PART III.

3

A

JOURNEY TO INDIA, &c.

LETTER XLIII.

After passing through an immense tract of country, distinguished by nothing that could serve even as a circumstance to mark and remember our daily journeys, but which I observed to grow manifestly worse, both in soil and climate, as we proceeded Southward, we came in sight of the famous city of Bagdad, on the seventh day from that on which we left Mosul, and on the eighteenth from that of my departure from Aleppo; in which eighteen days we had rode fourteen hundred miles, partly through a route which no European, I have reason to believe, ever took before.

On entering the city, I desired my guide to conduct me to the house of a Merchant, to whom I had got letters of credit and introduction. He took me accordingly through the windings of several 4streets, and at last stopped at the door of an Armenian Merchant, or Coja, where he made me alight, and come in. I was received with great politeness; and, on producing my letter, found that he was not the person to whom it was directed: I accordingly made a suitable apology, and was for retiring to find the house of the proper person, for which purpose the Armenian offered me a servant, when, to my great astonishment, my Tartar interfered; said that it was to this Merchant he brought all his goods, and that I must remain where I was; at the same time ordering the Armenian, in a peremptory tone, to take charge of me, and use me well. It was in vain that the Armenian endeavoured to explain to him the nature of the business, and that I insisted I must go to the other Merchant——Hassan was peremptory, and declared that I should not. It was so extremely outré and ridiculous, that I could not be angry; and the good Armenian uniting his voice with that of the Tartar, and entreating me to favour him with my company, I acquiesced, and indeed remained in his house all the time I was at Bagdad. This was proof positive, if any other than I already had was wanting, that he considered me merely as a piece of merchandise, which he was bound (according to the language of Merchants) to deliver in good order and condition.

I had undertaken, before leaving Aleppo, to give the guide, if he acted conformably to my wishes, and behaved well, twenty pounds over and above the hundred provided by the agreement: I 5therefore sent for him, to settle finally, and part. He had heard that I was a person different from what he had supposed me to be: but it did not alter his conduct, as might be expected, or make him stoop to cringing; he still spoke with the same honest, bold familiarity; and when I gave him the promised twenty pounds, he never hinted, cringed for, or even looked as if he expected more: but when we came to part, the feelings he disclosed, and those I myself felt, convinced me, that Man is not naturally that brute which prejudice has made him; and, when left to its own operations, the human heart would be uniformly kindly, affectionate, and sympathetic: the poor, rough, unpolished Turk, betrayed the strongest marks of sensibility, and I myself once more felt the uneasiness of parting.

I think this is the proper place to give you my opinion of the Turks, while the recollection of honest Hassan is fresh in my mind; and I cannot do it better than by quoting the words of an excellent French Writer——-

“The Turks (says M. du Loir) are naturally a good people, which is not to be ascribed to the climate; for the Greeks born in the same climate have very different dispositions, and retain only the bad qualities of their ancestors, viz. roguery, treachery, and vanity. The Turks, on the contrary, priding themselves on their integrity and modesty, are distinguished in general by an open, ingenuous simplicity of manners; courtiers only excepted, 6who, to Turkey, as every where else, are the slaves of ambition and avarice.”

The name of Bagdad has been so renowned in Eastern story, and is the scene of so many of those bewitching tales which we find translated, or pretended to be translated, from the Arabic and Persian, that I felt great pleasure in seeing it, and conceived myself to be at the very fountain-head of marvellous adventure and romance. Fraught with this idea, I was impatient to go forth into the town; and notwithstanding the weather was beyond conception hot, I paraded a number of streets: but never did I, in the course of my life, see a place so calculated to bely the opinion one would form of it from the Eastern tales. It appeared to me to be among the most disagreeable cities of the world, and has no one circumstance that I could discover to recommend it: the heat is so great, that in the Summer-time the inhabitants are forced to keep their markets in the night, and to lie all night in the open air on the terraces of their houses.

The Armenian with whom I resided, did every thing in his power to render the place agreeable to me; and I shall always retain a lively sense of his goodness and hospitality: he was not only generous and polite, but well informed, and pleasing in conversation. I took occasion to express to him the disappointment I felt at finding Bagdad so very different from what I expected; and told him that I had, when a youth, learned to think highly of it, 7or rather romantically, from reading Eastern tales. This led to a conversation on the Arabian Nights Entertainments, a copy of which he had in the Arabic, and produced it: he then shewed me, with great triumph, a French translation of them, printed at Paris, which he had read, and declared that the translation was nothing at all in comparison with the original. I believe he was well qualified to judge, for he was a perfect master of the French language.

We talked of the Eastern tale of the Glass Man, who, in a reverie, increases his stock till he gets so rich as, in imagination, to marry the Cadi’s daughter, &c. &c. and in kicking his wife, kicks all his glasses about, and destroys the whole of his visionary fortune. I praised the humour of it much——“Sir,” said he, “there is nothing in it that may not be experienced frequently in actual life: those waking dreams are the usual concomitants of opium: a man who has accustomed himself to the pernicious practice of eating opium, is constantly subject to them. I have, in the course of my time, found a thousand of those dreamers holding forth in the plenitude of imaginary power. I have seen a common porter become Cadi, and order the bastinado. I have seen a wretched tailor raised by the effects of opium to the office of Aga of the Janissaries, deposing the Sultan, and ordering the bow-string to all about him. I have seen some indulging in the blandishments of love with Princesses, and others wallowing in the wealth of Golconda. But the most extraordinary visionary of this kind I ever met with, was one 8who imagined himself translated to Paradise, co-equal to Mahomet, and sitting by the side of that prophet, arguing with him in defence of the use of wine and opium: he argued most ingeniously, listened in silence to the supposed arguments of his adversary, answered them, replied, rejoined, and still argued on——till, growing at last angry, he swore that he was as a good a prophet as him, did not care a fig for him, and called him fool and false prophet. A Turk who was present, in the fulness of his zeal, laid a stick very heavily across his shoulders, and put an end to the vision: and never did I see a wretch so abject, so forlorn, or so miserably desponding; he put his forehead to the ground, which he wet with his tears, crying, Mercy, Mahomet! mercy, holy Prophet! mercy, Alla!——nor could he find relief (such is the ruin of opium) till he got a fresh supply of it in his mouth, which soon gave him a temporary respite from the horrors of his situation.”

Unquestionably, Bagdad was once a great city, of flourishing commerce; but the Sultan Amurath the Fourth, when he made himself master of it, put the richest Merchants settled there to death; and it has ever since gradually declined. About two days journey from it, lie the ruins of the once famous city of Babylon. I was much disposed to go to see it, and thence drop down the Euphrates to Bassora: but my Armenian host told me there was nothing in it to recompense a person for half the trouble; for, of that magnificent city, which was sixty miles in circumference, which was encompassed with walls eighty-seven feet in thickness, 9and three hundred and fifty in height, nothing was to be seen but the bare foundations of some great edifices. The Tower of Belus, and the Palace of Nebuchadnezzar, lie with the rest in undistinguished ruin. The greatest curiosities, then, were, in the first place, the ruins of a building said to be the famed Tower of Babel, which appeared to have been half a league in compass; and the remains of a vast bridge over the Euphrates, where it is half a league broad.

I was not more anxious to arrive at the city of Bagdad than I was to leave it; and having written letters, and put them in a way of being forwarded to Europe, I took leave of my friendly hospitable Armenian, and, with a thousand acknowledgments for his kindness, set out on horseback to a place on the Tigris, where I embarked in a boat, in order to proceed to Bassora. This river, known since the first records of human existence by Geographers, is remarkable for its rapidity, whence, Pliny says, it has the name of Tigris, (in the Median language, a dart); and for its extraordinary course, which is in many places under ground, rises in Armenia, sinks into the earth near mount Taurus, and runs under a mountain——then rising at the other side, follows its course through the lake Thespites——again sinks frequently under ground, and continues hid at one time for a space of twenty-five miles; where, once more emerging, it glides along with a very rapid stream, meets the Euphrates at a place called Korna, passes through Bassora, and falls into the Persian Gulph.

10As the boat in which I took my passage had no convenience for excluding the violence of the sun, except an awning, I suffered extremely from the heat. The river itself was grand; but the banks, and contiguous country, contained nothing to attract notice——no object to diversify the dreary, deserted aspect of the scene——nothing to afford room for reflection, or give birth to a new idea. I do not remember to have ever passed through such a vast extent of country, so uniformly dull and uninteresting. The only thing that served to keep the mind alive, was the apprehension of robbers, who, in great numbers, hover over this river, and plunder passengers. We had taken care, on leaving Bagdad, to be well provided with fire-arms; and they did us yeomen’s service——for we were frequently attacked by robbers with a view to plunder, but found that a shot or two dispersed and sent them off in consternation. One night, however, in passing a creek, we perceived several boats issuing from it, in great order, and in a manner that evinced method and premeditation: we silently prepared for their reception, and were completely ready to meet them warmly, while they thought us quite unprepared, and unconscious of their approach: they first endeavoured to board us by surprise: wishing rather to frighten than to kill them, we began by firing over their heads; on which they set up the most horrible shouts, and rushed on with a tumultuous rapidity, making the most terrible noise, in order to intimidate us: they were by this time quite near us; we therefore took aim at them, and let fly, 11and immediately perceived them in great confusion, some of the boats losing their helm, and falling with the stream on the others: at last we saw them sheer off, and they gave us no farther trouble.

