Mehemet Ali’s hospitality to travellers--Prince Pückler Muskau’s
appreciation of it--His reception of Doctor M.--Reflections on
passports--Lady Hester’s pecuniary difficulties--Her reluctance to
reduce her establishment--Her restlessness--Presents in Eastern
countries--Severity necessary with Eastern servants--Letter from Lady
Hester to Lord Ebrington--Outrage committed on old Pierre--Defection
of the Ottoman fleet--Khalyl Aga.
About noon, I went from the French khan to the house which Prince
Pückler Muskau occupied. He was lodged in the residence of Ibrahim
Nuckly, one of the richest merchants of the place, who, by the
governor’s order, had removed his family to accommodate his highness,
whose suite was numerous. Mahomet Ali, viceroy of Egypt, anxious to do
honour to the Prince, had given him a special firmàn, requiring all
official persons to treat him in a manner suitable to his rank. A
military officer, a Tartar, and two or three chaôoshes, accompanied
him in his travels; and everything was provided for him at the
Pasha’s expense.
These signal acts of oriental hospitality have given occasion to some
discussion amongst European travellers. It is urged, on the one side,
that such travellers should avail themselves of these favours merely
as credentials for enabling them to procure whatever they may require
in accordance with their rank; but that they should acknowledge all
the courtesies they receive by presents and remuneration at least
equivalent to the trouble and expense they occasion. On the other
hand, it is said that such magnificent liberality should be accepted
in its full and unrestricted sense, anything in the shape of largess
or repayment being regarded only as a reduction from the free grace of
the original courtesy. In this latter sense, Prince Pückler Muskau
understood the viceroy’s hospitality: he took the firmàn strictly
according to the letter; and his house, post-horses, and
provisions--in short, his whole expenditure, was defrayed by checks on
the viceroy’s treasury. The Duke Maximilian of Bavaria, Lord Prudhoe,
and a few others, who were favoured with similar firmàns, thought
otherwise: they left proofs of their generosity wherever they went,
handsomely rewarding everybody whom they put to the least trouble or
inconvenience. It is impossible to suppose that the Prince thought he
could repay all the kindnesses he received by the gratitude of his
pen; because it is impossible to suppose that favours of that kind
could exert any influence over his writings. The only conclusion at
which we can reasonably arrive is that he was proud of this
distinguished feature in his travels--namely, that of having traversed
the whole of Egypt and Syria with all the pomp of a grandee without
having expended a single farthing. The distinction is a strange one,
but it is a distinction notwithstanding.
The courtyard of the prince’s house was filled with military officers,
government people, and others, waiting to be presented; but, as soon
as my name was announced, I was ushered by his dragoman into a
handsome _alliah_, or saloon, gaily painted in Arabesque, with sofas
round three sides of the room. The remains of breakfast were on the
table. He expressed great pleasure in seeing me, and, by his
countenance and manner, immediately prepossessed me in his favour. He
is a tall man, about fifty years of age. I found him dressed in a
loose morning-gown, with white trousers, and a yellow scarf thrown
over his shoulders somewhat for effect, with a _casquette_ on, and
having the air and demeanour of what he was--a man of the world and of
high birth. He had a chamelion crawling about on the tube of his pipe
and on his chair; and, every now and then, the exclamation of “_Ou
donc est le caméléon? ou est mon petit bijou?_” made me fear at first
we were going to have a second edition of Monsieur L---- with his
lap-dog, who, in talking to it in all those endearing terms which the
French use towards pet animals, and in making more fuss about its
food, bed, and the like, than humanity requires, had greatly lessened
himself in the estimation of both Turks and Christians, in a country
where exaggerated and unnatural phraseology is never applied to brute
animals.
The conversation naturally began by inquiries respecting Lady Hester
Stanhope’s health, with expressions of deep interest for her recovery.
He next spoke of our young queen. “_Quel beau rôle!_” he exclaimed,
“to be a queen, and to be so lovely, so young, so clever! and where
will she find a husband worthy of her?” A latent thought seemed to
lurk in the prince’s breast, and who knows what he felt at the moment?
