Prior to travelling to London, Tulkington called upon John Hawker. Another shipment was due and his man required a list of the expected contraband which, on this occasion, would stand as a test. The next task was to work out the possible dates on which it could be landed, this dependent again on the state of the moon and the height of the tides, albeit with the constant risk of bad weather, for traversing the English Channel was rarely straightforward even in high summer.
It was not unknown for a crossing, if the prevailing westerlies blew strong and continuous, to take a week, which normally would be spent waiting in harbour for the winds to moderate or shift. The very devil was to be caught out at sea in storm conditions so severe that they barred a run for a port too dangerous to enter. This could be harmful even if the vessel did not founder. Tossed about for days on end, passengers had been known to expire from sheer exhaustion.
The boat people of East Kent knew their waters and rarely put to sea if instinct, based on years of accumulated and handed-down knowledge, indicated gales in the offing. What would be a mystery to a landsman – the run and colour of the sea, the sniff and direction of the breeze, added to the shape of the clouds – was an open book to the best coastal seafarers and none more so than smugglers.
Unloading had always been less of a problem; with an eight-mile stretch of shingle coast from the fishing hamlet of Kingsdown to the Stour estuary, there was no shortage of places to land illicit cargo and many an enterprising individual had done so over decades when circumstances permitted, goods to be eagerly snapped up locally. It had been Tulkington senior’s genius to make regular in supply what had been haphazard, so now traders came from far and wide to collect their purchases.
Hawker also reported what he knew of the man he was tasked to keep an eye on, something he was too wise to undertake personally, especially when he had no need. Brazier would eye with suspicion any adult showing interest in him, but the town was full of parentless urchins who would do his bidding for a small reward in copper, or even better, a flask of gin. So every move had been marked, the information passed back to Tulkington, who found it deeply disappointing.
‘Are you sure this man is a Jack tar? No drunkenness, no women?’
‘Not much like those I’ve encountered, right enough,’ Hawker replied. ‘Had your sister to visit, but not another female and has not gone near a whorehouse or even the Playhouse or the Paragon. Flaherty the horse dealer seems to have become a companion of sorts, though I reckon it will be because Brazier bought a good cellar from Parkin.’
‘I wonder what he would say if he knew Parkin’s wine casks were supplied by us.’
‘Should I keep watchin’ him?’
It was impossible to miss the hint in the way that was asked; Hawker reckoned it a waste of time.
‘Until I return from London. He will discover from my sister where I am. Perhaps my absence for near a week will flush him out.’
He did not feel it necessary to say he had taken other precautions. That was no one else’s business but his own.
The notion of flushing Brazier out was not without foundation, though mistaken in its conclusion; Betsey had penned a letter to Brazier as soon as Henry’s carriage departed the driveway en route to Dover and the mail coach, again using one of the younger stable boys as a messenger, waiting till her aunt was occupied to despatch the lad on a cob, her message being that with her brother absent, the time must be used to become better acquainted. This was hard to achieve at Cottington but his parlour would never serve; their walks were accompanied, while a public place, even if she could shake off her aunt, was barred by convention.
So, enclosed in her note was a small sketch showing the location of the old broken gate, previously used by her to escape. Edward could gain access to the grounds, while her walks would be timed to take her within sight of the location at an agreed morning hour. Alone they could converse freely and find time to become better acquainted.
Not mentioned, or even alluded to, was the need she felt to reassure herself that the course on which she was set was a wise one. It was obvious that proximity to Edward Brazier caused her to experience a feeling of anticipation in her lower stomach, even a current of some kind running through her arm as he kissed the back of her hand on departure.
She thought him of fine character, as well as kind and considerate, but her own limited experience still allowed caution to intrude; she had really only known and been close to one man in her life. Common tales spoke of prospective husbands who had appeared perfect gentlemen prior to the nuptials, only to become drunken ogres and gamblers once the knot was tied.
There was no indication Edward Brazier was anything other than he appeared, but surely no amount of contact could be too much to lay even a slight worry to rest. Betsey was also aware of his profession, with a sure feeling it was something to which he was attached. Called to serve, it would surely be accepted with alacrity, which would take him away from her side.
If elements of that troubled her, it also induced a feeling of pride; no man of parts should shirk serving his country. Was that to be a portion of her life – wedded, comfortable, but alone for a period of unknown duration while he was at sea? Were the feelings they might share enough to stand up to what could well be a strain on any union?