LETTER XLIV.

After eight or ten as disagreeable days as I remember to have spent in my life, weakened with incessant watching, harassed with bodily fatigue, and melted with the excessive heat of the sun, I arrived at the city of Bassora, where I was received with the utmost hospitality by Mr. Latouche, the Company’s Resident from Bombay, who did every thing possible for my accommodation, and procured me every instruction respecting my further progress.

This city, as well as Bagdad, is famous in marvellous story. The country about it is considered by the natives as the best spot in Asia, though the burning winds annoy and frequently destroy travellers, overwhelming them with mountains of hot sand, driven, like waves of the sea, before the tempest out of the neighbouring deserts. It carries on a great trade, and is inhabited by vast numbers of Christians and Jews. The English and Dutch have factories here, as well for the purpose of commerce, 12as the transit of dispatches, by way of Damascus and Aleppo, to Europe. The richest merchandise of India and Europe are brought here in caravans; and its opulence is greatly increased by the caravans of Pilgrims, who pass through it on their way to Mecca, and pay great duties, bartering for many rich commodities. The horses of this place are celebrated for their superior excellence: it is said that they will run thirty hours without meat or drink; I doubt the fact, and should be sorry to see so inhuman an experiment tried.

One comfortable circumstance attending Bassora is, that at night the streets may be walked with perfect safety at all hours. It is subject to an Arab Prince, who is tributary to the Turk, and whose revenue is very great, as well from the above-mentioned causes, as because he gives full liberty to all Nations to come and trade to his capital.

From Bassora I took my passage in a date-boat going to Muskat, expecting to get from thence a speedy passage to Bombay; but the boat sprung a leak at sea, and we were obliged to run into Busheer, where I was very hospitably received and entertained by Mr. Galley, the Company’s Resident.

There really seemed to be an unusual fatality attending me throughout the whole of my journey. You will recollect, in the first instance, I was prevented, by the war with France, from going by the direct route which I should otherwise have taken, and obliged to pass through the Low Countries and Germany——In the 13next place, at Venice I was disappointed in obtaining a passage to Latachæa; and, immediately on the heels of that, lost my servant at Trieste, by sending him for letters to Venice——Afterwards, when I had gone to Alexandria with expectation of travelling through Egypt, and viewing that interesting part of the world, I found myself prevented by the unhappy circumstances of the country——the plague raging in Alexandria, and all the roads being blocked up by an incursion of the Arabs. Thus mortified and disappointed, I turned about, in order to make my way in another direction; and arriving at Cyprus, found, to my infinite surprise and regret, that an epidemic disease, little short of the plague, prevailed there, and swept off the inhabitants in great numbers: when, after surmounting all those obstacles, I arrived at Aleppo, the first information I got was, that the caravan was gone, and that it would be a long time before another would be ready; and my departure from Aleppo was attended with circumstances no less inauspicious than my entrance——At Mosul I experienced another disappointment, by the river’s being dried up, and rendered impracticable by boats——My passage from Bassora to Muskat was impeded by the vessel springing a leak——And now, when at last I hoped to get from Busheer to Bombay, I was stopped by the intelligence that the Gulph was blocked up by French privateers, insomuch as no vessel could hope to escape. I was therefore obliged to remain at Busheer, till a Company’s frigate, commanded by Captain Hardy, and soon expected, 14should afford me an opportunity of proceeding to Bombay. Time, however, brought that period about; and I took my passage, and arrived safe at Bombay, where I soon after embarked on board a Portuguese vessel, being the only conveyance that offered for me to proceed to Madras: she was first bound to Goa, and we arrived safely at that island, where I was received with great politeness, and treated with the most friendly attention, by Mr. Henshaw, the English Resident.

Goa belongs to the Portuguese: the Viceroy of that Nation lives there in great pomp. It was once the scene of the most abominable cruelties, exercised by that flagitious people on the natives, under pretended zeal for Christianity——I had read the Abbé Raynal’s glowing description of it; and as I trod the ground, my frame trembled at the thoughts of the massacres perpetrated there.

I was impatient to get from Goa, and yet I looked forward to my departure with a secret uneasiness, for which I was entirely unable to account——I wished to proceed, and yet some secret foreboding whispered to my heart that I was on the verge of calamity: so powerful was it, and so obstinate, that I could neither reason away its admonitions, nor resist its impressions; and something incessantly told me, in as plain language as if a human being spoke, that I should suffer a dreadful misfortune. As I had all my life been an enemy to superstition, I felt my spirit insulted, and my understanding degraded, by the involuntary victory which I allowed to this impression——I combated it with reason, with ridicule, with self-contempt——all 15in vain: in spite of me, I became the very slave of gloomy presentiment; and in order to get the succedaneous aid of a friend’s reason, as well as to be prepared, I communicated the state of my feelings to Mr. Henshaw. In vain he endeavoured to cheer me: all he could do was to give me his counsel; in consequence of which I actually settled all my affairs up to that day, made my will, left it with Mr. Henshaw, and, full of dreadful forebodings of shipwreck, went on board a Portuguese snow bound to Madras.

It was now the eighteenth day of May when we sailed from Goa. The hemisphere had been for some days overcast with clouds: some light showers of rain had fallen; and you may conclude that it did not tend to raise my spirits, or free me from my ominous apprehensions, to hear that those circumstances indicated an approaching gale of wind. I observed, moreover, that the vessel was much too deep in the water, being greatly overloaded——that she was in many respects defective, and, as the seamen say, ill-found, and in short very unfit to encounter a gale of wind of any violence. I scorned, however, to yield to those united impressions, and determined to proceed.

On the nineteenth, the sky was obscured by immense fleeces of clouds, surcharged with inflammable matter; and in the evening, the rain fell in torrents, the firmament darkened apace, sudden night came on, and the horrors of extreme darkness were rendered still more horrible by the peals of thunder which rent the air, and the 16frequent flashes of lightning, which served only to shew us the horror of our situation, and leave us in increased darkness: mean-time the wind became more violent, blowing on the shore; and a heavy sea, raised by its force, united with it to make our state more formidable.

By day-light on the morning of the twentieth, the gale had increased to a furious tempest; and the sea, keeping pace with it, ran mountain-high; and as it kept invariably to the same point, the Captain and Officers became seriously alarmed, and almost persuaded that the South-west Monsoon had set in, which, if it were so, would render it absolutely impossible for us to weather the coast. All that day, however, we kept as close as the violence of the weather would allow us to the wind; but the sea canted her head so to leeward, that she made more lee than head-way; and the rigging was so strained with the work, that we had little hope of keeping off the shore, unless the wind changed, of which there was not now the smallest probability. During the night there was no intermission of the stormstorm: many of the sails flew into ribbons; some of the rigging was carried away; and such exertions were made, that, before morning, every stick that could possibly be struck was down upon the deck.

About seven o’clock on the morning of the twenty-first, I was alarmed by an unusual noise upon the deck, and, running up, perceived that every remaining sail in the vessel, the fore-sail alone excepted, was totally carried away. The sight was horrible; and 17the whole vessel presented a spectacle as dreadful to the feelings as mortifying to human pride. Fear had produced, not only all the helplessness of despondency, but all the mischievous freaks of insanity. In one place stood the Captain, raving, stamping, and tearing his hair in handfuls from his head——here, some of the crew were cast upon their knees, clapping their hands, and praying, with all the extravagance of horror painted in their faces——there, others were flogging their images with all their might, calling upon them to allay the storm. One of our passengers, who was Purser of an English East-Indiaman, had got hold of a case-bottle of rum, and, with an air of distraction and deep despair imprinted in his face, was stalking about in his shirt. I perceived him to be on the point of serving it about, in large tumblers, to the few undismayed people; and well convinced, that, so far from alleviating, it would sharpen the horrors of their mind, I went forward, and with much difficulty prevented him.

Having accomplished this point, I applied myself to the Captain, and endeavoured to bring him back (if possible) to his recollection, and to a sense of what he owed to his duty as a commander, and to his dignity as a man: I exhorted him to encourage the sailors by his example; and strove to raise his spirits, by saying that the storm did not appear to me by any means so terrible as some I had before experienced.

While I was thus employed, we shipped a sea on the starboard side, which I really thought would have sent us down. The vessel 18seemed to sink beneath its weight, shivered, and remained motionless——it was a moment of critical suspense: fancy made me think I felt her gradually descending——I gave myself up as gone, and summoned all my fortitude to bear approaching death with becoming manhood.

Just at this crisis, the water, which rushed with incredible force through all partsparts of the vessel, brought out floating, and nearly suffocated, another English passenger, who was endeavouring to take a little repose in a small cabin boarded off from the deck: he was a very stout young man, and full of true spirit. Finding that the vessel was not, as I had thought, going immediately down, he joined me in exhorting the Captain to his duty: we persuaded him to throw the guns overboard, as well as a number of trunks and packages with which the vessel was much encumbered; and, with some little exertion, we got the pumps set agoing.