Notwithstanding, of himself he said, “I have almost made up my mind to
settle in this fine country: I will build myself a house, get what I
want from Europe, make arrangements for newspapers, books, &c., and
choose some delightful situation; but I think it will be on Mount
Lebanon. However, after I have seen more of the country, I shall be
better able to judge: for, after all, I find no country so charming as
this, and Europe is no longer the land of liberty; for there liberty
and passports cannot exist together.” He then told me a story of his
having been stopped somewhere in France from an informality in his
passport.
I agreed with him most heartily on this head, and reminded him of that
liberticide, M. Guizot, who, in a national senate, could dare to
affirm that the locomotion of individuals was subject to the will of
governments.[5] “Yes,” I added, “of governments such as he would
frame, it might be: but, thank God! there are countries where sophists
are not yet called to rule over mankind. Thank God! too, that, in his
infinite wisdom, he has sent gout and palsy into the world to hamper
the legs and movements of those who seek to trammel the industrious
citizen or the enterprising traveller, and all those honest and
necessary callings, the success of which often depends on unrestrained
freedom in change of place.” Here I stopped: but, had I been more
intimate with the prince, I would have added--“Use your pen, good
prince: it has exposed with success some follies and prejudices in the
world; let it shame tyranny and oppression: for never can Frenchmen
boast of freedom whilst individuals are booked and labelled from place
to place, like parcels in a diligence office.”[6]
The journal which lay before the prince caught my eye, clearly
written, and no doubt long meditated. He spoke French with great
purity.
Count Tattenbach was present during the interview, and his mild and
somewhat melancholy manner led me to suppose that her ladyship had
judged rightly of one who had devoted himself to the prince’s
service. He was a gentleman, as I had occasion afterwards to know,
who, to a thorough acquaintance with the modern Greek language, to
high talents for music and painting, as also to a general love of the
fine arts and _belles lettres_, added a finished education and much
instruction acquired by travel.
As the prince’s dragoman had now announced two more persons of
consideration, who were waiting to be introduced, I drew my interview
to a conclusion, although the prince was courteous enough to desire to
prolong it by ordering pipes and coffee for his visitors in an
ante-room. In the evening I returned to Jôon, and gave Lady Hester an
account of my mission.
Friday, March 23.--One of Lady Hester Stanhope’s peculiarities was,
that no business, however common, could be done without a reference to
lucky and unlucky days. The season was now come for her mares to go to
grass, and strict orders were issued that they should be taken this
afternoon, just before sunset. The field of green barley in which they
were to be placed was between Jôon and Sayda, close above the gardens.
The grooms were furnished with a tent, a night lamp, tethering cords,
and all that was necessary for a gipsy camp, which was to last six
weeks: they were also put on board-wages. But a scene of violent
excitement was acted by Lady Hester, in consequence of finding that
the field was rented this year for two hundred and sixty piasters,
which field four years before was let for one hundred and thirty.
“See,” she said, “how these bailiffs waste my money, and no one keeps
watch over them, to check their rascality: they take bribes to let
others cheat me, and nobody knows the real value of even an acre of
grass.”
We were now again without money in the house, the last ten thousand
piasters having been spent. No letter came from Sir Francis Burdett.
Her pension was suspended. Seven thousand piasters were due to the
people for a quarter’s wages: and, in consequence of the reports
current even in the bazàars, the baths, and the barbers’ shops at
Beyrout, that her income had been stopped by the Queen, there was
little likelihood of her bills being negociable on London, even for
the quarter’s money arising from the legacy of £1,500 a year, left her
by her brother, Colonel James Stanhope, which still held good.
