not learnt to appreciate the man by his behaviour under the various
trials which have been included in the narrative, it is hardly to be
hoped that they should be taught it by any other mode of representation.
Had space permitted, or had it been felt proper to draw more largely
from his correspondence, something no doubt might have been added to the
effect produced by the story. Sir Jahleel left behind him many papers
on moral and religious topics, which do equal credit to his head and
heart, and which are interesting evidences of the depth and seriousness
of his feelings. No one however who has perused the preceding pages can
doubt of the reality or the soundness of his religious principles, and it
is unnecessary to multiply evidence of a fact, which all are agreed in
believing. Some regret is experienced in withholding the letters written
to his family, and the journals kept for their information during his
tours on the continent; for in addition to the picture which they give
of kind affectionate feelings, and playful kindness, they exhibit much
descriptive talent. But the sacredness of private communications should
never be violated without a cause; and it can hardly be necessary to add
a line to the numberless instances of affection and regard which abound
throughout the narrative, in order to strengthen the impression as to the
character of Sir Jahleel in these respects.
The Editor is happy to add that the First Lord of the Admiralty, Lord
Haddington, testified his sense of the services he had rendered to his
country by promoting his son-in-law, Mr. Brenton Stewart, at the earliest
opportunity. If the life then which is now submitted to the public is
not one of unmixed success or prosperity; if it is chequered by adverse
circumstances and occasional disappointments of just and reasonable
hope, it is not the less instructive on that account; while the general
result is still such as to encourage imitation. The man who serves the
world, unquestionably, serves a hard master; and if he looks to the
world’s gratitude for his reward, he will most probably be grievously
disappointed. But the man who serves God, while doing his duty in the
world, may still expect to meet the blessing of his master even in the
things of the world. These indeed are not the reward he seeks, nor are
they the real objects of his pursuit; but in God’s overruling providence
they are generally given to those whose ways please Him; and they may be
thankfully received as tokens of his favour, though they do not form the
portion of His children.
Under other circumstances Sir Jahleel might have risen higher in his
profession; his name might have occupied a place among the great
naval leaders of the country; he might have been called to share in
the counsels of his sovereign; and his family might have been left in
affluence and distinction. But for one who rises so high, hundreds fail;
and thousands fall below the mark of notice, and live and die unknown.
The measure of success which Sir Jahleel met with in his profession, was
perhaps as much as it was safe for man to have; and those who saw the
veneration with which he was regarded in public, and the love and the
affection with which he was surrounded at home; the sense entertained
of his value by those who could appreciate his character as an officer,
and the regard and esteem which his manners and conversation conciliated
from all; must have felt that the world had not much to add where God had
given so largely.
At all events, death, the great test of what is good for man and
evil, has now settled the question beyond a doubt. If there were
disappointments in his course, they are forgotten, or only regarded as
trials sent in mercy, to prove the power of that grace by which they were
surmounted. If there were sufferings, sorrows, afflictions, they are now
seen to be means, by which a Heavenly Father’s love subdued the wandering
affections of his child, and drew to Himself that heart which was not to
be given to the creature.
The very things that seemed to be against him are doubtless now felt to
have been for him; and the saint in light recognizes the wisdom and the
mercy which directed the discipline of the saint on earth. As such, his
narrative is offered with the more confidence to those, who may with
reason be urged to take his character as their model for imitation; and
the young man who enters his profession with the spirit and the mind of
Sir Jahleel Brenton, may be well content to look forward to an old age,
cheered as his was, by the recollection of past services, and rich in the
enjoyment of a peace which the world could neither give nor take away.
FOOTNOTES
[1] “This gallant officer has had his bravery rewarded by being promoted
to the rank of Post Captain, and now commands the Cæsar of eighty-four
guns, which at present bears the flag of Admiral Sir J. Saumarez.”
[2] Afterwards the Honourable William Walpole, a Post Captain.
[3] “I think it was on this occasion, that, one morning, as I was going
in, as usual, to early prayers, one of the men who had liberty to come
into the town, came to me, and advised me not to go into the prison;
for the men were ready to make an attempt upon my life, except I would
promise to send in the money, which he knew I would not do. I, however,
went in. The men crowded in a very tumultuous manner, in my way. There
was a great buzz and murmur, but no one spoke; and I passed through
them, and found my people as devout, and totally unaffected, with the
storm that was going forward around them, as if they had been in another
atmosphere. As I returned through the passage, still crowded with the
perturbators, a man came up to me, and I then made up my mind, that
the scene was going to begin. He was, however, only come, as was usual
every time I went in, to ask me to do something for him; and I then
passed through the crowd more dense and tumultuous than before, without
however being accosted by any one. This sort of ebullition, fomented by
the Commandant and his people, while I durst not explain myself even to
those in whom I had the greatest confidence, occurred two or three times,
during my residence at Givet.”