Here I will stop, knowing the warm sensibility of my Frederick’s mind; and, convinced that his sympathetic heart will go hand-in-hand with his Father’s sufferings, I will not overcharge it with grief by an immediate continuation of the business, but defer it to another Letter.

19

LETTER XLV.

The name of the English passenger, whom I mentioned to you in my last Letter as assisting me in getting the Captain and Mariners to do their duty, was Hall. He was a young man of a most amiable disposition, and with it possessed all that manly spirit that gives presence of mind in exigences of danger. He and I having, with great difficulty, got some hands to stick to the pumps, stood at the wheel, at once to assist the men, and prevent them from quitting it; and, although hopeless, determined that no effort practicable on our parts should be wanting to the preservation of the vessel. The water, however, gained upon the pumps, notwithstanding every effort; and it evidently appeared that we could not keep her long above water.

At ten o’clock the wind seemed to increase, and amounted to a downright hurricane: the sky was so entirely obscured with black clouds, and the rain fell so thick, that objects were not discernible from the wheel to the ship’s head. Soon the pumps were choaked, and could no longer be worked: then dismay seized on all——nothing but unutterable despair, silent anguish, and horror, wrought up to frenzy, was to be seen; not a single soul was capable 20of an effort to be useful——all seemed more desirous to extinguish their calamities by embracing death, than willing, by a painful exertion, to avoid it.

At about eleven o’clock we could plainly distinguish a dreadful roaring noise, resembling that of waves rolling against rocks; but the darkness of the day, and the accompanying rains, prevented us from seeing any distance; and if they were rocks, we might be actually dashed to pieces on them before we could perceive them. At twelve o’clock, however, the weather cleared up a little, and both the wind and the sea seemed to have abated: the very expansion of the prospect round the ship was exhilerating; and as the weather grew better, and the sea less furious, the senses of the people returned, and the general stupefaction began to decrease.

The weather continuing to clear up, we in some time discovered breakers and large rocks without side of us; so that it appeared we must have passed quite close to them, and were now fairly hemmed in between them and the land.

In this very critical juncture, the Captain, entirely contrary to my opinion, adopted the dangerous resolution of letting go an anchor, to bring her up with her head to the sea: But, though no sea-man, my common sense told me that she could never ride it out, but must directly go down. The event nearly justified my judgment; for she had scarcely been at anchor before an enormous sea rolling over her, overwhelmed and filled her with water, and 21every one on board concluded that she was certainly sinking——On the instant, a Lascar, with a presence of mind worthy an old English mariner, took an axe, ran forward, and cut the cable.

On finding herself free, the vessel again floated, and made an effort to right herself; but she was almost completely waterlogged, and heeled to larboard so much that the gunnel lay under water. We then endeavoured to steer as fast as we could for the land, which we knew could not be at any great distance, though, we were unable to discover it through the hazy weather: the foresail was loosened; by great efforts in bailingbailing, she righted a little, her gunnel was got above water, and we scudded as well as we could before the wind, which still blew hard on shore; and at about two o’clock the land appeared at a small distance a head.

The love of life countervails all other considerations in the mind of Man. The uncertainty we were under with regard to the shore before us, which we had reason to believe was part of Hyder Alli’s dominions, where we should meet with the most rigorous treatment, if not ultimate death, was forgotten in the joyful hope of saving life; and we scudded towards the shore in all the exulting transports of people just snatched from the jaws of death.

This gleam of happiness continued not long: a tremendous sea rolling after us, broke over our stern, tore every thing before it, stove in the steerage, carried away the rudder, shivered the wheel to pieces, and tore up the very ring-bolts of the deck——conveyed 22the men who stood at the wheel forward, and swept them overboard. I was standing, at the time, near the wheel, and fortunately had hold of the taffarel, which enabled me to resist in part the weight of the wave. I was, however, swept off my feet, and dashed against the main-mast. The jerk from the taffarel, which I held very tenaciously, seemed as if it would have dislocated my arms: however, it broke the impetus of my motion, and in all probability saved me from being dashed to pieces against the mast.

I floundered about in the water at the foot of the mast, till at length I got on my feet, and seized a rope, which I held in a state of great embarrassment, dubious what I should do to extricate myself. At this instant I perceived that Mr. Hall had got upon the capstern, and was waving his hand to me to follow his example: this I wished to do, though it was an enterprise of some risk and difficulty; for, if I lost the hold I had, a single motion of the vessel, or a full wave, would certainly carry me overboard. I made a bold push, however, and fortunately accomplished it. Having attained this station, I could the better survey the wreck, and saw that the water was nearly breast-high on the quarter-deck, (for the vessel was deep-waisted); and I perceived the unfortunate English Purser standing where the water was most shallow, as if watching with patient expectation its rising, and awaiting death: I called to him to come to us, but he shook his head in despair, and said, in a lamentable tone, “It is all over with us! God have mercy upon 23us!”——then seated himself with seeming composure on a chair, which happened to be rolling about in the wreck of the deck, and in a few minutes afterwards, was washed into the sea along with it, where he was speedily released from a state ten thousand times worse than death.

During this universal wreck of things, the horror I was in could not prevent me from observing a very curious circumstance, which at any other time would have excited laughter, though now it produced no other emotion than surprise——We happened to be in part laden with mangoes, of which the island of Goa is known to produce the finest in the world; some of them lay in baskets on the poop: a little black boy, in the moment of greatest danger, had got seated by them, devouring them voraciously, and crying all the time most bitterly at the horrors of his situation!

The vessel now got completely water-logged; and Mr. Hall and I were employed in forming conjectural calculations how many minutes she could keep above water, and consoling one another on the unfortunate circumstances under which we met——lamenting that fate had thus brought us acquainted only to make us witnesses of each other’s misery, and then to see one another no more.

As the larboard side of the vessel was gradually going down, the deck, and of course the capstern, became too nearly perpendicular for us to continue on it: we therefore foresaw the necessity of quitting it, and got upon the starboard side, holding fast by the gunnel, 24and allowing our bodies and legs to yield to the sea as it broke over us. Thus we continued for some time: at length the severity of the labour so entirely exhausted our strength and spirits, that our best hope seemed to beto be a speedy conclusion to our painful death; and we began to have serious intentions of letting go our hold, and yielding ourselves up at once to the fury of the waves.

The vessel, which all this time drifted with the sea and wind, gradually approximated the shore, and at length struck the ground, which for an instant revived our almost departed hopes; but we soon found that it did not in the smallest degree better our situation——Again I began to yield to utter despair——again I thought of letting go my hold, and sinking at once: It is impossible, thought I, ever to escape——why, then, prolong, for a few minutes, a painful existence that must at last be given up? Yet, yet, the all-subduing love of life suggested, that many things apparently impossible had come to pass; and I said to myself, If life is to be lost, why not lose it in a glorious struggle? Should I survive it by accident, life will be rendered doubly sweet to me, and I still more worthy of it by persevering fortitude.

While I was employed in this train of reflection, I perceived some of the people collecting together, talking, and holding a consultation——It immediately occurred to me, that they were devising some plan for escaping from the wreck, and getting on shore: and, so natural is it for Man to cling to his fellow-creature for support in difficult or dangerous exigences, I proposed to 25Mr. Hall to join them, and take a share in the execution of the plan——observing to him at the same time, that I was determined at all events to quit the vessel, and trust to the protection and guidance of a superintending Providence for the rest.

LETTER XLVI.

As prodigality of life is, in some cases, the excess of virtue and courage——so there are others in which it is vice, meanness and cowardice. True courage is, according to the circumstances under which it is to operate, as rigidly tenacious and vigilant of life in one case, as it is indifferent and regardless in another; and I think it is a very strange contradiction in the human heart (although it often happens), that a man who has the most unbounded courage, in seeking death even in the cannon’s mouth, shall yet want the necessary resolution to make exertions to save his life in cases of ordinary danger. The unfortunate English Purser could not collect courage sufficient to make an effort to save himself; and yet I think it probable that he would have faced a battery of artillery, or exposed himself to a pistol-shot, if occasion required, as soon as any other man. Thus it appears at first view: but may not this seeming incongruity be explained by saying, that 26personal courage and fortitude are different qualities of the mind and body, and depend upon the exercise of entirely different functions?

Be that as it may, I argued with myself, in the height of my calamitous situation, upon the subject of fortitude and dejection, courage and cowardice; and, notwithstanding the serious aspect of affairs, found myself listening to the suggestions of pride: What a paltry thing to yield, while strength is left to struggle! Vanity herself had her hint, and whispered, “Should I escape by an effort of my own, what a glorious theme of exultation!” There were, I confess, transitory images in my mind, which, co-operating with the natural attachment to self-preservation, made me persevere, and resolve to do so, while one vestige of hope was left for the mind to dwell on.