Notwithstanding these difficulties, no disposition was manifested by
her to curtail a single expense. There were still thirty-three or
thirty-four servants, all of them doing what three good European men
and two maids would have performed a great deal better. “For,” she
would say, “how can I turn them away now, to fall victims to the
conscription, and have to reproach myself for their misfortunes?” But
it is much to be feared that of all those to whom she afforded
protection not one would have remained an hour in her service, had not
that very apprehension been before their eyes: for, as mussulmans,
they could not, according to the tenets of their religion, serve
infidels. Confirmed in idleness as they were, they hated those who set
them to do anything; and, knowing the weak points of Lady Hester’s
character--her love of the semblance of sovereignty and of
high-sounding titles, her avidity for supposed secret news, her
dislike to women in general, and her disposition to mortify
others--they flattered her foibles, provoked her jealousies, added
fuel to her anger, and made the house a scene of trouble from morning
to night, which answered their own purposes, by keeping their mistress
constantly employed. Ill as she was, all this rendered her worse, and
my days were literally passed in endeavouring to soothe her
irritation.
Never was there so restless a spirit--never lived a human being so
utterly indifferent to the inconvenience to which she subjected those,
who she thought had been remiss in their duty. Nobody could pursue
their avocations in quiet: she must give instructions to every one.
And although the unexampled versatility of her talents and genius
seemed to inspire her with an intuitive knowledge on all matters, yet
it was irksome to remain three or four hours together to be taught how
to govern one’s wife or how to rear one’s children, how statesmen were
made and how ministers were unmade, how to know a good horse or a bad
man, how to plant lettuces or plough a field, &c. These lectures
nobody could render more agreeable and instructive than Lady Hester
Stanhope, if they had occurred less frequently, or if they had always
arisen naturally out of the course of conversation. But I was the only
English person with her: she made me the vehicle of all her wishes and
instructions--her griefs and her abuse; she dictated all her letters
to me; I comptrolled her accounts and was her treasurer; I directed
her household; I read long files of newspapers, to cull the
interesting articles for her; I had to discuss medicine with her, and
was expected to cure an incurable disease; I had to scold her maids,
and to become, if she could have persuaded me, a slave-driver: lastly,
I generally sat up with her until two or three o’clock in the morning.
All this was more than enough to do, even with all the appliances of a
well furnished house and a well regulated English establishment; but,
exposed to the many inconveniences that a house half furnished, a
people half taught, and materials of comfort half wanting, caused, it
is hardly to be wondered if I found my humble abilities unequal to the
task.
Lady Hester Stanhope’s health in the mean time improved, whilst mine
gave way. She was however over-anxious about the prince’s expected
visit, and returned to her favourite idea that a large body like hers
required a great deal of substantial nourishment. She accordingly
tried to eat forced-meat balls, meat-pies, lamb, chicken, &c., and
hoped to calm her dyspnœa by spoonfuls of wine and lukewarm drinks.
During these days I was busy in perusing a file of newspapers
extending from November 23 to February 4. It was in them that we read
the details of Mr. D. W. Harvey’s motion for a committee on the
Pension List.
Saturday, March 25.--Lady Hester received a letter from the Viscount
Ebrington, giving her notice also of the committee, saying he was on
it, and that she could write to him whatever she had to suggest for
securing a continuance of her pension: but the die was already
cast--she had resigned it, and she was not a woman to retract her
words.
Sunday, March 26.--Lady Hester sent to my family a fine cluster of
bananas, weighing perhaps twenty-five pounds. When she saw me, she
said, in allusion to them, “I suppose you will not take any of my
presents as usual. Do as you like: but why do I send things to your
house? because in this country nothing marks the regard one person has
for another so much as presents: and, if you hear the servants wish to
denote the thorough contempt that a sultan, a pasha, or an emir has
for any one, it will always be by saying he did not even give him a
present to the value of a fig. In England, for example, it would be
thought strange to send a couple of loaves of sugar to another man’s
house, or a sheep, or a bag of coffee: but here it is done every day.
In the same way, presents of clothes are very common: however, I will
not trouble you that way any more if you don’t like it. But just tell
me, when you first arrived in this country, and in a retired spot like
this, where were you to get what was necessary to dress yourself as a
Turk? it would have been impossible.”
