JOINED BY HIS FAMILY.—SLOW RECOVERY FROM HIS WOUND.—FRESH TRIALS FROM THE FAILURE OF HIS AGENTS, AND ACTIONS THREATENED BY NEUTRALS DETAINED.—FRIENDLY INTERFERENCE OF MR. ABBOTT.—APPLIES TO THE ADMIRALTY FOR EMPLOYMENT, AND APPOINTED TO THE STIRLING CASTLE. 1812.—COMPELLED BY THE STATE OF HIS WOUND TO RESIGN THE COMMAND.—MADE BARONET.—APPOINTED NAVAL COMMISSIONER AT MINORCA.—RESIDENCE THERE.—FAILURE OF LADY BRENTON’S HEALTH.—THE ESTABLISHMENT AT MINORCA BROKEN UP ON THE CONCLUSION OF THE WAR.—RETURN TO ENGLAND, AND APPOINTMENT TO THE DORSET YACHT.—MADE NAVAL COMMISSIONER AT THE CAPE.
“The manner in which the intelligence of my being wounded reached your beloved mother was peculiarly trying to her affectionate heart. That excellent and amiable character, the Earl of Dartmouth, then Lord Lewisham, was at Malta when I was landed there. He paid me frequent visits; and particularly on the eve of his departure for England, that he might carry the latest intelligence respecting me. Upon his arrival, he hastened to Bath, that he might be himself the bearer of what he considered the most favourable accounts. He accordingly called upon your dear mother, and concluding that she must long have been in possession of the news of the action, proceeded to tell her that my wound was doing well. This was the first intimation she had received of the event, and it was too much for her agitated feelings. She fainted, and Lord Lewisham was in the greatest distress, at having been the innocent cause of her suffering. Her peculiar strength of mind however soon enabled her to depend upon that power for support which had never deserted her. Lord Lewisham knowing I had written by the same ship in which he had been a passenger, flew to the post office, and did not quit it, till the expected letter was put into his hands, and ran with the utmost eagerness to deliver it. I had taken the precaution of sending home a minute surgical description of the wound, which being shewn to a medical friend at Bath, he pronounced to my dear suffering companion that the wound was not a dangerous one. This tranquillized her, and enabled her to look forward with hope to the period of our meeting. At the latter end of the month my letter from Gibraltar arrived with further encouraging accounts. Your mother with her three darlings flew to Portsmouth, and extraordinary as it may appear, almost at the same moment that she alighted at the inn, I anchored at the Motherbank. As she travelled from Southampton to Portsmouth, the Spartan was running through the Needles, and must have been an attractive object to the dear travellers, who little thought we were so near each other. It is customary for ships from the Mediterranean to be kept in quarantine till the return of the post, which communicates their arrival; but the Lords of the Admiralty in kind consideration of my state, ordered the ship to be released by telegraph, and I landed the following morning, experiencing in the meeting with all I held dearest to me in the world, sensations of delight which amply repaid me for all the sufferings and fatigue, both of body and mind, to which I had been exposed since my separation from them. It is scarcely possible for me to look back upon this period, which was one of pure, and almost unmixed felicity. Of pain I was no longer sensible, acute as it had been during the passage. My sufferings had indeed been so great till this period, that the latter hours of the day were passed in looking at the movements of my watch, impatiently waiting for the appointed hour, when I was to receive my accustomed dose of laudanum, from which I could expect a temporary suspension of pain. Now I no longer required laudanum; my spirits were composed and happy, and although incapable of moving, I was insensible of confinement. Fearful of agitating me too much in my weak state, your mother had come into my room alone, but she was soon followed by my sweet cherubs, full of health and joy. We had the comfort of procuring the same house at Alverstoke, near Haslar hospital, where we had formerly lived; and happy as those early days of our marriage had been, they were not so much so, as the time which we now passed there; although I was so weak as to be confined to my bed, or my chair, walking a few steps occasionally with my crutches. Whenever I look back upon the past events of my life, this period always starts forward as pre-eminent in happiness. My mind was entirely free from care; all was peace, and I hope gratitude. I had received the most flattering testimonies of the approbation of the Admiralty, particularly in that most delightful instance of it, the appointment of my brother to succeed me in the command of the Spartan. The joy and affection which beamed from the eyes of my beloved Isabella, during her unremitting attendance upon me, would in itself have been a source of the most perfect happiness. She felt, as she has since informed me, the deepest anxiety from my dangerous situation, but she never allowed me to perceive it. To her tenderness and care, under the blessing of Providence, I owe my recovery. Her society had before changed captivity into happiness; she now dispelled all the weariness attendant upon languor and confinement.”[18]
