Troubled Waters

lovely, Lewrie thought her, but with the air of an unimpressed empress forced to appear among the lowly; imperious, cold, but very aware of the power of her looks. Deserve each other, I swear they do! Lewrie thought, and speculated who had selected their attire, Hugh Beauman, or her; and, at the end of the day, who would get scathed for it in the privacy of their lodgings! That 'd put a chill on Beauman's new 'domestic bliss'!

Then, to the further embarrassment of the Beaumans, there came in their wake a brace of Blacks in livery grander and more gilt-laced than any admiral or general, both very dark-skinned and young teenagers in pure white wigs, just far enough behind the Beaumans to appear as if they could bear the hems of long royal trains, if required. Another brace of female slave servants, quite comely young girls in a matching livery, also entered, ready to see to Mrs. Beauman's every whim, and the titters and snickers from the onlookers turned to hisses and cat-calls. 'Fie! For shame! Boo!' rippled through the audience, abashing the wife, whose cheeks turned crimson, but only serving to anger Hugh Beauman further.

'Make ye pay, Lewrie!' he growled across the room, shaking one fist in Lewrie's direction. 'Hang, damn yer eyes!' Which utterance set off a wave of outright revulsion, and winces from Sir George Norman and the Jamaican attorney, who had been gawping about in bumpkinish fashion to enter a real English court of law.

For a fleeting moment, Lewrie could almost feel sorry for the prosecuting barrister, Sir George Norman, K.C., as he tried to silence his troublesome client, for that worthy looked about 'fed up to here' with Beauman and his crudities. Just for a wee bit, though; after all, does one lie down with dogs, one rises with fleas!

The grim thud of a mace and a cry of 'Oyez, oyez, oyez!' drew everyone to their feet to honour the majestic entry of Lord Justice Oglethorpe, the chief bailiff intoning the ancient opening ritual to awe them with the power and solemnity of justice: '… all who have business before this honourable court, draw forward, and be heard!'

'Should I keep my sword on, or…?' Lewrie muttered, unsure of a sudden. At naval courts-martial, it would lay on the judges' table.

'God Aim… wear it. Now, hist!' MacDougall whispered back.

'The accused will enter the dock,' the bailiff announced, and Lewrie stepped into it, standing right by the rail with his arms at his side at attention, bare headed. 'State your name and occupation, sir,' he bade, as if there was any doubt of Lewrie's 'line.'

'Captain Alan Lewrie… Royal Navy,' he stated.

'Captain Lewrie, I charge you now,' began Lord Justice Oglethorpe, up behind the bane and seated upon a high-backed chair resembling the throne of a minor kingdom. 'You stand accused of a heinous crime, the theft of twelve Black slaves from a plantation on the Crown colony of Jamaica… three years past, and, the offer of armed violence in the perpetration of that act. How do you respond to these charges, sir?'

'Not… guilty, my lord,' Lewrie firmly answered in a voice close to a quarterdeck call.

'Counsellor MacDougall, you are ready to proceed, sir?' 'I am in all respects, my lord,' MacDougall responded. 'Sir George for the prosecution, are you ready to proceed, sir?' 'I am, milud' came the nasal Oxonian drawl.

'You may sit, Captain Lewrie,' Oglethorpe instructed. 'Begin, if you will, Sir George.'

'Milud, gentlemen, and ladies, we are come today to present to this honourable court the results of a capital trial already concluded… one held in a court of law in Kingston, Jamaica, which resulted in a guilty verdict against Captain Lewrie, and, a sentence oi death by hanging… a proceeding conducted in absentia due to the fact that Captain Lewrie had, upon learning of his impending trial, fled the jurisdiction… surely, the act oi a man who acknowledges his guilt, and fears the consequences of his crimes…'

Lewrie sat stiff-backed, head up, but fuming as the worst sort of calumny was poured out against him. When the vilest sort of lies were trotted out in Norman's opening statements, lies 'guinea-stamped' by the presence of the trial transcript, which the prosecutor took for granted as Gospel Truth, Lewrie just had to frown and scowl, to gawp in astonishment and look to MacDougall for help, wondering why he was sitting slouched and silent, merely rolling his head at the worst of the accusations, even pretending to study his fingernails and speculate did they need a cleaning with his pen-knife!