This conversation arose from some expensive presents, which Lady
Hester Stanhope had, on two or three occasions, just after our
arrival, made to me and my family: such as some pieces of Damascus
silks, a fine abah or cloak, exactly similar to the one she always
wore, and a complete Turkish suit of clothes. I acknowledged in return
how highly we were flattered by these tokens of regard, but requested
leave to return the pieces of silk, and professed my willingness to
keep the dress, as I could not absent myself to replenish my wardrobe,
and I knew how much she disliked the European dress. I considered,
too, though of course I did not say so, that her finances required
that nothing should be spent unnecessarily, and I did not like to be
supposed to encourage profusion; but she refused to take back
anything, and said she would immediately have them burned in the
courtyard, if I returned them. There was no disputing with her, so she
gained her point. As for fruit and such things, I raised no objection,
and Lady Hester seldom let a day pass without contributing to the
comforts or luxuries of our table.
It was impossible to enjoy a calm for any length of time. In the
morning, when I went to Lady Hester, I found her greatly ruffled. The
conversation that ensued will explain the cause. “You suffer
yourself,” said she, “and I have told you so over and over again, to
be trampled on by these people; who, when they say you are a
kind-hearted man, only laugh at you. Which do you think they like
best, Logmagi, who abuses them well, or you, who are afraid of
them?--why, Logmagi, to be sure. Captain Logmagi is genteel, is
delightful in their eyes; because masters here are only known to be
such by their severity. What did one of my black girls, Zayneb, tell
me many a time? ‘Why don’t you flog me well, if I do what you dislike?
I shall know then what you mean: but when you are preaching to me, and
what you call giving me advice for my good, I only fancy it all a
trick for some purpose.’ There was Giovanni, your old servant, how
often did he say to me, after I took him--‘I don’t understand all that
jargon, but I know what the whip means.’ Look again what they say
about the prince”--(Pückler Muskau, of whom it appears they had heard
something from the servants who had been to Sayda)--“‘That’s something
like a man--he can put himself in a passion.’--Doctor, I can’t bear
such cold milk and water people as you are, nor can they: I am like a
hot iron--pour cold water on it, and see how it hisses.
“Women formerly found something like protection from men, and were not
left alone in the world as they are now. What! shall I have a
scoundrel of a fellow, like ----, come and stick his fingers in my
face, and ‘you’ and ‘you’ me? but I’ll teach him better manners, or
I’ll know why:--a set of beings, the slush of the earth! _des âmes
viles_, as the prince calls them. I told Mr. Dundas that, now-a-days,
one might think one’s self very well off, if, when some dirty fellow
spits in one’s face, what was called a gentleman took out his white
pocket-handkerchief and wiped it off, hoping one was not hurt!”
The conversation here took another turn. “I wish you,” said she, “to
ask your little girl’s governess to come in, and iron some sheets for
me: do you think she will do it? You may order Lunardi’s room to be
cleaned out for her. As for my making company of her, you know it
would be a farce: would it not? Not that a difference of rank makes
any difference with me: for I have seen poor people, whose natural
qualities, whose pure unsophisticated minds, whose real virtues have
made me feel myself their inferior in those things, although so much
their superior perhaps in judgment and talents. Such people are
oftentimes preferable, in my opinion, to all those who read out of one
book and then out of another, thinking one day according to one
author, and the next day quite the contrary: just like teapots,
drizzling out of the spout what was poured into them under the lid. As
for me, I would destroy all books in a lump. It was a lucky thing for
mankind that the Alexandrian library was destroyed: there was good
reason for what the caliph did.”
March 29.--An answer to Lord Ebrington’s letter, of which the
following is a copy, was written to-day:
_Lady Hester Stanhope to the Viscount Ebrington._
Jôon, March 29, 1838.
My dear Lord Ebrington,
Your letter of the 26th of December reached me a few
days ago; and it gave me great satisfaction to find you
had not altogether forgotten me or my interests. I am so
ignorant of what passes in Europe, generally speaking,
that I was not aware that pensions were to be revised.
