has just been executed for a crime committed twenty years ago. He
commanded at that time the English settlement at Goree, an inactive and
unwholsome station, little reputable for the officers, and considered as
a place of degradation for the men. The garrison became discontented at
some real or supposed mal-practices in the distribution of stores; and
Wall seizing those whom he conceived to be the ringleaders of the
disaffected, ordered them, by his own authority, to be so dreadfully
flogged, that three of them died in consequence; he himself standing by
during the execution, and urging the executioner not to spare, in terms
of the most brutal cruelty. An indictment for murder was preferred
against him on his return to England; he was apprehended, but made his
escape from the officers of justice, and got over to the Continent,
where he remained many years. Naples was at one time the place of his
residence, and the countenance which he received there from some of his
countrymen of high rank perhaps induced him to believe that the public
indignation against him had subsided. Partly, perhaps, induced by this
confidence, by the supposition that the few witnesses who could have
testified against him were dead, or so scattered about the world as to
be out of reach, and still more compelled by the pressure of his
circumstances, he at length resolved to venture back.
It is said, that some years before his surrender he came to Calais with
this intent, and desired one of the king of England’s messengers to take
him into custody, as he wished to return and stand his trial. The
messenger replied, that he could not possibly take charge of him, but
advised him to signify his intention to the Secretary of State, and
offered to carry his letter to the office. Wall was still very
solicitous to go, though the sea was at that time so tempestuous that
the ordinary packets did not venture out; and the messenger, whose
dispatches would not admit of delay, had hired a vessel for himself:
finding, however, that this could not be, he wrote as had been
suggested; but when he came to subscribe his name, his heart failed him,
his countenance became pale and livid, and in an agony of fear or of
conscience he threw down the pen and rushed out of the room. The
messenger put to sea; the vessel was wrecked in clearing out of the
harbour, and not a soul on board escaped.
This extraordinary story has been confidently related with every
circumstantial evidence; yet it seems to imply a consciousness of guilt,
and a feeling of remorse, noways according with his after conduct. He
came over to England about twelve months ago, and lived in London under
a fictitious name: here also a circumstance look place which touched him
to the heart. Some masons were employed about his house, and he took
notice to one of them that the lad who worked with him appeared very
sickly and delicate, and unfit for so laborious an employment. The man
confessed that it was true, but said that he had no other means of
supporting him, and that the poor lad had no other friend in the world,
“For his father and mother,” said he, “are dead, and his only brother
was flogged to death at Goree, by that barbarous villain Governor Wall.”
It has never been ascertained what were his motives for surrendering
himself; the most probable cause which can be assigned is, that some
property had devolved to him, of which he stood greatly in need, but
which he could not claim till his outlawry had been reversed. He
therefore voluntarily gave himself up, and was brought to trial. One of
the persons whom he had summoned to give evidence in his favour dropped
down dead on the way to the court; it was, however, known that his
testimony would have borne against him. Witnesses appeared from the
remotest parts of the island whom he had supposed dead. One man who had
suffered under his barbarity and recovered, had been hanged for robbery
but six months before, and expressed his regret at going to the gallows
before Governor Wall, as the thing which most grieved him, “For,” said
he, “I know he will come to the gallows at last.”
The question turned upon the point of law, whether the fact, for that
was admitted, was to be considered as an execution, or as a murder. The
evidence of a woman who appeared in his behalf, was that which weighed
most heavily against him: his attempt to prove that a mutiny actually
existed failed; and the jury pronounced him guilty. For this he was
utterly unprepared; and, when he heard the verdict, clasped his hands in
astonishment and agony. The Bench, as it is called, had no doubt
whatever of his guilt, but they certainly thought it doubtful how the
jury might decide; and as the case was so singular, after passing
sentence in the customary form, they respited him, that the
circumstances might be more fully considered.
The Governor was well connected, and had powerful friends: it is said
also, that as the case turned upon a question of discipline, some
persons high in the military department exerted themselves warmly in his
favour. The length of time which had elapsed was no palliation, and it
was of consequence that it should not be considered as such; but his
self-surrender, it was urged, evidently implied that he believed himself
justifiable in what he had done. On the other hand, the circumstances
which had appeared on the trial were of the most aggravating nature;
they had been detailed in all the newspapers, and women were selling the
account about the streets at a half-penny each, vociferating aloud the
most shocking parts, the better to attract notice. Various editions of
the trial at length were published; and the publishers, most
unpardonably, while the question of his life or death was still under
the consideration of the privy council, stuck up their large notices all
over the walls of London, with prints of the transaction, and “Cut his
liver out,” the expression which he had used to the executioner, written
in large letters above. The popular indignation had never before been so
excited. On the days appointed for his execution (for he was repeatedly
respited) all the streets leading to the prison were crowded by soldiers
and sailors chiefly, every one of whom felt it as his own personal
cause: and as the execution of the mutineers in the fleet was so recent,
in which so little mercy had been shown, a feeling very generally
prevailed among the lower classes, that this case was to decide whether
or not there was law for the rich as well as for the poor. The
deliberations of the privy council continued for so many days that it
was evident great efforts were made to save his life; but there can be
little doubt, that had these efforts succeeded, either a riot would have
ensued, or a more dangerous and deeply-founded spirit of disaffection
would have gone through the people.