Observing, as I told you before, the people consulting together, and resolving to join them, I made an effort to get to the lee shrouds, where they were standing, or rather clinging; but before I could accomplish it, I lost my hold, fell down the hatchway (the gratings having been carried away with the long-boat), and was for some minutes entangled there amongst a heap of packages, which the violent fluctuations of the water had collected on the lee side. As the vessel moved with the sea, and the water flowed in, the packages and I were rolled together——sometimes one, sometimes another, uppermost; so that I began to be apprehensive I should not be able to extricate myself: by the merest accident, however, I grasped something that lay in my way, made a vigorous spring, and gained the lee shrouds. Mr. Hall, 27who followed me, in seizing the shrouds, came thump against me with such violence that I could scarcely retain my hold of the rigging. Compelled by the perilous situation in which I stood, I called out to him for God’s sake to keep off, for that I was rendered quite breathless and worn out: he generously endeavoured to make way for me, and, in doing so, unfortunately lost his hold, and went down under the ship’s side. Never, never shall I forget my sensations at this melancholy incident——I would have given millions of worlds that I could have recalled the words which made him move; my mind was wound up to the last pitch of anguish: I may truly say, that this was the most bitter of all the bitter moments of my life, compared with which the other circumstances of the shipwreck seemed lessened——for I had insensibly acquired an unusual esteem and warm attachment for him, and was doubtful whether, after being even the innocent occasion of his falling, I ought to take further pains to preserve my own life. All those sensations were passing with the rapidity of lightning through my thoughts, when, as much to my astonishment as to my joy, I saw him borne by a returning wave, and thrown among the very packages from which I had but just before, with such labour and difficulty, extricated myself——In the end he proved equally fortunate, but after a much longer and harder struggle, and after sustaining much more injury.

I once more changed my station, and made my way to the poop, where I found myself rather more sheltered——I earnestly 28wished Mr. Hall to be with me, whatever might be my ultimate fate——and beckoned to him to come to me; but he only answered by shaking his head, in a feeble, desponding manner——staring at the same time wildly about him: even his spirit was subdued; and despair, I perceived, had begun to take possession of his mind.

Being a little more at ease in my new station than I had been, before, I had more time to deliberate, and more power to judge. I recollected, that, according to the course of time, the day was far gone, and the night quickly approaching: I reflected, that for any enterprize whatsoever, day was much preferable to night; and above all I considered, that the vessel could not hold long together——I therefore thought, that the best mode I could adopt would be, to take to the water with the first boyant thing I could see; and, as the wind and water both seemed to run to the shore, to take my chance in that way of reaching it. In pursuance of this resolution, I tore off my shirt, having before that thrown off the other parts of my dress——I looked at my sleeve buttons, in which was set the hair of my departed children——and, by an involuntary act of the imagination, asked myself the question, “Shall I be happy enough to meet them where I am now about to go?——shall those dear last remains, too, become a prey to the devouring deep?”——In that instant, reason, suspended by the horrors of the scene, gave way to instinct; and I rolled my shirt up, and very carefully thrust it into a hole between decks, with the wild hopes that the sleeve buttons might yet escape untouched. Watching my opportunity, 29I saw a log of wood floating near the vessel, and, waving my hand to Mr. Hall as a last adieu, jumped after it. Here, again, I was doomed to aggravated hardships——I had scarcely touched the log when, a great sea snatched it from my hold: still as it came near me, I grasped at it ineffectually, till at last it was completely carried away, but not before it had cut and battered and bruised me in several places, and in a manner that at any other time I should have thought dreadful.

Death seemed inevitable; and all that occurred to me now to do, was to accelerate it, and get out of its pangs as speedily as possible; for, though I knew how to swim, the tremendous surf rendered swimming useless, and all hope from it would have been ridiculous. I therefore began to swallow as much water as possible; yet, still rising by the boyant principle of the waves to the surface, my former thoughts began to recur; and whether it was that, or natural instinct, which survived the temporary impressions of despair, I know not——but I endeavoured to swim, which I had not done long, when I again discovered the log of wood I had lost floating near me, and with some difficulty caught it: hardly had it been an instant in my hands, when, by the same unlucky means, I lost it again. I had often heard it said in Scotland, that if a man will throw himself flat on his back in the water, lie quite straight and stiff, and suffer himself to sink till the water gets into his ears, he will continue to float so for ever: this occurred to me now, and I determined to try the experiment; 30so I threw myself on my back in the manner I have described, and left myself to the disposal of Providence; nor was itit long till I found the truth of the saying——for I floated with hardly an effort, and began for the first time to conceive something like hopes of preservation.

After lying in this manner, committed to the discretion of the tides, I soon saw the vessel——saw that it was at a considerable distance behind me. Liveliest hope began to play about my heart, and joy fluttered with a thousand gay fancies in my mind: I began to form the favourable conclusion, that the tide was carrying me rapidly to land from the vessel, and that I should soon once more touch terra firma.

This expectation was a cordial that revived my exhausted spirits: I took courage, and left myself still to the same all-directing Power that had hitherto preserved me, scarcely doubting that I should soon reach the land. Nor was I mistaken; for, in a short time more, without effort or exertion, and without once turning from off my back, I found myself strike against the sandy beach. Overjoyed, as you may well suppose, to the highest pitch of transport at my providential deliverance, I made a convulsive spring, and ran up a little distance on the shore; but was so weak and worn down by fatigue, and so unable to clear my stomach of the salt water with which it was loaded, that I suddenly grew deadly sick, and apprehended that I had only exchanged one death for another; and in a minute or two fainted away.

31

LETTER XLVII.

That admirable man, and sagacious penetrating philosopher, Dr. Franklin, has left us, among innumerable instructions for the conduct of human life, and for remedying many of the grievances of it, directions for going a voyage at sea, and has particularly enforced the folly of quitting ships hastily, and yielding, one’s self up to despair. I am convinced, that nine tenths of the people who perish by shipwreck, perish from the want of presence of mind, and sufficient fortitude to bear them out. The unhappy Purser, who sat deliberately in a chair, and suffered himself, without a struggle, to be carried overboard, is an instance in point. The feeble conduct of the Captain and Crew is another. Had he, instead of tearing his hair, raving, and acting the part of a bedlamite, encouraged his men, and taken vigorous measures in time; and had they, instead of whimpering prayers on their knees, and whipping their images, made all clear, and prepared for the worst; in short, had they, according to the moral of the old fable, put their shoulder to the wheel, instead of calling on Hercules, it is not impossible but the vessel might have been saved.

32As for my part, the joy of escaping immediate death made me blind to the other miseries of my situation. Naked, moneyless and friendless, upon an unknown, and probably inhospitable coast, what reasonable cause had I to rejoice? Perhaps the reverse. But that remains to be seen.

How long I continued in the swoon into which I had fallen, it is impossible for me to tell; but, when I recovered, I found myself surrounded by a guard of armed soldiers, sepoys, and pikemen. I knew them immediately to be the troops of Hyder Alli, and almost wished myself back into the waves again. Looking round, I saw that the people and effects that had been saved from the wreck were collected all together along with me.

In this state we remained till it was dark. A Lascar^[3] belonging to the vessel, perceiving that my nakedness gave me great concern, tore into two a piece of cloth which he had tied round his waist, and gave me one part of it, which afforded a short apron. This simple act of a poor, uninformed black man, whom Christian charity would call an idolater, methought had more of the true and essential spirit of charity in it, than half the ostentatious, parading newspaper public charities of London——the slough of purse-proud vanity, and unwieldy bloated wealth. Of all the acts of beneficence that I ever met with, it struck me the most forcibly: it had kindness, disinterestedness and delicacy for its basis; and I have 33never since thought of it without wishing that I could meet the man, to reward him for his beneficence with a subsistence for life. The lower order of people of a certain Country, I know, would think a man in such circumstances as I was then in, a fitter object of pleasantry than pity.

The vast quantity of salt water I had swallowed, still made me deadly sick in the stomach: however, after some time, I threw it up, and got great relief. I had hardly felt the comfortable effects of this, before I was ordered to march: nine of us, all Lascars except myself, were conveyed to a village at a few miles distance on the sea-side, where we were for the night put into a square place, walled round, open to the inclemency of the weather above and below, and filled with large logs of wood; it blew most violently, and the rain fell in torrents——while not one smooth plank could be found on which to stretch our fatigued and wasted bodies. Thus, naked, sick, exhausted with fatigue and fasting, drenched with wet, and unable to lie down, our misery might be supposedsupposed to be incapable of increase. But, alas! where are the bounds which we can set to human woe?——Thirst, that most dreadful of pains, occasioned by the drenching with salt water, seized us: we begged, we entreated, we clamoured for water; but the inhuman wretches, deaf to the groans and screeches of their fellow-creatures, (for some grew delirious with the agony of thirst), refused them even the cheap and miserable indulgence of a drop of water!

34The influence of the mind upon the body has been much insisted on by philosophers and physicians, and I believe will be admitted by all wise men. I was myself, in this instance, a striking proof of it; for, though I had swallowed and thrown up so much salt water, and though my thirst had exceeded any thing I had ever before felt——yet, finding that water was not to be had or expected, I composed my mind to do without it, diverted my thoughts from it by the contemplation of the many other evils which beset me, and passed the night without that horrible agony experienced by the others.

