industry, as evidence that the jurymen were most carefully selected beforehand to render a conviction and the sentence most desired by the plaintiffs… namely, the hanging of the man who participated in a duel as second to Leftenent-Colonel Christopher Cashman, formerly commanding officer of the local regiment raised by the Beaumans, which duel resulted in the death of former-Colonel of the regiment Ledyard Beauman and his cousin Charles Sellers, both of whom cheated in the most egregious manner requiring Captain Lewrie and the judges to shoot him down, as well!
'Milord will note that there is a man named Sellers listed as a gentleman of the jury,' MacDougall further accused, 'and if this whole affair is not an act of personal revenge with the very majesty and dignity of the Law perverted as revenge's implement, then I do not know what else to call it!'
'Silence!' Lord Justice Oglethorpe had to thunder above the baying and cat-calls of the audience. 'I will have silence in the court!'
'If milord pleases,' MacDougall went on once the crowd had done with their booing. 'I have also obtained, and would lay before you as further evidence of previous grudges, affidavits from the gentlemen at the duel, and their official findings… one of whom is a very well-respected retired magistrate, detailing how it all fell out, resulting in the wound in the back suffered by Leftenant-Colonel Cashman, and the most necessary deaths of both Ledyard Beauman and Charles Sellers, and their dishonourable conduct upon the field.' 'Murderer!' Hugh Beauman bellowed, leaping to his feet and just about beside himself with rage, his face mottled nigh-purple. 'They were murdered! That bastard, Lewrie…!'
'Silence, I said!' Oglethorpe roared right back, banging away with his gavel, and turning a choleric shade himself. 'Sir George, I conjure you to control your party's outbursts.'
'Bloody lies!' Beauman went on despite Sir George Norman's urgings and tuggings. Beauman shrugged him off like a street beggar's hand. 'Slave stealer, he is! Convicted! Want him hanged! Hear me?'
Like all the Beaumans, even when in calm takings, Hugh Beauman pared his words to the bare minimum necessary; and, like all the clan, anything that went against his instant wishes had to be crushed. They had made themselves, after all, but, despite the wealth and finery, at bottom were tenant-tramplin', shootin', huntin', dog-kissin', slave-whippin' 'John Bull' squires of the most brutish sort; 'Chaw-Bacons,' for all their money. There had been times, even when head-over-heels in lust for Lucy Beauman, that Lewrie hadn't been too sure of her!
'Can you not manage yourself, sir, I will have you removed from my courtroom!' Oglethorpe threatened. If Beauman thought the boos he got before were insufferable, they were nothing to the new chorus that rose up, and continued despite the Justice's hammering.
When at last the din subsided, and Beauman had at last listened to reason from his hired barrister and his icy young wife, MacDougall presented his last affidavits to the clerks, and held up a newspaper.
'Murder, is it, milord?' MacDougall said with an indignant tone. 'Do we look for murder, or its attempt, we need look no further for it than the south bank of the Thames, just outside Kingston… no further in the past than yesterday, for in the early afternoon, six well-armed men, ostensibly highwaymen, lay in ambuscade within sight of the spires of our great city, and opened fire upon Captain Lewrie's coach! Fortunately for Captain Lewrie, he was travelling with his father, Major-General Sir Hugo Saint George Willoughby, and his brother-in-law and former Major Burgess Chiswick, late of the East India Company Army, and a comrade with Captain Lewrie at the siege of Yorktown, from which they escaped… due principally to then-Midshipman Alan Lewrie's abilities both with firearms and boats, I might add… who gave better than they got, Whilst none of these alleged highwaymen survived to testify as to their motives… or, who hired theml … a rather large amount of money was found upon their persons, leading one to believe that, were they in the highwayman trade, had, at that moment, no need to perpetrate a bold, daylight robbery, or… ,' he slyly paused, 'someone deeply engaged with the slave trade, slave shipping interests, or… someone unsure that a conviction and sentence of death could be obtained in an English court of law, thought to eliminate the cause of their grief, frustration, and vengeance by hiring on a pack of toughs to do it for them… or him!'
It was a good thing that orange-selling wenches, fruiterers, or greengrocers were not allowed to do business in a law court, as some of them did at the theatres, else Hugh Beauman, his elegant wife, his witnesses, and his barrister might have been buried under an avalanche of rotting goods. Even the most bored and cursory attendees found such a deed most heinous and foul, and let loose a cacophony of abuse once more. It just wasn't… English!
Hugh Beauman leaped to his feet once more, beet-red, and shaking fists at one and all, baying something that was lost in the din, and no amount of urging by Sir George Norman could sit him back down this time. It took a full three minutes before the court was quieted.
'Milord,' MacDougall said in the most reasonable of voices, as loud as before upon the ear, but that was due to the utter silence of the audience, as if no one wished to miss his closing arguments. 'In light of this event, I would also wish to submit to you the depositions of Captain Lewrie and his travelling companions, as well as the affidavit from the magistrate at Kingston anent this sordid affair.
'Captain Lewrie has been subjected to a Star Chamber proceeding, as arbitrary, as capricious, as corrupt and premeditated as any suffered by gentlemen falsely accused and executed in less than an hour by that past body, in late and un-lamented times, that blight upon our history, our traditional sense of fairness, justice, and honour,' Mr. MacDougall solemnly intoned. 'Grant Law, which obtains on Jamaica, is not English Common Law! There, injustice may be sanctified by wigs and robes, and false solemnity. This so-called trial in absentia which condemned Captain Lewrie, a man of exemplary courage, bravery, sagacity, and honour, to death by hanging would never be countenanced in England , milord. I appeal to your common sense and your own sagacity, your long experience upon the bench, after reading all the pertinent evidence placed before you, to set aside the verdict and sentence as a sham, a fraud, and the travesty of the very word Justice that it is.'
'Hear, hear! Huzzah! Hear him! Boo!' from Lewrie's supporters, who, by then, included just about everyone in the courtroom.
'Should you find that the initial charges have merit, milord,' MacDougall further pled, 'a trial conducted in an English court of law must ensue… a trial to which Captain Lewrie looks forward with all eagerness, so that he may clear his escutcheon of such sordid charges, and, certain of his innocence, also eagerly expects his aquittal. But… this hook-or-by-crook Jamaican proceeding, I humbly ask you to set aside.
'Further, milord,' MacDougall said with a hand upon his breast. 'In the interim, Captain Lewrie is just completing the rigging, arming, and commissioning of a new ship, soon to be despatched by Admiralty 'gainst England 's foes. Must Britain be deprived of Captain Lewrie's extraordinary skills and talent for battle by ordering him to remain ashore awaiting milord's decision? Or, may he post a money bond with the court, and agree, upon his sacred honour, to give up his command and return to England should you deem an honest trial necessary?'
'No! By God, no!' Hugh Beauman shouted. 'Mine, I tell ye, he's mine!' His barrister, Sir George Norman, didn't even try to contain the man this time, but lowered his head and bit at his lip, sagging in defeat even before a decision was forthcoming. 'Can't slip away!'
'Silence, sir!' Oglethorpe roared, the objectivity and dignity of the Law be-damned, at last. 'Bailiffs, remove that man! Shame on you, Sir George. Fie upon your clienti' Which might have been a worse slur, for barristers-gentlemen who didn't engage in trade or handle money-didn't have clients, only 'briefs.'
'Given the circumstances, and the wealth of contrary evidence presented,' Lord Justice Oglethorpe solemnly said once Beauman and his party had been herded out in dire huffs, 'I find myself forced to take some considerable time to weigh the various aspects of the aforesaid proceedings conducted on Jamaica… proceedings which, upon