Wall, meantime, was lying in the dungeon appointed for persons condemned
to death, where, in strict observance of the letter of the law, he was
allowed no other food than bread and water. Whether he felt compunction
may be doubted:—we easily deceive ourselves:—form only was wanting to
have rendered that a legal punishment which was now called murder, and
he may have regarded himself as a disciplinarian, not a criminal; but as
his hopes of pardon failed him, he was known to sit up in his bed during
the greater part of the night, singing psalms. His offence was indeed
heavy, but never did human being suffer more heavily! The dread of
death, the sense of the popular hatred, for it was feared that the mob
might prevent his execution and pull him to pieces; and the tormenting
reflection that his own vain confidence had been the cause,—that he had
voluntarily placed himself in this dreadful situation,—these formed a
punishment sufficient, even if remorse were not superadded.
On the morning of his execution, the mob, as usual, assembled in
prodigious numbers, filling the whole space before the prison, and all
the wide avenues from whence the spot could be seen. Having repeatedly
been disappointed of their revenge, they were still apprehensive of
another respite, and their joy at seeing him appear upon the scaffold
was so great, that they set up three huzzas,—an instance of ferocity
which had never occurred before. The miserable man, quite overcome by
this, begged the hangman to hasten his work. When he was turned off they
began their huzzas again; but instead of proceeding to three distinct
shouts, as usual, they stopped at the first. This conduct of the mob has
been called inhuman and disgraceful; for my own part, I cannot but agree
with those who regard it in a very different light. The revengeful joy
which animated them, unchristian as that passion certainly is, and
whatever may have been its excess, was surely founded upon humanity; and
the sudden extinction of that joy, the feeling which at one moment
struck so many thousands, stopped their acclamations at once, and awed
them into a dead silence when they saw the object of their hatred in the
act and agony of death, is surely as honourable to the popular character
as any trait which I have seen recorded of any people in any age or
country.
The body, according to custom, was suspended an hour: during this time
the Irish basket-women who sold fruit under the gallows were drinking
his damnation in mixture of gin and brimstone! The halter in which he
suffered was cut into the smallest pieces possible, which were sold to
the mob at a shilling each. According to the sentence, the body should
have been dissected; it was just opened as a matter of form, and then
given to his relations; for which indulgence they gave 100_l._ to one of
the public hospitals. One of the printed trials contains his portrait as
taken in the dungeon of the condemned; if it be true that an artist was
actually sent to take his likeness under such dreadful circumstances,
for the purpose of gain, this is the most disgraceful fact which has
taken place during the whole transaction.
A print has since been published called The Balance of Justice. It
represents the mutineers hanging on one arm of a gallows, and Governor
Wall on the other.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
LETTER X.
_Martial Laws of England.—Limited Service advised.—Hints for Military
Reform._
The execution of Governor Wall is considered as a great triumph of
justice. Nobody seems to recollect that he has been hanged, not for
having flogged three men to death, but for an informality in the mode of
doing it.—Yet this is the true state of the case. Had he called a
drum-head court-martial, the same sentence might have been inflicted,
and the same consequences have ensued, with perfect impunity to himself.
The martial laws of England are the most barbarous which at this day
exist in Europe. The offender is sometimes sentenced to receive a
thousand lashes;—a surgeon stands by to feel his pulse during the
execution, and determine how long the flogging can be continued without
killing him. When human nature can sustain no more, he is remanded to
prison; his wound, for from the shoulders to the loins it leaves him one
wound, is dressed, and as soon as it is sufficiently healed to be laid
open again in the same manner, he is brought out to undergo the
remainder of his sentence. And this is repeatedly and openly practised
in a country where they read in their churches, and in their houses,
that Bible, in their own language, which saith, “Forty stripes may the
judge inflict upon the offender, and not exceed.”
All savages are cruel, and nations become humane only as they become
civilized. Half a century ago, the most atrocious punishments were used
in every part of Christendom;—such were the executions under Pombal in
Portugal, the tortures inflicted upon Damiens in France; and the
practice of opening men alive in England. Our own history is full of
shocking examples, but our manners[8] softened sooner than those of our
neighbours. These barbarities originated in barbarous ages, and are
easily accounted for; but how so cruel a system of martial law, which
certainly cannot be traced back to any distant age of antiquity, could
ever have been established is unaccountable; for when barbarians
established barbarous laws, the soldiers were the only people who were
free; in fact, they were the legislators, and of course would never make
laws to enslave themselves.
