Race Before the Wind

Copyright © Jill Salkeld 1988

Part Three: 1826-1831

The Men of Enterprise

Chapter Eight

Only two of Elderfield & Tandy's workforce had dared to join the march, absenting themselves from the yard on a Monday morning; but a sawyer who had fled from the dragoons found courage to bring the news of Mace's arrest to Crosstrees. The family was horrified - for Mace had said nothing, even that morning, of his plans - but after the first shock, Jessica pointed out to Vinnie and the twins that after all Mace had not committed any dreadful crime, beyond signing a peaceful petition and passing a few cool words with a farmer.

When Tom came home, having failed to persuade the company's insurers to renew the policy, the news that greeted him sent him striding into the yard to interrogate the offending sawyer. He returned looking somewhat relieved, and gave Vinnie a comforting hug.

"Not to worry, little girl. Mace wasn't a ringleader, he only read the petition. But he did threaten to fire some ricks, and if he's convicted of that, you might not see much of him before spring."

By early December, peace had returned to the countryside; a silence born of fear. Warrants were still being issued for the arrest of scores of men who had escaped during various battles between dragoons and labourers; and nearly three hundred were now to be tried by a specially commissioned Court of Assize at Winchester, having appeared briefly before local magistrates. The story was similar in neighbouring counties. In many parishes, farmhands had been awarded the wage increases they so desperately needed; but this did not hearten those who faced possible transportation.

Winchester Gaol was so overcrowded that sanitary conditions were appalling. The eight men arrested outside Botley were lodged in one small cell, with two beds between them. However, there were no chains or leg-irons, and Mace did his utmost to keep morale high.

"We've done nothing worse than all the others," he said firmly. "Hellfire - if all three hundred of us are shipped out to Van Dieman's Lane, we'll have enough men to raise a Navy and invade Old England. You've got a boatbuilder among you, don't forget!"

The men were not always able to laugh at their situation. They were allowed a visit from close relatives before the Assizes, and many of the labourer's wives were in despair, dreading the future.

Tom had to bribe the gaoler to let him take both Vinnie and Jess into the cell, and the stench as they entered rocked him on him on his heels. Mace scrambled up and rushed to Vinnie, clasping her in a fierce embrace. "I'm sorry, love - sorry to have deserted you for this hole," he said; and then, glancing wryly at Tom over her head. "Want a fight, mate?"

"I'll thrash you to kingdom bloody come, the minute you show your ugly face at Crosstrees."

They shook hands on it, the gesture acknowledging the words as nonsense. They were partners, still pulling together.

"Any luck with the insurance?" Mace asked.

Tom brought him up to date, surprised that Mace could think of the company at such a time; but they were both fairly optimistic about his chances of acquittal.

"The Assize starts on December 20th," Mace said. "D'you think I'll be home for Christmas?"

"Just don't get more than three months, or we'll have to postpone the launching party."

On the 18th December, the coach carrying the three judges was escorted into Winchester by the Sheriff's javelin men and trumpeters, one might have thought that the new King William IV had arrived in person.

When the court convened two days later, the Duke of Wellington was a fourth member of the judicial bench. Since the Whigs' recent return to office, the Iron Duke was no longer Prime Minister, and he had ample time to attend to his duties as Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire.

The Assizes were held in County Hall - the lofty Great Hall of Winchester, where hung the Round Table said to have seated King Arthur's knights. Due to the great number of prisoners, they would be tried in groups according to district. On the second day of the hearings, Mace was delivered to the Hall along with nineteen others, in a goaler's cart.

The forecourt was packed with well-wishers and petitioners. Sympathy for the labourers had grown among the public as terror of the roving mobs had abated. The prisoners' escort of Special Constables noisily cleared a path to the door.

The court was being held at the opposite end of the Hall from the suspended Round Table, and proceedings took place behind a curved plaster partition. Tom, who was to be called as a character witness for Mace, had obtained seats for himself, Jess and Vinnie on the public benches, which on this occasion were reserved for relatives of the twenty accused. The twins, though mutinous, had been left a t home.

Tom clasped the hands of Jess and Vinnie, as the prisoners filed in and took their places in the dock, hobnailed boots clattering on the raised wooden platform. Mace, looking around with interest, caught his wife's eye and smiled encouragingly,; but Tom sensed the girl's horror of that dim, ancient hall, with its columns of Purbeck marble soaring darkly towards the steeply pitched roof, and the single window at either side of the partitioned courtroom admitting too little light.