[4] “One evening, when some French persons in the town, were sitting
with me, some one desired to speak with me. I went out to him in the
ante-room, and he began to state to me, in a voice which must be audible
in the room where they were sitting, the ingratitude of the French
government towards him, and to request me to communicate to the British
Admiralty, a plan which he had discovered, of destroying a whole fleet
of ships of war. I simply told him, that I was there as a minister of
religion, and could not enter into anything of a military, or political
nature.
“At another time, the Count de L, a Flemish nobleman, introduced himself
to me, in what way, it does not now occur to me. I had not the least
suspicion of him; and even when my French friends cautioned me, I
thought they were only angry with him, because he spoke so much against
that people and government. Even this circumstance gave me no distrust,
because it was common with the Flemings. However, he was so ultra in his
remarks, saying that they had scarcely a human countenance, and things
equally absurd, that I inclined to the opposite side of the question, and
never said anything that could be laid hold of, not from suspicion, but
from a cautiousness, which had become habitual.”
[5] “Dr. Lawmont, the surgeon of the ship commanded by the unfortunate
Captain Wright, and who afterwards practised as Physician at Glasgow,
obtained permission, about two years after my removal to Givet, to go
and reside at that depôt, in the exercise of his profession. He was
making the journey on foot, when a party of gens d’armes, who were
conducting some felons, overtook him; and in spite of his passport, which
he produced, he was strung to them by the hand, and marched to the next
brigade. What then would such persons do, under a condemnatory order from
the Minister of War.”
[6] “Mr. Lee and Mr. Maude visited me at Givet, and went into the
hospital with me. I stayed behind to speak to the men, when one of
them took the opportunity to go out to them, and say, that he had not
received his share of some money which I had obtained for them from
Captain Brenton, and which from dishonesty on the part of a person he
employed, had not been paid to them. At that moment I came up, and to the
great surprise, I suppose, of the man, confirmed all that he had said. I
informed them that when the money had been paid, this man was not in the
depôt, and did not get his share; and if they would get it for him, I
should be very thankful; but having engaged the Captain to pay the money
a second time, out of his own pocket, I had not the heart to apply to him
a third. This they declined, and each of us gave the man something.”
[7] They were not all Wesleyans; but of that persuasion, jointly with
those that hold the Calvinistic tenets.
[8] “General Monleau, who would willingly have ordered the death of
half a dozen English in the mere hope of gratifying the Emperor, was
complaining in a large party one evening, of the total impossibility of
keeping the English midshipmen; and saying, that he had put them in the
strongest dungeons in vain. ‘Je vous indiquerai, general,’ said a lady in
company distinguished for her talents, ’un moyen sur.’ The general was
all ears. ‘Mettez les sur leur parole, les Anglois sont esclaves de leur
parole d’honneur.’”
[9] One day at dinner we were speaking of the final condemnation of
sinners. The brother of Colonel D’Ivory who had been in the army, and
was certainly a clever and intelligent man, said, ‘he did not understand
how it could be possible for a priest to go out of the world in a state
of condemnation.’ ‘Sir,’ said I, ‘did I understand you right? suppose he
were a wicked man?’ ‘Mais oui, Monsieur, á tel moment que ce soit, il
peut se confesser!’
At another time, I was laughing with a very sensible officer, who had
been in the English army, at ignorant persons, who thought that any
thing which had touched a certain image in that neighbourhood, was a
preservative against the bite of a mad dog; when he took a silver ring
from his finger, and said, ‘how then do you think I have been preserved
from being bit all these years, but by this ring, which has been rubbed
against the image?’
[10] “One day, previous to his departure, I was sitting in my room
writing, when a gentleman was shewn in, dressed in the most elegant
French uniform I had, perhaps, ever seen. Not having the least idea
who it was, I bowed to him, and spoke to him in French. To my great
astonishment, he answered in English, that, ‘understanding there would,
probably, come some money for some of the men who were gone into the
French service, he should be much obliged to me if I would forward it.’
I answered, I fear rather too angrily, ‘that I should certainly send the
money back.’ ‘Then, sir,’ said he, ‘I have done my duty, and you will do
yours.’ ‘I do not know, sir,’ I answered ‘what your notions of duty may
be; but certainly, I shall not fail to do mine.’ He bowed, with extreme
confusion marked in his face, and hastily went away.”
[11]
“PARIS LE 10. xbre. 1806.
“Je tous annonce avec plaisir Monsieur que vous venez d’obtenir votre
échange contre Le Capitaine Infirmet cidevant Commandant le Vaisseau de
sa Majesté L’Intrepide.
“Votre passeport pour vous, votre famille et le Docteur Grès vous sera
remis par Mr. Le General Commandant la 22 Division militaire, et je
donne des ordres á Morlaix pour que vous soyez antorisè á y freter un
Parlementaire qui vous conduira dans votre Patrie.
