I happened, a short time ago, to be in company with a retired
shipmaster in Liverpool, who, after spending forty-five years of his
life chiefly in command of vessels from that port, had retired to
enjoy the fruits of a well-deserved competency. The conversation
turned upon the difficulty, nay, almost the impossibility, of being
able, in this highly-civilised and _moral_ country, in the ordinary
business of life, to trust only to the _word_ or _honour_ of the
contracting parties. The Ancient Mariner fully agreed with me in my
opinions, and said, that during a long intercourse with his species in
every quarter of the globe, the only men he had met with whose words
were equal to their bonds, or whose _honesty_ would stand the test of
being trusted with untold gold, were--_the Turks_. On my expressing
surprise at this unqualified encomium in favour of a set of men on
whom, as a nation, we have generally been accustomed to look with
distrust and suspicion, the old gentleman said: 'I will give you an
account of the circumstances which first led me to form this opinion,
and leave you to judge for yourself;' and added, that during an
occasional intercourse with them, extending over a period of twenty
years, he had had it only the more strengthened and confirmed. He then
said: 'It is now upwards of thirty years since I had, for the first
time, any intercourse with the Mediterranean: our vessel was chartered
to Constantinople; and one of the principal owners, a Liverpool
merchant, was aboard acting as his own supercargo. Although it was
_my_ first acquaintance with the Turks, it was not _his_, as the
sequel will shew.
'As we approached our destination, we availed ourselves of the
customary aid of one of the local pilots; but he who on this occasion
undertook the responsibility, proved but an inexperienced guide; and
from some mistake in his bearings, ran the vessel upon a sandbank,
from which every effort to dislodge her, laden as she was, proved
unavailing. We were on a bleak part of the coast, and not more than
half a mile from the shore, although a considerable distance from our
destined port. It was necessary, therefore, to take out several
boat-loads of the cargo, and send them on shore, whatever might be the
risk they ran of being left there, while we were getting the ship
afloat again. On expressing my fears as to their safety to the
merchant whose property the goods were, he at once said: "I know the
Turks, and will abide the consequences of the step;" although,
situated as we were, we could not shrink from the results, whatever
they might be, without incurring a much heavier loss, if not the
entire destruction of the vessel. Accordingly, the boats were got out,
and part of the cargo at once transferred to them, and conveyed to the
shore, I acting as cockswain on the occasion. As the foremost boat
approached, a number of turbaned figures were seen advancing, who, as
soon as it touched the beach, rushed into the surf, and, with a shout,
hauled it high and dry, and commenced at once to bear off its cargo to
a field in the immediate neighbourhood, above high-water mark.
Remonstrance or resistance would have been equally out of the
question, as neither understood a word the other said, and their
numbers were overpowering. So rapidly did the goods vanish from the
boat under their active operations, that I had not even time to take a
note of the particular packages. As soon as the boat was emptied of
its contents, they assisted in pushing it off again into deep water;
and in a very desponding state of mind regarding the ultimate fate of
the goods which I had left on shore, I returned to the ship. On
expressing my fears on that score to the merchant, who met me at the
gangway, he smiled, and said: "It's all right, I saw by the turbans
and dresses of the men who came down to you that they were Turks; and
I know, from experience, that we run no risk whatever in leaving the
goods under their self-imposed guardianship." As he was the party who
was most interested in the result, I said nothing more, but proceeded
to lighten the ship as speedily as possible, by making several
additional trips to the shore with as much of the cargo as enabled us
to get at the ballast; and on each occasion we received the same
prompt and energetic assistance from our turbaned allies, each
boat-load being carried to the corner of the field where the others
were deposited. It required two days to get the ship sufficiently
lightened of her ballast, so as to get her afloat again, and this we
were enabled to do without her sustaining any damage of a serious
nature, as the weather, fortunately for us, continued perfectly calm.
'During these two nights that the goods were left on shore, they were
watched by _two of the Turks alone_; and when we were ready for their
reshipment, they assisted us as energetically in replacing them in the
boat, as they did at first in removing them from it. On our last trip
to the shore, the merchant went with us, and I took several pieces of
gold with me, which I offered to the honest fellows who had so
generously and voluntarily rendered us such efficient service; when,
to my still greater surprise, they, to a man, making a low bow, and
muttering something, which to me was unintelligible, put their hands
on their hearts, and refused to accept it. The merchant, who
understood a word or two only of their language, said that he could
make out that what they had said was, that _we were brothers_, and _in
distress_, and _that_ was enough to induce them to do what they could
to assist us.
'Our vessel then proceeded on her voyage to Constantinople, which she
reached in a short time, and got her cargo safely disembarked. While
there, I occasionally met in the streets several of the men who had
assisted us, and received from them in passing always a pleasing smile
of recognition.'
I ask my readers whether they think that, if such a thing had occurred
on almost any part of _our own coasts_, a similar result would have
taken place? Is it not notorious, and a deep and indelible stain on
the great proportion of our population on the coast, that on a wreck
taking place, the natives not only pilfer all that they can lay their
hands upon, but sometimes do not even hesitate, it is alleged, to
extinguish any glimmering sparks of life that may be perceptible in
the bodies of the unfortunate mariners who have been washed
ashore--with a view to protect themselves in the possession of their
basely acquired spoil? And is it not equally notorious, that so far
from their doing anything to warn a ship in distress, that they see
approaching their iron-bound shores, of its danger, and doing anything
to prevent it, they very often shew false signals, so as to draw the
unfortunate vessel upon the rocks which it is so anxious to avoid?
Such practices are an everlasting disgrace to the natives of many
parts of our coasts; and how nobly, therefore, does the conduct of the
poor Turks contrast with it, and that, too, be it borne in mind, even
when rendered to those whom they are taught to regard as Infidels!
My venerable informant also told me, that during an occasional
intercourse, extending over a period of nearly twenty years, with the
natives of several parts of Turkey, he had never met with a solitary
instance even of dishonesty, or a departure from an agreement, the
conditions of which had only been settled by _a verbal_ engagement,
even when the result would evidently be unfavourable to them.