He himself experienced an almost superstitious chill a moment later' for seated among those to be called as witnesses - a veritable crowd, most apparently finding room on the public benches - was the Earl of Wickham. Tom could think of no reason for his being there.

The judges entered, awesome in scarlet and ermine. The proceedings began. The indictment was ponderously read - and the charge was not just riotous assembly, but also 'extorting money with threats'.

Mace could hardly be convicted of that, Tom thought, whispering as much to Vinnie and giving Jessica's hand a reassuring squeeze. The only farmer his brother-in-law had threatened had refused to pay.

All the prisoners pleaded Not Guilty. A Grand Jury of no less than nineteen men was sworn in; all titled gentlemen or MPs. Not a labourer among them.

The accused comprised the alleged ringleaders of two separate marches of protest. For the first hour, the court heard of the apparently warlike activities of the twelve men arrested a week before Mace. Then it was the turn of the labourers led by Mace and Hensting.

Mr Follett, the prosecuting counsel, chose as his first witness the courageous farmer, one Mr Jeffreys, Jeffreys took the oath with assurance, and answered each question in the same manner. Yes, the mob at Botley had mostly been armed, but not with firearms. No, they had not attacked him. The man with the petition had threatened to fire his ricks unless he paid up.

"Do you see that man present in the court?" asked Follett.

"I do." Jeffreys pointed straight at Mace. "No mistake, for he was the tallest of them all, and he wore that orange striped waistcoat, though it was cleaner then."

"Do you also see the first man who menaced you?"

Jeffreys indicated Hensting. "Him - with the black jerkin."

Follett moved to a small table of exhibits - papers, and a few hammers - and picked up three sewn sheets of paper.

"I should like you to study this petition, Mr Jeffreys, and inform the court whether it is the same as that carried by the tall prisoner on the day in question."

Jeffreys perused the document. "The words are the same, near as I recall. I couldn't swear to the handwriting, for I never saw it then. He only read it out loud. I wouldn't look at it."

Mr Missing, defending the labourers, had no questions for Jeffreys, asking him merely to confirm that Mace Tandy had not been armed.

Follett returned to the table, shuffling the papers, taking another. "I call Abel Kitcher to the witness box," he said.

The name meant nothing to Tom, but he saw Mace's head jerk; saw too his frowning profile, apprehensive and puzzled.

Kitcher took the stand proudly, glad to perform his duty.

"Mr Kitcher," said Follett, "you are resident on the estate known as Durley Park, and are employed as a bailiff by his lordship the Earl of Wickham, who occupies the Grange. Is that correct?"

"Yes, sir, it is."

Tom looked sharply at Mace; their eyes met, and Mace shook his head fractionally, miming the words, "I didn't know."

"On the evening of Sunday 29th November this year, you were present at the tavern known as The Jolly Sailor, in Bursledon?"

"That's so. His lordship wished me to find out from the shipwrights how work on the new flyer was progressing.

"Would you be so kind as to enlighten the court, Mr Kitcher? What is meant by the word 'flyer'? A fast yacht, perhaps?"

"Just that, sir. The yacht being built for Mr Vaillant, at the yard of Elderfield & Tandy."

"What was Lord Wickham's interest?"

"He's having a new cutter built at Cowes, to be launched next spring."

"We speak, then, of sporting rivalry between two gentlemen, Lord Wickham desired to know whether Mr Vaillant's yacht was progressing as well as his own."

"Yes, sir."

"And did anything unusual occur, while you were in conversation with the said shipwrights?"

"Mr Tandy came in - the tall prisoner - to fetch fifty copies of the Twopenny Trash. I was told he sells them round the neighbourhood."

Two of the judges murmured to each other, and the Duke of Wellington lowered his brows, the hooked nose jutting ominously.

"I see," said Follett. "Pray go on."

"Mr. Tandy said there's be a march the next morning, and did anyone want to join it. There were a good many labourers in the taproom."

"Tandy was organising this march?"

"He didn't say so - but I saw him write the petition, and sign his own name first."

"Was this the petition, Mr Kitcher?"

Wickham's bailiff gave it a cursory glance. "That was it."

"And this proposed march would be peaceful, I suppose."

"Mr Tandy thought it might be. But he did say, 'if it comes to a fight, you'll find me as ready as any man.'"

"Those were his exact words?"

