When I’m in want I’ll thankfully receive Because I’m poor; but not because I’m brave. TOM PLUNKET TO THE LIFE. Tom Plunket’s Military Career.Plunket’s first career in arms was in South America with General Whitelocke, where he acquired the reputation, in his company, of a good soldier. It was at the retreat of Corunna, some years afterwards, that an opportunity particularly presented itself of getting distinguished, and which Tom took in the nick of time. The rear-guard of the British, partly composed of the Light But the truth must be told. Like all heroes, Tom had his faults. Among these, in particular, was one which, in its destructive consequences, was calculated to counterbalance in a soldier a thousand virtues. In other words, Tom was a thirsty soul, and exceedingly fond of a “drop.” This was his unfortunate failing through life, and but for which he must have got on in the service. One deplorable instance of insubordination, arising from this vice, I well remember, which took place at Campo Mayor, after the battle of Talavera. Tom had been promoted Here he was no sooner left alone than, conceiving that a great indignity had been placed upon him, thoughts of vengeance immediately suggested themselves to his mind. Under the influence of intoxication that man, who, when sober, was noted for his good humour and humanity, now conceived the diabolical intention of shooting his Captain. He immediately barricaded the door of the room, and then set about loading some ten or twelve rifles, belonging to men, then on fatigue duty. Taking up one of these, and cocking it, he placed himself at an open window for the avowed purpose, as he stated to several of the men, of shooting Captain Stewart as he passed. Fortunately the Captain got notice of the danger of going near the house, while several of the men, by coaxing and force, alternately, endeavoured without effect to get into the room Tom had barred. At length the unfortunate Plunket was induced to relent on the appearance of a Lieutenant of the company named Johnson, who was a great favourite with the men, among whom he was known by a very familiar nick-name. The door was opened and Tom made prisoner. Although Tom was a general favourite, and his conduct had resulted from the madness of intoxication, his insubordination was too glaring to stand a chance of being passed over. He was brought to a regimental court-martial, found guilty, and sentenced to be reduced to the ranks, and to receive three hundred lashes. Poor Plunket, when he had recovered his reason, after the commission of his crime, had experienced and expressed the most unfeigned contrition, so that when his sentence became known, there At length the time arrived when the bravest soldier of our battalion was to suffer the penalty of his crime in the presence of those very men before whom he had been held up as a pattern but some few short months before. The square was formed for punishment: there was a tree in the centre to which the culprit was to be tied, and close to which he stood with folded arms and downcast eyes, in front of his guard. The surgeon stood by, while the buglers were busily engaged untangling the strings of the cats. There was a solemn stillness on that parade that was remarkable; a pensiveness on the features of both officers and men, deeper than usual, as though the honour of the profession was to suffer in the person of the prisoner. Flogging is at all times a disgusting subject of contemplation: in the present instance, it seemed doubly so, now that a gallant, and until within a few days, an honoured and respected man was to suffer. The sentence of the court-martial was read by the adjutant in a loud voice. Poor Tom, who had the commiseration of the whole regiment, looked deadly pale. That countenance which the brunt of the fiercest battle had been unable to turn from its ruddy hue—that countenance which the fear of death could not change—was now blanched in dread of a worse fate. “Buglers, do your duty,” exclaimed Colonel Beckwith, in a voice husky with emotion, I thought, as the men seemed to hesitate in their business of stripping and binding the prisoner to the tree. This, however, was soon accomplished, Tom only once attempting to catch the eye of his colonel with an imploring glance, while he exclaimed in broken accents— “Colonel, you won’t, will you? You won’t—you cannot mean to flog me!” The appeal, although it went to the heart of every one present, was vain. Colonel Beckwith betrayed much uneasiness; I beheld him give a slight start at the commencement “Do your duty, Sir, fairly!” he uttered in a loud voice. The first man had bestowed his quantum of punishment, twenty-five lashes, when he was succeeded by another. This man, as if determined that his reputation as a flogger should not suffer, however his victim might, laid on like a hardened hand. Plunket’s sufferings were becoming intense: he bit his lip to stifle the utterance of his pangs; but nature, too strong for suppression, gave place more than once to a half agonized cry, that seemed to thrill through the very blood in my veins. Happily this wretched scene was destined to a brief termination: at the thirty-fifth lash, the Colonel ordered the punishment to cease, and the prisoner to be taken down. When this was done, he addressed Plunket: “You see, Sir, now, how very easy it is to commit a blackguard’s crime, but how difficult it is to take his punishment.” So ended the most memorable punishment-scene I have ever witnessed. It has usually been contended, by those averse to the system of flogging, common in our army, that it destroys the pride and spirit of the man. That it has had that effect, in many instances, I have myself witnessed, where the character of the soldier was not previously depraved. But with reference to Plunket, he appeared soon to get over the recollection of his