Captain Brenton remained with his family at Alverstoke till the beginning of October, when having gained sufficient strength to be moved, he proceeded to London, which he reached in two days. He received from the Admiralty an assurance of His Majesty’s approbation of his conduct, and a promise that in due time his name should be added to the list of Baronets; in the mean time a pension was granted him of £300 per annum, his wound being considered by the members of the college of physicians equivalent to the loss of a limb. This proved a very welcome addition to his income, and he considered it a most providential circumstance; for he had been but a few months in England, when he was informed by his agents that they had failed, with all the prize money belonging to the Spartan in their hands. This circumstance was the more unexpected, and the more inexcusable, as Captain Brenton had given them positive orders, when the proceeds of neutral vessels were remitted to them from abroad, to cause the money to be immediately funded, in order to await the result of any appeal that might be made, but this was not done. As misfortunes are said seldom to come alone, so it was on this occasion. The Spartan had taken two American ships in 1807, bound from Sicily to Copenhagen, laden with sulphur; but captured, actually running into Marseilles; and one of the Captains confessed that the destination in the papers was a false one. Captain Brenton under these circumstances, and from a conviction that the sulphur was intended to make gunpowder for the fleet at Toulon, did not hesitate to send them for adjudication to Malta; where they were condemned as the most flagrant breaches of neutrality that had ever come before that court. The proceeds were accordingly remitted, with the positive injunction before mentioned; but being retained by the agents, were involved in their bankruptcy, and by the same post, which informed him of the failure of his agents, Captain Brenton received information, that the appeal for these ships having at length come on, the sentence was reversed, and that he was called upon to pay the amount, a sum of £3000. This was indeed a heavy blow, and one for which he was not prepared either in mind or purse. He says, “the failure of my agents was the more unexpected, as upon my arrival in England, the agents had immediately written to say, that they had a considerable sum of prize money in their hands; and actually did pay a share a short time before their failure, which took place in the spring of the year 1811. With respect to the result of the appeal, this was a matter of still greater astonishment to me, considering the nature of the cases, the acknowledgment of the American masters, and the opinion given by the judge who tried the vessels at Malta. But the Admiralty Court is a political one, and is often governed by expediency, as well as maritime law and usages.”
Government was at this time very anxious to ward off a war with America, and in order to conciliate that jealous power as far as possible, many of the sentences of condemnation, even in the strongest cases were set aside, and the vessels returned, to the great injury of the captors; who were as much bound by duty to capture these vessels, as they were to take those of the enemy. It may well be supposed that this severe blow did not tend to accelerate Captain Brenton’s recovery. He was at once obliged to give up his comfortable house at Bath; to sell off his furniture, and to remove to the vicinity of London; not only for the purposes of economy, but to attend to the intricate and perplexing business arising from the bankruptcy. The following are his remarks upon this period, in his notes to his children.
“This was one of those events which are peculiarly trying, but are often most salutary in awakening us from a state of dangerous security and worldly mindedness; and which also shew in its true light the value of attachments founded upon virtue, and the inestimable blessing of a mutual, cordial, and sincere affection, enabling us to support the pressure of misfortune. By the failure of my agents, the whole of the little property I had collected during the war, was swept away; and I was, in addition, called upon to refund £3000 for the American sulphur vessels. I now consider these two seeming misfortunes coming together, a most providential circumstance; as it enabled me to meet all my difficulties at once, and with the blessing of God to subdue them. The distress in which we were involved was great, but a kind Providence supported us under it. Could you have been sensible of the conduct of your beloved mother upon this occasion, you would have pronounced her an angel indeed. She suffered it is true, but not on her own account, or from any undue anxiety on yours; for she depended upon a bountiful Creator supplying all your wants, as he had ever done. Her affliction was on my account. She knew how deeply I felt the loss of all I had to depend upon for the support of my darling family, particularly at a period when I was precluded from active exertion, by the effects of my wound; and the almost hopeless prospect of my being able to procure so large a sum as that which was demanded of me. But here my dear children let us pause, and view with gratitude, with fervent and sincere gratitude, the dispensations of a benign Providence in our favour. A few weeks before the event, His Majesty had been pleased to bestow upon me a pension of £300 per annum, in consequence of my wound; this, with my pay, now became our support; and a most kind friend (Mr. Henry Abbott) generously stepped forward, and supplied the sum necessary to pay off the claims of the neutrals; taking his chance of remuneration from the produce of the bankrupts’ estates. I hope through life you will preserve a grateful recollection of this friendship. Even here (in a small lodging at Paddington) we passed a cheerful and tranquil season. It was the piety, and resignation, and sweetness, that beamed from your dear mother’s expressive features, which, under the blessing of heaven, shed this felicity over our little society; and rendered this period of trial one of those, that in the retrospect of my life presents itself also as a period of peculiar happiness.