"They were."

"What happened then? After Tandy had signed his own petition?"

"He wrote a lot of 'Swing' letters. He fetched out a little bottle of blood for the purpose."

Several members of the Grand Jury grimaced in contemptuous disgust. There were mutterings of surprise and interest from the public benches. Tom whispered, "Jesus Christ, you silly bastard." Mace looked like a man caught in some incredible nightmare.

Follett asked, "Do you mean that he wrote threatening letters in blood, demanding money from farmers, and signed himself 'Swing'?"

"He did."

"Is this letter one of those you saw penned by Tandy?"

Kitcher studied it closely. "Yes. No doubting all those loops and fancy squiggles."

"Quite." Follett addressed the judges' bench. "My lords, with your permission I shall circulate these two documents among the Gentlemen of the Jury. I believe that the most casual glance will confirm that they were written by the same hand."

The papers were duly circulated. Mace sent his family a look of helpless anger.

Follett went on: "How did the 'Swing' letter, which you have just positively identified, first come into your possession, Mr Kitcher?"

"It was shown to me some days after the march, by a tenant farmer on Lord Wickham's estate. The man begged me to apply to his lordship for a reduction in rent, as he had been obliged through fear to raise the wages of his men."

"The letter, then, had forced him to take reluctant action. Money had been extorted - however indirectly - by means of threats. Threats made by the prisoner Tandy, under the name of Captain Swing."

"That's the truth of it."

Mr Missing, the defence counsel, rose to his feet. "Objection, my lords! My learned friend wishes this court to infer that Mace Tandy and Captain Swing are one and the same. There have been scores of 'Swing' letters, and all penned by different hands."

Mr Justice Parke frowned. "Mr Follett merely stated the facts. Objection overruled."

Missing cross-examined Abel Kitcher, but could not shake his story. The prosecution called the supposedly intimidated farmer to testify; the man only confirmed Kitcher's fairy-tale.

Then it was the turn of the Earl of Wickham. His testimony was concisely delivered, and he cut a handsome and imposing figure. He exuded integrity.

"Kitcher has served as my bailiff for seven years. He is an upright, honest man. On the 29th of November I had indeed despatched him to Bursledon, to enquire into the rate of progress on Mr Vaillant's new yacht. If Kitcher states that he saw Tandy pen letters in blood, then personally I should not doubt it for a moment.

"You speak with certainty, my lord."

"I know Tandy to be a dangerous and volatile character, subject to outbursts of ungovernable violence."

Missing cried out, "Objection, my lords! With respect to his lordship the Earl, my learned friend is wilfully leading his witness astray. My client Mace Tandy is not charged with having committed any form of assault. This 'evidence' can have no bearing on the case whatsoever."

Mr. Justice Parke scowled at him. "You will be given opportunity to cross-examine his lordship the Earl. Do not interrupt again without just cause."

Wickham inclined his head towards the judges' bench, and continued. "In the summer of '27 I attended a launching part at the yard of Elderfield & Tandy. My motives were entirely amiable, as Mr. Elderfield could easily verify." His eyes flickered towards the public benches, and he smiled at Jessica before focusing his attention once again on the prosecuting counsel and the Grand Jurors. "While in conversation with Mrs. Elderfield, I was attacked by Tandy and brought to the ground. I was taken completely by surprise. He punched me in the face before Mrs. Elderfield was able to drag him off."

"This occurred without the slightest provocation from your lordship?"

"Entirely. There was a small postscript to the event, which might interest the court. After I had left the yard, a friend of mine - Sir Bevis Ponsonby, who will gladly confirm my testimony if desired to do so - overheard a snippet of conversation. Mrs Elderfield was telling her husband of the unrest among the labourers on my estate, when Tandy exclaimed, "It's about time!"

"So three years ago, the accused was already in favour of militant action?"

"Indubitably."

Missing began rather hesitantly to cross-examine the Earl, for Wickham had clearly impressed the Jury. His eagerness to condemn Mace's words and behaviour had not lost him any friends among the judges, either: the Earl was simply showing a high regard for his own person and property, and righteous anger at the young man who threatened both.

Missing said, "Notwithstanding the account we have just heard, my lord, I....I submit that you have a long-standing grudge against Mace Tandy, before the alleged assault took place."

"On the contrary, I have been on amicable terms with Tandy and his sister - Mrs Elderfield - for many years."

