Any comparison of the merits of the two corps might appear invidious; but I believe we had no reason to shrink from it. Had it been the reply of an individual, it would have been unworthy of remark; but those regiments who have been quartered with the forty-second must be well acquainted with their boasting illiberal manner.
Trifling as they may appear, these things certainly produced a feeling which added to the discontent of the people, and we could perceive, before we were many days in the place, that our situation amongst them would be very uncomfortable; and we had not been long there, when one of our sentries upon the hospital at the head of the town, had his hamstrings cut by some person who had been lurking about his post. Whether this proceeded from individual enmity, or a dislike to the soldiers in general, is a thing which must remain in doubt; but it excited a mutual animosity, and caused strict orders to be issued to the sentinels not to allow any person to approach within a certain distance of their post, without coming to the charge; and not long after, an inhabitant, the worse of liquor, passing by one of our sentries, and disregarding the caution given him, obstinately persisted in forcing himself upon the sentry, and received a wound which eventually proved mortal. Thus, new cause of hatred was produced and kept alive, by circumstances which sprung from a jealous feeling on either side. We very naturally blamed the inhabitants as being the aggressors, and referred to our conduct in Wexford, of which the inhabitants had borne honourable testimony. The people of Kilkenny, on the other hand, execrated us as savages who cared nothing for human life. This feeling might have died away, but a melancholy occurrence took place, which kindled it anew.
In consequence of the disturbed state of the surrounding country, the men coming in to head quarters for the pay of the detachments, were obliged to carry arms for their personal safety; and one of the sergeants coming in for that purpose, accompanied by one or two of his own men, and an inhabitant of the village where the detachment was stationed, went into a public-house, for the purpose of getting some refreshment. Having sat until the liquor exerted its influence on their heads, one of the soldiers quarreled with the inhabitant, and they stood up to fight. The sergeant, who was naturally hasty and choleric, rose up with the pistol which he carried in his hand, to separate them. In the scuffle the pistol was fired, and the inhabitant fell, mortally wounded; the alarm was given, a crowd gathered round the house, and the infuriated mob would have torn the sergeant to pieces, had he not been protected by the constables and conveyed to jail.
It was an unfortunate affair, and was made the most of by the mob. I knew Sergeant Brody well—perhaps I was one of his most intimate friends; he was then about twenty years of age. In point of duty he was strictly correct, and much esteemed by his officers; his education and intelligence were far beyond that commonly possessed by soldiers, and altogether he would have formed an agreeable companion, were it not that his good qualities were tinged with petulance and impatience of contradiction, arising, no doubt, from a consciousness of his abilities, added to a temper naturally irritable and fiery.
I happened to be on duty when the deed was done; but next day I was admitted to see him. His mind was overwhelmed with horror, and he pressed my offered hand in silence, while he looked doubtfully in my face, as if he asked, Can I expect you to feel for me?—do you not consider me a monster? I understood him—‘I do feel for you,’ said I: ‘I feel all the awful exigency of your situation; but I will not forsake you—command me in anything that can serve you.’
‘This is more than I expected,’ he replied, ‘but I cannot now speak to you, my mind is in the most gloomy confusion; but I hope you will come to see me when you can.’ And on my assurance that I would, we parted.
He never entered into any particulars of the unfortunate affair, even to me; but his feelings were too agonising for concealment. Every indulgence was given him consistent with his safety, which he could expect; and being allowed to visit him, I generally saw him every day. As the assizes approached, he summoned up all his energy for the event—death seemed a dreadful thing, no doubt, should such be his sentence; but the idea of a public execution was to him worse than a thousand deaths. On this subject he often spoke to me, and with such fearful emphasis of manner, that I expected the horrible idea would unsettle his reason. Some days previous to his trial, however, when I visited him, a wonderful change seemed to have taken place in his mind; he talked of the event with composure—every wild passion of his soul seemed swallowed up in a melancholy softness; he talked of his friends, of what the world would say of him after he was dead, and seemed to derive pleasure from speculating on the nature of the immortal world he thought himself on the point of entering. Yet at times I could observe a triumph in his eye, when he adverted to the attendant circumstances of an execution, and he once or twice even hazarded a jest on the subject. All this was so utterly at variance with his former feelings, that I did not know what to think of it. When we were parting, I mentioned that as I was going on guard next day, probably I would not have an opportunity of seeing him before his trial.
‘I am sorry for that,’ said he, ‘for I have something important to say to you; but I may as well say it now—Do you see no difference in me since you saw me last?’
‘More than I can account for,’ said I.
He took my hand, and looking me earnestly in the face, ‘Do you really think,’ said he, ‘that I have made up my mind (if such should be my sentence) to consign myself to the hands of the common executioner?—If you think so, you do not know me; they may condemn me, but they shall never make a gazing-stock of me. I have struggled with nature, reason, and religion, until my brain is nearly turned. I have only one alternative, and that I shall embrace.’ We were here interrupted by the turnkey locking up the cells; but I needed no farther explanation of his determination.