Historical Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 45

[cahn]

Unfortunately, there was then at Berlin a King who pursued one policy only, who deceived his enemies, but not his servants, and who lied without scruple, but never without necessity.

(from The King's Secret - by Duke de Broglie, grand-nephew of the subject of the book, Comte de Broglie, and grandfather of the physicist) )

Comments

Damned if you do, damned if you don't

[luzula]

So I was doing some research on court martials, as you do, and came across a case which really illustrates the contradictions under which army officers operated. Also it illustrates the terrible, no good aspects of the honor code.

Of course I already knew that duelling was prohibited in the British Articles of War (probably because the Crown did not want to lose officers), but that these prohibitions were almost never enforced, and that army officers were among the men who duelled the most, because they were so steeped in the honor code. The prohibition against duelling really illustrates the fact that just because there’s a rule against something, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not done--it might just mean that a lot of people do it and someone thinks it’s a problem.

But I did not know that it actually happened that army officers were court-martialed for NOT duelling, under the charge of ‘conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman’! Here’s an example written up in the article ‘Law and Honour among Eighteenth-Century British Army Officers’ by Arthur N. Gilbert (1976). It’s about a Captain Beilby in Minorca in 1766. Aside from the main topic, it’s also interesting because it shows the way insults were formulated.

Beilby was accused of 'having repeatedly received from Captain Robinson language unbecoming the character of an officer and a gentleman without taking proper notice of it... '. Evidently Robinson had insulted Beilby on a number of occasions. Ensign Pierce Dalton testified that he heard Robinson say to Beilby on parade, 'Is that the way you march your guard, you shitten dirty fellow.' Another officer said that Captain Robinson also remarked '...is that the way you make your men slope their arms, you dirty dog... '. As a result, the subalterns of the 11th Foot refused to associate with Beilby. It is important to note that the sanctions imposed by the officer corps were not directed towards Robinson for starting a quarrel in violation of the Articles of War, but against Beilby for allowing himself to be insulted. The officers, among other things, refused to dine with Beilby until he cleared his name and on one occasion, when he attempted to join the officers for dinner, he was turned away. Once again Robinson insulted him by saying 'By God he shall not dine here, nor any poodle dog like him...’ The honour code called for a duel between Robinson and Beilby, but Beilby made no response. He was then visited by another officer in the regiment, Lieutenant Price, and the following conversation took place.

Captain Beilby said that he had sent a letter to Captain Robinson.
Mr Price said he knew it, but as he had not acted in consequence of that letter, the Regiment thought it not material.
Captain Beilby then said that he was sick.
Mr Price replied, Captain Beilby, the world in general thinks you are not sick, and that is my opinion in particular.
Captain Beilby said, Mr Baines knows that I am sick.
Mr Price replied, Mr Baines as a Physician may not chuse to give his opinion but in conformity to his Patient. As a man, I venture to say he is of mine.
Captain Beilby said, this is odd usage Mr Price.
Mr Price answered, not odder than your behaviour.

In his defence, Beilby claimed that he was sick, that he had not heard Robinson's insults, that he had demanded satisfaction from Robinson in a letter but that he (Robinson) had refused to receive it, and that Price had a grudge against him and was guilty of 'nursing cabals'. Beilby was found guilty of neglect in not demanding an explanation from Robinson and, as a result, was suspended from pay and duty for one year. The Lieutenant-Governor of Minorca approved the suspension, but left the length of time up to the king. In England, the Judge Advocate General, after reviewing the minutes of the case, recommended that the conviction be reversed. He argued that the particular charge was not covered in the Articles of War: 'I do not conceive that the sentence of a Court of Justice can at any rate be supported which awards a punishment for neglecting to seek a method of redress forbidden as well by the military as the common law.'

I feel bad for Beilby; it seems to me like he was being bullied by his peers. What an example of victim-blaming! I am reminded yet again of that Duffy quote about 'the seething violence and insecurity of the upper classes'.

Re: Damned if you do, damned if you don't

[selenak]

Good grief, yes, that sounds like awful bullying, and I bet Beilby was of a slightly (or not so slightly) lower perdigree than the rest of them, and so they all ganged up on him.

Thank you for telling us; I didn‘t now about hararssment for NOT dueling, either! I mean, about that open kind of harrassment. There‘s a famous conversation in Fontane‘s novel Effi Briest between her husband and said husband‘s friend. The husband, Innstetten, has found letters from years ago proving Effi had a short affair with another man. Though this was years ago and the letter also make it clear it ended for good, and even though he still loves his wife and doesn‘t hate the other man, AND even though duelling is illegal in the German Empire as well (this is a late 19th century novel), he feels obliged to go through with the duel. His friend swears he would never say anything, and tells him to forget about it, but Innstetten says no, though he trusts his friend he also knows the friend will always know, and if you don‘t adher to the rules society has given itself then it‘s chaos and anarchy, and thus he has to go through with the duel and separate from his wife. Despite still loving her and having no urge to kill the other guy. It‘s one of the most famous scenes in 19th century German literature, supposed to epitomize the kind of society it was (not a good one) without employing caricature or boo-hiss one dimensionality. So that was my association for duelling code perversity, but as I said - I never expected this real life example!

Re: Damned if you do, damned if you don't

[luzula]

if you don‘t adher to the rules society has given itself then it‘s chaos and anarchy, and thus he has to go through with the duel and separate from his wife
I mean, he's kind of choosing which rules are important to him, here, since duelling was illegal...but yeah, I'm sure that sort of honour-culture ate its way into your head.

Re: Beilby, it's striking that he never uses the law to justify his actions; i e says that actually Robinson is breaking the Articles of War, and he himself is keeping them. I guess he must be aware of what a paper product those particular articles are, and what is actually important when it comes to having other (upper-class) men respect you.

Re: Damned if you do, damned if you don't

[mildred_of_midgard]

I guess he must be aware of what a paper product those particular articles are, and what is actually important when it comes to having other (upper-class) men respect you.

Yeah. Quite a story, thank you for sharing it with us!

Re: Damned if you do, damned if you don't

[cahn]

Re: Beilby, it's striking that he never uses the law to justify his actions; i e says that actually Robinson is breaking the Articles of War, and he himself is keeping them. I guess he must be aware of what a paper product those particular articles are, and what is actually important when it comes to having other (upper-class) men respect you.

That's a good point and I didn't realize that until you said that. All his defenses are things like "well, I actually didn't hear it." Ugh, poor guy.

Thanks for this, this was a very interesting example! Though again, poor guy.

Re: Damned if you do, damned if you don't

[cahn]

Oh, interesting! I have Effi Briest queued up on my kindle (from, probably, the last time you talked about Fontane, lol) but haven't read it.