Indeed, a night of more exquisite horror cannot be imagined. The thoughts of being a prisoner to Hyder Alli, was, of itself, sufficient to render me completely unhappy: but my utter want of clothes almost put me beside myself; and lying exposed to the open air, where I was glad to sit close to the Lascars to receive a little heat from their bodies, and to hold open my mouth in order to catch a drop of the descending rain, was a state that might be considered as the highest refinement upon misery.

About four o’clock in the morning, a little cold rice was brought us to eat, and water was dug out of a hole near the spot for us; but as all things in this life are good or bad merely relatively, this wretched fare was some refreshment to us. I was then removed to the ruins of a toddy-hut,^[4] separated from the 35rest, and a guard set over me. Here I had full room for reflection, and could “meditate e’en to madness.” The whole of my situation appeared before me with all its aggravating circumstances of horror; and to any one who considers it, I believe I will appear that it was hardly possible to fill the bitter cup of calamity fuller. Oh! what were my thoughts! My family bereft of him on whose efforts they were in a great measure to depend for support and protection——you, then a little innocent cherub, appeared to my distracted imagination twining round your mother’s neck, and, in infant clamour, calling your father——while he, in a dreadful captivity, compared with which even a cruel death were mercy, lay wasting, naked and forlorn, perishing with the inclemency of the weather, wanting even food fit for his support, and exposed to the scourge of every petty tyrant that barbarous power might employ to guard him!——Such were my reflections: they were in reason well founded; for there was no probability of my being ever released, as my captivity was unlikely to be known to my Country, or by my friends. In this state I was, when, to my utter astonishment, and to my no less joy, the amiable companion of my shipwreck, Mr. Hall, appeared before me. I scarcely knew how to think his appearance reality, as I understood that the Lascars then along with me were all that were saved from the wreck; and he was, at the time I parted from him, so exhausted both in body and mind, that I thought he would be the last who could escape. He, however, 36shook me by the hand; and, sitting down, told me that he had given me up for lost, and remained with the vessel until the tide, having ebbed, left her almost dry——that, immediately on getting ashore, and being taken prisoner, he made inquiries about me, and heard that I had been saved——that, finding this, his joy was such as to make him almost forget his own misfortunes——and, exerting all his entreaties not to be separated from me, they had been so far indulgent to him, and had brought him to me, that we might be companions in bondage. He added, that out of eleven Europeans and fifty-six Lascars who were on board; only he and I of the former, and fourteen of the latter, were saved from the wreck, the rest having been drowned in the attempt, excepting some who, overcome with terror, anguish and anxiety, and exhausted with fatigue, had bid a formal adieu to their companions, let go their hold, and calmly and voluntarily given themselves up to the deep.

I here took occasion to remark to him, what I have already said to you, that thousands lose their lives for want of perseverance, fortitude, and courage, to preserve them——Had the English Purser collected courage enough to hold fast till the tide ebbed, he might have been safe on shore as we were, as he was superior to either of us in bodily strength.

“Ah! my friend!” said he, shaking his head despondingly——“is he worse where he is? I doubt whether death is not far preferable to our present prospects.”

37“Come, come,” said I, perceiving he was melancholy, though I myself laboured under all the horrors he expressed——“come, let us not think; all will yet be well: I foresee it will; and you must know I have something of the prophet in my nature——perhaps the second sight.” I then told him my presentiments on leaving Goa, which much astonished him——still more when I acquainted him with the formal acts I had done in consequence thereof, by Mr. Henshaw’s advice, and with his privity.

In fact, our joy at meeting was reciprocally great, and in some respect cheered us for the time under all our miseries in hand, and the dreary prospect of those yet to come.

Perceiving that he stood as much in need of relief as I did when the Lascar relieved me by dividing his cloth, I took mine off, tore it in two, and gave him half of it: you may well conceive our misery from this, if other circumstances were wanting; that such a thing as a rag of linen, not worth six pence, was a very material accommodation to us both.

38

LETTER XLVIII.

Your Letter, occasioned by the account of my shipwreck and subsequent disaster, gave me, my amiable boy! as great pleasure as those disasters gave me pain. Your account, too, of John’s bursting into tears on the reading of it to him, had almost a similar effect upon myself: and I trust in the Almighty Disposer of Events, that that excellent turn of mind will be so fashioned by the education I give you, as to make it the source of boundless gratification and true greatness (by which I mean goodness) here, and of never-fading felicity hereafter. You say you cannot account for it, but you found more happiness at my escape, than misery at my misfortunes. I hail that circumstance as the strongest mark of perfect excellence of disposition. A great Moral Philosopher has laid it down as a maxim, that it is the surer mark of a good heart to sympathise with joy than with sorrow; and this instance only comes in aid of that opinion of you which my fond hopes have always nourished.

At the same time I must declare to you, that my pleasure at escaping shipwreck was by no means as great as the agony my mind underwent at the prospect now before me was poignant. I 39have already said; and indeed with truth, that I should have with much greater pleasure embraced death: I, who had been already some years in India, and had opportunities of hearing, as well from my Father as from other Officers in the Service, what the disposition of the Tyrant in whose power I had now fallen was, knew too well the horrors of my situation to feel anything like hope. The unmerciful disposition of Hyder, and all those in authority under him, and the cruel policy of the Eastern Chiefs, making the life of any one, particularly a British prisoner, at the best a precarious tenure, I did not know the moment when death might be inflicted upon me with perhaps a thousand aggravating circumstances: and at all events, the affairs which demanded my presence in India so very importunately as to urge me to all the fatigues and hardships of a passage over land, were, of themselves, sufficient to make my mind uneasy; but the abject state of want and nakedness in which it seemed I was likely to remain, struck a deep and damp horror to my heart, and almost unman’d me.

Mr. Hall and I, however, endeavoured with all our might to stem the headlong torrent of our fate——Melancholy preyed deeply and openly upon him, while I concealed mine, and endeavoured to cheer the sinking spirits of that noble youth, who, I perceived, was the prey rather of extreme sensibility than feebleness of mind. All the horrors of shivering nakedness, though, to a mind delicate like his, and a person reared in the lap of luxury, sufficiently goading, appeared as nothing when compared with one 40loss he had sustained in the depredations with which shipwreck is constantly followed up. In the cruel suspense between life and death, which I have already described, previous to my getting on shore, this amiable young man had secured and treasured next his heart, as the inseparable companion of his fate, a miniature portrait of a young Lady: it hung round his neck, and was, by the unfeeling villains who seized him on his landing, taken away. This cruel deprivation was an incessant corrosive to his mind——the copious source of anguish to his heart——the hourly theme of the most pathetic, afflicting exclamations. “Had I,” he would cry, “oh! had I had but the good fortune to have gone to the bottom while yet it hung about my neck, I should have been happy: but now, separated from the heavenly original, and bereft of the precious image, what is life? what would be life were I yet sure of it? What pleasure, what common content, has the world left for me? None——oh! none, none! Never shall this heart again know comfort!”

I did every thing I could to console him, and, as far as I could, prevent him from dwelling on those gloomy subjects. Our conversations were interesting and pathetic; but, alas! the picture, at every pause, chased away the slight impressions of the preceding converse: no sufferings of the body could countervail that loss——no consolation mitigate it; and amidst the horrid reflections which unparalleled calamity imposed upon his mind, the loss of that 41one dear relic rose paramount to all——and as every thought began, so it ended, with the picture.

For some days we lay in this place, exposed to the weather, without even the slender comfort of a little straw to cover the ground beneath us——our food, boiled rice, served very sparingly twice a-day by an old woman, who just threw a handful or more of it to each upon a very dirty board, which we devoured with those spoons Nature gave us.

At the end of that time, we, and, along with us, the Lascars, were ordered to proceed into the country, and drove on foot to a considerable distance, in order to render up an account of ourselves to persons belonging to Government, authorised to take it. It was advanced in the morning when we moved, without receiving any sort of sustenance; and were marched in that wasting climate eight hours, without breaking our fast; during which time we were exposed alternately to the scorching heat of the sun and heavy torrents of rain, which raised painful blisters on our skin: we had often to stand exposed to the weather, or to lie down, under the pressure of fatigue and weakness, on the bare ground; then wait an hour, or more, at the door of some insolent, unfeeling monster, until he finished his dinner, or took his afternoon’s nap; and when this was over, drove forward with wanton barbarity by the people who attended us.

You, my Frederick! who only know the mild and merciful disposition of the People of Great Britain, where government, 42religion, and long habit, have reduced charity and benevolence so completely to a system that they seem to be innate principles of the mind, can have no conception of a People who will not only look upon the worst human afflictions with indifference, but take a savage delight in the miseries of their fellow-creatures, even where no possible advantage can be reaped from their inhumanity, and where the only reward they can propose to themselves for their cruelty is the pleasure of contemplating human sufferings.