The lad who watched Brazier as he took the Lower Valley Road out of Deal was not happy to venture into the open country. Scrubland was no place for the kind of waifs who gathered to drink their gin and sleep in the alleyways of the town, the rough spirit, together with huddled humanity, warding off the cold. But there was a craving for his reward, so he stayed with him till he saw the horse turning into the drive which led to Walmer Castle. Destination marked, Hawker’s ragamuffin decided that was enough, so set off for the slaughterhouse.
Walmer Castle had a captain who held the command; not that the Marquis of Waldron, who held the post, bothered to execute the duties of his office. He took the pay and delegated the work to another, a fellow who had scraped the money together to purchase a lieutenancy. That officer oversaw the small detachment of soldiers, two of whom were on sentry duty on the bridge spanning the moat, smart enough drilled to present arms to a naval officer whose equivalent army rank was that of colonel.
There was a man to take Brazier’s hat and sword and another, superior fellow in black coat and breeches who led him through the stone corridors to the main chamber, in which there was a pair of flaring and very necessary fires; solid-stone walls did not do much to admit warmth from outside. It was a room in which to both relax and entertain, furnished with comfortable seating near, but not too near, one of the fires. A long, heavy oak dining table with high-backed chairs sat halfway between the two massive grates. Brazier noticed the table was laid for three at one end, so deduced he was to be a solitary guest.
‘Captain Edward Brazier, sir.’
Pitt rose from one of the fireside chairs to come forward and greet him, the woman who came out of another he guessed to be Lady Harriot before she was introduced. On first impression she was, as had been indicated by her brother, so heavily pregnant as to be close to term. But there was a secondary examination of a woman who was neither a beauty nor the converse.
The eyes were lively enough, but her nose was too prominent and she had her brother’s lips, which tended to that downward humourless tilt. The voice was strong and there was something about her carriage and demeanour, even with her prominent belly, which indicated such was replicated in her character.
Brazier was not entirely in ignorance of the lady: she was after all prominent socially and thus spoken of in the journals. Her husband, Sir James Eliot, was very conspicuous in the anti-slavery movement, a close associate to William Wilberforce, as was Pitt himself. Even if he knew it to be a subject fraught with pitfalls – it aroused strong passions – and given it was a fair bet the wife and sister shared their views, he knew it was bound to surface.
‘My brother was very eager to have you as a guest, Captain Brazier, which leads me to suspect you must be entertaining company indeed. He is choosy as to whom he has at table and is, in the main, obliged to feed politicos, dreary as they are in their speculations on the state of the nation.’
‘I fear he is mistaken, madam,’ Brazier replied, taking a glass of wine off a tray presented to him. ‘I’m a sad case when it comes to being amusing.’
Pitt had drained his glass and taken a second from the same tray.
‘Amusement is rarely what my sister seeks, Brazier. Those who have acted with bravery or witnessed strange phenomena are more to her liking. She is an avid student of the world and corresponds regularly with Sir Joseph Banks, who, you will recall, sailed with Captain Cook.’
‘How I wish I had done so too,’ Lady Harriot said. ‘There is a great deal outside these walls, and what have I seen?’
‘East Kent,’ was posited as a wry and amusing response by her brother. ‘The centre of the universe, so how can you complain?’
‘Pay him no heed for his poor wit, sir. Come and sit with us a while, for dinner will be some time. You have, I believe, seen service in both the East and West Indies?’
‘I have been fortunate in that regard, yes.’
‘I find the notion of India and the Spice Islands fascinating. Then there are the places visited by Cook, not least Australasia.’
Pitt interjected. ‘Perhaps I should send you and James there as envoys.’ A nod to Brazier. ‘But, of course, the objects first have to be gained by our soldiers and sailors.’
‘A task of oversight I would carry forward with greater brio than most of the men you might favour, my husband James notwithstanding.’ She turned to Brazier. ‘As you can see, Captain, he tends to patronise me. It is no secret I find the confining nature of my sex a burden.’
‘Then hope for a son, sister, to live through.’
The response was a manufactured expression of exasperation which did not convince, given it was not intended to. Brazier felt he was witness to a dispute that had been long in the making and probably went back to childhood. Their father had been the Great Commoner, William Pitt, the architect of victory, who had led the country to triumph in the Seven Years War to be then ennobled as the First Earl of Chatham.
