CHAPTER XXX. SCENE IN THE ROYAL BARRACKS
It would afford me little pleasure to write, and doubtless my readersless to read, my lucubrations as I journeyed along towards Dublin. Mythoughts seldom turned from myself and my own fortunes, nor werethey cheered by the scene through which I travelled. The season was abackward and wet one, and the fields, partly from this cause, and partlyfrom the people being engaged in the late struggle, lay untilled andneglected. Groups of idle, lounging peasants stood in the villages,or loitered on the highroads as we passed, sad, ragged-looking, andwretched. They seemed as if they had no heart to resume their wontedlife of labour, but were waiting for some calamity to close theirmiserable existence. Strongly in contrast with this were the airand bearing of the yeomanry and militia detachments with whom weoccasionally came up. Quite forgetting how little creditable to someof them, at least, were the events of the late campaign, they gavethemselves the most intolerable airs of heroism, and in their drunkenjollity, and reckless abandonment, threatened, I know not what--utterruin to France and all Frenchmen. Bonaparte was the great mark oftheir sarcasms, and, from some cause or other, seemed to enjoy a mostdisproportioned share of their dislike and derision.
At first it required some effort of constraint on my part to listen tothis ribaldry in silence; but prudence, and a little sense, taught methe safer lesson of 'never minding,' and so I affected to understandnothing that was said in a spirit of insult or offence.
On the night of the 7th of November we drew nigh to Dublin; but insteadof entering the capital, we halted at a small village outside of it,called Ghapelizod. Here a house had been fitted up for the reception ofFrench prisoners, and I found myself, if not in company, at least underthe same roof, with my countrymen.
Nearer intercourse than this, however, I was not destined to enjoy, forearly on the following morning I was ordered to set out for the RoyalBarracks, to be tried before a court-martial. It was on a cold, rawmorning, with a thin, drizzly rain falling, that we drove into thebarrack-yard, and drew up at the mess-room, then used for the purposesof a court. As yet none of the members had assembled, and two or threemess-waiters were engaged in removing the signs of last night'sdebauch, and restoring a semblance of decorum to a very rackety-lookingapartment. The walls were scrawled over with absurd caricatures, incharcoal or ink, of notorious characters of the capital, and a verystriking 'battle-piece' commemorated the 'Races of Castlebar,' as thatmemorable action was called, in a spirit, I am bound to say, oflittle flattery to the British arms. There were, to be sure, littlecompensatory illustrations here and there of French cavalry in Egypt,mounted on donkeys, or revolutionary troops on parade, ragged asscarecrows, and ill-looking as highwaymen; but a most liberal justicecharacterised all these frescoes, and they treated both Trojan andTyrian alike.
I had abundant time given me to admire them, for although summoned forseven o'clock, it was nine before the first officer of the court-martialmade his appearance, and he having popped in his head, and perceivingthe room empty, sauntered out again, and disappeared. At last a verynoisy jaunting-car rattled into the square, and a short, red-facedman was assisted down from it, and entered the mess-room. This was Mr.Peters, the Deputy Judge Advocate, whose presence was the immediatesignal for the others, who now came dropping in from every side, thePresident, a Colonel Daly, arriving the last.
A few tradespeople, loungers, it seemed to me, of the barracks, and somehalf-dozen non-commissioned officers off duty, made up the public; and Icould not but feel a sense of my insignificance in the utter absence ofinterest my fate excited. The listless indolence and informality, too,offended and insulted me; and when the President politely told me tobe seated, for they were obliged to wait for some books or papers leftbehind at his quarters, I actually was indignant at his coolness.
As we thus waited, the officers gathered round the fireplace, chattingand laughing pleasantly together, discussing the social events of thecapital, and the gossip of the day; everything, in fact, but the case ofthe individual on whose future fate they were about to decide.
At length the long-expected books made their appearance, and a fewwell-thumbed volumes were spread over the table, behind which the Courttook their places, Colonel Daly in the centre, with the judge upon hisleft.
The members being sworn, the Judge Advocate arose, and in a hurried,humdrum kind of voice, read out what purported to be the commissionunder which I was to be tried; the charge being, whether I had or hadnot acted treacherously and hostilely to his Majesty, whose natural-bornsubject I was, being born in that kingdom, and, consequently, owing tohim all allegiance and fidelity. 'Guilty or not guilty, sir?'
'The charge is a falsehood; I am a Frenchman,' was my answer.
'Have respect for the Court, sir,' said Peters; 'you mean that you are aFrench officer, but by birth an Irishman.'
