EPISODES 
 
 A LIFE OF ADVENTURE
 
 EPISODES 
 
 IN 
 
 A LIFE OF ADVENTURE 
 
 OR 
 MOSS FROM A ROLLING STONE 
 
 AUTHOR OF 'PICCADILLY,' 'TRAITS AND TRAVESTIES,' 
 ' ALTIORA PETO,' ETC. 
 
 NEW EDITION 
 
 WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS 
 
 EDINBURGH AND LONDON 
 
 MDCCCXCVI 
 
 All K'ujMs reserved
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 I. THE OVERLAND ROUTE FORTY-SIX TEARS AGO, AND 
 
 AN ASCENT OP ADAM's PEAK IN CEYLON, . 1 
 
 II. REVOLUTIONARY EPISODES IN ITALY IN THE YEAR 
 
 1848, AND AN ADVENTURE IN GREECE, . . 23 
 
 IIT. MY FIRST EXPERIENCES IN DIPLOMACY, . . 39 
 
 IV. POLITICS AND INDIAN AFFAIRS IN CANADA, . . 60 
 
 V. CRIMEAN AND CIRCASSIAN EXPERIENCES, . . 79 
 
 VI. ADVENTURES IN CENTRAL AMERICA, . . . 107 
 
 VII. CALCUTTA DURING THE MUTINY, AND CHINA DURING 
 
 THE WAR 1857-1859, 125 
 
 VIII. SOME SPORTING REMINISCENCES, . . . .139 
 
 IX. AN EPISODE WITH GARIBALDI, AND AN EXPERIENCE 
 
 IN MONTENEGRO, . . . . . .165 
 
 X. THE ATTACK ON THE BRITISH LEGATION IN JAPAN 
 
 IN 1861, 185 
 
 XI. A VISIT TO TSUSIMA : AN INCIDENT OF RUSSIAN 
 
 AGGRESSION, . . . . . .212
 
 VI CONTENTS. 
 
 XII. POLITICS AND ADVENTURE IN ALBANIA AND ITALY 
 
 IN 1862, . . . . . . .228 
 
 XIII. CRACOW DURING THE POLISH INSURRECTION OP 1863, 243 
 
 XIV. EXPERIENCES DURING THE POLISH INSURRECTION : 
 
 WARSAW, ....... 264 
 
 XV. A VISIT TO AN INSURGENT CAMP, . . . 302 
 
 XVI. TWENTY-FOUR HOURS IN VOLHYNIA, . . . 333 
 
 XVII. A VISIT TO THE CONVENTS OP MOLDAVIA, . 355 
 
 XVIII. THE WAR IN SCHLESWIG-IIOLSTEIN : THE BATTLE OP 
 
 MISSUNDE, . . . . . . .381 
 
 XIX. THE MORAL OF IT ALL, . . . . .416
 
 EPISODES 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE OVERLAND ROUTE FORTY-SIX YEARS AGO, AND AN 
 ASCENT OF ADAM'S PEAK, IN CEYLON. 
 
 THE proverb that a rolling stone gathers no "moss" is, 
 like most proverbs, neater as an epigram than as a 
 truth, in so far as its application to human existence is 
 concerned. Even if by "moss" is signified hard cash, 
 commercial and industrial enterprises have undergone 
 such a change since the introduction of steam and elec- 
 tricity, that the men who have made most money in 
 these days are often those who have been flying about 
 from one quarter of the world to another in its successful 
 pursuit taking contracts, obtaining concessions, forming 
 companies, or engaging in speculations, the profitable 
 
 A
 
 2 THE OVERLAND ROUTE FOETY-SIX YEARS AGO. 
 
 nature of which has been revealed to them in the 
 course of their travels. But there may be said to be 
 other kinds of moss besides money, of which the human 
 rolling stone gathers more than the stationary one. He 
 meets, with adventures, he acquires new views, he under- 
 goes experiences, and gains a general knowledge of the 
 world, the whole crystallising in after life into a rich fund 
 of reminiscences, which becomes the moss that he has 
 gathered. The journal of such a one in after years, if he 
 has been careful enough to record his experiences, becomes 
 amusing reading to himself, and may serve to refresh his 
 memory in regard to incidents which, as matters of history, 
 may not be devoid of interest to the public generally. 
 