The first I heard of it was from a traveller (Mr. Vesey
Foster) having mentioned, about a fortnight
ago, that such was the intention of Government: but, as I
did not see him, I had no opportunity of inquiring into
particulars. You tell me that you are on the committee,
and that, whatever I have to say respecting my pension,
I had better write it to you:--I have nothing to say.
You can hardly suppose that I would owe a pension to the
commiseration of a pettifogging committee, when I refused
Mr. Fox’s liberal proposition of securing me a handsome
income by a grant of Parliament: neither should I, under
any circumstances, lower the name of my dear old King, or
my own, by giving any explanation. It was His Majesty’s
pleasure to give me a pension--that is sufficient--or ought
to be sufficient. New-coined Royalties I do not understand,
nor do I wish to understand them nor any of their
proceedings. My ultimatum respecting my pension I have
given to the Duke of Wellington, founded on the impudent
letter of Colonel Campbell, a copy of which I enclose.
HESTER LUCY STANHOPE.
* * * * *
April 1.--Although the European tricks of All Fools’ Day have no
counterpart in the East, this morning was marked by a jest, if it were
one, which was not unlike one of the dangerous practical jokes of the
West, and which very nearly proved fatal to the object of it. Old
Pierre had contrived to render himself unpopular amongst the Christian
servants by railing at their bad faith and their indifference to
religion--abusing at the same time the mufti, the cadi, and priests of
all denominations. The Turks swore to be revenged, and even went so
far as to say that they would murder him. Whether they intended to
execute their threat to the full is, perhaps, doubtful; but they fell
upon him in the dead of the night, and might possibly have carried it
into effect had not Lady Hester heard his cries and sent Logmagi to
rescue him.
Not a word of this was breathed to me the next morning by any one: the
same mystery would have been observed had they murdered him. It is
amazing with what perfect combination of purpose these people keep
their own counsel: you might be in the heart of a plot for days and
days, and never know anything about it. Ever designing and ever
mysterious, and always apparently most calm and most smiling the
greater the mischief intended, they foil all your vigilance without
any apparent effort, and, like the vampire, lull you to slumber when
about to spill your blood.[7]
Calling on Lady Hester about three o’clock, I found her in the saloon,
seated on the sofa, with the heavy war-mace in her hand: it appears
she had had the aggressors of the preceding night before her. “Oh!
doctor,” said she, as I entered, “I have settled them.” Not knowing
what she meant, I asked whom, and she briefly related Pierre’s
jeopardy. “Yes,” continued she, “my arm has some strength in it yet,
weak as I am: I have given it to them pretty well, and I don’t think
they’ll molest Pierre again.” She rose from the sofa, and gesticulated
with great force to show me how effectually she had wielded the mace.
I suggested that she should turn the worst of them away, and keep only
eight or ten servants; for they were only a torment to her. “Yes, but
my rank!” was her characteristic answer.
The rest of the day was employed in making up two cases and two
baskets, to be sent as a present to Khalyl Aga Kezerlý, an old
acquaintance of Lady Hester’s. They consisted of three bottles of
champagne and twelve of Bordeaux, three bottles of rum, three of
brandy, and five of different sherbets. Then there were about twenty
different remedies in case of illness, a jar of Epsom salts, slips of
adhesive plaster, &c.; and, lastly, a couple of needle-cases, with
English needles and sewing thread. This man was a Mussulman, and the
wine and spirits were for his own use: but he would not have dared to
accept them before Ibrahim Pasha’s time; for then a Mussulman’s
sobriety was as sure as an Englishman’s veracity was supposed to be,
both which, half a century ago, admitted not of a question in Turkey.
“God knows,” observed Lady Hester, as she was giving her directions
about the packing, “I am always thinking about the comfort of others;
but nobody thinks of mine. I am a slave in the service of humanity,
and cannot find an atom of feeling, of sentiment, of courage, of
energy, of fidelity, or of compassion, in all these wretches by whom I
am surrounded.”