“Je sais le plaisir que cette nouvelle vous causera, et il m’est agréable
d’avoir â vous lánnoncer.
“Recevez Monsieur L’assurance de ma considération distinguée.
“DECRES.
“M. BRENTON, CAPNE. DE VAISSEAU A TOURS.”
[12] One of Mrs. Cutler’s sons had been taken in the Minerve as a
Midshipman.
[13] “I have often heard this exciting circumstance mentioned, and the
impatience with which the sailors obeyed my brother’s orders not to fire
in return for the enemy’s shot; observing, as he says, that their fire
deprived them of the breeze. The sailors were heard to say that they did
not so much care for themselves, but it was too hard their poor captain
should so soon be shut up in a French prison again.” F. B.
[14] Correspondence and Memoirs of Lord Collingwood, p. 554.
[15] Three Russian line of battle ships which had been long at Trieste.
[16] The late Lieutenant General Sir Hudson Lowe.
[17] My brother has often conversed with us on the subject of courage,
and drawn the distinction between moral and physical courage. He felt
that his was not natural but acquired. His first trial was at the age of
seven, when he first went to sea with his father. A supposed enemy came
in sight, and the ship cleared for action. My two brothers (for they
were both on board) immediately sought a secure hiding place, but their
father discovering their intention, called them, and with a stern voice
told them, that if they attempted to run from the enemy’s guns, he would
immediately shoot them. The threat was believed, though it was totally in
opposition to my father’s nature, and the greater and immediate danger
superseded the one which had been anticipated. My brothers remained by
the side of their father on deck: but the threat was never forgotten, and
the dread of disgrace soon became stronger with them, than that of death.
The next time I heard of my brothers having incurred their father’s
displeasure, was, during their residence in France, a very few years
later, when he discovered that they had challenged some French boys, to
fight with them. He, upon this occasion, thought it necessary to repress
their courage, and confined them to the house for the day; when they wept
bitterly, and declared themselves disgraced in not being permitted to
fight the promised battle. Sir Jahleel has often told me that in going
into action, he had always an anxious feeling till the first shot was
fired; but from that moment he thought of nothing but the cause in which
he was engaged. F. B.
[18] Of the accuracy of this little sketch, I can bear witness, for it
was my privilege to accompany my husband to Portsmouth, that we might
share either in the joys or sorrows of my poor anxious sister. On our
way from London my husband met a brother officer, who told him that
rumours prevailed at Portsmouth of my brother’s death; he concealed
this information from me, and of course suffered doubly himself in
consequence. It was however his happy privilege in the course of a few
hours, to be the first to welcome our wounded brother on his anchoring
at the Motherbank, and to give him the joyful intelligence that his wife
and children had arrived at Portsmouth, and only waited his permission
to come off, and share in his quarantine. My brother would not allow
my husband to come on board, as we should have been deprived of his
protection and society till the period of the quarantine had expired.
The kind consideration of the First Lord of the Admiralty, however,
shortened the period, and rendered it unnecessary for Mrs. Brenton to
go on board. We had only time to secure a lodging for our dear invalid,
(as near to Haslar hospital as possible, that he might have the full
benefit of the medical attendance there) before he was brought on shore.
I shall never forget his emaciated appearance as they brought him from
the landing place, in an arm chair rigged upon poles by the sailors,
who brought him most carefully; he was himself enveloped in flags, and
followed by a crowd of spectators. His sick room seemed to be what he has
described, an abode of perfect happiness. His patience and cheerfulness
never failed him, and his gratitude to all those who had the privilege
of approaching him, and assisting in any way towards his comfort or
amusement was unbounded. Very soon after his return to us, he was able
to use his pencil, and retraced the events of the 3rd of May. Paintings
and engravings have been taken from these sketches, which are now in my
possession. F. B.
[19] Mr. Tucker became, successively, Private Secretary to the Earl of
St. Vincent, when he was First Lord of the Admiralty; Commissioner of the
Navy; and Deputy Surveyor General of the Duchy of Cornwall. He died at
his estate, Trematon Castle. F. B.
[20] Captain Bathurst was killed at the battle of Navarino when
commanding the Genoa.
[21] About two shillings sterling.
[22] Now Major General Sir William Warre, K. C. B.
[23] Barrow, Vol. I. p. 311.
[24] General Sir James Craig’s observation on Hottentots, extracted from
Barrow’s Travels in South Africa, vol. I. p. 372.
[25] The larder is a species of white mullet.
[26] The Editor cannot do otherwise on this occasion than direct his
readers’ attention to a little volume which was drawn up by Sir Jahleel,
which on many accounts deserves notice; viz.—“The Memoir of Captain
Edward Pelham Brenton, R.N. C.B., with Sketches of his Professional Life,
and Exertions in the Cause of Humanity.”—_8vo., Nisbet, London._
T. THOMAS, PRINTER, EASTGATE ROW, CHESTER.