A GOOD DEFENCE NOT ALWAYS GOOD AGAINST A BAD ACCUSATION--PETER WINS THE
HEARTS OF HIS JUDGES, YET LOSES HIS CAUSE, AND IS DISMISSED HIS SHIP.
The next day I commenced my defence: I preferred calling my own
witnesses first, and, by the advice of my counsel, and at the request of
Swinburne, I called him. I put the following questions:--
"When we were talking 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 the
usual 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 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; but
I _did_ refer to the captain, and he has proved that I was right."
This bold answer of Swinburne's rather astonished the court, who
commenced cross-questioning him; but he kept to his original assertion--
that I had only answered generally.
To repel the second charge, I produced two witnesses. But to the third
charge I brought forward three witnesses, to prove that Captain Hawkins'
orders were, that I should send no boats on shore--not that I should not
send them on board of the men-of-war close to us.
In answer to the fourth charge, I called Swinburne, who stated that if I
did not, he would come forward. Swinburne acknowledged that he accused
the captain of being shy, and that I reprimanded him for so doing.
"Did he say that he would report you?" inquired one of the captains.
"No, sir," replied Swinburne, "'cause he never meant to do it."
This was an unfortunate answer.
To the fifth charge, I brought several witnesses to prove the words of
Captain Hawkins, and the sense in which they were taken by the ship's
company, and the men calling out "Shame!" when he used the expression.
To refute the other charges I called one or two witnesses, and the court
then adjourned, inquiring of me when I would be ready to commence my
defence. I requested a day to prepare, which was readily granted; and
the ensuing day the court did not sit. I hardly need say that I was
busily employed arranging my defence with my counsel. At last all was
done, and I went to bed tired and unhappy; but I slept soundly, which
could not be said of my counsel, for he went on shore at eleven o'clock,
and sat up all night, arranging and making a fair copy.
After all, the fairest court of justice is a naval court-martial--no
brow-beating of witnesses, an evident inclination towards the prisoner--
every allowance and every favour granted him, and no legal quibbles
attended to. It is a court of equity, with very few exceptions; and the
humbler the individual, the greater the chance in his favour.
I was awoke the following morning by my counsel, who had not gone to bed
the previous night, and who had come off at seven o'clock to read over
with me my defence. At nine o'clock I again proceeded on board, and, in
a short time, the court was sitting. I came in, handed my defence to
the judge-advocate, who read it aloud to the court. I have a copy still
by me, and will give the whole of it to the reader.
"MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN,--After nearly fourteen years service in
His Majesty's navy, during which I have been twice made prisoner,
twice wounded, and once wrecked; and, as I trust I shall prove to you,
by certificates and the public despatches, I have done my duty with
zeal and honour--I now find myself in a situation in which I never
expected to be placed--that of being arraigned before and brought to a
court-martial for charges of mutiny, disaffection, and disrespect
towards my superior officer. If the honourable court will examine the
certificates I am about to produce, they will find that, until I
sailed with Captain Hawkins, my conduct has always been supposed to
have been diametrically opposite to that which is now imputed to me.
I have always been diligent and obedient to command; and I have only
to regret that the captains, with whom I have had the honour to sail,
are not now present to corroborate, by their oral evidence, the truth
of these documents. Allow me, in the first place, to point out to the
court, that the charges against me are spread over a large space of
time, amounting to nearly eighteen months, during the whole of which
period, Captain Hawkins never stated to me that it was his intention
to try me by a court-martial; and, although repeatedly in the presence
of a senior officer, has never preferred any charge against me. The
articles of war state expressly, that if any officer, soldier or
marine, has any complaint to make, he is to do so upon his arrival at
any port or fleet, where he may fall in with a superior officer. I
admit that this article of war refers to complaints to be made by
inferiors against superiors; but, at the same time, I venture to
submit to the honourable court, that a superior is equally bound to
prefer a charge, or to give notice that that charge will be preferred,
on the first seasonable opportunity, instead of lulling the offender
into security, and disarming him in his defence, by allowing the time
to run on so long as to render him incapable of bringing forward his
witnesses. I take the liberty of calling this to your attention, and
shall now proceed to answer the charges which have been brought
against me.