His second son could be eager to emulate Pitt senior, although the nation’s finances must be able to sustain the burden. But what of Lady Harriot? She would have been raised in a household at the centre of national affairs, at a time when great events overseen by their father were taking place and, being very likely as bright and engaged as her brothers, mightily narked at having a lesser role in the world being created.
Prior to moving to the table, the conversation was as Brazier expected. He was gently questioned on his service, the enquiries posed in the main by the sister. With mention of the West Indies came the inevitable interrogation on slavery.
‘It is the most pressing cause of the age, Captain, do you not agree?’
‘Important yes, Lady Harriot, but I think your brother would be the best person to address with the term “pressing”, for I have only opinion while he has the ability to effect change.’
‘It certainly merits attention, that is true,’ Pitt responded. ‘Had I the power to force it through the House it would be law in a trice, but the sugar lobby is exceedingly powerful, which curtails whatever ability you ascribe to me.’
‘They are even more powerful in the Caribbean islands than at home,’ Brazier insisted.
The fellow who had shown him in arrived to say dinner was about to be served, so the trio moved to the table, Lady Harriot easing herself in with care and Pitt, once the first glass of wine had been served and a tureen of soup disbursed, immediately taking up the conversation where it had left off.
‘I seem to recall you had several run-ins with the plantation owners.’
Brazier smiled, though he did wonder at such facts landing on such an elevated desk.
‘They want the law enforced to keep their slaves under control, but not to stop them buying cheap goods, smuggled in from the United States or the Spanish colonies. It was my job, and that of my fellow captains, to stop it.’
‘And how successful were you?’ Lady Harriot enquired over a soup spoon.
The temptation to snap ‘Not as successful as we should have been’, was not expressed; instead it was replaced by a softer answer. ‘We enjoyed moderate success, more towards the end of my commission than at the outset.’
‘And to what would you attribute that?’
Pitt was looking into his bowl and there was no eye contact, while the tone of voice carried no emphasis, yet his guest still felt the need to be guarded in his response. Things had happened in the West Indies upon which he had no wish to dwell, matters he certainly had no desire to openly discuss.
‘I would posit good intelligence as the cause.’
‘That and no more? It would not, then, be a question of leadership? It seems to me that matters improved markedly following on from your taking over the command.’
‘It surprises me you are so well informed.’
‘I read a precis prepared for me of what despatches come in from all our overseas possessions, and with the Caribbean I would say the conclusion of better intelligence was there for all to see. Your captures went up markedly in number and Lord Howe was mightily impressed. I’m sure you, and those you took command of, made a pretty penny in prize money, even excluding the recapture of the Santa Clara.’
‘For which the locals threatened repeatedly to sue me.’
That was a deliberately evasive reply; he had no notion to be questioned on prize monies or to defend a practice that often saw naval officers accused of greed, in effect putting their purse before their duty, given it was not what had motivated him to be so active.
‘They have leverage on the colonial courts, and the judges own plantations as well. I’m far from certain they would not have succeeded in having me locked up.’
‘A case that would have ended up being appealed in London, where it would have no merit. The Lord Chancellor would have thrown it out.’
‘Good Lord Mansfield – a saint in my eyes.’
Pitt’s face was a picture as he reacted. If his sister esteemed the man for his judgement on slavery in Britain, it seemed obvious that her brother held him in somewhat less regard. Pitt led a fragile coalition of competing interests, the holding together of which would likely be taxing. Mansfield was, by repute, something of a weathervane.
Conversation was put in abeyance by the removal of dishes and the arrival of several more, as well as a different wine. Pitt had behaved in a more abstemious fashion than at his Three Kings meal, but his glass was never empty and neither was Edward Brazier’s, while Lady Harriot was still sipping her first pouring. The conversation became more general and wide ranging than hitherto, this over several courses, more a reflection of society at present until, food consumed, Lady Harriot announced her intention to walk the battlements and take in the air, prior to laying down to rest.
‘If you will excuse me, Captain Brazier. My condition demands it.’
He raised himself from his chair, a mark of respect not replicated by her brother.
‘I seem to recall your service was not without complications,’ Pitt advanced, as soon as she was gone. Given a querying look by his guest, who had a good idea where this might be heading and was reluctant to go there, Pitt added, ‘His Majesty would not recall your name fondly.’
‘Prince William was in the wrong. Honesty, as well as a Bible oath, obliged me to say so.’
‘It is odd, is it not, that our sovereign sees little good in his male brood, but will not have anyone else question their behaviour? How bad was it?’
