Page images
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

:

1

me, as the pain in my chest became intolerably severe. I renewed my entreaties to the captain, to stand in for the land, where we might hope to make some part of the Spanish coast. The more I entreated, the more perverse he grew. He had before refused to put us on shore in Portugal, lest we should all be imprisoned for life. He now refused to approach the Spanish coast. For he said, that if the wind should be on shore, he would be blown upon the rocks if it was off the shore, he could not make the land if there was little or no wind, the current would run away with him. But he went sometimes so far as to offer me the command of the ship, provided I would secure him the payment of it. I told him I was not rich enough to buy his dogger, but that if he would stand in near the shore, and let me have one of his boats, I would pay him for it the price he should ask, and my servant and I should go on shore; by which means the provisions would last so much longer for the rest. This also he refused; and when every other reason was exhausted, he persisted, that he could not go into Spain, without performing quarantine. It was in vain we assured him, that the Spaniards exacted no such thing on the coasts of the It had happened to him once in a Spanish port in the Mediterranean, and he conceived, or pre-> tended to think, that we were misleading him.

ocean.

Such evils were not of a nature to decrease with time, and our captain became every day more disturbed. Before, he had been sober and abstemious; but latterly resorted frequently for consolation to the

brandy bottle. He often started in his bed, and talked through his sleep; and at the same time became most fervently devout. Twice a-day he took his little ship's company down into the forecastle or steerage, to sing hymns for a fair wind. But it was all to no purpose. Once only we had a propitious moment. The wind blew fair; the yards were squared, and the steering sails were set. The steersman, who had hitherto been of an unalterable gravity, went down for his mandoline, and the captain danced to his music. I shall give no other praise to these performers than to say, that none ever gave me greater pleasure. Every body was happy, bustling, and gay. The breeze seemed sent from heaven for our relief, and there appeared a kind of exulting consciousness, that the hymns had not been sung in vain. There was no longer any need that a man should die to appease an angry Providence. I too put in my claim to merit; for though I had not joined in the hymns, I had generally steered the vessel, that all the hands might. One of the few remaining fowls was now ordered to be killed, and the rigor of our allowance was relaxed, and a smile of hope and cheerfulness sat upon every countenance. But how great is In less than an

the uncertainty of sublunary events. hour all grew black again. The wind blew again as formerly. By little and little the sails were unwillingly trimmed. The steering sails were again lowered in sullen silence. The mandoline disappeared, and I need not say, the dancing ceased also. There was no more smile-no more joke, nor play. In short,

for the length of that day, no man ventured to look another into the face, much less to speak to him.

It was while things were growing towards the worst, that we were boarded by a French privateer brig, called the Venus, from Nantes. The captain, on board of whom we were carried, finding us in rule, and having some knowledge of Mr. Rivet, who was from the same town, apologised very civilly for the trouble and delay he had given us, and made us a present of some articles of provision. And after he had left us, and was almost out of sight, he returned to offer us a passage on shore, as in a few days his cruise would be out, and he would then stand in for a Spanish port.

This was a tempting offer; but I, for obvious reasons, refused it; and rightly, for a few days after, we were boarded by the Flora frigate, who had captured this identical privateer. And had I been found on board of her, it might have supplied a pretext, which neither the torture of my servant, nor the seizure of my papers had yet afforded. And my enemies would not then have been forced to resort to that scandalous falsehood, that I had corrupted the people, in a fishing town in Wales.

At length, not having wherewithal to support life, another day, we with difficulty entered the port of St. Sebastian.

LETTER XXIV.

Again threatened with Arrestation-Remonstrance Municipality of Bayonne arrêté motivé-Arrival in France.

HERE I applied to Don Louis Blondel de

Drouhot, the commandant, or captain-general, for a passport, to proceed by land to my destination; where I certainly did hope to learn, at least, the cause of such extraordinary treatment. And I was now very willing that the dogger should make the rest of her passage without me. Don Louis first threatened to arrest me, as a subject of the king of Great-Britain, then at war with his king. Nor could I avail myself in this instance of the passports of the duke of Portland and the marquis Cornwallis. If they had not served me in Portugal, still less could they do so here. Yet I did produce them; for I was determined, at all events, to deal with candor, and to oppose nothing to such complicated vexation, but simplicity and truth. I offered besides, the testimony of Mr. Rivet, that of the captain, and our servants, that we were sent away by force. I produced also the pass

port of the minister of Portugal, then in strict alliance with Spain; and also the certificates of the English consul, the Danish ambassador and consul, the French minister in Portugal, and other proofs, all shewing, beyond doubt, that I was sent for reasons of state from Lisbon to Bordeaux. And since this was apparently done by the concurrence of so many ministers, it was to be presumed, it was for some good purpose, though I protested I knew not what those reasons could be but merely hoped, that the principles of civilization were not yet so lost in Europe, that an individual could be seized upon as if by pirates, and transported by them from place to place, by sea and by land, from dungeon to dungeon, without some account finally to be rendered of such proceedings. At Bordeaux alone I stated, I could expect to have that satisfaction, and there I looked for it confidently; as I was sure the diplomatic agents of so many kings would not deliberately join to prostrate those laws, and openly violate, without motive, those received notions of natural right and justice by which their right to govern, and their titles to their thrones, were alone secured. I moreover stated what I had already suffered on board of this ship; what the state of my health was: and I prevailed finally to obtain a passport to follow my destination as far as the frontiers of France, where I might explain myself, as I best could, with the authorities of that country.

With this passport I arrived at Bayonne, where I appeared before the municipality, and was desired

« PreviousContinue »