_Concluded from page 113_.
Ledyard was one of the marines who were present at Cook's death, of
which he gives an account (as appears from extracts of his journal
already mentioned,) somewhat different from that in the authentic
narrative of the voyage--and different, also, we must add, from his own
private journal, which, at least the portion of it relating to that
event, is still in the Admiralty. It must be mentioned in favour of
Ledyard's sagacity, that the visit to Nootka Sound suggested to him the
commercial advantages to be derived from a trade between the north-west
coast of America and China; and the views which he took of this subject
very much influenced the succeeding events of his life.
Towards the end of December, 1782, we find Ledyard serving on board a
king's ship in Long Island Sound, from which he obtained leave of
absence to visit his mother; but, either from a sense of duty and
honour, which obliged him not to act with the enemies of his country, or
from a dislike of the service, he never returned. He had conceived, and
now began to endeavour to execute, the grand project of a trading voyage
to Nootka; for this purpose he went to New York and Philadelphia, and,
after addressing himself to various individuals, he prevailed at last on
the Honourable Robert Morris to promise him a ship. The projected
voyage, however, was ultimately abandoned.
Finding, nevertheless, that they all failed him, and heartily sick of
the want of enterprise among his own countrymen, he resolved to try his
fortune in Europe. He visited Cadiz, from thence took a passage to
Brest, and from Brest to L'Orient, where he was successful in prevailing
on some merchants to fit out a ship for his north-west adventure; but
this project also failed, and Ledyard became once more the sport of
accident.
He now proceeded to Paris, where he was received with great kindness by
Mr. Jefferson, the American minister, who so highly approved of his
favourite scheme of an expedition to the north-west coast, that, we are
told by his biographer, the journey of Lewis and Clarke, twenty years
afterwards, had its origin in the views which Jefferson received from
Ledyard. Here, also, he met with the notorious Paul Jones, who was
looking after the proceeds of the prizes which he had taken and carried
into the ports of France. This adventurer entered warmly into his views,
and undertook to fit out two vessels for the expedition. It was settled
that Jones was to command the vessels, and carry the furs to the China
market, while Ledyard was to remain behind and collect a fresh cargo
ready for their return, after which he meant to perambulate the
continent of America, and show his countrymen the path to unbounded
wealth. Jones, it seems, was so much taken with the plausibility of a
scheme, which presented at once the prospect of adventure, fame, and
profit, that he advanced money to Ledyard to purchase a part of the
cargo for the outfit; but, being suddenly called away to L'Orient, to
look after his prize concerns, his zeal for this grand scheme began to
cool, and, in a few months, the whole fabric fell to the ground.
Ledyard now felt himself a sort of wandering vagabond, without
employment, motive, or means of support; the supplies he had received
from Jones had ceased, and he was compelled to become a pensioner on the
bounty of the American minister and a few friends. It would appear,
however, from some lively letters written by him at Paris, that his flow
of spirits did not forsake him.
"The two Fitzhughs," he says, "dine with me to-day in my chamber,
together with our worthy consul, Barclay, and that lump of universality,
colonel Franks. But such a set of moneyless rascals have never appeared,
since the epoch of the happy villain Falstaff. I have but five French
crowns in the world; Franks has not a sol; and the Fitzhughs cannot get
their tobacco money. Every day of my life," he continues, "is a day of
expectation, and, consequently, a day of disappointment; whether I shall
have a morsel of bread to eat at the end of two months, is as much an
uncertainty as it was fourteen months ago, and not more so."
While in this state of penury he received a visit, the object of which
was so creditable to a gentleman still living, and not unknown in the
annals of science, that it gives us pleasure to print the story in
Ledyard's own words:--
"Permit me to relate to you an incident. About a fortnight ago, Sir
James Hall,[8] an English gentleman, on his way from Paris to Cherbourg,
stopped his coach at our door, and came up to my chamber. I was in bed
at six o'clock in the morning, but having flung on my _robe de chambre_,
I met him at the door of the ante-chamber. I was glad to see him, but
surprised. He observed, that he had endeavoured to make up his opinion
of me, with as much exactness as possible, and concluded that no kind of
visit whatever would surprise me. I could do no otherwise than remark,
that his _opinion_ surprised me at least, and the conversation took
another turn. In walking across the chamber, he laughingly put his hand
on a six livre piece, and a louis d'or that lay on my table, and with a
half stifled blush, asked me how I was in the money way. Blushes
commonly beget blushes, and I blushed partly because he did, and partly
on other accounts. 'If fifteen guineas,' said he, interrupting the
answer he had demanded, 'will be of any service to you, there they are,'
and he put them on the table. 'I am a traveller myself, and though I
have some fortune to support my travels, yet I have been so situated as
to want money, which you ought not to do. You have my address in
London.' He then wished me a good morning and left me. This gentleman
was a total stranger to the situation of my finances, and one that I
had, by mere accident, met at an ordinary in Paris."