former disgrace. He got into favour with his officers again, and, notwithstanding little fits of inebriety, was made corporal, and went through the sanguinary scenes of the Peninsula, unscathed from shot or steel. His usual luck, however, forsook him at Waterloo, where a ball struck the peak of his cap and tore his forehead across, leaving a very ugly scar. I recollect having gone wounded at the time to the rear, where I saw him under the hands of the surgeon. After Waterloo, he was invalided to England, where he passed the board at Chelsea; but only being awarded the pittance of sixpence a-day for his wound and long services, he felt disgusted, and expressed himself to the Lords Commissioners in a way that induced them to strike him off While wearing a red coat, he had a singular meeting with his former Colonel, then General Sir Sydney Beckwith, which I have often heard him relate. It is customary, as the reader may probably be aware, to have half-yearly inspections of our regiments at home. Shortly after Tom’s having enlisted, it so happened, on one of the above occasions, when his regiment was formed for inspection, that the duty devolved upon his old commander, Sir Sydney, who was in command of the district. In walking down the front rank, scrutinising the appearance of the men, the General suddenly came to Tom, distinguished as he was by two medals on his breast. “Do my eyes deceive me?” said Sir Sydney. “Surely you are Tom Plunket, formerly of my own regiment.” “What’s left of me, Sir,” replied Tom, who was seldom deficient in a prompt reply. “And what has again brought you into the service?” inquired Sir Sydney. “I thought you had passed the board at Chelsea?” “So I did,” said Tom; “but they only allowed me sixpence a-day, Sir; so I told them to keep it for the young soldiers, as it wasn’t enough for the old, who had seen all the tough work out.” “Ha! the old thing, Tom, I perceive,” observed Sir Sydney, shaking his head; then immediately remarked to the Colonel of the regiment, as he proceeded down the ranks—“One of my bravest soldiers.” The same day the General dined at the officers’ mess, when Tom was sent for after dinner. “Here, Plunket, I have sent for you to give us a toast,” observed Sir Sydney, as he handed him a glass of wine. “Then, Sir, here’s to the immortal memory of the poor fellows who fell in the Peninsula, Sir,” said Tom. The toast was drunk by all with much solemnity, when But I had forgotten to mention, in its place, an event common in man’s life—I mean his marriage. Shortly after the battle of Waterloo, Tom had wedded a lady remarkable for being deficient in one essential to beauty—she actually had no face, or, at all events, was so defaced, it amounted to the same thing. This slight flaw in the beauty of Tom’s wife, who Had gallantly follow’d the camp through the war, arose from the bursting of an ammunition-waggon at Quatre Bras, near to which the lady stood, and by which her countenance was rendered a blue, shapeless, noseless mass. This event was duly commemorated by the government, who allowed the heroine a shilling a-day pension, in allusion to which Tom used facetiously to say—“It was an ill blowing up of powder that blew nobody good.” The story of Tom Plunket, already narrated at greater length than I had intended, draws fast to a close. Imbued with roving inclinations, partly owing to his nature, and more perhaps to his profession, for nothing more unsettles a man than the ever-changing chequered course of a soldier’s life, he at one time determined to become a settler in Canada, and, accordingly, accepted the offer held out by government to all pensioners, of allowing them so much land, and giving them four years’ pay for their pensions. Plunket, ever eager for the handling of cash, got two years’ pay down here, and started off with some two or three hundred others to try their fortune. This proved to be a very miserable one: Tom was not a man to rusticate on the other side of the Atlantic amid privations, and with the recollection of old England fresh in his mind. Before a year had elapsed, he returned to England with his wife, and, by way of apology to his friends, stated his grant of land was so wild and swampy that it made him quite melancholy, looking at it in a morning out of the The last time I saw Tom Plunket was in Burton Crescent, most picturesquely habited, and selling matches. I did not disdain to speak to an old comrade who had been less fortunate in “life’s march” than myself. I asked him how he got on, when with one of his usual cheerful smiles he informed me, that the match-selling business kept him on his legs. “I should have thought, Tom, you had seen enough of firing,” I remarked, “without endeavouring to live by it now.” “A man must do something these hard times for bread,” replied Tom, as he passed his hand thoughtfully across the furrow made by the bullet at Waterloo. Poor Tom! I felt for him. I was sorry to see him neglected; others, whose service were many days march behind his, were taken better care of. But Tom’s incorrigible failing was his own stumbling-block. I did not, however, leave him my mere reflection, but giving him a portion of that coin, he so well knew how to get rid of, I wished him success in his new business, and went my way, musing on the strange vicissitudes of a soldier’s life. Alas! the brave too oft are doom’d to bear, The gripes of poverty, the stings of care. But after this digressive sketch, it is high time to return to my own career in the field that was just now commencing. On the following morning, we marched into the city of Santarem amid the cheers of its inhabitants, who welcomed us with loud cries of “Viva os Ingleses valerosos!” Long live the brave English! Here we immediately became brigaded with the 43rd and 52nd regiments of Light Infantry, under the command of Major-General Crauford. |