PART III.

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A

JOURNEY TO INDIA, &c.

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LETTER XLIII.

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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 streets, 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 therefore 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, who, 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, or 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 who

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, and

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.

As 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, and 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.

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LETTER XLIV.

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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, as 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 next 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, should 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 in 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 frequent 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 storm: 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 the 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 seemed 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 parts 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.

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LETTER XLV.

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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 of 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 every 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 bailing,

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 the 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 us!”——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, and 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 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 Mr. 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 personal

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, who

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 wished 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, I 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; so I threw myself on my back in the

manner I have described, and left myself to the disposal of Providence;

nor was it 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.

---------------------------------------------------------

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.

As 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 never 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.

Footnote 3:

Natives of India, employed sometimes as sailors, sometimes for

inferior offices in the army, such as pitching tents, drawing guns,

&c.

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 supposed

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!

The 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 rest, 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, shook 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.

Footnote 4:

A small temporary hut, where _toddy_ (a liquor extracted from the

cocoa-nut tree) is sold.

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.”

“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.

---------------------------------------------------------

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 have 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 loss 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 one 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, religion, 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.

Two 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 with 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 event 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 but 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 and 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.

On 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.

Footnote 5:

Court.

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 contrived 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 compared 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 by 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.

After 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.

Footnote 6:

An aromatic nut which the East Indians chew: it is warm and

astringent, and considered by them a great restorative.

That 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.

Footnote 7:

Country or Province.

This 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 the 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.”

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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. HYAT, 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 interested 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, never 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 act 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 years 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 I 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.

The 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.

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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 parents 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, it

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.