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AFLOAT AND ASHORE
introduced into the American press, would be the omission
of the histories of these rare inventions. As two-thirds of the
editors of the whole country, however, are Yankees, I suppose
they must be permitted to go on exulting in the cleverness of
their race. We are indebted to the Puritan stock for most of
our instructors – editors and school-masters – and when one
coolly regards the prodigious progress of the people in morals,
public and private virtue, honesty, and other estimable qualities, he must indeed rejoice in the fact that our masters so early
discovered “a church without a bishop.”
I had an opportunity, while in London, however, of ascertaining that the land of our fathers, which by the way has archbishops, contains something besides an unalloyed virtue in its
bosom. At Gravesend we took on board two customhouse officers, (they always set a rogue to watch a rogue, in the English
revenue system,) and they remained in the brig until she was
discharged. One of these men had been a gentleman’s servant,
and he owed his place to his former master’s interest. He was
a miracle of custom-house integrity and disinterestedness, as
I discovered in the first hour of our intercourse. Perceiving a
lad of eighteen in charge of the prize, and ignorant that this
lad had read a good deal of Latin and Greek under excellent
Mr. Hardinge, besides being the heir of Clawbonny, I suppose he fancied he would have an easy time with him. This
man’s name was Sweeney. Perceiving in me an eager desire to
see everything, the brig was no sooner at her moorings, than
he proposed a cruise ashore. It was Sweeney who showed me
the way to the consignee’s, and, that business accomplished,
he proposed that we should proceed on and take a look at St.
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
Paul’s, the Monument, and, as he gradually found my tastes
more intellectual than he had at first supposed, the wonders
of the West End. I was nearly a week under the pilotage of the
“Admirable Sweeney.” After showing me the exteriors of all the
things of mark about the town, and the interiors of a few that I
was disposed to pay for, he descended in his tastes, and carried
me through Wapping, its purlieus and its scenes of atrocities.
I have always thought Sweeney was sounding me, and hoping to ascertain my true character, by the course he took; and
that he betrayed his motives in a proposition which he finally
made, and which brought our intimacy to a sudden close. The
result, however, was to let me into secrets I should probably
have never learned in any other manner. Still, I had read and
heard too much to be easily duped; and I kept myself not only
out of the power of my tempter, but out of the power of all that
could injure me, remaining simply a curious observer of what
was placed before my eyes. Good Mr. Hardinge’s lessons were
not wholly forgotten; I could run away from him, much easier
than from his precepts.
I shall never forget a visit I made to a house called the Black
Horse, in St. Catherine’s Lane. This last was a narrow street
that ran across the site of the docks that now bear the same
name; and it was the resort of all the local infamy of Wapping.
I say local infamy; for there were portions of the West End that
were even worse than anything which a mere port could produce. Commerce, that parent of so much that is useful to man,
has its dark side as everything else of earth; and, among its
other evils, it drags after it a long train of low vice; but this
train is neither so long nor so broad as that which is chained
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AFLOAT AND ASHORE
to the chariot-wheels of the great. Appearances excepted, and
they are far less than might be expected, I think the West End
could beat Wapping out and out, in every essential vice; and,
if St. Giles be taken into the account, I know of no salvo in
favour of the land over the sea.
Our visit to the Black Horse was paid of a Sunday, that being the leisure moment of all classes of labourers, and the day
when, being attired in their best, they fancied themselves best
prepared to appear in the world. I will here remark, that I have
never been in any portion of Christendom that keeps the Sabbath precisely as it is kept in America. In all other countries,
even the most rigorously severe in their practices, it is kept
as a day of recreation and rest, as well as of public devotion.
Even in the American towns, the old observances are giving
way before the longings or weaknesses of human nature; and
Sunday is no longer what it was. I have witnessed scenes of
brawling, blasphemy and rude tumult, in the suburbs of New
York, on Sundays, within the last few years, that I have never
seen in any other part of the world on similar occasions; and
serious doubts of the expediency of the high-pressure principle have beset me, whatever may be the just constructions
of doctrine. With the last I pretend not to meddle; but, in a
worldly point of view, it would seem wise, if you cannot make
men all that they ought to be, to aim at such social regulations
as shall make them as little vile as possible. But, to return to
the Black Horse in St. Catherine’s Lane – a place whose very
name was associated with vileness.
It is unnecessary to speak of the characters of its female
visiters. Most of them were young, many of them were still
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
blooming and handsome, but all of them were abandoned. “I
need tell you nothing of these girls,” said Sweeney, who was
a bit of a philosopher in his way, ordering a pot of beer, and
motioning me to take a seat at a vacant table – “but, as for the
men you see here, half are house-breakers and pickpockets,
come to pass the day genteelly among you gentlemen-sailors.