'I mean no such thing--that I am French by birth, as I am infeeling--that I never saw Ireland till within a few months back, andheartily wish I had never seen it.'
'So would General Humbert, too, perhaps,' said Daly, laughing; and theCourt seemed to relish the jest.
'Where were you born, then, Tiernay?'
'In Paris, I believe.'
'And your mother's name, what was it?'
'I never knew; I was left an orphan when a mere infant, and can telllittle of my family.'
'Your father was Irish, then?'
'Only by descent. I have heard that we came from a family who bore thetitle of "Timmahoo"---Lord Tiernay of Timmahoo.'
'There was such a title,' interposed Peters; 'it was one of King James'slast creations after his flight from the Boyne. Some, indeed, assertthat it was conferred before the battle. What a strange coincidence, tofind the descendant, if he be such, labouring in something like the samecause as his ancestor.'
'What's your rank, sir?' asked a sharp, severe-looking man, called MajorFlood.
'First Lieutenant of Hussars.'
'And is it usual for a boy of your years to hold that rank; or was thereanything peculiar in your case that obtained the promotion?'
'I served in two campaigns, and gained my grade regularly.'
'Your Irish blood, then, had no share in your advancement?' asked heagain.
'I am a Frenchman, as I said before,' was my answer.
'A Frenchman, who lays claim to an Irish estate and an Irish title,'replied Flood. 'Let us hear Dowall's statement.'
And now, to my utter confusion, a man made his way to the table, and,taking the book from the Judge Advocate, kissed it in token of an oath.
'Inform the Court of anything you know in connection with the prisoner,'said the judge.
And the fellow, not daring even to look towards me, began a long,rambling, unconnected narrative of his first meeting with me at Killala,affecting that a close intimacy had subsisted between us, and that,in the faith of a confidence, I had told him how, being an Irishman bybirth, I had joined the expedition in the hope that with the expulsionof the English I should be able to re-establish my claim to my familyrank and fortune. There was little coherence in his story, and morethan one discrepant statement occurred in it; but the fellow's naturalstupidity imparted a wonderful air of truth to the narrative, and Iwas surprised how naturally it sounded even to my own ears, littlecircumstances of truth being interspersed through the recital, as thoughto season the falsehood into a semblance of fact.
'What have you to reply to this, Tiernay?' asked the colonel.
'Simply, sir, that such a witness, were his assertions even moreconsistent and probable, is utterly unworthy of credit. This fellow wasone of the greatest marauders of the rebel army; and the last exerciseof authority I ever witnessed by General Humbert was an order to drivehim out of the town of Castlebar.'
'Is this the notorious Town-major Dowall?' asked an officer ofartillery.
'The same, sir.'
'I can answer, then, for his being one of the greatest rascalsunhanged,' rejoined he.
'This is all very irregular, gentlemen,' interp
osed the Judge Advocate;'the character of a witness cannot be impugned by what is mere desultoryconversation. Let Dowall withdraw.'
The man retired, and now a whispered conversation was kept up at thetable for about a quarter of an hour, in which I could distinctlyseparate those who befriended from those who opposed me, the major beingthe chief of the latter party. One speech of his which I overheard madea slight impression on me, and for the first time suggested uneasinessregarding the event.
'Whatever you do with this lad must have an immense influence on Tone'strial. Don't forget that if you acquit him, you'll be sorely puzzled toconvict the other.'
The colonel promptly overruled this unjust suggestion, and maintainedthat in my accent, manner, and appearance, there was every evidence ofmy French origin.
'Let Wolfe Tone stand upon his own merits,' said he, 'but let us not mixthis case with his.'
'I'd have treated every man who landed to a rope,' exclaimed the major,'Humbert himself among the rest. It was pure "brigandage," and nothingless.'
'I hope if I escape, sir, that it will never be my fortune to see you aprisoner of France,' said I, forgetting all in my indignation.
'If my voice have any influence, young man, that opportunity is notlikely to occur to you,' was the reply.
This ungenerous speech found no sympathy with the rest, and I soon sawthat the major represented a small minority in the Court.
The want of my commission, or of any document suitable to my rank orposition in the service, was a great drawback; for I had given all mypapers to Humbert, and had nothing to substantiate my account of myself.I saw how unfavourably this acknowledgment was taken by the Court; andwhen I was ordered to withdraw that they might deliberate, I own that Ifelt great misgivings as to the result.
The deliberation was a long, and, as I could overhear, a stronglydisputed one. Dowall was twice called in for examination, and when heretired on the last occasion the discussion grew almost stormy.
