Social England under the Regency, Vol. 2 (of 2)Ashton, John
History
Social England under the Regency, Vol. 2 (of 2)
Ashton, John
England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century; Regency -- England
"When he had been some time on board, he asked the Captain what
chance two large frigates, well manned, would have with a
seventy-four. The answer, we understand, which he received to this
inquiry, did not give him any cause to regret that he had not risked
his fortune in a naval combat, with the relative forces in question.
By the way, we should not have been surprised if he had come into an
action with the two frigates, and then endeavoured to escape in his
own, and leave the other to her fate. It has been the constant trick
of this villain, whenever he has got his companions into a scrape, to
leave them in it, and seek his own safety by flight. In Egypt, in the
Moscow expedition, and at Waterloo, such was his conduct.
"He likewise had the assurance to address a letter to the Prince
Regent, and M. Grogau, one of his party, was put on board the
_Slaney_ as the bearer of it; but, when the vessel reached Plymouth,
the officer on duty there, with a decision that does him credit,
refused Grogau permission to land: the letter is said to have been
conveyed by Captain Sartorius, and its purport was understood, on
board, to be a request for passports for America. We should have
supposed that he had received too many checks before, for his
presumption in addressing letters to the British Government, ever
to have hazarded the experiment again; but all reproofs are thrown
away upon his callous heart;--not that we should object to his humbly
addressing the British throne for mercy, if he has anything to urge
in extenuation of his crimes; but the time has not yet come; a
momentary gleam of resolution on the part of his own government,
indicated by the imprisonment of Labédoyère, and others, led us to
hope that his trial might have been safely entrusted to those to whom
it primarily, and of natural right, belongs; but, though this hope
may have proved transitory, he is not, therefore, above the criminal
justice of other countries, where established law, and a regular
execution of it, prevails.
"The first procedure, we trust, will be a special Commission, or the
appointment of a Court Martial to try him for the murder of Captain
Wright. It is nonsense to say, as some have, that Courts Martial are
instituted only to try offences committed by soldiers of the country
to which they belong: it was an American Court Martial that tried
and shot Major André as a spy; and Buonaparte himself appointed
commissions of all kinds, and in all countries, to try offences
committed against himself."
In a letter from on board the _Bellerophon_, Napoleon's _personel_ is
thus described:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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