It is easy to state the almost insuperable difficulties which here at once present themselves. The habits of life, which have rendered the military and naval professions proverbial, and which seem inseparable from their position in society; the withdrawal from domestic ties, and from all the usual restraints of the tendencies of men; these may be named at once, as rendering the attempt at such a moral improvement chimerical; and these will long continue to render its accomplishment difficult. In the meantime the world at large, either indifferent to the consequences, or despairing of a cure, have found it a much cheaper, and a much more compendious way, to teach their defenders to forget death, than to endeavour to prepare them to despise it; and lamentable as it is to say, grave men, and men who were thought wise men, have argued as if it was necessary that men should be immoral in order that they might be brave; and have tried to shew that it was expedient that thousands should be eternally miserable, in order that some temporary advantage might be achieved by their exertions.
But the difficulty of a work does not imply that it is impracticable. Something may be done, if all cannot be accomplished: and wherever any great and undeniable evil exists in society, it is so obviously the will of God, that it should be abated or removed; that man ought to think of nothing, but the means of attempting that, which he may leave to the power of God to perform.
It is therefore manifestly expedient that men engaged in those professions, where life is of necessity most exposed, should be prepared to meet death with firmness. The world has its nostrums for effecting this object, and these it is always ready to supply. It has a sense of honour for the high-minded and noble. It has levity and carelessness for the unthinking. It has brutish indifference for the multitude. With one or other of these, it drugs the men, who are to be the protectors of their country’s welfare; and sends them forth to danger, like those who are blinded and intoxicated. We admit the efficacy of the means, but we are compelled to feel that the remedy is worse than the disease: and we dare not purchase courage for our soldiers and sailors, at a price which compromises all the highest hopes of man.
Without dwelling at present on other resources for accomplishing this important end; on resources, which might be made to act directly on the habits of these professions; it seems that example might in some respect be more beneficial than precept; and that the narrative of one, who exhibited, in his public life and conduct the model of what a British officer should be, while he was, at the same time, in the full sense of the word, a Christian; of one, who might have been described through life as “sans peur et sans reproche;” and who became the ornament of his service, while living in close communion with his God; might be useful to others, as shewing that religious principles and professional excellence are not incompatible; and might encourage the young to pursue a course which should make them all that their profession implies, and all that their country can require, without forfeiting that inward peace, and that future hope, which belong to the true Christian, and make up the sum of his privileges, as well as the substance of his character.
To those who knew Sir Jahleel Brenton, or who can now recall the singular combination of qualities which formed his character; qualities which impressed respect while they conciliated the affection of every one around him; it is unnecessary to dwell upon features not likely to be forgotten. But it still may be useful to remind others, and especially those who may be tempted, in running over the following pages, to smile at the tone in which this great and good man speaks, when occupied with questions of a religious nature; that there have been few men, whom an Englishman would have been more desirous, on any occasion of importance, to put forward, as the representative of his country, than the subject of this memoir. The description which the great historian of Rome applied to the man whose merits he has immortalized by his biography, might have been with equal justice applied to him, “Bonum virum facile crederes, magnum libenter.” Goodness seemed to belong to him; and it sate so easily on him, that it coloured every word, and look, and gesture. No one ever met him, without feeling convinced that the qualities which conciliated and pleased, were in his case not the incidental expression of a courtesy assumed to serve a particular purpose; but that they were qualities on which dependence might be placed, as exhibiting the real feelings of the man; dignified, and yet kind; indulgent to others, and yet firm in principle; as playful in the hour of repose, as decided and energetic in the time of peril. Carrying with him, in the stores of a well disciplined mind, and a refined taste, ample resources for profitable conversation, he was fitted to take his place in any form of society, and would have done justice to any situation to which his country could have called him; while his country might also have felt, that the man selected to represent her character, and to maintain her claims, would have also been what few could be; would have been the Christian representative of a Christian people; and would have shewn the lustre which consistent religion spreads over that which is admirable in man, by the effect produced on his own life and conversation.
To prolong the memory of such a man seems nothing less than a duty. To extend the knowledge of his excellence; and before that knowledge is effaced by the competition of other claimants for distinction, to shew the secret springs of the excellence which is admired; to trace to its real source, all that in him was distinctive and peculiar; to shew that it was to the grace of God, and to that alone, he owed the combination of qualities so rarely met with as united, and so much heightened in value by combination; to encourage imitation by example; and to hold up to the future defenders of our country, one, whom they may be proud to follow in the course of service, and whom it will be their happiness to imitate in private life; this seems a debt, which every one who feels the blessings of security he owes to their exertions, and who glories in his country’s honour, should endeavour to discharge.
Conscious of my own inadequacy for the office, which I am describing, I am still sustained by the hope that the reader will afterwards learn what the writer cannot teach; that inferences will be drawn, and conclusions formed from the narrative, which shall realize the purpose with which it has been undertaken; and that the familiar acquaintance that may be gained by admission to the private thoughts and feelings of so good and great a man as Sir Jahleel Brenton, may lead many a mind to adopt the sentiments which are here recorded, and that many a high-spirited and gallant youth may be induced by his example to follow the steps of one who never forgot his God, while engaged in his country’s service; and was as faithful to his Saviour as he was obedient to the call of duty.