“In the course of the year my wound began to make a visible progress towards recovery, under the kind and skilful care of Mr. Cline. During the period of our stay at Paddington, we had indeed much to be grateful for. My mother’s health which had been very precarious, appeared entirely re-established, and she evidently derived much happiness from our being so near her. Your uncle Edward arrived at Portsmouth in June in the Spartan, and I could not resist the inclination to visit my old shipmates. I was accompanied of course by your mother; our reception was not only gratifying but affecting; to the expressions of attachment from the officers and ship’s company, was added the affectionate kindness of your dear uncle. He caused the colours to be hoisted under which we had fought on the 3rd May, and by every possible arrangement studied to gratify my feelings. This little narrative is intended for you alone my dear children, and you can appreciate my reasons for writing it. Your dear uncle requires no additional claim to your affection, but I know this trait of his character will delight you.”
Soon after this visit to Portsmouth, Jervis, the eldest son, was attacked by scarlet fever; his recovery occasioned the following reflections recorded by his father. “A kind and merciful Providence soon restored your dear brother to health. These trials which so frequently occur in the course of even the most prosperous life, ought to teach us to repose more upon God, and to indulge less in anxiety, which generally results from a forgetfulness of His divine providence. How often does it happen that when bereft of hope, and abandoned to despair, a sudden change has dispelled the gloom, and restored us to happiness; whilst at others, when we have been indulging in the most flattering prospects, when every thing seemed to smile around us, when to-morrow promised to be in joy, ‘as this day, and more abundant;’ a blow from an unexpected quarter comes, and lays us prostrate. These circumstances and experiences should teach us temperance in the enjoyment of the blessings of this world, and in the measure of our attachment to them; should teach us to form no long view of such short lived felicity; to receive with gratitude that share which is so abundantly bestowed upon us; and when we are threatened with the loss of what we consider so essential to our happiness, to consider that we are in the hands of Him who has our eternal interests in view, and who knows what is good for us, better than we do ourselves. This is true philosophy, but what is still more, this is true religion.”
It has been the wish of the Editor to allow the narrative to proceed with as little interruption as possible from himself, and chiefly in the words supplied by the subject of the memoir himself. The language made use of being sometimes that of a report of his own actions, and sometimes a comment upon them addressed to his children, sometimes drawn up in the third person, sometimes in the first, has involved a variety of manner which may probably have given offence to readers; but which it still seemed desirable to retain, as conveying the words and expressions of the individual mind, which it is the object of the memoir to present to public observation. Unwilling to do more than was absolutely necessary, and being chiefly anxious that the portrait exhibited might be as true to life as possible, he has risked the consequences of substituting a broken and disjointed narrative, for one more continuous and regular, that he might allow his readers to see for themselves and to judge for themselves, a character which is calculated to be beneficial to all. Instead of assuming the office of biographer, he has wished that the subject of the memoir should be made to tell his own story; and he has chiefly limited his own endeavours to pointing out traits of character brought to light by the circumstances in which the man was placed, and which it was desirable that his readers should notice. From time to time he has ventured to do this, and in gratifying his own feelings by thus dwelling on the features of a friend whom he never recollects without admiration, he hopes that he may have been useful in directing the attention of others to qualities which might have escaped observation, from the simplicity of mind with which the trials that draw them forth are related. On this account he must trespass for a moment on the patience of his readers, and call their attention to the peculiar trial which awaited Sir Jahleel Brenton at this period of his career.
His character as an officer was now completely established. The prejudice entertained against him by Lord Collingwood had been overcome, and converted into confidence and regard. His services in the Mediterranean had secured the admiration of the navy; and the brilliant valour and good conduct exhibited in the action off Naples, had placed him on a pinnacle of glory, which few perhaps can at present appreciate, who do not remember the enthusiastic spirit of that period of the war, and the excitement which pervaded every rank of society on the subject of naval successes.