Who in the rainbow can draw the line where the violet tint ends and the
orange tint begins? Distinctly we see the difference of the colors, but where
exactly does the one first blendingly enter into the other? So with sanity and
insanity. In pronounced cases there is no question about them. But in some
supposed cases, in various degrees supposedly less pronounced, to draw the exact
line of demarkation few will undertake tho' for a fee some professional experts
will. There is nothing namable but that some men will undertake to do it for
pay.
Whether Captain Vere, as the Surgeon professionally and privately surmised,
was really the sudden victim of any degree of aberration, one must determine for
himself by such light as this narrative may afford.
That the unhappy event which has been narrated could not have happened at a
worse juncture was but too true. For it was close on the heel of the suppressed
insurrections, an aftertime very critical to naval authority, demanding from
every English sea-commander two qualities not readily interfusable- prudence and
rigour. Moreover there was something crucial in the case.
In the jugglery of circumstances preceding and attending the event on board
the Indomitable, and in the light of that martial code whereby it was formally
to be judged, innocence and guilt personified in Claggart and Budd in effect
changed places. In a legal view the apparent victim of the tragedy was he who
had sought to victimize a man blameless; and the indisputable deed of the
latter, navally regarded, constituted the most heinous of military crimes. Yet
more. The essential right and wrong involved in the matter, the clearer that
might be, so much the worse for the responsibility of a loyal sea-commander
inasmuch as he was not authorized to determine the matter on that primitive
basis.
Small wonder then that the Indomitable's Captain, though in general a man of
rapid decision, felt that circumspectness not less than promptitude was
necessary. Until he could decide upon his course, and in each detail; and not
only so, but until the concluding measure was upon the point of being enacted,
he deemed it advisable, in view of all the circumstances, to guard as much as
possible against publicity. Here he may or may not have erred. Certain it is,
however, that subsequently in the confidential talk of more than one or two
gun-rooms and cabins he was not a little criticized by some officers, a fact
imputed by his friends and vehemently by his cousin, Jack Denton, to
professional jealousy of Starry Vere. Some imaginative ground for invidious
comment there was. The maintenance of secrecy in the matter, the confining all
knowledge of it for a time to the place where the homicide occurred, the
quarter-deck cabin; in these particulars lurked some resemblance to the policy
adopted in those tragedies of the palace which have occurred more than once in
the capital founded by Peter the Barbarian.
The case indeed was such that fain would the Indomitable's Captain have
deferred taking any action whatever respecting it further than to keep the
Foretopman a close prisoner till the ship rejoined the squadron, and then
submitting the matter to the judgement of his Admiral.
But a true military officer is in one particular like a true monk. Not with
more of self-abnegation will the latter keep his vows of monastic obedience than
the former his vows of allegiance to martial duty.
Feeling that unless quick action was taken on it, the deed of the Foretopman,
so soon as it should be known on the gun decks, would tend to awaken any
slumbering embers of the Nore among the crew, a sense of the urgency of the case
overruled in Captain Vere every other consideration. But tho' a conscientious
disciplinarian, he was no lover of authority for mere authority's sake. Very far
was he from embracing opportunities for monopolizing to himself the perils of
moral responsibility, none at least that could properly be referred to an
official superior, or shared with him by his official equals or even
subordinates. So thinking, he was glad it would not be at variance with usage to
turn the matter over to a summary court of his own officers, reserving to
himself as the one on whom the ultimate accountability would rest, the right of
maintaining a supervision of it, or formally or informally interposing at need.
Accordingly a drum-head court was summarily convened, he electing the
individuals composing it, the First Lieutenant, the Captain of Marines, and the
Sailing Master.
In associating an officer of marines with the sea-lieutenants in a case
having to do with a sailor, the Commander perhaps deviated from general custom.