Such, sorry am I to say it, is the disposition of some parts of the East Indies that I have been in: and although those parts under the dominion of Great Britain owe their emancipation from the most galling yokes to the English——and though, under their auspices, they live in a state of greater happiness than ever they did, and greater freedom even than Britons themselves——yet such is the wicked ingratitude of many of them, such the inflexible animosity arising from a contradictory religion, that the death or suffering of an Englishman, or any misfortune that may befal him, often serves only as matter of sport or amusement to them. It would be well if it rested there——but unfortunately they are worse again; for in general they have the like coldness and indifference, or indeed, to speak more properly, the like aversion, to each other’s good; and the same diabolical principles of selfishness and treachery pervade the greater number in those vast regions, almost boundless in extent, and almost matchless in fertility.

43Two days after this, we were moved again, and marched up the country by a long and circuitous route, in which we underwent every hardship that cruelty could inflict, or human fortitude endure——now blistered with the heat, now drenched with the rain, and now chilled with the night damps——destitute of any place but the bare earth to rest or lay our heads on, with only a scanty pittance of boiled rice for our support——often without water to quench our thirst, and constantly goaded by the guards, who pricked us with their bayonets every now and then, at once to evince their power, entertain the spectators, and mortify us. We arrived at Hydernagur, the metropolis of the province of Biddanore——a fort of considerable strength, mounting upwards of seventy guns, containing a large garrison of men, and possessed of immense wealth.

It was about two o’clock in the morning when we arrived at Biddanore: the day was extremely hot, and we were kept out under the full heat of that broiling sun till six o’clock in the evening, before we were admitted to an audience of the Jemadar, or Governor of the place, without having a mouthful of victuals offered to us after the fatiguing march of the morning.

While we stood in this forlorn state, a vast concourse of people collected about, and viewed us with curiosity. Looking round through those who stood nearest, I observed some men gazing at me with strong marks of emotion, and a mixture of wonder and concern pourtrayed in their countenances. Surprised to see such symptoms of humanity in a Mysorian Indian, I looked at them 44with more scrutinizing attention, and thought that their faces were familiar to me. Catching my eye, they looked at me significantly, as though they would express their regard and respect for me, if they dared; and I then began to recollect that they were formerly privates in my regiment of cavalry, and were then prisoners at large with Hyder.

I was not less surprised that those poor fellows should recognise me in my present miserable fallen state, than affected at the sympathetic feeling they disclosed. I returned their look with a private nod of recognition; but, seeing that they were afraid to speak to me, and fearing I might injure them by disclosing our acquaintance, I forbore any thing more. The guilty souls of despotic Governments are perpetually alive to suspicion: every look alarms them; and alarm or suspicion never fails to be followed up with proscription or death.

Men, when in the fullness of power and pride of office, very seldom give themselves time to reflect upon the instability of human greatness, and the uncertainty of earthly contingencies. When, invested with all the trappings of authority, I commanded the regiment to which those poor fellows belonged, I would have thought that he spoke wildly indeed who would have alledged that it was possible I could ever become an object of their pity——that I should stand naked and degraded before them, and they be afraid to acknowledge me: but, though I should have thought so then, it was yet some comfort to me, when that unfortunate 45event did come to pass, to reflect, that, when in power, I made such use of it as to excite emotions in their bosoms of affection and respect. Did the tyrant and overbearing insolent Chiefs consider this, and govern themselves by its instructions, they would go into the field with the consoling reflection, that no gun would be levelled at their head except that of the common enemy——a thing that does not always happen.

LETTER XLIX.

Had we been made prisoners of war in battle against an enemy, there is no law of Nature or Nations, no rule of reason or principle of equity, that could palliate such treatment as that which we now received: but, cast by misfortune and shipwreck on their shore, we were entitled to solace and protection. The worst wretches who hang out false beacons on the Western Coasts of England, to allure ships to their destruction, would not be cruel without temptation; and, if they did not expect to gain some profit by it, would rather decline knocking their fellow-creatures in the head: but those barbarians, without any profit but what a malignant heart derives from the miseries of others, or any pleasure 46but what proceeds from their pain, exercised upon us the most wanton cruelty. Compared with such treatment, instant death would have been an act of mercy to us; and we should have had reason to bless the hand that inflicted it.

Mortifications of one sort or other——the incessant torturing of the mind on the rack of suspense——the injuries to the animal system, occasioned by constant exposure to the weather, and the want of food——all conspired to reduce me to the dimensions and feebleness of a skeleton. I had grown daily weaker and weaker, and was now nearly exhausted, and quite faint; while, on the other hand, my amiable companion in affliction was reduced by a dysentery, which attacked him soon after our shipwreck, and which the torments of his mind, the want of medicine and comfortable food, and, above all, the alternate violent changes from profuse perspiration in walking to chilling cold at night, had increased to such an alarming degree, that he was obliged to be carried the two last days journey:——In this state, we appeared to each other as two spectres hanging over the brink of the grave: and in truth, perceiving, the rapid progress he was making to his dissolution, I was affected to a degree, that, while it really exasperated my own worn-down state, deprived me of all attention to the rapid decline I was falling into, and almost entirely engrossed my care. In my progress through life, I have had occasion to try several men, and have found among them many who were every thing that a good heart could wish to find: but this young Gentleman had at once so much suavity 47and spirit——such gentleness and fortitude——his sufferings (those of his mind, as well as those of his body) were so exquisite, and he bore them with such meekness, tempered by such uninterrupted good humour, and concealed and managed with so much delicacy, that I do not transgress the bounds of truth when I say I never met one who so entirety interested my feelings, and attached my friendship so unalterably, upon principles of instinctive impulse as well as reason. Impelled by the irresistible claims he had upon my approbation and esteem, I entered with all the warmth, of a brother into his sufferings, and can assert with truth that they constituted the severest trials I underwent during my whole imprisonment.

While we stood in the court, waiting to be brought before the Jemadar, we presented at spectacle that would have wrung pity, one would think, from the heart of a tiger, if a tiger was endued with reflection. At length we were summoned to appear before him, and brought into his presence. I had made up my mind for the occasion——determined to deport myself in a manly, candid manner——and to let no consideration whatsoever lead me to any thing disgraceful to my real character, or unworthy my situation in life; and, finally, had prepared myself to meet, without shrinking, whatever misfortunes might yet be in store for me, or whatever cruelties the barbarous disposition or wicked policy of the Tyrant might think proper to inflict.

48On entering, we found the Jemadar in full Durbar.^[5] He was then occupied with the reading of dispatches, and in transacting other public business. We were placed directly opposite to him, where we stood for near an hour, during which time he never cast his eyes towards us: but when at last he had concluded the business in which he was engaged, and deigned to look at us, we were ordered to prostrate ourselves before him: the Lascars immediately obeyed the order, and threw themselves on the ground; but I contented myself with making a salam, in which poor Mr. Hall, who knew not the Eastern manner as I did followed my example.

As soon as this ceremony was over, the Jemadar (who was no other man than the famous Hyat Sahib that has made some noise in the history of that war) began to question me. He desired to know, who I was?——what my profession was?——what was the cause and manner of my approaching the country of Hyder Alli?——To all those questions I gave answers that seemed to satisfy him. He then asked me, what news I had brought with me from Europe?——inquired into the state of the army, and number of recruits dispatched in, the ships of that season——was minute and circumstantial in his questions respecting the nature and success of the war in Europe——and examined me closely, touching the resources of the East India Company. I saw his drift, and was cautious and circumspect in my answers, and at the same time 49contrived to speak with an air of candour that in some sort satisfied him.

Having exhausted his whole string of questions, he turned the discourse to another subject——no less than his great and puissant Lord and Master, Hyder, of whom he had endeavoured to impress me with a great, if not terrible idea——amplifying his power, his wealth, and the extent and opulence of his dominions——and describing to me, in the most exaggerated terms, the number of his troops——his military talents——his vast, and, according to his account, unrivalled genius——his amazing abilities in conquering and governing Nations——and, above all, his many amiable qualities, and splendid endowments of heart, no less than understanding.

Having thus, with equal zeal and fidelity, endeavoured to impress me with veneration for his Lord and Master, and for that purpose attributed to him every perfection that may be supposed to be divided among all the Kings and Generals that have lived since the birth of Christ, and given each their due, he turned to the English Government, and endeavoured to demonstrate to me the folly and inutility of our attempting to resist his progress, which he comparedcompared to that of the sea, to a tempest, to a torrent, to a lion’s pace and fury——to every thing that an Eastern imagination could suggest as a figure proper to exemplify grandeur and irresistible power. He then vaunted of his Sovereign’s successes over the English, some of which I had not heard of before, and did not believe; and concluded 50by alluring me, that it was Hyder’s determination to drive all Europeans from Indostan, which he averred he could not fail to do, considering the weakness of the one, and boundless power of the other. This part of Hyat Sahib’s discourse is well worth your remembering, as it will serve to make a very diverting contrast with his subsequent conduct.

After having expended near half an hour in this manner, he called upon me to come over near him, and caused me to seat myself upon a mat with a pillow to lean upon——encouraged me, by every means he could, by the most gentle accents, and the most soothing, mollifying language, to speak to him without the least reserve——exhorted me to tell him the truth in every thing we spoke of——and hinted to me, that my falling into his hands might turn out the most fortunate event of my life.