The defence counsel opened his mouth and shut it again. He was obviously not about to accuse Wickham of having kept Mrs Elderfield as his mistress before her marriage; though the fact was an open secret among local people.

He cleared his throat, and said, "You freely admit that Tandy attacked you without provocation. I submit that, for this reason alone, you would perhaps feel justified in wishing to punish him."

"Had I wished to do that," Wickham said, his tone icily polite, "I would surely have pressed charges at the time."

Except, Tom thought, that fist-rights among gentlemen were not uncommon, and sympathies at that launching party had been evenly divided between Mace and Wickham.

"Now, however, the Earl's logic seemed unanswerable.

Two more witnesses appeared for the prosecution; labourers who had been at The Jolly Sailor when Mace wrote the 'Swing' letter. Both agreed with Kitcher in every detail. They must have been well bribed.

Tom realised, with dreadful foreboding, that the trial was no longer the Crown versus twenty labourers. It was the Earl of Wickham versus Elderfield & Tandy.

Beginning the case for the defence, Missing called two farmers, who testified to the sober courtesy of the ringleaders, and the peacefulness of the mob in general.

Next came three shipwrights who had visited the tavern on the fateful evening. But these men were now seeing what happened to those who crossed the Earl of Wickham. They could not recall the details, they said. They had not paid Tandy and Kitcher much attention; though done of them ventured that things hadn't seemed quite as Kitcher reckoned.

"And," he added, twisting his hat between his hands, "I've never heard that his lordship had much affection for Mr Elderfield nor Mace Tandy, and most folk in the courtroom can very likely guess why. And that's all I know about it."

None of the shipwrights would look at Mace after they stepped down.

By the time Mace stood in the witness box, he was white-faced and plainly furious. He told the truth firmly and with conviction; but without peaching on his mates he could not suggest that others had written 'Swing' letters that night. When cross-examined by Follett for the prosecution, he admitted to having distributed various pamphlets since moving to Bursledon; but he denied with heat that the mob had intended violence to any person.

"The labourers are starving," he told the court passionately. "Anyone who sees their plight must sympathise with them. We didn't need to use threats, except on Farmer Jeffreys. People were glad to give a few shillings, if that was all they could afford, even though not all of them would sign the petition. You submit that we were a riotous assembly. No one read us the Riot Act. No one had reason to!"

"By your testimony," said Follett, "you label Mr Kitcher a liar. By extension, Lord Wickham must also have perjured himself in stating the motive for his bailiff's visit to Bursledon. Is that so?"

"His lordship," said Mace, glaring straight at the Earl, "would do all in his power to hurt Tom Elderfield. If getting me transported were to ruin the company, then maybe Wickham would consider he'd scored a point or two."

"Slanderous nonsense" You are seeking to blacken his lordship's character and thereby redeem your own. Do you deny that you penned this letter?" Waving the sheet of paper. "And signed yourself 'Swing'?"

"No" I've already admitted -"

"Thank you, Tandy. No further questions."

Due to the tight schedule - the judges had one week to decide two hundred and eighty-five cases - only one character witness was allowed for each prison. As Tom left his seat to speak for Mace, Jessica whispered, "Tell them! For God's sake, Tom, tell them everything!"

To do that would be foolhardy indeed. The Duke of Wellington, the three judges and the Grand Jury were all ranged on Wickham's side. To embark on a lengthy tale of plot and counter-plot would sound to them like an imaginative, scurrilous, last ditch attempt to save his brother-in-=law from transportation and his boatyard from possible ruin.

Instead, he pointed out that he and the accused had been closely acquainted since Mace's birth, and for most of the ensuing twenty-seven years. He praised his partner's talent, integrity, and genuine desire to right the world's wrongs. He stated that Mace had stood unarmed against the dragoons, and that the prosecution had not disputed this.

"My lords," he said, "if my partner must be charged with a crime, it should be naivety, for having believed - along with all the men in the dock - that a few protest marches could accomplish a miracle -"

"That will do, Mr Elderfield!" interrupted Mr Justice Alderson. "Let me remind every person present that we are not here to inquire into grievances. We are here to decide the law."

The remark caused a ripple of anger in the public gallery. Tom could not credit that the labourers' motives should be totally discounted. He said quickly, afraid of being ordered to step down, "Mace Tandy did not inform this court of the whole truth. My wife was the Earl of Wickham's mistress for the five years preceding our marriage. He has not yet forgiven me for taking her from him -"

"Hah!" Follett was incredulous. The noise from the public benches rose like a tide. "So now we are asked to believe in some form of elaborate vendetta!"