 I was a very young stone indeed when I began rolling 
 a mere pebble, in fact ; but some of the moss which I 
 collected then has stuck to me with greater tenacity than 
 much that has gathered itself upon my weather-worn 
 surface in later years. The impressions of early travel 
 are generally so deeply stamped at the time, that the 
 memory of them does not easily fade. Thus I have made 
 the overland journey to the East, backwards and forwards, 
 eight times, but the recollection of the first one continues 
 the most vivid; and it is the same with my passages 
 across the Atlantic, but perhaps that is because it lasted 
 seventeen days, was made in the depth of winter, and 
 under circumstances calculated to cause themselves to 
 be remembered. My first voyage to the East was by the 
 overland route in the winter of the years 1841 and 1842 ; 
 it was made in company with my tutor, and so imperfect 
 were the arrangements in those days, that it took us two 
 full months to reach Ceylon. At Boulogne, where we
 
 THE OVERLAND ROUTE FORTY-SIX YEARS AGO. 3 
 
 arrived in a steamer direct from London Bridge, my 
 companion and I seated ourselves in the banquette of an 
 old-fashioned diligence for very few miles of railway had 
 been built in France in those days ; and from our elevated 
 perch, which we preferred to retain throughout, we had 
 abundant opportunity for a survey of " La belle France," 
 as we rumbled across it from one end to the other, accom- 
 plishing the journey from Boulogne to Marseilles in eight 
 days and five nights of incessant diligence travel; our 
 only adventure being that we stuck for some hours of 
 the night in the snow near Chalons, and had to be dug 
 out. At that time there were no passenger-steamers from 
 Marseilles to Malta, and the mails were conveyed in a 
 man-of-war, which was also compelled to submit to the 
 humiliation of having to take passengers. The only 
 incident of which I have any recollection during the 
 voyage was that of pitching head - foremost from the 
 quarter-deck on to the main deck, in the course of a 
 race in sacks, and the flash of thought which suggested 
 instant death as I went over.. From this accident I 
 remained insensible for twenty -four hours, but was 
 otherwise none the worse. At Malta we changed 
 steamers for Alexandria, where the East burst for the 
 first time upon my surprised senses. The foreign popu- 
 lation was probably not a quarter of what it is now; 
 carriages had not been introduced; the streets were 
 narrow, ill -paved, and crowded with camels, donkeys, 
 veiled women, and the traffic characteristic of an Eastern 
 city, but all was life and bustle : the place was just begin- 
 ning to quiver under the impulse of the movement which 
 the invention of steam was imparting to the world, and
 
 4 THE OVERLAND ROUTE FORTY-SIX YEARS AGO. 
 
 one of the earliest evidences of which was the direct route 
 to India, which Lieutenant Waghorn had just opened 
 through Egypt. 
 
 One of the pleasantest experiences of the journey, was 
 the voyage along the Mahamoudieh Canal in canal-boats 
 towed by horses, as far as Atfeh. This was a perfect 
 picnic while it lasted; the culinary arrangements being 
 extemporised to meet the difficulties of the situation, prin- 
 cipally by the passengers themselves, for the organisation 
 was still so defective that they had largely to trust to 
 their own resources and exertions to secure their comfort. 
 The morning of " Cook " had not yet dawned, and we were 
 still in a sort of twilight of ignorance and dragomans. 
 We had been looking forward to a sail up the Nile in 
 dahdbeeyahs to Cairo, but the first steamer had just been 
 put on the river ; notwithstanding which, owing to various 
 delays, which I for one did not regret in a country where 
 all was so new and interesting, it took us three days to 
 get from Alexandria to Cairo. Here, as there was no 
 civilised hotel for Shepheard's had not yet sprung into 
 existence we had to go to a native khan, where a 
 number of bare unfurnished cells opened upon a corridor, 
 enclosing four sides of a square, which was filled at all 
 hours of the day and night with a mob of grunting, 
 munching camels, and their screaming, quarrelling drivers ; 
 and here we found Mr Waghorn himself, indefatigable in 
 his exertions for our comfort, and in a constant struggle 
 with the authorities, which, considering that only a few 
 mouths before we had bombarded the Egyptians out of 
 Acre, and had handed Palestine over to the Turks, was by no 
 means to be wondered at. Looked at by the light of sub-
 