Footnote 8:
More truly it might be said, that the Spaniards had no traitors to
punish. In the foreign instances here stated, the judges made their
court to the crown by cruelty;—in our own case, the cruelty was of the
law, not of the individuals. Don Manuel also forgets the
Inquisition.—TR.
Another grievous evil in their military system is, that there is no
limited time of service. Hence arises the difficulty which the English
find in recruiting their armies. The bounty money offered for a recruit
during the war amounted sometimes to as much as twenty pieces of eight,
a sum, burthensome indeed to the nation when paid to whole regiments,
but little enough if it be considered as the price for which a man sells
his liberty for life. There would be no lack of soldiers were they
enlisted for seven years. Half the peasantry in the country would like
to wear a fine coat from the age of eighteen till five-and-twenty, and
to see the world at the king’s expense. At present, mechanics who have
been thrown out of employ by the war, and run-away apprentices, enlist
in their senses, but the far greater number of recruits enter under the
influence of liquor.
It has been inferred, that old Homer lived in an age when morality was
little understood, because he so often observes, that it is not right to
do wrong. Whether or not the same judgement is to be passed upon the
present age of England, posterity will decide; certain it is that her
legislators seem not unfrequently to have forgotten the commonest
truisms both of morals and politics. The love of a military life is so
general, that it may almost be considered as one of the animal passions;
yet such are the martial laws, and such the military system of England,
that this passion seems almost annihilated in the country. It is true,
that during the late war volunteer companies were raised in every part
of the kingdom; but, in raising these, the whole influence of the landed
and moneyed proprietors was exerted; it was considered as a test of
loyalty; and the greater part of these volunteers consisted of men who
had property at stake, and believed it to be in danger, and of their
dependants; and the very ease with which these companies were raised,
evinces how easy it would be to raise soldiers, if they who became
soldiers were still to be considered as men, and as freemen.
The difficulty would be lessened if men were enlisted for a limited term
of years instead of for life. Yet that this alteration alone is not
sufficient, is proved by the state of their provincial troops, or
militia as they are called. Here the men are bound to a seven-years
service, and are not to be sent out of the kingdom; yet, unexceptionable
as this may appear, the militia is not easily raised, nor without some
degree of oppression. The men are chosen by ballot, and permitted to
serve by substitute, or exempted upon paying a fine. On those who can
afford either, it operates, therefore, as a tax by lottery; the poor man
has no alternative, he must serve, and, in consequence, the poor man
upon whom the lot falls considers himself as ruined: and ruined he is;
for, upon the happiest termination of his term of service, if he return
to his former place of abode, still willing, and still able, to resume
his former occupation, he finds his place in society filled up. But
seven years of military idleness usually incapacitate him for any other
trade, and he who has once been a soldier is commonly for ever after
unfit for every thing else.
The evil consequences of the idle hours which hang upon the soldiers’
hands are sufficiently understood, and their dress seems to have been
made as liable to dirt as possible, that as much time as possible may be
employed in cleaning it. This is one cause of the contempt which the
sailors feel for them, who say that soldiers have nothing to do but to
whiten their breeches with pipe-clay, and to make strumpets for the use
of the navy. Would it not be well to follow the example of the Romans,
and employ them in public works? This was done in Scotland, where they
have cut roads through the wildest part of the country; and it is said
that the soldiery in Ireland are now to be employed in the same manner.
In England, where no such labour is necessary, they might be occupied in
digging canals, or more permanently in bringing the waste[9] lands into
cultivation, which might the more conveniently be effected, as it is
becoming the system to lodge the troops in barracks apart from the
people, instead of quartering them in the towns. Military villages might
be built in place of these huge and ugly buildings, and at far less
expense; the adjoining lands cultivated by the men, who should, in
consequence, receive higher pay, and the produce be appropriated to the
military chest. Each hut should have its garden, which the tenant should
cultivate for his own private amusement or profit. Under such a system
the soldier might rear a family in time of peace, the wives of the
soldiery would be neither less domestic nor less estimable than other
women in their own rank of life, and the infants, who now die in a
proportion which it is shocking to think of, would have the common
chance for life.
Footnote 9:
In this and what follows, the author seems to be suggesting
improvements for his own country, and to mean Spain when he speaks of
England.—TR.
But the sure and certain way to secure any nation for ever from alarm,
as well as from danger, is to train every school-boy to the use of arms:
boys would desire no better amusement, and thus, in the course of the
next generation, every man would be a soldier. England might then defy,
not France alone, but the whole continent leagued with France, even if
the impassable gulph between this happy island and its enemy were filled
up. This will be done sooner or later, for England must become an armed
nation. How long it will be before her legislators will discover this,
and how long when they have discovered it, before they will dare to act
upon it, that is, before they will consent to part with the power of
alarming the people, which they have found so convenient, it would be
idle to conjecture. Individuals profit slowly by experience,
associations still more slowly, and governments the most slowly of all
associated bodies.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
LETTER XI.