There are two or three faces here that I have seen at the Old
Bailey, myself; and how they have remained in the country, is
more than I can tell you. You perceive these fellows are just as
much at their ease, and the landlord who receives and entertains them is just as much at his ease, as if the whole party were
merely honest men.”
“How happens it,” I asked, “that such known rogues are
allowed to go at large, or that this inn-keeper dares receive
them?”
“Oh! you’re a child yet, or you would not ask such a question! You must know, Master Wallingford, that the law protects rogues as well as honest men. To convict a pickpocket,
you must have witnesses and jurors to agree, and prosecutors,
and a sight of things that are not as plenty as pocket-handkerchiefs, or even wallets and Bank of England notes. Besides,
these fellows can prove an alibi any day in the week. An alibi,
you must know – ”
“I know very well what an alibi means, Mr. Sweeney.”
“The deuce you do!” exclaimed the protector of the king’s
revenue, eyeing me a little distrustfully. “And pray how should
one as young as you, and coming from a new country like
America, know that?”
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AFLOAT AND ASHORE
“Oh!” said I, laughing, “America is just the country for alibis – everybody is everywhere, and nobody anywhere. The
whole nation is in motion, and there is every imaginable opportunity for alibis.”
I believe I owed the development of Sweeney’s “ulterior
views” to this careless speech. He had no other idea of the
word than its legal signification; and it must have struck him
as a little suspicious that one of my apparent condition in life,
and especially of my years, should be thus early instructed in
the meaning of this very useful professional term. It was a minute before he spoke again, having been all that time studying
my countenance.
“And pray, Master Wallingford,” he then inquired, “do you
happen to know what nolle prosequi means, too?”
“Certainly; it means to give up the chase. The French lugger under Dungeness entered a nolle prosequi as respects my
brig, when she found her hands full of the West-Indiaman.”
“So, so; I find I have been keeping company all this time
with a knowing one, and I such a simpleton as to fancy him
green! Well, that I should live to be done by a raw Jonathan!”
“Poh, poh, Mr. Sweeney, I can tell you a story of two of our
naval officers, that took place just before we sailed; and then
you will learn that all hands of us, on the other side of the
Big Pond, understand Latin. One of these officers had been engaged in a duel, and he found it necessary to lie hid. A friend
and shipmate, who was in his secret, came one day in a great
hurry to tell him that the authorities of the State in which
the parties fought had entered a nolle prosequi” against the
offenders. He had a newspaper with the whole thing in it, in
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
print. “What’s a nolle prosequi, Jack?” asked Tom. “Why, it’s
Latin, to be sure, and it means some infernal thing or other.
We must contrive to find out, for it’s half the battle to know
who and what you’ve got to face.” “Well, you know lots of lawyers, and dare show your face; so, just step out and ask one.”
“I’ll trust no lawyer; I might put the question to some chap
who has been fee’d. But we both studied a little Latin when
boys, and between us we’ll undermine the meaning.” Tom assented, and to work they went. Jack had the most Latin; but,
do all he could, he was not able to find a “nolle” in any dictionary. After a great deal of conjecture, the friends agreed it
must be the root of “knowledge,” and that point was settled. As
for “prosequi” it was not so difficult, as “sequor” was a familiar
word; and, after some cogitation, Jack announced his discoveries. “If this thing were in English, now,” he said, “a fellow might
understand it. In that case, I should say that the sheriff’s men
were in “pursuit of knowledge;” that is, hunting after you; but
Latin, you remember, was always an inverted sort of stuff, and
that ‘pro’ alters the whole signification. The paper says they’ve
‘entered a nolle prosequi;’ and the ‘entered’ explains the whole.
‘Entered a nolle’ means, have entered on the knowledge, got a
scent; you see it is law English; ‘pro’ means ‘how,’ and ‘sequi,’ ‘to
give chase.’ The amount of it all is, Tom, that they are on your
heels, and I must go to work and send you off, at once, two or
three hundred miles into the interior, where you may laugh at
1
them and their ‘nolle prosequis’ together.”
Sweeney laughed heartily at this story, though he clearly
did not take the joke, which I presume he fancied lay con-
1
There is said to be foundation for this story.
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AFLOAT AND ASHORE
cealed under an American flash language; and he proposed
by way of finishing the day, to carry me to an entertainment
where, he gave me to understand, American officers were fond
of sometimes passing a few minutes. I was led to a Wapping
assembly-room, on entering which I found myself in a party
composed of some forty or fifty cooks and stewards of American vessels, all as black as their own pots with partners of the
usual colour and bloom of English girls I have as few prejudices
of colour as any American well can have; but I will confess this
scene struck me as being painfully out of keeping. In England,
however, nothing seemed to be thought of it; and I afterwards
found that marriages between English women, and men of all
the colours of the rainbow, were very common occurrences.