 THE OVERLAND ROUTE FORTY-SIX YEARS AGO. 5 
 
 sequent events, we should probably have done better had 
 we left things as they were ; but in that case subsequent 
 events would have been so different that we might have 
 had occasion to regret them still more. No doubt there 
 were reasons why it seemed best at the time t^o separate 
 the interests of Palestine from those of Egypt : but the 
 fate of each country must ever be powerfully influenced 
 in the future, as it has been in the past, by the destiny of 
 the other ; and their relative position towards each other, 
 topographically and commercially, must always cause the 
 influence which is paramount in Egypt to be powerfully 
 operative in Palestine. And this will become the case, in 
 a still more marked degree, when the two countries are 
 united, as they must be before long, by a railway from 
 Cairo to Damascus. There is no line probably in the 
 world, except perhaps between the populous cities of 
 China, more certain to pay than one which should connect 
 Egypt and Syria, and which would convey the greater part 
 of that produce which is now carried in native boats by 
 sea, or transported wearily across the intervening desert 
 on the backs of camels. The Eastern question will have, 
 however, to be reopened and closed again before we can 
 hope to see it constructed. Meantime we were almost as 
 unpopular in Egypt in 1841 as we are now ; but then, at 
 all events, we had a clear and definite policy, and knew 
 distinctly what we were aiming at. What we lost in one 
 direction we gained in another, instead of losing all round, 
 as we do in these days, and which we shall continue to do 
 in the degree in which the British mob is invited by sub- 
 servient statesmen to dictate to them the policy to be pur- 
 sued in foreign affairs. However, these are merely the
 
 6 THE OVERLAND ROUTE FORTY-SIX YEARS AGO. 
 
 views of a rolling stone, with which it is impossible that 
 stones which form a part of the pavement of London 
 streets, and can see no farther than the houses on either 
 side, can sympathise ; but of this they may feel sure, that 
 if they were picked out of their political gutters, and 
 sent rolling about the world for a few years, they would 
 get rid of a good deal of the dirt of party, and gather a 
 little of the moss of patriotism. 
 
 Forty-six years have worked a far greater change in 
 Cairo than they have in Alexandria. In fact, they have 
 transformed the city to an extent which makes it no 
 longer recognisable. From the most oriental of oriental 
 cities, which it was when I saw it first, it has become the 
 most European the broad boulevards and miles of roads 
 and streets, the hundreds of carriages plying for hire, the 
 magnificent hotels and handsome villas with their sur- 
 rounding gardens, have superseded all that was quaint, 
 Eastern, and picturesque. The Ezebekeyeh, where in old 
 days one sat in the still evenings, and smoked chibouks 
 and narghilehs, and drank coffee and sherbet, and listened 
 to the twang of native instruments, in company with 
 groups of venerable Moslems, is now a park where nurse- 
 maids and babies and petits crevte go and listen to a mili- 
 tary band. And one has to make an expedition expressly 
 into the native quarter to know that it exists. We were 
 detained a couple of days in Cairo, while Mr Waghorn 
 was arranging for our transport across the desert to Suez, 
 and we were never tired of exploring its narrow streets 
 on donkeys, and. spending money on articles which could 
 never be of any manner of use to us, in its crowded and 
 well-stocked bazaars.
 
 TITE OVERLAND ROUTE FORTY-SIX YEARS AGO. 7 
 
 We, crossed the desert in several four-horse vans 
 horses having been recently substituted for the camels 
 which were at first attached to these vehicles and found 
 waiting for us at Suez the steamer India. The journey 
 from the Mediterranean to the Eed Sea, including two 
 days' stay at Alexandria, had occupied eight days. The last 
 time I crossed from one sea to the other it was by an 
 express train without any delay at Cairo, and the time 
 occupied was nine hours. Before the establishment of 
 the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Company, the mails 
 were conveyed from Suez to Bombay by one of the East 
 India Company's men-of-war. The first merchant-ship 
 which carried passengers and mails direct from Suez to 
 Calcutta was the India, and this was her first voyage. 
 She was commanded by a Captain Staveley, and was con- 
 sidered a large ship in those days, though she was not 
 over 1500 tons. The survey of the Eed Sea was also, I 
 imagine, imperfect. At any rate, on the second night 
 after leaving Suez we were all nearly thrown out of our 
 berths by the ship running full speed upon a coral-reef, 
 on which the scene of panic usual on such occasions 
 occurred. All the passengers, male and female, were on 
 deck in the lightest of attire in a moment, and were 
 somewhat reassured by the fact that the sea was as calm 
 as a mill-pond, and the ship as motionless as a statue so 
 much so, indeed, that one weak-minded cadet, who had 
 been the butt of the younger members of the party all the 
 way, thought the opportunity a good one in which to 
 write his will, which he proceeded with great earnestness 
 and good faith to do in the saloon, assisted by several of 
 his friends, whose good faith was not so obvious. When
 