As I stood thus awaiting my fate, the public, now removed from thecourt, pressed eagerly to look at me; and while some thronged thedoorway, and even pressed against the sentry, others crowded at thewindow to peep in. Among these faces, over which my eye ranged in halfvacancy, one face struck me, for the expression of sincere sympathy andinterest it bore. It was that of a middle-aged man of a humble walk inlife, whose dress bespoke him from the country. There was nothing in hisappearance to have called for attention or notice, and at any other timeI should have passed him over without remark; but now, as his featuresbetokened a feeling almost verging on anxiety, I could not regard himwithout interest.
Whichever way my eyes turned, however my thoughts might take me off,whenever I looked towards him I was sure to find his gaze steadily bentupon me, and with an expression quite distinct from mere curiosity. Atlast came the summons for me to reappear before the Court, and the crowdopened to let me pass in.
The noise, the anxiety of the moment, and the movement of the peopleconfused me at first; and when I recovered self-possession, I foundthat the Judge Advocate was reciting the charge under which I was tried.There were three distinct counts, on each of which the Court pronouncedme 'Not Guilty,' but at the same time qualifying the finding by theadditional words--'by a majority of two'; thus showing me that my escapehad been a narrow one.
'As a prisoner of war,' said the President, 'you will now receive thesame treatment as your comrades of the same rank. Some have been alreadyexchanged, and some have given bail for their appearance to answer anyfuture charges against them.'
'I am quite ready, sir, to accept my freedom on parole,' said I; 'ofcourse, in a country where I am an utter stranger, bail is out of thequestion.'
'I'm willing to bail him, your worship; I'll take it on me to be suretyfor him,' cried a coarse, husky voice from the body of the court; andat the same time a man dressed in a greatcoat of dark frieze pressedthrough the crowd and approached the table.
'And who are you, my good fellow, so ready to impose yourself on theCourt?' asked Peters.
'I'm a farmer of eighty acres of land, from the Black Pits, nearBaldoyle, and the adjutant there, Mr. Moore, knows me well.'
'Yes,' said the adjutant, 'I have known you some years, as supplyingforage to the cavalry, and always heard you spoken of as honest andtrustworthy.'
'Thank you, Mr. Moore; that's as much as I want.'
'Yes; but it's not as much as we want, my worthy man,' said Peters; 'werequire to know that you are a solvent and respectable person.'
'Come out and see my place, then; ride over the land and look at mystock; ask my neighbours my character; find out if there's anythingagainst me.'
'We prefer to leave all that trouble on your shoulders,' said Peters;'show us that we may accept your surety, and we 'll entertain thequestion at once.'
'How much is it?' asked he eagerly.
'We demanded five hundred pounds for a major on the staff; suppose wesay two, colonel, is that sufficient?' asked Peters of the President.
'I should say quite enough,' was the reply.
'There's eighty of it, anyway,' said the farmer, producing a dirty rollof bank-notes, and throwing them on the table; 'I got them from Mr.Murphy in Smithfield this morning, and I'll get twice as much more fromhim for asking; so if your honours will wait till I come back, I'll notbe twenty minutes away.'
'But we can't take your money, my man; we have no right to touch it.'
'Then what are ye talking about two hundred pounds for?' asked hesternly.
'We want your promise to pay in the event of this bail being broken.'
'Oh, I see, it's all the same thing in the end; I'll do it either way.'
'We'll accept Mr. Murphy's guarantee for your solvency,' said Peters;'obtain that, and you can sign the bond at once.'
''Faith, I'll get it, sure enough, and be here before you've the writingdrawn out,' said he, buttoning up his coat.
'What name are we to insert in the bond?' 'Tiernay, sir.'
'That's the prisoner's name, but we want yours.' 'Mine's Tiernay, too,sir; Pat Tiernay of the Black Pits.'
Before I could recover from my surprise at this announcement he had leftthe court, which in a few minutes afterwards broke up, a clerk aloneremaining to fill up the necessary documents and complete the bail-bond.
The colonel, as well as two others of his officers, pressed me to jointhem at breakfast, but I declined, resolving to wait for my namesake'sreturn, and partake of no other hospitality than his.
It was near one o'clock when he returned, almost worn out with fatigue,since he had been in pursuit of Mr. Murphy for several hours, and onlycame upon him by chance at last. His business, however, he had fullyaccomplished; the bail-bond was duly drawn out and signed, and I leftthe barrack in a state of mind very different from the feeling withwhich I had entered it that day.