I was at a loss to what motive to attribute all those singular marks of indulgence; but found that he had learned whose son I was, and knew my father by reputation from the prisoners, our Sepoys, who were now prisoners at large here: and as rank and office are the chief recommendation in the East, as well as elsewhere, or rather much more than any where else, the sagacious Hyat Sahib found many claims to esteem and humanity in me as the son of a Colonel Campbell, which he never would have found in me had I been the son of a plain humble farmer or tradesman in England.

51After a full hour’s audience, in which Hyat Sahib treated me with distinguished marks of his favour, considering my situation, he dismissed me with the ceremony of beetle-nut,^[6] rose-water, and other compliments, which are in that country held as the strongest marks of politeness, respect, and good-will.

Leaving the Durbar, I was led to the inner fort or citadel: and the officious zeal of those about me, unwilling to let me remain ignorant of that which they conceived to be a most fortunate turn in my affairs, gave the coup de grace to my miseries as I went along, by congratulating me on the favourable opinion which the Jemadar had formed of me, and intimating at the same time that I would soon be honoured with a respectable command in Hyder’s service.

If I was miserable before, this intimation entirely destroyed the last remnant of peace or hope. I was determined to die a thousand deaths sooner than serve any State hostile to Great Britain——but still more a Tyrant, whose country, nature and principles I detested, and could never think of without the greatest horror; and I judged, that if such an offer should be made, and I refused it, my life would fall a sacrifice to their rage and disappointment, or at least I should live a life of imprisonment, and never more behold country, family, friends, connections, or any thing that I valued in life.

52That night the Jemadar sent me an excellent supper, of not less than six dishes, from his own table; and although I had been so long famishing with the want of wholesome food, the idea of being enlisted in the service of Hyder struck me with such horror, that I lost all appetite, and was scarcely able to eat a mouthful. Mr. Hall and I, however, were separated from the Lascars, who were released, and forced to work.

Notwithstanding the favourable intentions manifested towards me by the Jemadar, as I have already mentioned, no mark of it whatsoever appeared in our lodging. This consisted of a small place, exactly the size of our length and breadth, in the zig-zag of one of the gates of the citadel: it was open in front, but covered with a kind of a shed on the top; and a number of other prisoners were about us: each of us was allowed a mat and pillow, and this formed the whole of our local accommodations. Upon my remarking it, we were told, that in conformity to the custom of the Circar,^[7] we must be treated so for some time; but that our accommodations would afterwards be extended; and made more agreeable to our wishes: even this was better than our situation since we landed.

In addition to this luxury, we were allowed to the value of four pence halfpenny a day for our maintenance; and a guard of Sepoys was put over us and a few more prisoners, one of whom was directed to go and purchase our victuals, and do such like offices for us.

53This guard was changed every week——a strong mark of the suspicious and wary tempers of those people, who could fear intrigues and cabals between wretched prisoners like us and their soldiers.

In two or three days after this, Hyat Sahib sent for me, treated me with great kindness, gave me some tea, and furnished me with two or three shirts, an old coat, and two pairs of breeches, which were stripped from the dead bodies that were thrown ashore from the wrecks——every thing that was saved from it being sent to Bidanore. At this interview he treated me with great respect——gave me, besides the articles already mentioned, thirty rupees——and, upon my going away, told me that in a few days a very flattering proposal would be made to me, and that my situation would be rendered not only comfortable, but enviable.

It is impossible for me to express to you, my dear Frederick! the horror I felt at the idea of this intended proposal——for I knew but too well what it meant. It was the source of bitter misery to my mind: nevertheless, I determined to resist every effort that should be made, whether blandishment, intreaty, or menace——to lay down my life itself, though in obscurity, with honour——and to carry along with me, go where I would, the consciousness of having done my duty.

I have in the course of my life met with many people, who, under the plausible pretext of liberality and greatness of mind, have called themselves Citizens of the World, and declared that 54the Country where they lived, be that what Country it might, was their’s, and demanded their allegiance and protection: but I have always shrewdly suspected, that such men act from a consciousness of being outcasts of their own Country——and, scorned and rejected by their fellow-citizens, would retaliate by affecting to deny their natural attachment. There are men who neither love father, mother, sister, brother, or connection: such, however, are, thank God! very thinly sown in this world; but, except it be a few such unnatural people, I am convinced that there is no one whose heart does not confess the patriotic passion, and burn with a flame, more or less ardent, of love for his Country. My predilections that way are naturally strong, and I am now happy to reflect that I evinced them by the most unequivocal proofs: had I not, I were indeed, in my own opinion, fit for any punishment, however ignominious; and to all such as lift their arms against their Country, as to Parricides, I will say, in the words of the Poet,

“Never pray more—abandon all remorse:

On horror’s head, horrors accumulate;

Do deeds to make Heaven weep—all earth amaz’d;

For nothing can’st thou to damnation add,

Greater than that.”

55

LETTER L.

On the evening of that day on which the Jemadar Hyat Sahib had honoured me with an audience, given me clothes and money, and informed me that a proposal, which he called flattering, would be made to me, I was sent for to attend, not at the Durbar, but at the house of a man high in office. As I expected to meet Hyat Sahib himself, and trembled at the thoughts of his expected proposition, I was surprised, and indeed pleased, to find that it was with one of his people only I was to have a conference. This man, whose name I now forget, received me with great kindness, encouraged me, made me sit down with him, and began to speak of Hyat Sahib, whom he extolled to the skies, as a person endowed with every great and amiable quality; informing me at the same time, that he was possessed of the friendship and confidence of his Master, Hyder Alli, in a greater degree than any other person——Tippoo Sahib, his own son, not excepted: he then gave me the private history of Hyat——saying, that he was born a Gentoo Prince, of one of the provinces of the Malabar coast, which had fallen beneath the irresistible arms of Hyder, and had been by him annexed to the vast Mysorean Empire. 56Hyat, he said, was then only a boy of eleven or twelve years of age, of a most promising genius, and a quickness of mind unusually met with in one of those tender years. Hyder, who was in all respects a man of unrivalled penetration, thought he saw in the boy that which, if properly cultivated, would turn out of vast use to a State; and as, in all Mahomedan Governments, unconnected, isolated boys, oft-times slaves, are bred up in the Seraglio to succeed to the great offices of the State, Hyder adopted the boy, had him made a Mahomedan, and, in fact, treated him as if he had been the issue of his own loins, and brought him up with all the affection and tenderness of a fond parent. I am the more particular in stating this part of Hyat’s history to you, as some respectable Historians, deceived by erroneous report, have said that he was the illegitimate offspring of Hyder. The Sultan, however, was not disappointed in the expectations he had formed; for Hyat Sahib had, in zeal, fidelity and attachment, as well as in intellectual faculties and talents for governing, even surpassed the warmest hopes of his Master.

Having given me this concise account of the Jemadar, he proceeded to inform me, that the Arcot Sepoys, whom I have before mentioned to you, had discovered to Hyat Sahib who I was, given him a full account of my family, and informed him that I had commanded a regiment of cavalry in the service of the Nabob of Arcot, together with a corps of infantry and artillery attached to it. In consequence of this report, Hyat Sahib, he said, had 57interested himself very warmly in my favour, and expressed an anxious desire to render me a service.

Thus far the discourse pleased me. Nothing was said in it to give me alarm; on the contrary, I indulged a hope, that, knowing my rank, and the rank of my father, he would no longer entertain a hope of my entering into the service of Hyder, and, for the time I was to be imprisoned, treat me with suitable indulgence. But I flattered myself too soon; or, as the old saying is, “reckoned without my host.”

When he had finished his history of Hyat Sahib, which he overcharged with fulsome panegyric, he told me, with a face full of that triumphant importance which one who thinks he is conferring a great favour generally assumes, that it was the intention of Hyat Sahib, for and on behalf of his master the Sultan, to give me the command of five thousand men——an offer which he supposed I could not think of declining, and therefore expected no other answer but a profusion of thanks, and strong manifestations of joy on my part.

It is not possible for me to describe to you my dismay at this formal proposal, or pourtray to you the various emotions that took possession of my breast. Resentment had its share——the pride of the Soldier, not unaccompanied with the pride of Family and Rank, while it urged me to spurn from me such a base accommodation, made me consider the offer as a great insult. I therefore paused a little, to suppress my feelings; and then told him my firm resolution, 58never to accept of such a proposal; and upon his expressing great astonishment at my declining a station so fraught with advantage, I laid down, in the best manner I could, my reasons; and I must say, that he listened to all the objections I started with great patience; but, in the conclusion, said he had little doubt of finding means to overcome my reluctance.

He dismissed me for the present, and I returned to my prison, where I related to my companion, Mr. Hall, every thing that passed between us: we canvassed the matter fully, and he agreed with me, that it was likely to turn out a most dreadful and cruel persecution. It was on this occasion that I first felt the truth of the principle, that persecution never fails to be subversive of its own end, and to promote that which it is intended to destroy. There is, in the human mind, an innate abhorrence of compulsion; and persecution always gives new strength and elasticity to the soul; and at last, when strained to its utmost extent, makes Man surmount difficulties which at first seem to be beyond the reach of humanity.