_Shopmen, why preferred to Women in England.—Division of
London into the East and West Ends.—Low State of domestic
Architecture.—Burlington-House._
I have employed this morning in wandering about this huge metropolis
with an English gentleman, well acquainted with the manners and customs
of foreign countries, and therefore well qualified to point out to me
what is peculiar in his own. Of the imposing splendour of the shops I
have already spoken; but I have not told you that the finest gentlemen
to be seen in the streets of London are the men who serve at the
linen-drapers’ and mercers’. Early in the morning they are drest
cap-a-pied, the hair feathered and frosted with a delicacy which no hat
is to derange through the day; and as this is a leisure time with them,
they are to be seen after breakfast at their respective shop-doors,
paring their nails, and adjusting their cravats. That so many young men
should be employed in London to recommend laces and muslins to the
ladies, to assist them in the choice of a gown, to weigh out thread and
to measure ribbons, excited my surprise; but my friend soon explained
the reason. He told me, that in countries where women are the
shopkeepers, shops are only kept for the convenience of the people, and
not for their amusement. Persons there go into a shop because they want
the article which is sold there, and in that case a woman answers all
the purposes which are required; the shops themselves are mere
repositories of goods, and the time of year of little importance to the
receipts. But it is otherwise in London; luxury here fills every head
with caprice, from the servant-maid to the peeress, and shops are become
exhibitions of fashion. In the spring, when all persons of distinction
are in town, the usual morning employment of the ladies is to go
a-shopping, as it is called; that is, to see these curious exhibitions.
This they do without actually wanting to purchase any thing, and they
spend their money or not, according to the temptations which are held
out to gratify and amuse. Now female shopkeepers, it is said, have not
enough patience to indulge this idle and fastidious curiosity; whereas
young men are more assiduous, more engaging, and not at all querulous
about their loss of time.
It must be confessed, that these exhibitions are very entertaining, nor
is there any thing wanting to set them off to the greatest advantage.
Many of the windows are even glazed with large panes of plate glass, at
a great expense; but this, I am told, is a refinement of a very late
date; indeed glass windows were seldom used in shops before the present
reign, and they who deal in woollen cloth have not yet universally come
into the fashion.
London is more remarkable for the distribution of its inhabitants than
any city on the continent. It is at once the greatest port in the
kingdom, or in the world, a city of merchants and tradesmen, and the
seat of government, where the men of rank and fashion are to be found;
and though all these are united together by continuous streets, there is
an imaginary line of demarkation which divides them from each other. A
nobleman would not be found by any accident to live in that part which
is properly called the City, unless he should be confined for treason or
sedition in Newgate or the Tower. This is the Eastern side; and I
observe, whenever a person says that he lives at the West End of the
Town, there is some degree of consequence connected with the situation:
For instance, my tailor lives at the West End of the Town, and
consequently he is supposed to make my coat in a better style of
fashion: and this opinion is carried so far among the ladies, that, if a
cap was known to come from the City, it would be given to my lady’s
woman, who would give it to the cook, and she perhaps would think it
prudent not to enquire into its pedigree. A transit from the City to the
West End of the Town is the last step of the successful trader, when he
throws off his _exuviæ_ and emerges from his chrysalis state into the
butterfly world of high life. Here are the Hesperides whither the
commercial adventurers repair, not to gather but to enjoy their golden
fruits.
Yet this metropolis of fashion, this capital of the capital itself, has
the most monotonous appearance imaginable.—The streets are perfectly
parallel and uniformly extended brick walls, about forty feet high, with
equally extended ranges of windows and doors, all precisely alike, and
without any appearance of being distinct houses. You would rather
suppose them to be hospitals, arsenals, or public granaries, were it not
for their great extent. Here is a fashion, lately introduced from better
climates, of making _varandas_;—_varandas_ in a country where physicians
recommend double doors and double windows as precautions against the
intolerable cold! I even saw several instances of green penthouses, to
protect the rooms from the heat or light of the sun, fixed against
houses in a northern aspect. At this I expressed some surprise to my
companion: he replied, that his countrymen were the most rational people
in the world when they thought proper to use their understandings, but
that when they lost sight of common sense they were more absurd than any
others, and less dexterous in giving plausibility to nonsense. In
confirmation of this opinion, he instanced another strange fashion which
happened to present itself on the opposite side of the street; a brick
wall up to the first story decorated with a range of Doric columns to
imitate the _façade_ of the Temple of Theseus at Athens, while the upper
part of the house remained as naked as it could be left by the mason’s
trowel.