CHAPTER XVII.

"THINK'ST thou that I shall speak unskilfully,
And none will heed me? I remember now,
How once, a slave in tortures doomed to die,
Was saved, because in accents sweet and low
He sung a song his Judge loved long ago.

SHELLEY.

CONSEQUENCES OF OUR VISIT TO CONSTANTINOPLE-SOLEMNITIES OF A COURT-MARTIAL-SITUATION AS COUNSEL FOR THE DEFENDANT-SENTENCE OF THE COURT-PRINCIPLES OF OUR NAVAL CODE-REDRESS OF GRIEVANCES-SELF-VINDICATION-THOUGHTS OF HOME.

I WAS speaking of the incidents which relieved the monotony of our winter at Mahon, and must not wholly omit the solemnities of a court-martial, which broke in with imposing effect. It grew out of cir cumstances connected with our visit to Constantinople; our exposure to the plague while there; the precipitancy of our reunion with the ship, and the unjustifiable attitude which a few were induced to assume in view of our deportment, which they at the time regarded as extremely reckless.

One little irritation led to another, till the gathering snow-ball, at first scarcely visible in its steep place, rolled at last into the deep ravine, a thundering avalanche! Articles of accusation, by the superior officer of the ship, were drawn up in form; a court

summoned, and the accused, holding the rank of lieutenant, ordered up for trial. I was called upon by the defendant to act as his counsel.

This was placing me in rather an embarrassing attitude, for, aside from my legal ignorance, and the sacerdotality of my profession, I was largely enjoying the munificent hospitality of the other party, and well knew, however entire and devoted might be my fidelity to my client, yet if it involved merely a naked defence, the forbearance might be ascribed to a sense of personal obligation, which, in any other situation, it would be ungrateful not to cherish, but which, in this new capacity, could not be indulged without an imputation on my honor. But the accused, having very wisely expressed a willingness to stand strictly on the defensive, I consented to run this narrow channel, though I expected my poor ship would have her copper raked off on both sides, and, perhaps, her bends broken in.

The charges for we have now come to them— were like a November caravan of crows, very long, and very black; but, like my worthy progenitor of wind-mill memory, being now fairly enlisted, I felt it incumbent on my vow to run a tilt with every hostile form, whether of earth, ocean, or air. The attack was immediately commenced on these flying squadrons of the dark plume; some were frightened away; some killed outright; some slightly wounded and dispersed; till at last only one poor fellow re

mained, and he appeared so lonely and lost to hope, that the court, fearing they should not have an opportunity of exhibiting their skill and courage in the battle, shed tears quite feelingly and fast. Never was victory, in a desperate case, more complete ; it was like the rout of the spirits that waited on Comus, and the liberation of the fatally, enchanted lady, who sat

"In stony fetters fixed, and motionless."

But to drop all metaphor and hyperbole: the court was organized; the charges read over, and the witnesses examined, who testified with an amiable inclination to the side of mercy. The tribunal, composed of spirits that would, if necessary, "beard the very devil to keep his place," manifested the most majestic patience, while the parties, through many a long day, like Corydon and Thyrsis, exercised their rival gifts,

Et cantare pares, et respondere parati.

The contest, which, after all, had very little music in it, would have been less long, but every question had to be written down; submitted to the court; its propriety, perhaps, discussed; and then the answer of the witness, often long, and unsatisfactory, recorded. This makes a court-martial the most tedious process by which guilt is ever punished. Indeed, if the offender has turned the middle of life, you may as

well allow him to escape, for your verdict will hardly overtake him before he has gone beyond the reach of human penalties.

The witnesses summoned on the defence were very few, and their testimony very brief; not but what more might have been obtained, but I informed the court, like any young sprig of the law, full of vanity, ignorance, and Latin

Non tali auxilio nec defensoribus istis tempus eget.

The evidence being at length concluded, three days were allowed in which to write the defence, upon which every thing now depended; but, as if,

Quem Deus vult perdere, priusquam dementat,

I visited the monks on Mount Tauro, and quite forgot, in a reclusive discussion, my tremendous responsibility as counsel.

This, though extremely reckless, was the less censurable, as my client had given his consent-consensus tollit errorem-and gone himself to a masquerade-Ah! little did we then dream of what awaited us little did we anticipate that verdict, which was to annul the fundamental principles of criminal jurisprudence-de minimis non curat lex-and expose the utter fallacy of the oft-quoted maxim, true in legal as biblical science-qui hæret in litera, hæret in cortice-for it was to rive the very heart of the tree.

But on the third night, I went earnestly to work, and produced the next morning, with the aid of the prisoner qui facit per alium facit per se-perhaps the ablest defence that ever fell from a human pen. Every word of it was like the strokes of a triphammer, quick-coming, hot and heavy. In massive energy of thought, force of reasoning, aptness of illustration, and power of pathos, it has no equal in the annals of any court, held either in or out of the Navy. It was a tower in itself; it was Atlas with heaven on its shoulders! Some have had the audacity to assail it, but I can only tell them that it will still pillar the great firmament of law and letters, when time, with its slow touch, has wiped out the epitaph that flattery may have engraven on their tombstone:

Exegi monumentum ere perennius.

I now approach the last sad scene in this tragic history of error and retribution. The criminal was summoned to the quarter-deck of our ship, to hear that sentence which the court, in the painful discharge of its duty, had decreed-a sentence from which there was no appeal-no possibility of escape! The sad sentiment of Euripides was in my heart:

Τύμβω γὰρ δεῖς ἀνθρώπων φίλος.

Through the silent crowd assembled on the melancholy occasion, a voiceless sympathy forced its way to every countenance; when the judge-advocate,