CHAPTER IX.
JOURNEY TO TOURS, INCIDENTS ON THE ROAD AND RESIDENCE THERE.
I feel that no apology need be made to the readers of this Memoir for the length of the digression which occupied the last Chapter. The history of Sir Jahleel Brenton is identified with the service of his country; and a very inadequate idea would be formed of the perils undergone, and the hardships endured in that service, if the storm and the battle were the only circumstances recounted; and the sickening length of a dreary captivity, embittered by ill treatment, and hardly cheered by hope, was not to be named among the evils that were braved and borne by the navy during the last war.
Had the excellent friend, from whose deeply interesting narrative I have extracted this notice of the state of things at Givet, been spared; I might have calculated with equal confidence on his indulgence, when the character of Sir Jahleel Brenton, and the interests of his family were to be asserted; and it is a source of satisfaction to myself to be able to draw attention to one of the most touching and affecting memorials of God’s mercy to men, which have been recently published.
From causes which it is not easy to explain, the narrative which bears the title of the “British Prisoners in France,” never seems to have met with the acceptance which it deserves; for of all the cases where the grace of God has been exhibited in a large and general measure, where it seems to have descended as in showers, none seem to have exceeded this in the simplicity of the means used, and in the extent of the blessing vouchsafed. The depôt which Mr. Wolfe found like a howling wilderness, he left like a garden of the Lord; but few persons can conceive the difficulties with which he had to struggle, or the value of the assistance which he derived from Sir Jahleel Brenton’s co-operation.
The object which he had in view was accomplished. His labour was not in vain in the Lord; but it is painful and yet salutary to hear of the way in which these disinterested exertions and self devotion were acknowledged at home. The moral influence which was exercised on the people at Givet prevented desertion, and probably preserved hundreds of valuable seamen for the service of their country. The schools, which were established at the same time for the boys, rescued them from the evils of ignorance, and prepared them to resume their place in the navy, instructed in the theory and practice of navigation. Had this not been done, all the prisoners, both old and young, would have returned from their captivity unfit for employment, and burdens to the country which received them; and the nation owed to Mr. Wolfe and his companion in labour, a debt which might have justified any mark of public gratitude. An effort was made to obtain for him the amount of a chaplain’s pay during the period of his residence at Givet; and after long delay and many applications this was granted. It is happy for those who labour for the public good, to look to a different remuneration than that which man affords. There is one Master who knows what his servants do, and who never allowed the least or lowest effort to go without its reward; and he who labours in faith feels it his privilege to think little of the recompense he may receive from men.
The Memoir may now be continued in Sir Jahleel’s own words, and he thus describes the journey to Tours. “On the 31st of October we began our journey, having our route marked out upon my passport, by which we were prohibited from passing through Paris, but ordered to turn off to the left at Meaux, and to proceed by Melun, and Fontainebleau, thence on the right bank of the Loire from Orleans to Tours.”
At Melun it appears that Captain Brenton met Lord Elgin, to whose character he gives the following pleasing tribute. “It is but justice to Lord Elgin to mention in this place, that during the whole of his captivity he was most liberal and active in relieving his poor countrymen, as they passed near the places of his residence, and by sending sums of money to Verdun for their use. Whilst he was at Orleans, numbers of seamen on their way from the coast to the interior, passed through; in particular the officers and crew of the Wolverine, who all spoke in the highest terms of his Lordship’s humanity and benevolence.”