At that period, and under those circumstances; with the consciousness of having served his country with a fidelity and earnestness beyond what is due to any human tie; with the shouts and triumphs of a Mediterranean population still ringing in his ears, and with a spirit raised above the excruciating torture of his wound by a sense of the glory he had won; this intoxicating dream is dissipated by the intelligence of pecuniary losses, which threaten destitution to his family, and by the notice of a prosecution on the part of the neutrals, whom he had felt it his duty to detain; which might have consigned him to a debtor’s prison for the rest of his days.
Life, if considered as a state of discipline, must be a state of trial. Character is to be developed by circumstances; and God is to be glorified by the evidence thus given by his servants of their adoption and renewal. Under this conviction we acquiesce in the assertion that, “whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth;” and can see the purpose for which the affliction is sent in the character which is gradually evolved; but the fulness of this assurance does not invalidate the severity of the trial, and we must feel for man while he is in the crucible, though we may be confident as to the effect that it will finally produce.
I feel it, therefore, due to the character of Sir Jahleel Brenton, to dwell on this point of his story, because it includes circumstances of trial which cannot be generally appreciated, and because it involves that species of trial which has been commonly found the hardest to endure. Oppression, we are told, maketh a wise man mad. Ingratitude, man’s ingratitude is continually named as the bitterness of life. The great men of heathen times are found quitting their country in the decline of life, disgusted at the treatment they met with; and we cannot wonder if self-love on one side was dissatisfied with that return, which self-love expected or self-love offered on the other.
The shock which was inflicted on Sir Jahleel Brenton by this sudden change of circumstances must have been most severe. To have a triumph succeeded by poverty; the glory of successful command by the prospect of a jail; and to feel that his country’s courts crushed him, for having done what his country’s interests required, and his country’s voice had commanded; and that thus having risked life and incurred sufferings in its service, he was now to be made a victim of political expediency, and to be sacrificed to the jealousy of a hostile state; this was, to say the least a sharp trial for man to bear, and a trial which few have borne with so much calmness. In truth if heroism is to be tested by what a man bears rather than by what a man does, and a very brief consideration may lead us to adopt this view, we may venture to say that Sir Jahleel Brenton may be contemplated with more admiration while reconciling himself to poverty and sufferings, in the testimony of a good conscience and in submission to the will of God; than while directing the movements of his frigate through the fleet which enveloped him, while Murat and his court were watching the defeat of their little armada by the energies of his single ship.
Let the reader of these pages then dwell most on that which most deserves consideration. He may learn from the narrative, what vicissitudes of trial life may include; and he may distrust the exultation inseparable from moments of success by calling to mind its uncertain tenure, and the reverse that may be immediately at hand. But above all let him remember, that he who labours for man, must be prepared to meet with ingratitude, or at least neglect; and that from the very nature of society, the sacrifices that are made for the public good can seldom be properly appreciated, or justly recompensed by the public, for whom they are performed. A higher principle must be infused into the heart of him who wishes to serve his country, than was found among the heroes of antiquity; or self-devotion and patriotism will be doomed to experience the same melancholy disappointment that they did in their cases. God must be honoured; his favour, his blessing must be the objects of pursuit; if man wishes to be certain of obtaining a just recompense of reward; and sad and bitter will be the result of dangers braved and labours borne, if the favour of a fickle world has been the object of ambition, and the only return looked for has been that which men can give.
“A haughty spirit,” it is said, “goeth before a fall.” Had such been the spirit of Sir Jahleel Brenton, it is easy to imagine how it would have been inflated and increased by the admiration and excitement occasioned by his victory; and it is as easy to conceive, that on a mind in such a state, the sudden shock of adversity would have come with an overwhelming force. Happily for him, he had long before learned in a better school than that of the world, the nature of the things by which he was surrounded. He knew what he was justified in seeking, but he also knew the limits under which it was to be sought. Thankful for what God had been pleased to give, he was ready to resign what God was pleased to recall; and while the hand of God was seen in everything, he saw no injustice in the treatment he was exposed to, no public ingratitude in the circumstances which marred his prospects; but only behold another trial in a change of condition; and blessed God for the consolations with which that trial was to be accompanied.