The conversation turned on Prince Pückler Muskau, and she regretted
she had consented to see him, fearing she should never be able to get
through the fatigue, and apprehensive that the expense would be
greater than her present means would enable her to undertake. After
many _pros_ and _cons_, in which I could but re-echo her fears and
apprehensions, which were too justly grounded, I suggested that she
might politely decline the prince’s visit. “Oh! but, doctor,” she
answered, “his book, his book! I must see him, if it is only to have
some things written down. Is it not cruel to be left here, as I am,
without one relation ever coming to see me? To think of the times when
the Duke of Buckingham would not even let a servant go to order an ice
for me, but must go himself and see it brought--and _now_!”
FOOTNOTES:
[5] Speech of M. Guizot in the _chambre des députés_.
[6] The general feeling of disgust and bitterness with
which all travellers, who are natives of Great Britain
or of the United States, speak of the vexations they
are compelled to undergo from the formalities and
exactions to which they are subjected in obtaining
signatures to passports on the continent, need not be
dwelt upon. Much ill blood, more delay, not to speak
of expense, are created by the insolence and legalized
robbery of official persons, into whose hands the
defenceless traveller falls in the fulfilment of these
formalities. Passports are the alpha and omega of a
man’s trouble on a continental journey.
In some particular cases, it may even be affirmed that
the exercise of consular authority in reference to
passports amounts to actual illegality. Captain B.,
an Englishman, in the winter 1836-7, was about to
leave the Sardinian States, and made his arrangements
accordingly, but neglected to settle a debt which he
had contracted at a shop kept also by an Englishman.
The creditor immediately went to the English
vice-consul, and requested he would not deliver the
captain’s passport until the bill was paid: and it
was accordingly stopped, although Captain B. had
taken his passage by the steamboat. This case is by
no means singular; for many English consuls consider
themselves justified in acting in the same way under
similar circumstances. Now, the question at issue
is--has a consul a right to do this? The answer will
be found in the fact that no such right is known
to the English constitution, and that, therefore,
the conduct of the consul is unconstitutional and
illegal. The British government has no power over the
movements of an individual, except under the warrant
of a magistrate. English legislation knows nothing of
passports, except as a usage resorted to by foreign
governments, to which British subjects must submit
while they are within the range of their operation.
But the consul, as a British officer, cannot recognize
a passport otherwise than as a formality exacted by
the government of the country in which he resides;
he cannot, without laying himself open to a serious
responsibility (which it is a great pity he should
not be made to discharge) employ a passport as an
instrument for the detention or arrest (for such it
amounts to, in fact) of any free-born subject of Great
Britain. Even the British consul at Havre did not feel
himself authorised to stop Mr. Papineau’s passport on
his way to Paris, although Mr. Papineau was denounced
as a traitor and an outlaw by the British government.
Captain B.’s creditor ought to have applied to the
Piedmontese police, and not to the English
vice-consul, who was a native of the place. And this
is one of the crying evils of our consular system.
Instead of appointing meritorious half-pay officers,
or other deserving gentlemen, born in Great Britain,
to such offices, we frequently bestow them upon
inhabitants of the place, who are bound by religious,
social, and domestic ties, to prefer the interests
of the country in which they live to those of the
country which they represent, and who hold in much
greater fear and respect the local authorities of the
neighbourhood than the distant authority to which
they owe no allegiance beyond that of official forms,
which they can in most cases violate or misrepresent
with impunity. Our consular system is open to many
objections, but this is one of the most palpable and
disgraceful.
[7] The defection of the Ottoman fleet to Mahomet Ali
and the treachery of the Captain Pasha furnish a
remarkable illustration. One cannot but be struck with
the extraordinary fact of a whole crew’s not having,
in hint or word, given the slightest intimation to
Captain Walker of what was going on. Slight as may
have been his knowledge of the Turkish language, yet
one would have supposed some expression let fall
must have betrayed their intention. He must have
had servants likewise, who, mixing with the ship’s
company and with the servants of the officers, might
have heard some allusion dropped as to the council
held to deliberate on so important a measure. But the
newspapers said he was ignorant of the plot up to the
last moment: and from my own experience I can believe
such a thing very readily.