He was prompted thereto by the circumstance that he took that soldier to be a
judicious person, thoughtful, and not altogether incapable of grappling with a
difficult case unprecedented in his prior experience. Yet even as to him he was
not without some latent misgiving, for withal he was an extremely goodnatured
man, an enjoyer of his dinner, a sound sleeper, and inclined to obesity, a man
who tho' he would always maintain his manhood in battle might not prove
altogether reliable in a moral dilemma involving aught of the tragic. As to the
First Lieutenant and the Sailing Master, Captain Vere could not but be aware
that though honest natures, of approved gallantry upon occasion, their
intelligence was mostly confined to the matter of active seamanship and the
fighting demands of their profession. The court was held in the same cabin where
the unfortunate affair had taken place. This cabin, the Commander's, embraced
the entire area under the poopdeck. Aft, and on either side, was a small
state-room; the one room temporarily a jail and the other a dead-house, and a
yet smaller compartment leaving a space between, expanding forward into a goodly
oblong of length coinciding with the ship's beam. A skylight of moderate
dimension was overhead and at each end of the oblong space were two sashed
port-hole windows easily convertible back into embrasures for short carronades.
All being quickly in readiness, Billy Budd was arraigned, Captain Vere
necessarily appearing as the sole witness in the case, and as such, temporarily
sinking his rank, though singularly maintaining it in a matter apparently
trivial, namely, that he testified from the ship's weather-side, with that
object having caused the court to sit on the lee-side. Concisely he narrated all
that had led up to the catastrophe, omitting nothing in Claggart's accusation
and deposing as to the manner in which the prisoner had received it. At this
testimony the three officers glanced with no little surprise at Billy Budd, the
last man they would have suspected either of the mutinous design alleged by
Claggart or the undeniable deed he himself had done.
The First Lieutenant, taking judicial primacy and turning toward the
prisoner, said, "Captain Vere has spoken. Is it or is it not as Captain Vere
says?" In response came syllables not so much impeded in the utterance as might
have been anticipated. They were these: "Captain Vere tells the truth. It is
just as Captain Vere says, but it is not as the Master-at-arms said. I have
eaten the King's bread and I am true to the King."
"I believe you, my man," said the witness, his voice indicating a suppressed
emotion not otherwise betrayed.
"God will bless you for that, Your Honor!" not without stammering said Billy,
and all but broke down. But immediately was recalled to self-control by another
question, to which with the same emotional difficulty of utterance he said, "No,
there was no malice between us. I never bore malice against the Master-at-arms.
I am sorry that he is dead. I did not mean to kill him. Could I have used my
tongue I would not have struck him. But he foully lied to my face and in
presence of my Captain, and I had to say something, and I could only say it with
a blow, God help me!"
In the impulsive above-board manner of the frank one, the court saw confirmed
all that was implied in words that just previously had perplexed them, coming as
they did from the testifier to the tragedy and promptly following Billy's
impassioned disclaimer of mutinous intent- Captain Vere's words, "I believe you,
my man."
Next it was asked of him whether he knew of or suspected aught savoring of
incipient trouble (meaning mutiny, tho' the explicit term was avoided) going on
in any section of the ship's company.
The reply lingered. This was naturally imputed by the court to the same vocal
embarrassment which had retarded or obstructed previous answers. But in main it
was otherwise here; the question immediately recalling to Billy's mind the
interview with the afterguardsman in the fore-chains. But an innate repugnance
to playing a part at all approaching that of an informer against one's own
shipmates- the same erring sense of uninstructed honor which had stood in the
way of his reporting the matter at the time though as a loyal man-of-war-man it
was incumbent on him, and failure so to do if charged against him and proven,
would have subjected him to the heaviest of penalties; this, with the blind
feeling now his, that nothing really was being hatched, prevailed with him. When
the answer came it was a negative.
"One question more," said the officer of marines now first speaking and with
a troubled earnestness. "You tell us that what the Master-at-arms said against
you was a lie. Now why should he have so lied, so maliciously lied, since you
declare there was no malice between you?"
At that question unintentionally touching on a spiritual sphere wholly
obscure to Billy's thoughts, he was nonplussed, evincing a confusion indeed that
some observers, such as can readily be imagined, would have construed into
involuntary evidence of hidden guilt. Nevertheless he strove some way to answer,
but all at once relinquished the vain endeavor, at the same time turning an
appealing glance towards Captain Vere as deeming him his best helper and friend.