‘I should suspect you had any number of people to inform you of that. If I did not read the numerous furious letters sent home, I was appraised of their contents.’
The eyebrows were raised, the look of enquiry insistent. ‘Still.’
‘The horse’s mouth?’
‘Precisely.’
To be utterly frank or fillet the tale? Where did Pitt stand on the matter: with his King and the Prince, or on the side of what was accountable behaviour, even for a royal? It was Pitt draining his glass that gave him an opening.
‘The effect of drink on Prince William is not good. He becomes free of restraint and loses the ability to appreciate how his behaviour is perceived.’
The eyes narrowed as did the cheeks. ‘I see you’re no stranger to diplomatic obfuscation, sir.’
Brazier refused to be cowed. ‘Do I sense irritation?’
‘You sense I asked a question, to which I would like a plain answer.’
‘I reckon myself to be in the steep tub on the matter as it is. Why would I venture into an area that might well make matters worse?’
‘And if I said I have no opinion on the subject?’
‘Then I would be bound to ask why it has been raised.’
‘Would it surprise you to know that His Majesty takes a keen interest as to whom is appointed to command his ships of war?’
Time to equivocate. ‘He sees them as personal possessions, then?’
‘It is a fault in monarchs to believe so, Captain Brazier. What do you think he would say if he saw your name put forward for a line-of-battle ship, a seventy-four?’
‘Given your previous remarks, I cannot believe it would pass without comment.’
Pitt threw his head back and laughed. ‘Comment would not be the half of it. More like a display of outraged spleen and some ripe blasphemy.’
‘I believe you’re telling me I can wish for the moon in the article of a command.’
‘Even King George is not immune to the taking of advice from his ministers. He has many people who wish to whisper in his ear, but it is true to say that he generally listens with care to what I say.’
Brazier sat back, toying with his glass, as the two men engaged in a mutual stare, which had within it curiosity but no aggression. ‘I cannot help but believe that countering the King’s prejudice would not come without a price.’
‘I daresay you have been in Deal long enough to measure how my name is taken?’
That switch did not make sense, but had to be responded to, which he tried to do with a pun. ‘Forgive me if I’m too forthright, but cess tends to combine too readily with pit.’
The response came from a fellow very far from amused, even if he tried to cover it.
‘Which I take as a compliment. I have tried to curtail smuggling over several years, with little success. As you will no doubt have heard, I had the boats of the villains torched out of sheer frustration, not that it was easy. The navy would not assist, while I had to press very hard indeed to get the soldiers I required to carry out the task.’
The tone became seriously bitter. ‘Everyone sees romance where there is nothing but foul delinquency, even as it has become more organised. It’s no longer just single luggers risking a small cargo, though that is still prevalent. But I sense an ordered enterprise in excess of that, depriving us of unimaginable sums of money, and such are the vested interests both here and in Whitehall that I struggle to gather the means to curtail it.’
Pitt wandered off into the constraints that applied even to a King’s First Minister, working with a slender parliamentary majority held together by the constant trading of advantage. There were many things that he wished to do to improve the nation’s finances but could not, for they too often touched on the incomes or interests of the members, both peers and commoners, the latter ever careful of the views and needs of those who elected them.
‘They will not see such things effected and, I am sorry to add, too many are themselves the consumers of untaxed goods.’
‘There are many who see a bargain, not a problem.’
‘Creatures of no integrity, who would sit idly by to see the nation bankrupt. As for the application of law here, it is near blind to contraband. The magistrates and justices, when I charge them with negligence, behave as though it is some kind of innocent lark.’
‘I’m wondering where this is leading?’
‘The only way to end it is by the gathering of incriminating evidence, so strong it cannot be brushed aside. That, given my reputation, I cannot even begin to gather. If I can show how extensive it really is and the true and staggering amount of the losses, I may be able to get the support in Parliament I need to put a stopper on it. For that I require help.’
The direct look aided enlightenment. ‘You’re not asking I enquire on your behalf?’
‘You are without employment and unlikely to receive any without my help. You thus have time and know the value of what we speak when we talk of intelligence. That which I cannot gather could much more easily be sought by someone with an unsullied local reputation.’
‘I’m afraid I must decline.’
Pitt sat back in contemplation for a few seconds before speaking again, and his tone matched the primary sentiment. ‘It gives me little pleasure to say this, but I wonder if you would welcome an enquiry into the sudden and peculiar death of Admiral Hassel.’