THE SILVER BUGLE

The Davenport House “Sometimes my brilliance astounds me…but then, in retrospect, it doesn’t. Rather it is to be expected and de rigueur,” Judah Benjamin thought out loud and chuckled softly at his self analysis, smiled and turned to his beloved Jules, who was watching, quietly amused. He was the only one with whom Judah could be unguarded in word or deed and they both knew it. “My dear Jules, my cerebral concoctions will be the death of me and this cunning stratagem may be the one but it is delicious, creative and appeals to my latent thespian desires. If successful---there is no reason to assume it won’t be---I will have accomplished a coup de main extraordinaire. I will be the true Messiah of the Confederate States of America---even more so than what I am now.” And he gave forth with a staccato of deep hearty laughter that made his generous belly bounce. He embraced Jules then strutted to the center of the parlor and pronounced, “I will enter into the enemy’s territory as a portly French Chef who has sampled in excess of his delectable culinary creations. I will be a member of the French Consul General’s official party when they travel from Richmond to Washington to greet the French noblemen who will be seconded to the Union Army General Staff as military observers. I will leave the party in Alexandria, accomplish my mission and return with all the comforts of heaven.” At this point he burst out laughing until tears came to his eyes. Jules had never seen such a display of joviality. Judah Philip Benjamin almost shouted, “I will return in a coffin!” Sudden silence, then, startled, with his eyes popping and jaw dropped, Jules leapt to his feet. Obviously shaken, voice cracked, he whimpered, “What are you saying? His words becoming more distinct and louder, he uttered, “Your words and manner are disturbing and frightening. I don’t regard this as humour; it is hurtful to hear.” His head dropped. Benjamin eased toward St, Martin, placed a hand on his shoulder and spoke softly. “I beseech you to fret not and be calm. I will explain in due course the sanity and sense of the apparent insane meanderings of my mind.” He then proceeded to lay out the details of his plan to recross the lines to safety in Richmond. “I will return disguised as a pox-smitten corpse who is on his way to burial in the grave yard of Saint John’s Church in Richmond. I will have a most comfortable journey recumbent on soft silken pillows in a very elaborate and private casket complete with an appropriate stock of food and drink for such a momentous occasion…..and, of course, my funereal chaise lounge will be well-ventilated.” He went on to explain that the wagon carrying the casket will be driven by a freed black man who will inform the checkpoint sentries that the man in the coffin died of the pox or plague. The doctor put some kind of a restriction on the body according to the wagon driver, “ If yo was a ship yo’d be flyin a yaller flag.” Benjamin stage-whispered, “ You can rest assured that no self-respecting, life-loving trooper will want to open the coffin to check its human cargo.” He chuckled. Jules forced a smile, strode to the sideboard and poured himself a generous brandy and drank it down without the customary ritual of swirling the brandy in the snifter. He just drank it down in two or three swallows. “Judah, Judah, Judah, oh my dear Judah.” he intoned. And he sobbed. Judah put both arms around him squeezed tightly, rocked him and spoke softly in his ear, “My love, things will work well and we, you and I , will celebrate a wondrous outcome.” Benjamin broke away from the embrace, with an element of forced joviality to change Jules’ mood. “We must invite Alfred Paul for dinner this week, Friday would be good. We owe him for the last time we dined together, we were his guests. Also I want to make certain the details of our official trip to Washington are in order, the date verified and our portly French Chef is on the travel list. Would you be so kind to visit the Consulate tomorrow to extend the invitation and accept no denial. Please tell the Consul I insist he put all matters of interference aside for I have matters of extreme urgency to impart and discuss. The dinner will be simple, not formal, an intimate family dinner, and we consider Paul family. He will be the only guest and we will serve him the fare of his choice. With his acceptance and his food choice known, please purchase the required items to meet his request. We already know and have his favorite wine. Then, my dear, please demonstrate your well learned culinary skills, that I taught you, in preparing Friday’s feast. And merci beaucoup.” Alfred Paul was the French Consul General in Richmond, had been for years before the secession and was the only French Consul who served throughout the four years of the war. He showed no pro-southern bias and was opposed to secession. His initial impression regarding the Union’s naval blockade was that it would not be effective but time and event convinced him that the blockade was effective. Despite his lack of enthusiastic support of the Confederacy he was a great friend of Judah and Jules and one of their favored and frequent guests at Davenport House. They enjoyed speaking French with him; it was the only tongue spoken when the two were alone together; it was Jules’ first language and it was Judah’s second and favorite language. The Consul enjoyed the respite to return to the comfort of his native tongue rather than being forced to use the utterances of those gauche islanders on the west side of their misnamed channel.