Ledyard observes, that he had no more idea of receiving money from this
gentleman than from Tippoo Saib. "However," he says, "I took it without
any hesitation, and told him, I would be as complaisant to him if ever
occasion offered."
His schemes for a north-west voyage, either for trade or discovery,
being now wholly abandoned, he set about planning, as the only remaining
expedient, a journey by land through the northern regions of Europe and
Asia, then to cross Behring's Straits to the continent of America, to
proceed down the coast to a more southern latitude, and to cross the
whole of that continent from the western to the eastern shore. The
empress of Russia was applied to for her permission and protection, but
while waiting for her answer Ledyard received an invitation to London
from his eccentric friend, Sir James Hall. He found, on his arrival
there, that an English ship was in complete readiness to sail for the
Pacific Ocean, in which Sir James had procured him a free passage, and
to be put on shore at any spot he might choose on the north-west coast.
The amiable baronet, moreover, presented him with twenty guineas, as
Ledyard says, _pro bono publico_, and with which he tells us, "he bought
two great dogs, an Indian pipe, and a hatchet." In a few days the vessel
went down the Thames from Deptford, and Ledyard thought it the happiest
moment of his life; but such is the uncertainty of human expectations,
while he was indulging in day-dreams of the fame and honour which
awaited him, he was once more doomed to suffer the agonies of a
disappointment to his hopes, the more severe, as being so near their
consummation--the vessel was seized by a custom-house officer, brought
back, and exchequered.
This was undoubtedly the most severe blow he had yet received; but
Ledyard never desponded--no sooner was one of his castles demolished,
than he set about building another. "I shall make the tour of the
globe," he says, "from London eastward, on foot." To aid him in this
object, a subscription was raised by Sir Joseph Banks, Sir James Hall,
and some others. By this means he arrived at Hamburgh; whence he writes
to colonel Smith:--"Here I am with ten guineas exactly, and in perfect
health. One of my dogs is no more: I lost him in my passage up the river
Elbe, in a snow storm: I was out in it forty hours in an open boat."
At the tavern he went to, he learnt that a Major Langhorn, an American
officer, "a very good kind of a man," as his host described him, "and an
odd kind of a man, one who had travelled much, and fond of travelling in
his own way," had left his baggage behind, which was sent after him to
Copenhagen, but that, by some accident, it had never reached him. He had
left Hamburgh, the host told him, with one spare shirt, and very few
other articles of clothing, and added, that he must necessarily be in
distress. This man, thought Ledyard to himself, is just suited to be the
companion of my travels. The sympathy was irresistible; besides, he
might be in want of money; this was an appeal to his generosity, which
was equally irresistible to one who, like Ledyard, had ten guineas in
his pocket. "I will fly to him and lay my little all at his feet: he is
my countryman, a gentleman, and a traveller, and Copenhagen is not much
out of my way to Petersburgh," and, accordingly, in the month of
January, 1787, after a long and tedious journey, in the middle of
winter, through Sweden and Finland, we find him in Copenhagen, having
discovered Langhorn shut up in his room, without being able to stir
abroad for want of money and decent clothing. After remaining a
fortnight, he made a proposal to the Major to accompany him to St.
Petersburgh. "No: I esteem you, but no man on earth shall travel with me
the way I do," was the abrupt refusal to the man who had gone out of the
way several hundred miles to relieve his wants, and given him his last
shilling.
The visit being ended, and the amicable partnership dissolved, it became
necessary for our traveller to think of raising the supplies for a
journey round the Gulf of Bothnia, which was now rendered impassable,
the distance being not less than twelve hundred miles, chiefly over
trackless snows, in regions thinly peopled, the nights long, and the
cold intense; and, after all, gaining only, in the direct route, about
fifty miles. A Mr. Thompson accepted his bill on Colonel Smith, for a
sum which, he says, "has saved me from perdition, and will enable me to
reach Petersburgh." This journey he accomplished within seven weeks; but
he writes to Mr. Jefferson, "I cannot tell you by what means I came, and
hardly know by what means I shall quit it." Through the influence of
Professor Pallas, but more especially by the assistance of a Russian
officer, he obtained the passport of the empress, then on her route to
the Crimea, in fifteen days. His long and dreary journey having
exhausted his money, and worn out his clothes, he drew on Sir Joseph
Banks for twenty guineas, which that munificent patron of science and
enterprise did not hesitate to pay.
Fortunately, a Scotch physician, of the name of Brown, was proceeding in
the service of the empress as far as the province of Kolyvan, who
offered him a seat in his kabitka, and thus assisted him on his journey
for more than three thousand miles. Having reached Irkutsk, he remained
there about ten days, and left it in company with lieutenant Laxman, a
Swedish officer, to embark on the Lena, at a point one hundred and fifty
miles distant from Irkutsk, with the intention of floating down its
current to Yakutsk. On his arrival at this place, he waited on the
commandant, told him he wished to press forward, with all expedition, to
Okotsk before the winter should shut in, that he might secure an early
passage in the spring to the American continent. The commandant assured
him that such a journey was already impossible; that the
governor-general, from whom he had brought letters, ordered him to show
all possible kindness and service, "and the first and best service,"
said he, "is to beseech you not to attempt to reach Okotsk this winter."