When he had given me this ball as the climax of his compliments, Sweeney betrayed the real motive of all his attentions. After drinking a pot of beer extra, well laced with gin,
he offered his services in smuggling anything ashore that the
Amanda might happen to contain, and which I, as the prizemaster, might feel a desire to appropriate to my own particular purposes. I met the proposal with a little warmth, letting
my tempter understand that I considered his offer so near
an insult, that it must terminate our acquaintance. The man
seemed astounded. In the first place, he evidently thought all
goods and chattels were made to be plundered, and then he
was of opinion that plundering was a very common “Yankee
trick.” Had I been an Englishman, he might possibly have understood my conduct; but, with him, it was so much a habit to
fancy an American a rogue, that, as I afterwards discovered, he
was trying to persuade the leader of a press-gang that I was the
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
half-educated and illegitimate son of some English merchant,
who wished to pass himself off for an American. I pretend not
to account for the contradiction, though I have often met with
the same moral phenomena among his countrymen; but here
was as regular a rogue as ever cheated, who pretended to think
roguery indigenous to certain nations, among whom his own
was not included.
At length I was cheered with the sight of the Crisis, as she
came drifting through the tiers, turning, and twisting, and
glancing along, just as the Amanda had done before her. The
pilot carried her to moorings quite near us; and Talcott, Neb
and I were on board her, before she was fairly secured. My reception was very favourable, Captain Williams having seen
the account of the “Yankee trick” in the papers; and, understanding the thing just as it had happened, he placed the most
advantageous construction on all I had done. For myself, I confess I never had any misgivings on the subject.
All hands of us were glad to be back in the Crisis again.
Captain Williams had remained at Falmouth longer than he
expected, to make some repairs that could not be thoroughly
completed at sea, which alone prevented him from getting
into the river as soon as I did myself. Now the ship was in, we
no longer felt any apprehension of being impressed, Sweeney’s
malignancy having set several of the gang upon the scent after
us. Whether the fellow actually thought I was an English subject or not, is more than I ever knew; but I felt no disposition
myself to let the point be called in question, before my Lord
Chief Justice of a Rendezvous. The King’s Bench was more
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AFLOAT AND ASHORE
governed by safe principles, in its decisions, than the gentlemen who presided in these marine courts of the British navy.
As I was the only officer in the ship who had ever seen anything of London, my fortnight’s experience made me a notable
man in the cabin. It was actually greater preferment for me
than when I was raised from third to be second-mate. Marble
was all curiosity to see the English capital, and he made me
promise to be his pilot, as soon as duty would allow time for a
stroll, and to show him everything I had seen myself. We soon
got out the cargo, and then took in ballast for our North-West
voyage; the articles we intended to traffic with on the coast, being too few and too light to fill the ship. This kept us busy for
a fortnight, after which we had to look about us to obtain men
to supply the places of those who had been killed, or sent away
in la Dame de Nantes. Of course we preferred Americans; and
this so much the more, as Englishmen were liable to be pressed
at any moment. Fortunately, a party of men that had been taken
out of an American ship, a twelvemonth before, by an English
cruiser, had obtained their discharges; and they all came to
London, for the double purpose of getting some prize-money,
and of obtaining passages home. These lads were pleased with
the Crisis and the voyage, and, instead of returning to their
own country, sailor-like, they took service to go nearly round
the world. These were first-rate men – Delaware-river seamen – and proved a great accession to our force. We owed the
windfall to the reputation the ship had obtained by her affairs
with the letter-of-marque; an account of which, copied from
the log-book and a little embellished by some one on shore,
he consignee had taken care should appear in the journals.
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
The history of the surprise, in particular, read very well; and
the English were in a remarkably good humour, at that time,
to receive an account of any discomfiture of a Frenchman. At
no period since the year 1775, had the American character
stood so high in England as it did just then; the two nations,
for a novelty, fighting on the same side. Not long after we left
London, the underwriters at Lloyd’s actually voted a handsome compliment to an American commander for capturing
a French frigate. Stranger things have happened than to have
the day arrive when English and American fleets may be acting in concert. No one can tell what is in the womb of time;
and I have lived long enough to know that no man can foresee
who will continue to be his friends, or a nation what people
may become its enemies.
The Crisis at length began to take in her bales and boxes
for the North-West Coast, and, as the articles were received
slowly, or a few packages at a time, it gave us leisure for play.
Our captain was in such good humour with us, on account
of the success of the outward-bound passage, that he proved
very indulgent. This disposition was probably increased by the
circumstance that a ship arrived in a very short passage from
New York, which spoke our prize; all well, with a smacking
southerly breeze, a clear coast, and a run of only a few hundred miles to make. This left the almost moral certainty that la
Dame de Nantes had arrived safe, no Frenchman being likely
to trust herself on that distant coast, which was now alive with
our own cruisers, going to or returning from the West Indies.
I had a laughable time in showing Marble the sights of
London. We began with the wild beasts in the Tower, as in
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