The Quality of Mercy - By Barry Unsworth Page 0,91

brought in a verdict of guilty, without reference to mitigating circumstances and with no recommendation to mercy.

The crew members were led in from the bail dock to take their places before the bench. They stood facing the robed figures raised above them, whose faces and great wigs only were visible to them above the nosegays that had been placed on the table to sweeten the air and protect the judges from the stench and foul breath.

The courtroom was silenced by the crier with the time-honored words: “My Lords, the King’s Justices, strictly charge and command all manner of persons to keep silence while sentence of death is passing on the prisoners at the bar.”

However, there was still a surprise to come, and it was contained in the manner of the sentencing. The Lord Admiral did not rise immediately but remained seated and spoke to the court as a whole. “We, through the powers vested in us by the grace of His Royal Highness, King George the Third, do represent the power of the law but do also represent the mercy of the law, and in this blend lies the majesty of the law and also its mystery, as not lying within the common prediction. We hereby acquit and pardon the men Morgan and Hughes, who were for different reasons not present on deck at the time of the mutiny and therefore took no direct part in it. These men may walk free from the court.”

The two were immediately led away to have their fetters struck off by the turnkeys in the Yard. The Justice waited for some moments until quiet was restored, then got to his feet. He laid the black cloth over the crown of his wig and observed an impressive pause before speaking directly to the men standing below him, who waited dumbly for the words they knew would signal their death. In this shared knowledge they stood side by side, enfeebled by the weeks in prison, exhausted by the weight of their shackles, convicted of a crime too distant for them to recognize. Only Rimmer and Barber made the effort to raise their eyes to the figure standing above them; the others kept their heads bowed. And in the contrast made by this wretchedness with the solemn ritual of the court, the august judges in their scarlet apparel, the rhetoric of the advocates, the silver mace, emblem of authority, lying among the nosegays on the table, the Lord High Admiral’s remarks about the majesty and mystery of the law were given abundant illustration.

The law is that ye shall return from hence to the place whence ye came, and from thence to the place of execution, where ye shall hang by the neck till the body be dead, dead, dead. And the Lord have mercy on your souls.

23

Bitterly disappointed as he was, and enraged by the verdict, Ashton lost no time in quitting the courtroom, and Jane was obliged to hasten away with him. He was not sufficiently in possession of himself to stay for any words with Stanton, a discourtesy he afterward regretted; his friend had made a good case, the blame was not his but that of the world at large, as represented by the judges and the jury. This hasty retreat of brother and sister left Kemp feeling obscurely cheated, though of what he could not easily have said; there could have been no exchange of words with Jane, not at such a time, not when her brother had suffered such a defeat and he himself was dressed in victory.

The judges had left the bench and mounted to the upper floor to be disrobed, but Pike was still in the courtroom, and Kemp made his way toward the lawyer with the intention of expressing his pleasure at the verdict and his congratulations on the way the case had been conducted. He had never taken much to Pike, while admitting his quality as an advocate. But now, as he approached, it came to him that the suitable thing was to suggest sharing a bottle together and drinking to their success.

Pike showed every sign of pleasure at the suggestion. “There is the George, just round the corner, in Ludgate Street,” he said. “It is a tolerable place. I have used it before.”

It was only when the two of them were seated together over a bottle of Madeira that Kemp began to express his thanks and congratulations. “I must say, you chose your words extremely well,” he said.