Piqued by the idea of persecution, I began to feel a degree of enthusiasm which I was before a stranger to: I looked forward, with a kind of gloomy pleasure, to the miseries that brutal tyranny might inflict upon me, even to death itself; and already began to indulge the exultation of martyrdom. “No,” said I, “my dear Hall! never will I tarnish the character of a British Soldier——never will I disgrace my blood or my profession——never shall an 59act of mine sully the pure fame of my revered Father——never shall any sufferings of mine, however poignant, or worldly advantage, however seductive, tempt me to do that which his noble spirit would regard with horror or contempt. I may, and I foresee I must be miserable; but I never will be base or degenerate!” Indeed, I had wrought myself up to such a pitch of firmness, that I am persuaded the most exquisite and refined cruelties which the ingenuity of an Iroquois Indian could have inflicted on my body, would have been utterly incapable of bending the stubborn temper of my mind.

The place in which we were lodged was situated in a way not very favourable to our feelings. Just within sight of it, the Commandant of the citadel held a Court——by him yclep’d a Court of Justice——where the most mocking, barbarous cruelties were hourly exercised——most of them for the purpose of extorting money, and compelling the discovery of hidden, or suppositious hidden treasures. Indeed, five sixths of those who suffered were of this description; and the process pursued was as artful as barbarous: they first began with caresses, then proceeded to examination and cross-examination, thence to threats, thence to punishment, and, finally, to the most cruel tortures.

Directly opposite to us, was imprisoned an unfortunate person, who had for years been a close captive, and the sport and subject of those enormities. He was a man once of the highest rank in the Country where now he was a prisoner: for a series of 60years he had been Governor and sole Manager of the whole province of Bidanore. This was during the reign of the last Rana, or Queen, whose family had been Sovereigns of the Country for time immemorial, till Hyder made a conquest of, and annexed it to his other usurpations. Unfortunately for him, he was supposed to have amassed and secreted enormous treasures, in consequence of which he had already undergone the fiery ordeal of torture several times. He was supposed to have produced, from first to last, about fifteen lacks of pagodas; and then, in the course of eighteen months, was degraded gradually, from the high respect in which he was at first held, down to a most abject state——threatened, flogged, punished in a variety of ways, and, finally, put to the most cruel tortures. I myself saw him treated with the highest degree of respect, and afterwards brought to the lowest stage of misery and humiliation. One thing, however, I must not forget, is the fortitude with which he and all of them bore their punishment: it was truly heroic——indeed, beyond all belief. Nothing could surpass it, except the skill and inventive ingenuity which the barbarians exhibited in striking out new modes of torture. My soul sickened with horror at the sight: the amiable Hall could worse support it than his own miseries, and lost all that fortitude, in his feeling for others’ misfortunes, which he displayed in so unbounded a share in his own: and often, very often, we found the rigour and severity of our own situation utterly forgotten in our anguish and sympathy for the sufferings of others. Never shall 61I forget it: never shall I think without horror of the accursed policy and wicked tyranny of the Eastern Governments, where every sense of humanity is extinguished, and Man, more merciless than the tiger, riots in the blood of his fellow-creatures without cause.

Mr. Hall, notwithstanding the various sufferings both of mind and body which he had undergone, began to recruit, and get a little better; and this circumstance, of itself, diffused a flow of spirits over me that contributed to my support. We consoled each other by every means we could devise——sometimes indulging in all the luxury of woe——sometimes rallying each other, and, with ill-dissembled sprightliness, calling on the Goddess Euphrosyne to come with her “quirps and cranks, and wreathed smiles:” but, alas! the mountain nymph, sweet Liberty, was far away, and the Goddess shunned our abode. We however began to conceive that we might form a system for our relief, and, by a methodical arrangement, entrench ourselves from the assaults of grief: to this end, we formed several resolutions, and entered into certain engagements——such as, never to repine at our fate, if we could——to draw consolation from the more dreadful lot of others, if we could;——and to encourage hope——hope that comes to all; and, on the whole, to confine our conversation as much as possible to subjects of an agreeable nature: but these, like many other rules which we lay down for the conduct of life, were often broken by necessity, and left us to regret the fallibility of all human precautionary systems.

62The youth and strength of Mr. Hall was to the full as adequate as mine to the support of any personal hardship: his intellectual powers were excellent, his temper incomparable, and his fortitude unparalleled; yet could I see, that something more than appeared upon the surface wrought within him, and gnawed his heart with hidden pain. United as we were by sentiment, as well as by parity of suffering, I felt for him too deeply, not to have an interesting curiosity to know what it was that preyed upon his mind: we had now been, months together, fellow-sufferers; and I thought myself not without some claim to his confidence——I told him so, and desired him to impart to me his story; which he, with his accustomed suavity and condescension, agreed to——assuring me that it was not such a story as could requite the trouble of hearing it, or interest any one but himself, or some very warm friend indeed: such, however, he added, he took me to be; and, as such, would tell it to me. I think it, however, worth relating, and will give it to you in his own words; and, though it be very short, must defer the relation to another Letter.

63

LETTER LI.

Mr. Hall having, as I told you in my last, obligingly agreed to favour me with a relation of his story, I now give it to you as nearly in his own words as 1 can remember them. He proceeded thus:

“Although you are now, my dear friend! a witness to my being the most perfectly wretched of all created beings, yet the time is not long past when fortune smiled upon and gave me promise of as much happiness as Man in this wretched vale of tears is allowed by his circumscribed nature to hope for. I have seen the time, when each revolving sun rose to usher me to a day of joy, and set to consign me to a night of undisturbed repose——when the bounties of Nature, and the productions of Art, were poured with the profusion of fond paternal affection into my lap——when troops of friends hailed my rising prospects——when health and peace made this person their uninterrupted abode——and when the most benignant love that ever blessed a mortal filled up the measure of my bliss. Yes, Campbell! it was once my happiness, though now, alas! the source of poignant misery, to be blessed with the best 64parents that ever watched over the welfare of a child——with friends, too, who loved me, and whom my heart cherished——and——O God! do I think of her, and yet retain my senses——with the affections of a young lady, than whom Providence, in the fullness of its power and bounty to Mankind, never formed one more lovely, one more angelic in person, more heavenly in disposition, more rich in intellectual endowments. Alas! my friend, will you, can you pardon those warm ebullitions of a fond passion? will you for a moment enter into my feelings, and make allowance for those transports? But how can you? Your friendship and pity may indeed induce you to excuse this interruption; but, to sympathise truly, and feel as I feel, you must have known the charming girl herself.

“My father, though he did not move in the very first walk of life, held the rank of a Gentleman by birth and education, and was respectable, not only as a man of considerable property, but as a person who knew how to turn the gifts of fortune to their best account: he was generous without prodigality, and charitable without ostentation: he was allowed by all who knew him to be the most tender of husbands——the most zealous and sincere of friends; and I can bear witness to his being the best of parents. As long as I can remember to have been able to make a remark, the tenderness of both my father and mother knew no bounds: I seemed to occupy all their thoughts, all their attention; and in a few years, as I thank God I never made an unsuitable return for their affection, 65it increased to such a degree, that their existence seemed to hang upon mine.

“To make as much of a child so beloved as his natural talents would allow, no expence was spared in my education: from childhood, every instruction that money could purchase, and every allurement to learn that fondness could suggest, were bestowed upon me; while my beloved father, tracing the advances I made with the magnifying eye of affection, would hang over me in rapture, and enjoy by anticipation the fame and honours that, overweening fondness suggested to him, must one day surround me. These prejudices, my dear friend! arising from the excess of natural affection, are excuseable, if not amiable, and deserve a better fate than disappointment. Alas! my honoured father, you little knew——and, oh! may you never know, what sort of fame, what sort of honours, await your child! May the anguish he endures, and his most calamitous fate, never reach your ears!——for, too well I know, ’twould give a deadly wrench to your heart, and precipitate you untimely to your grave.

“Thus years rolled on; during which, time seemed to have added new wings to his flight, so quickly did they pass. Unmarked by any of those sinister events that parcel out the time in weary stages to the unfortunate, it slid on unperceived; and an enlargement in my size, and an increase of knowledge, were all I had to inform me that eighteen years had passed away.

66“It was at this time that I first found the smooth current of my tranquillity interrupted, and the tide of my feelings swelled and agitated, by the accession of new streams of sensation——In short, I became a slave to the delicious pains of Love; and, after having borne them in concealment for a long time, at length collected courage to declare it. Frankness and candour were among the virtues of my beloved: she listened to protestations of affection, and, rising above the little arts of her sex, avowed a reciprocal attachment. The measure of my bliss seemed now to be full: the purity of my passion was such, that the thoughts of the grosser animal desires never once occurred; and happy in loving, and in being beloved, we passed our time in all the innocent blandishments which truly virtuous Love inspires, without our imagination roaming even for an instant into the wilds of sensuality.