Captain Vere who had been seated for a time rose to his feet, addressing the
interrogator. "The question you put to him comes naturally enough. But how can
he rightly answer it? or anybody else? unless indeed it be he who lies within
there," designating the compartment where lay the corpse. "But the prone one
there will not rise to our summons. In effect, tho', as it seems to me, the
point you make is hardly material. Quite aside from any conceivable motive
actuating the Master-at-arms, and irrespective of the provocation to the blow, a
martial court must needs in the present case confine its attention to the blow's
consequence, which consequence justly is to be deemed not otherwise than as the
striker's deed."
This utterance, the full significance of which it was not at all likely that
Billy took in, nevertheless caused him to turn a wistful interrogative look
toward the speaker, a look in its dumb expressiveness not unlike that which a
dog of generous breed might turn upon his master seeking in his face some
elucidation of a previous gesture ambiguous to the canine intelligence. Nor was
the same utterance without marked effect upon the three officers, more
especially the soldier. Couched in it seemed to them a meaning unanticipated,
involving a prejudgement on the speaker's part. It served to augment a mental
disturbance previously evident enough.
The soldier once more spoke; in a tone of suggestive dubiety addressing at
once his associates and Captain Vere: "Nobody is present- none of the ship's
company, I mean- who might shed lateral light, if any is to be had, upon what
remains mysterious in this matter."
"That is thoughtfully put," said Captain Vere; "I see your drift. Ay, there
is a mystery; but, to use a Scriptural phrase, it is 'a mystery of iniquity,' a
matter for psychologic theologians to discuss. But what has a military court to
do with it? Not to add that for us any possible investigation of it is cut off
by the lasting tongue-tie of- him- in yonder," again designating the mortuary
stateroom. "The prisoner's deed,- with that alone we have to do."
To this, and particularly the closing reiteration, the marine soldier knowing
not how aptly to reply, sadly abstained from saying aught. The First Lieutenant
who at the outset had not unnaturally assumed primacy in the court, now
overrulingly instructed by a glance from Captain Vere, a glance more effective
than words, resumed that primacy. Turning to the prisoner, "Budd," he said, and
scarce in equable tones, "Budd, if you have aught further to say for yourself,
say it now."
Upon this the young sailor turned another quick glance toward Captain Vere;
then, as taking a hint from that aspect, a hint confirming his own instinct that
silence was now best, replied to the Lieutenant, "I have said all, Sir."
The marine- the same who had been the sentinel without the cabin-door at the
time that the Foretopman followed by the Master-at-arms, entered it- he,
standing by the sailor throughout these judicial proceedings, was now directed
to take him back to the after compartment originally assigned to the prisoner
and his custodian. As the twain disappeared from view, the three officers as
partially liberated from some inward constraint associated with Billy's mere
presence, simultaneously stirred in their seats. They exchanged looks of
troubled indecision, yet feeling that decide they must and without long delay.
As for Captain Vere, he for the time stood unconsciously with his back toward
them, apparently in one of his absent fits, gazing out from a sashed port-hole
to windward upon the monotonous blank of the twilight sea. But the court's
silence continuing, broken only at moments by brief consultations in low earnest
tones, this seemed to arm him and energize him. Turning, he to-and-fro paced the
cabin athwart; in the returning ascent to windward, climbing the slant deck in
the ship's lee roll; without knowing it symbolizing thus in his action a mind
resolute to surmount difficulties even if against primitive instincts strong as
the wind and the sea. Presently he came to a stand before the three. After
scanning their faces he stood less as mustering his thoughts for expression,
than as one inly deliberating how best to put them to well-meaning men not
intellectually mature, men with whom it was necessary to demonstrate certain
principles that were axioms to himself. Similar impatience as to talking is
perhaps one reason that deters some minds from addressing any popular
assemblies.
When speak he did, something both in the substance of what he said and his
manner of saying it, showed the influence of unshared studies modifying and
tempering the practical training of an active career. This, along with his
phraseology, now and then was suggestive of the grounds whereon rested that
imputation of a certain pedantry socially alleged against him by certain naval
men of wholly practical cast, captains who nevertheless would frankly concede
that His Majesty's Navy mustered no more efficient officer of their grade than
Starry Vere.