"Not elaborate. Very simple."

"And all these witnesses were bribed, I assume."

"Those who are not too frightened to speak out, yes. I imagine so."

"Order!" The Duke of Wellington roared. A hush fell. Someone coughed nervously. "You will be fortunate, Elderfield, if his lordship the Earl of Wickham chooses not to sue you for slander of the most repulsive and unforgivable nature. You were called in good faith as a character witness for Tandy. Take yourself back to your seat, sir, and spare the court any more of your sordid fantasies!"

Tom was as white with fury as his partner as he strode back to Jess and Vinnie.

Neither the prosecuting counsel nor the defence had anything new to say in conclusion; they merely reminded the Jury of the evidence placed before them - which, as Missing emphasized, did not include an account of old quarrels at a launching party three years previously. He drew the Jury's attention to the fact that Tandy and four other men on the same march had been unarmed throughout.

Mr Justice Parke summed up on behalf of the judges.

"Gentleman of the Jury, it must be clear to you all that we are being faced this winter with a concerted effort by treacherous and misguided men to incite Southern labourers to revolution. The prisoners in the dock comprise the ringleaders - and in some cases the most savage members - of two separate mobs. Riotous multitudes, who roamed the county armed for rapine and plunder in defiance of the law. Whether or not every single man among them carried a weapon is of little moment. A General may command his troops to join battle and yet not fire a single shot. Would that render his command invalid? When considering your verdict, Gentlemen, I advise you to bear in mind the evidence against the prisoner Tandy; namely that letters penned by him did in fact terrify at least one honest farmer into raising wages. You may retire, Gentlemen."

Predictably enough, the Jury was not long absent; but there were some surprises in their verdict. Three of the twenty prisoners were acquitted - to the unconcealed annoyance of the judges - on the grounds of lack of evidence identifying them as members of either mob. Sixteen, including Hensting, were found guilty only of riotous assembly.

"We find the prison Mace Tandy," said the chosen foreman, "Guilty, as charged, of both riotous assembly and extorting money with menaces."

Vinnie gave a whimper of terror, and Tom clutched her hand. He glanced at Jessica, seeing that she too was bracing herself to hear the worst. Seven years, he thought; and too many transported criminals never came home.

It was customary to pass sentence at the close of the Assizes; but again at these hearings the sheer numbers made this impractical. Mr. Judge Parke, after a brief conference with his colleagues, decided the fate of the prisoners at once. Ten of the convicted men received six months' hard labour; Hensting and five other would be transported for seven years. From the public benches came cries of outrage and grief; no one had guessed that the sentences would be so harsh for relatively minor offences. The judge called the court to order, before fixing his eyes on the one prisoner who had yet to hear his fate.

"Mace Tandy," he said, "the crime of extorting money with threats carries the same penalty as though actual force had been used. It is a capital offence, although more men are transported than hanged in this enlightened age. The court has heard today, from divers sources, of your conduct during the past five years. You have actively encouraged the spread of banned and seditious literature, and spoken openly in support of violent revolution. You have confessed yourself 'as ready as any man' for a fight, and certainly proved the savagery of your temper by your unprovoked attack upon Lord Wickham You are prosperous, well know in the community, and therefore politically influential. You have been found guilty of extorting money, not under your own name, but using the alias of Captain Swing."

The judge paused. The courtroom was utterly silence. Mr Justice Parke continued, leaning forward slightly, "There are some, I believe, who dismiss Swing as a mythical figure. Others argue that he is a foreign infiltrator. It is the opinion of this judicial bench that he is neither a myth nor one man, but a collection of disaffected, articulate and violently motivated men, all of whom we are bound by duty to flush out and destroy, if this land is ever to know again the tranquillity it once enjoyed."

Pausing for the second time, he snapped his fingers at the court chaplain, who shuffled forward and passed him a black square of cloth.

Mr Justice Parke placed the cloth over his wig.

"Hear, therefore, the sentence which the laws of man have awarded against you for your crimes - which is that you, Mace Tandy, be taken from hence to the place from whence you came, and from thence to the place of execution, there to be hanged by the neck until you are dead. And may God, in his infinite mercy, have compassion on your soul."

Part 3, The Men of Enterprise, Chapter 9

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