The narrative may be resumed from Sir Jahleel’s own notes. He says, “my wound now continued to make a gradual progress, and at the end of the year (1811) Mr. Clive considered all exfoliation at an end. I had now put aside my crutches, and could walk with tolerable facility with two sticks. I therefore began to look forward once more to active service. Your dear mother used all the arguments which tenderness and affection could suggest to dissuade me from it; but the same feeling towards her, and my beloved children, stimulated me to exertion, and would have deprived me of my own approbation and peace of mind, had I remained in a state of inactivity longer than was absolutely necessary. I accordingly applied for a ship. Mr. Yorke, then first Lord of the Admiralty, in the most friendly and earnest terms, requested me not to run the risk of a relapse, by going again to sea; having however persisted in my application, he appointed me to the Stirling Castle, a new ship of seventy-four guns, then at Chatham, intended at my own request to be sent to the Mediterranean. In the middle of March 1812, I took command of this ship, and removed with my family to Brompton, near Chatham, and here another period of happiness occurs, which will frequently present itself to my recollection, unsolicited from the association with my professional duties. My profession had ever been my delight from the very early period of my life at which I entered it, and no circumstance, however happy, had as yet possessed the power to tranquillize my mind on shore, whilst I considered myself capable of active service.”
As Captain Brenton had reason to suppose that his ship would at least for some time be attached to the channel fleet, he removed his family to Plymouth, and took this opportunity of initiating his eldest son into the profession, which it was at that time supposed he would have chosen. He says, “As our dear boy had from his infancy expressed a wish to follow my profession, and had appeared confirmed in the resolution, upon my return home in the Spartan, your mother and myself considering the advantages which might attend from his constitution being early inured to the profession, decided upon his going with me. It was rather intended at the same time, as giving him an opportunity of judging for himself, whether under all circumstances, his preference for the navy might continue, and as I was informed of the appointment of an exemplary clergyman to the ship, who had been head usher at Hertford school, and who was to superintend the education of the youngsters on board, we had less hesitation in taking your brother from the school at which he had been nearly a year, (Dr. Crombie’s, at Greenwich.) Our kind friend Mr. Williamson, whom I was again happy in having with me as surgeon, kindly went for him in a tender, which I sent for the purpose.
“June 6th, we arrived in Cawsand Bay; the weather in the preceding night had become thick and squally, but we reached our port with great ease by noon.”
Thursday the 11th, Mrs. Brenton mentions having passed a delightful day on board the Stirling Castle. Captain Brenton adds, “This was I believe the last visit your mother ever paid to the Stirling Castle, where from the sweetness of her disposition, and the kindness of her manner, she had gained the regard of all on board. On this occasion we were accompanied by one of my best and earliest friends. Mr. Tucker and myself became acquainted in the year 1792, when he was purser of the Assistance, and when I commanded the Trepassey on the Newfoundland station, in the year 1799. He had, after progressive elevation, acquired through his own conduct and talents, become Secretary to the Earl of St. Vincent, with whom I had recently served as Lieutenant, and who had promoted me to the command of the Speedy. Mr. Tucker and myself then renewed our former intimacy, he had power to shew the strength of his regard, and exerted it to the utmost. I had little in my power but the expressions of gratitude, and the feelings of friendship. Whenever an opportunity offered of forwarding my interests, he never lost sight of it, and proved himself a most steady friend. It is to his active zeal we are indebted for much of the comfort our family received after the death of my father. Lord St. Vincent was under Providence the instrument of their welfare; Mr. Tucker, the kind and judicious friend, who pointed out the most effectual means of serving them. Upon all the subsequent trials and events which have befallen me, he has been invariably the same, always identifying himself with my interests, and those of all my family; and I feel delighted in having it in my power to record such instances of disinterested attachment, as an object for your future gratitude and regard. Lose no opportunity, my dearest children, in shewing your sense of his kindness to me, whenever it may be in your power, either towards himself or any of his family.”[19]