What he said was to this effect: "Hitherto I have been but the witness,
little more; and I should hardly think now to take another tone, that of your
coadjutor, for the time, did I not perceive in you,- at the crisis too- a
troubled hesitancy, proceeding, I doubt not, from the clash of military duty
with moral scruple- scruple vitalized by compassion. For the compassion, how can
I otherwise than share it? But, mindful of paramount obligations I strive
against scruples that may tend to enervate decision. Not, gentlemen, that I hide
from myself that the case is an exceptional one. Speculatively regarded, it well
might be referred to a jury of casuists. But for us here acting not as casuists
or moralists, it is a case practical, and under martial law practically to be
dealt with.
"But your scruples: do they move as in a dusk? Challenge them. Make them
advance and declare themselves. Come now: do they import something like this?
If, mindless of palliating circumstances, we are bound to regard the death of
the Master-at-arms as the prisoner's deed, then does that deed constitute a
capital crime whereof the penalty is a mortal one? But in natural justice is
nothing but the prisoner's overt act to be considered? How can we adjudge to
summary and shameful death a fellow-creature innocent before God, and whom we
feel to be so?- Does that state it aright? You sign sad assent. Well, I too feel
that, the full force of that. It is Nature. But do these buttons that we wear
attest that our allegiance is to Nature? No, to the King. Though the ocean,
which is inviolate Nature primeval, tho' this be the element where we move and
have our being as sailors, yet as the King's officers lies our duty in a sphere
correspondingly natural? So little is that true, that in receiving our
commissions we in the most important regards ceased to be natural free-agents.
When war is declared are we the commissioned fighters previously consulted? We
fight at command. If our judgements approve the war, that is but coincidence. So
in other particulars. So now. For suppose condemnation to follow these present
proceedings. Would it be so much we ourselves that would condemn as it would be
martial law operating through us? For that law and the rigour of it, we are not
responsible. Our avowed responsibility is in this: That however pitilessly that
law may operate, we nevertheless adhere to it and administer it.
"But the exceptional in the matter moves the hearts within you. Even so too
is mine moved. But let not warm hearts betray heads that should be cool. Ashore
in a criminal case will an upright judge allow himself off the bench to be
waylaid by some tender kinswoman of the accused seeking to touch him with her
tearful plea? Well the heart here denotes the feminine in man is as that piteous
woman, and hard tho' it be, she must here be ruled out."
He paused, earnestly studying them for a moment; then resumed.
"But something in your aspect seems to urge that it is not solely the heart
that moves in you, but also the conscience, the private conscience. But tell me
whether or not, occupying the position we do, private conscience should not
yield to that imperial one formulated in the code under which alone we
officially proceed?"
Here the three men moved in their seats, less convinced than agitated by the
course of an argument troubling but the more the spontaneous conflict within.
Perceiving which, the speaker paused for a moment; then abruptly changing his
tone, went on.
"To steady us a bit, let us recur to the facts.- In war-time at sea a
man-of-war's-man strikes his superior in grade, and the blow kills. Apart from
its effect, the blow itself is, according to the Articles of War, a capital
crime. Furthermore-"
"Ay, Sir," emotionally broke in the officer of marines, "in one sense it was.
But surely Budd purposed neither mutiny nor homicide."
"Surely not, my good man. And before a court less arbitrary and more merciful
than a martial one, that plea would largely extenuate. At the Last Assizes it
shall acquit. But how here? We proceed under the law of the Mutiny Act. In
feature no child can resemble his father more than that Act resembles in spirit
the thing from which it derives- War. In His Majesty's service- in this ship
indeed- there are Englishmen forced to fight for the King against their will.
Against their conscience, for aught we know. Tho' as their fellow-creatures some
of us may appreciate their position, yet as navy officers, what reck we of it?