'… ask you, milud, to uphold the verdict found against Captain Lewrie, as well as the sentence, and remand him to prison so that the sentence may be carried out. I thank you for your attendance upon my presentation, milud, and feel certain that you will find for the prosecution, so that Mister Hugh Beauman, Esquire, may find justice at last, and the return of his property, before this honourable court.'

His presentation completed, Sir George Norman turned about with his robe flaring and solemnly paced back to the prosecutor's table, to sweep his robe forward so he could sit in his chair with an exhausted, but smugly satisfied, sigh, fold his hands together atop the table, and sit stiff-backed and chin high; slightly smiling as if he had passed orals at Oxford, and was just waiting to be awarded a well-earned Blue.

'Counsellor MacDougall?' Justice Oglethorpe solemnly prompted. Andrew MacDougall leaped to his feet, quick as a striking cobra, took several impatient steps to a post before the bench, and stamped to a stop (doubtless waking every nodder in the courtroom after hearing Sir George's sonorous declamations) and cried, 'All that has gone before, milord, is a perversity… a total sham!' Which declaration aroused several in the audience to shout 'Hear, hear!' like back-benchers in the Commons.

'Aye, milord, there is the transcript of Captain Lewrie's trial on Jamaica,' MacDougall went on in the same heated tone, 'to which we do not object, for its introduction before this honourable court cuts both ways, like a dual-bladed knife. On its face, it seems legitimate, but upon a closer reading… and with more information anent the background which led to its conduct… one may surely discover that such a trial, conducted in absentia, was held at such short notice that no one in Crown government, no officer senior to Captain Lewrie in the Royal Navy, and certainly no friends or allies of his, were even aware that it was on the docket before these sham proceedings were done! Note as well, milord, as you closely peruse the transcript, the complete, utter absence of any defence witnesses called, not even one to attest as to Captain Lewrie's character.

'For the very good reason, milord, that the barrister for Captain Lewrie's defence was found cooling his heels and scraping for cases at a tavern close by to the courthouse in Kingston, was given but half an hour to familiarise himself with the particulars by the local justice, then was ordered to proceed before said defence attorney could at any odds say who exactly it was he was defending, much less discover a witness for the defendant!' MacDougall quickly accused.

That created a mighty stir of displeasure among Lewrie's allies, and the idle curious who had wandered in to witness a 'raree show,' as well, which Lord Justice Oglethorpe had to gavel down.

'I would now wish to humbly submit as evidence to such, a change, milord, a deposition, properly witnessed by several gentlemen from the offices of Lord Balcarres, the Crown Governor of Jamaica… upon that worthy's stationery, milord may note… obtained from the defending attorney, one Mister Herbert Pruett, Esquire, who… and here I quote him from memory… 'thought the matter extremely odd, but was night the easiest twenty pounds and eight pence ever I have earned.' Mister Pruett's deposition will shew that he himself was not aware that a trial would be held that day, milord, and was in search of future proceedings when he was found, in his cups, he freely admits, and given the brief.'

'Do you then plead incompetent counsel, sir?' Oglethorpe asked, looking a tad queasy with that revelation.

'Indeed not, milord!' MacDougall said as he handed over the affidavit to a clerk. 'Given the circumstances, I doubt the ablest barrister in Great Britain could have done any better. You will also note, milord, that Mister Pruett attempted to plead a delay so that he might discover witnesses, but was denied, and told to proceed at once by the presiding Justice. Why, milord,' MacDougall said with an impish grin as he turned to face the back of the courtroom, 'under such pressure, even / might have failed!' Which made everyone (the Beaumans and their entourage excepted, of course) enjoy a good laugh.

'Secondly, milord, I would also to submit for your information a roster of the seated jurymen, along with their occupations, and their kinship to the Beauman family, their financial or business dependence upon, or their direct employment by, the plaintiff, or their employment in the despicable slave-trading