{"id":"01KG6G86NV4YNZSDZJSVSKJ8FE","cid":"bafkreihjp67fbuf6jeb4l7f6poism2s42rpybradh2uuiqsh54xrbcndq4","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2449,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T03:48:16.150Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","start_line":2383,"text":"                                 XVIII\r\n\r\n\r\nThe unhappy event which has been narrated could not have happened at a\r\nworse juncture. For it was close on the heel of the suppressed\r\ninsurrections, an after-time very critical to naval authority, demanding\r\nfrom every English sea-commander two qualities not readily\r\ninterfusable--prudence and rigour. Moreover, there was something crucial\r\nin the case.\r\n\r\nIn the jugglery of circumstances preceding and attending the event on\r\nboard the _Indomitable_, and in the light of that martial code whereby\r\nit was formally to be judged, innocence and guilt, personified in\r\nClaggart and Budd, in effect changed places.\r\n\r\nIn the legal view, the apparent victim of the tragedy was he who had\r\nsought to victimise a man blameless; and the indisputable deed of the\r\nlatter, navally regarded, constituted the most heinous of military\r\ncrimes. Yet more. The essential right and wrong involved in the matter,\r\nthe clearer that might be, so much the worse for the responsibility of a\r\nloyal sea-commander, inasmuch as he was authorised to determine the\r\nmatter on that primitive legal basis.\r\n\r\nSmall wonder then that the _Indomitable’s_ captain, though in general a\r\nman of rigid decision, felt that circumspectness not less than\r\npromptitude was necessary. Until he could decide upon his course, and in\r\neach detail, and not only so, but until the concluding measure was upon\r\nthe point of being enacted, he deemed it advisable, in view of all the\r\ncircumstances, to guard as much as possible against publicity. Here he\r\nmay or may not have erred. Certain it is, however, that subsequently in\r\nthe confidential talk of more than one or two gun-rooms and cabins he\r\nwas not a little criticised by some officers, a fact imputed by his\r\nfriends, and vehemently by his cousin Jack Denton, to professional\r\njealousy of Starry Vere. Some imaginative ground for invidious comment\r\nthere was. The maintenance of secrecy in the matter, the confining all\r\nknowledge of it for a time to the place where the homicide occurred--the\r\nquarter-deck cabin; in these particulars lurked some resemblance to the\r\npolicy adopted in those tragedies of the palace which have occurred more\r\nthan once in the capital founded by Peter the Barbarian, great chiefly\r\nby his crimes.\r\n\r\nThe case was such that fain would the _Indomitable’s_ captain have\r\ndeferred taking any action whatever respecting it further than to keep\r\nthe foretopman a close prisoner till the ship rejoined the squadron, and\r\nthen submitting the matter to the judgment of his admiral.\r\n\r\nBut a true military officer is in one particular like a true monk. Not\r\nwith more of self-abnegation will the latter keep his vows of monastic\r\nobedience than the former his vows of allegiance to martial duty.\r\n\r\nFeeling that unless quick action was taken on it, the deed of the\r\nforetopman, as soon as it should be known on the gun-decks, would tend\r\nto awaken any slumbering embers of the Nore among the crew, a sense of\r\nthe urgency of the case overruled in Captain Vere every other\r\nconsideration. But though a conscientious disciplinarian he was no lover\r\nof authority for mere authority’s sake. Very far was he from embracing\r\nopportunities for monopolising to himself the perils of moral\r\nresponsibility, none at least that could properly be referred to an\r\nofficial superior, or shared with him by his official equals, or even\r\nsubordinates. So thinking, he was glad it would not be at variance with\r\nusage to turn the matter over to a summary court of his own officers,\r\nreserving to himself, as the one on whom the ultimate accountability\r\nwould rest, the right of maintaining a supervision of it, or formally or\r\ninformally interposing at need. Accordingly a drum-head court was\r\nsummarily convened, he electing the individuals composing it--the first\r\nlieutenant, the captain of marines, and the sailing-master.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6G6PJNH5QCRX73H14BH0PF","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG2T49K0H5GDRB0G4YDTPG8H","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6G86NSV7P0HQEJPP04CBSM","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T03:48:18.747Z","ts":"2026-01-30T03:48:25.285Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}