Still less recks the enemy. Our impressed men he would fain cut down in the same
swath with our volunteers. As regards the enemy's naval conscripts, some of whom
may even share our own abhorrence of the regicidal French Directory, it is the
same on our side. War looks but to the frontage, the appearance. And the Mutiny
Act, War's child, takes after the father. Budd's intent or non-intent is nothing
to the purpose.
"But while, put to it by these anxieties in you which I can not but respect,
I only repeat myself- while thus strangely we prolong proceedings that should be
summary- the enemy may be sighted and an engagement result. We must do; and one
of two things must we do- condemn or let go."
"Can we not convict and yet mitigate the penalty?" asked the junior
Lieutenant here speaking, and falteringly, for the first.
"Lieutenant, were that clearly lawful for us under the circumstances,
consider the consequences of such clemency. The people" (meaning the ship's
company) "have native-sense; most of them are familiar with our naval usage and
tradition; and how would they take it? Even could you explain to them- which our
official position forbids- they, long moulded by arbitrary discipline have not
that kind of intelligent responsiveness that might qualify them to comprehend
and discriminate. No, to the people the Foretopman's deed, however it be worded
in the announcement, will be plain homicide committed in a flagrant act of
mutiny. What penalty for that should follow, they know. But it does not follow.
Why? they will ruminate. You know what sailors are. Will they not revert to the
recent outbreak at the Nore? Ay. They know the well-founded alarm- the panic it
struck throughout England. Your clement sentence they would account
pusillanimous. They would think that we flinch, that we are afraid of them-
afraid of practising a lawful rigour singularly demanded at this juncture lest
it should provoke new troubles. What shame to us such a conjecture on their
part, and how deadly to discipline. You see then, whither, prompted by duty and
the law, I steadfastly drive. But I beseech you, my friends, do not take me
amiss. I feel as you do for this unfortunate boy. But did he know our hearts, I
take him to be of that generous nature that he would feel even for us on whom in
this military necessity so heavy a compulsion is laid."
With that, crossing the deck he resumed his place by the sashed port-hole,
tacitly leaving the three to come to a decision. On the cabin's opposite side
the troubled court sat silent. Loyal lieges, plain and practical, though at
bottom they dissented from some points Captain Vere had put to them, they were
without the faculty, hardly had the inclination, to gainsay one whom they felt
to be an earnest man, one too not less their superior in mind than in naval
rank. But it is not improbable that even such of his words as were not without
influence over them, less came home to them than his closing appeal to their
instinct as sea-officers in the forethought he threw out as to the practical
consequences to discipline, considering the unconfirmed tone of the fleet at the
time, should a man-of-war's-man's violent killing at sea of a superior in grade
be allowed to pass for aught else than a capital crime demanding prompt
infliction of the penalty.
Not unlikely they were brought to something more or less akin to that
harassed frame of mind which in the year 1842 actuated the Commander of the U.S.
brig-of-war Somers to resolve, under the so-called Articles of War, Articles
modelled upon the English Mutiny Act, to resolve upon the execution at sea of a
midshipman and two petty-officers as mutineers designing the seizure of the
brig. Which resolution was carried out though in a time of peace and within not
many days' of home. An act vindicated by a naval court of inquiry subsequently
convened ashore. History, and here cited without comment. True, the
circumstances on board the Somers were different from those on board the
Indomitable. But the urgency felt, well-warranted or otherwise, was much the
same.
Says a writer whom few know, "Forty years after a battle it is easy for a
non-combatant to reason about how it ought to have been fought. It is another
thing personally and under fire to direct the fighting while involved in the
obscuring smoke of it. Much so with respect to other emergencies involving
considerations both practical and moral, and when it is imperative promptly to
act. The greater the fog the more it imperils the steamer, and speed is put on
tho' at the hazard of running somebody down. Little ween the snug card-players
in the cabin of the responsibilities of the sleepless man on the bridge."
In brief, Billy Budd was formally convicted and sentenced to be hung at the
yard-arm in the early morning watch, it being now night. Otherwise, as is
customary in such cases, the sentence would forthwith have been carried out. In
war-time on the field or in the fleet, a mortal punishment decreed by a
drum-head court- on the field sometimes decreed by but a nod from the General-
follows without delay on the heel of conviction without appeal.
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