Ledyard still persisting to proceed, a trader was brought in, who, in
like manner, declared the journey utterly impracticable.
While thus detained for the winter at Yakutsk, he drew up some very just
observations on the Tartars, which were afterwards published.
He had not remained long at Yakutsk, when Captain Billings returned from
the Kolyma. This officer had attended the astronomer Bayley, as his
assistant, on the last voyage of Cook, and was, of course, well known to
Ledyard. Being on his journey to Irkutsk, he invited Ledyard to
accompany him thither. They travelled in sledges up the Lena, and
reached Irkutsk in seventeen days, being a distance of fifteen hundred
miles. Scarcely, however, had he arrived at this place when he was put
under arrest, by an order from the empress. He now experienced no more
of that concern for his welfare on the part of the commandant, and even
Billings kept away from him. All he could learn was, that he was
considered as a French spy, which Billings could at once have
contradicted. His state of suspense was very short, as, on the same day,
he was sent off in a kabitka, with two guards, one on each side.
In this manner was our traveller conveyed to the frontiers of Poland, a
distance of six thousand versts, in six weeks. "Thank heaven," says he,
as he approached Poland, "petticoats appear, and the glimmerings of
other features. Women are the sure harbingers of an alteration in
manners, in approaching a country where their influence is felt." He has
bestowed, indeed, a beautiful and touching tribute to the excellence of
the female character, not more beautiful than just, which cannot be too
often recorded in print.
On setting our traveller down in Poland, the soldiers who had guarded
him, gave him to understand that he might then go where he pleased; but
that, if he again returned to the dominions of the empress, he would
certainly be hanged. It did not appear for some time what the real cause
was of this proceeding; but there is every reason to believe it arose
out of the jealousy of the North-west Russian Fur Company, whose
head-quarters were at Irkutsk, and that their influence at Petersburgh
had procured from the empress the annulment of her previous order,
together with the present inhuman mandate. Ledyard, however, knew
nothing of this; and, having neither relish nor motive for making the
experiment a second time, he took the shortest route to Konigsberg,
where he found himself destitute, without friends or means, his hopes
blasted, and his health enfeebled. In this forlorn condition, he
bethought himself once more of the benevolence of Sir Joseph Banks, and
had the good luck to raise five guineas, by a draft on his old
benefactor, with which he reached London. Here he was kindly received by
Sir Joseph Banks, who gave him an introduction to Mr. Beaufoy, the
secretary of a newly-formed association for promoting discoveries in
Africa.
"Before," says Mr. Beaufoy, "I had learnt from the note the name and
business of my visitor, I was struck with the manliness of his person,
the breadth of his chest, the openness of his countenance and the
inquietude of his eye. I spread the map of Africa before him, and
tracing a line from Cairo to Sennaar, and from thence westward in the
latitude and supposed direction of the Niger, I told him, that was the
route, by which I was anxious that Africa might, if possible, be
explored. He said, he should think himself singularly fortunate to be
trusted with the adventure. I asked him when he would set out.
'To-morrow morning,' was his answer. I told him I was afraid that we
should not be able, in so short a time, to prepare his instructions, and
to procure for him the letters that were requisite; but that if the
committee should approve of his proposal, all expedition should be
used."
In a few weeks all was ready for his departure. The plan was, to proceed
up the Nile as far as Sennaar or the Babr-el-Abiad, and from thence to
strike across the African continent to the coast of the Atlantic.
His letters from Cairo are full of interest. Of the Nile itself he
speaks contemptuously, says it resembles the Connecticut in size, or may
be compared with the Thames.
After some delay, the day is fixed on which the caravan is to leave
Cairo. He writes to his friends and to the African Association in great
spirits; talks of cutting the continent across, and raises the
expectations of his employers to a high pitch;--the very next letters
from Cairo brought the melancholy intelligence of his death. It seems he
was seized with a bilious complaint, for which he administered a strong
solution of vitriolic acid, so powerful as to produce violent and
burning pains, that threatened to be fatal unless immediate relief could
be procured, which was attempted to be got by a powerful dose of tartar
emetic. His death happened about the end of December, 1788, in the
thirty-eighth year of his age.
Thus perished, in the vigour of manhood, the first victim, in modern
times, to African discovery. Too many, alas! have since shared the same
fate in pursuit of the same object; which, so far from deterring, seems
only to stimulate others, and produce fresh candidates for fame to tread
the same perilous path.--_Quarterly Review--Article "Ledyard's
Travels."_
[8] Sir James Hall of Douglass, Bart., the father of Captain
Basil Hall, R.N., and, till lately, President of the Royal
Society of Edinburgh.
* * * * *