"I am accused of having held a conversation with an inferior officer
on the quarter-deck of His Majesty's brig _Rattlesnake_, in which my
captain was treated with contempt. That it may not be supposed that
Mr Swinburne was a new acquaintance, made upon my joining the brig, I
must observe, 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 my more youthful days, and has been rewarded for his
merit, with the warrant which he now holds as gunner of His Majesty's
brig; _Rattlesnake_. The offensive observation, in the first place
was not mine; and, in the second, it was couched in general terms.
Here Mr Swinburne has pointedly confessed that _he_ did refer to the
captain, although the observation was in the plural; but that does not
prove the charge against me--on the contrary, adds weight to the
assertion of Mr Swinburne, that I was guiltless of the present
charge. That Captain Hawkins had acted as a spy, his own evidence on
this charge, as well as that brought forward by other witnesses, will
decidedly prove; but as the truth of the observation does not warrant
its utterance, I am glad that no such expression escaped my lips.
"Upon the second charge I shall dwell but a short time. It is true
that there is a general order that no stoves shall be alight after a
certain hour; but I will appeal to the honourable court, whether a
first lieutenant is not considered to have a degree of licence of
judgment in all that concerns the interior discipline of the ship.
The surgeon sent to say that a stove was required for one of the sick.
I was in bed at the time, and replied immediately in the affirmative.
Does Captain Hawkins mean to assert to the honourable court, that he
would have refused the request of the surgeon? Most certainly not.
The only error I committed, if it were an error, was not going through
the form, of awaking Captain Hawkins, to ask the permission, which, as
first lieutenant, I thought myself authorised to give.
"The charge against me, of having sent away two boats, contrary to his
order, I have already disproved by witnesses. The order of Captain
Hawkins was, not to communicate with the shore. My reasons for
sending away the boats--"
Here Captain Hawkins interposed, and stated to the president that my
reasons were not necessary to be received. The court was cleared,
and, on our return, the court had decided that my reasons ought to be
given, and I continued.
"My reasons for sending away these boats, or rather it was one boat
which was despatched to the two frigates, if I remember well, were,
that the brig was in a state of mutiny. The captain had tied up one
of the men, and the ship's company refused to be flogged. Captain
Hawkins then went on shore to the admiral, to report the situation of
his ship, and I conceived it my duty to make it known to the
men-of-war anchored close to us. I shall not enter into further
particulars, as they will only detain the honourable court; 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 holding disrespectful
language on the quarter-deck, as overheard by Captain Hawkins, I must
refer the honourable court to the evidence, in which it is plainly
proved that the remarks upon him were not mine, but those of Mr
Swinburne, and that I remonstrated with Mr Swinburne for using such
unguarded expressions. The only point of difficulty is, whether it
was not my duty to have reported such language. I reply, that there
is no proof that I did not intend to report it; but the presence of
Captain Hawkins, who heard what was said, rendered such report
unnecessary.
"On the fifth charge, I must beg that the court will be pleased to
consider that some allowance ought to be made for a moment of
irritation. My character was traduced by Captain Hawkins, supposing
that I 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 retort from an inferior; but, as what I intended to imply by
that language is not yet known, although Captain Hawkins has given an
explanation to his; I shall merely say, that I meant no more by my
insinuations, than Captain Hawkins did at the time by those which he
made use of with respect to me.
"Upon the other trifling charges brought forward, I lay no stress, as
I consider them fully refuted by the evidence which has been already
adduced; and I shall merely observe, that, for reasons best known to
himself, I have been met with a most decided hostility on the part of
Captain Hawkins, from the time that he first joined the ship; that, on
every occasion, he has used all his efforts to render me
uncomfortable, and embroil me with others; that, not content with
narrowly watching my conduct 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 as spies over my conduct, and made
me feel so humiliated in the presence of the ship's company, over
which I have had to superintend, and in the disciplining of which I
had a right to look to him for support, that, were it not that some
odium would necessarily be attached to the sentence, I should feel it
as one of the happiest events of my life that I 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 upon the table to be
read in support of my character."
When this was over, the court was cleared, that they might decide upon
the sentence. I waited about half-an-hour in the greatest anxiety, when
I was again summoned to attend. The usual forms of reading the papers
were gone through, and then came the sentence, which was read by the
president, he and the whole court standing up with their cocked hats on
their heads. After the preamble, it concluded with saying; "that it was
the opinion of that court that the charges had been _partly_ proved, and
therefore, that Lieutenant Peter Simple was dismissed his ship; but, in
consideration of his good character and services, his case was strongly
recommended to the consideration of the Lords Commissioners of the
Admiralty."