 8 THE OVERLAND ROUTE FORTY-SIX YEARS AGO. 
 
 he had finished it, we took charge of it, and promised 
 that in case any of us were saved from the wreck, which 
 he thought imminent, the survivors would see that it 
 was executed. I have often wondered since whether this 
 youth ever rose to command the regiment he went out to 
 join. We stuck on this reef several hours, and then with 
 the help of the little tide there is in the Red Sea, and the 
 boats, we floated off, with, as it afterwards turned out, a 
 severely damaged bottom. However, we steamed slowly 
 on for two or three days more, and then ran out of coal. 
 As there was not a breath of wind when this discovery 
 was made, the prospect of lying for an indefinite time, 
 " like a painted ship upon a painted ocean," was not en- 
 couraging. However, the ocean was fortunately a very 
 narrow one, and with the aid of a puff of wind which 
 ultimately sprang up, we managed to work our way into 
 Mocha. As I was not in the slightest hurry to reach my 
 journey's end, I was delighted at this contretemps, as it 
 gave me a chance of seeing a very rarely visited place. 
 
 We lay off Mocha for three days, taking in wood. Its 
 aspect from the sea is not particularly inviting. It is 
 merely a row of white flat-roofed houses, with a minaret 
 or two rising above them, glistening in the broiling sun, 
 with a palm-grove at either end, and a desert beyond. 
 Some of us went on shore to explore the town and pay a 
 visit to the Governor or Shereef. We then found that the 
 white houses looked far grander at a distance than on nearer 
 acquaintance ; and that there was a bazaar behind them, 
 in which a large proportion of desert Arabs mingled with 
 the Moslem townspeople, bringing in strings of camels 
 with dates, coffee, and other produce for sale. I was told
 
 THE OVERLAND ROUTE FORTY-SIX YEARS AGO. 9 
 
 that, though the country immediately surrounding Mocha 
 was barren and unprepossessing, there was a fertile, well- 
 watered hill-region behind, where the celebrated coffee 
 called after the town is produced, but which, even to this 
 day, has been only very partially explored. At present, 
 the obstacles to exploration are even greater than when 
 I was at Mocha. At that time it was virtually, if not 
 technically, the capital of Yemen, a rich and fertile pro- 
 vince about 400 miles long by 150 wide ; and though the 
 Sultan of Turkey cast covetous eyes upon it, and even 
 attempted to lay some claim to sovereignty over it, it was 
 practically an independent country, the supreme author- 
 ity being the Imaum, whose palace was at Sana, a town 
 equidistant from Aden and from Mocha, being about 160 
 miles from each, and the centre of a trade which found 
 its way to the sea-coast at Mocha. Now all this is 
 changed. There is no longer an Imaum at Sana : after a 
 protracted war, which has lasted over several years, and 
 which never raged more fiercely than it did last year, 
 though we heard very little about it, Yemen has been 
 annexed to the Turkish empire and constituted into a 
 Vilayet, with a Turkish pasha resident at Sana, where, 
 however, his authority does not extend beyond the bay- 
 onets of his soldiers, of whom a large force is kept under 
 his orders. I have conversed with many of these men 
 who have returned from service in Yemen, and they all 
 tell me that the country is in a state of chronic revolt ; 
 that the Arabs are intensely hostile to the authority of 
 the Porte ; that they are very brave, and that their con- 
 version into peaceful subjects seems an almost hopeless 
 task. I have also met in Jerusalem a very interesting
 
 10 THE OVERLAND ROUTE FORTY-SIX YEARS AGO. 
 
 set of Jews, who only arrived there as refugees a little 
 more than two years ago from Yemen, where they say 
 they were settled long before the final dispersion, for 
 they claim to be descended from the tribe of Dan : they 
 are learned in the Scriptures, and more devout and un- 
 sophisticated than those who have been in contact with 
 Western civilisation. They say they were compelled to 
 leave Yemen in consequence of the war between the 
 Turks and Arabs, where they found themselves between 
 the upper and the nether millstone. 
 
 So far as I was able to gather, there is, however, a strong 
 tribe of nomads, all pure Jews, who have sided with the 
 Arabs in the late war, and who have retired into fastnesses, 
 where the Turks have had a difficulty in following them, 
 for parts of the country are very mountainous. I have 
 also heard from more than one source of the existence of a 
 valuable gold-mine somewhere in Yemen, and conversed 
 with those who have seen the ore that has been extracted 
 from it. 
 
 The creation of Yemen into a Turkish Vilayet brought 
 the frontier of the empire almost to the gates of Aden ; 
 and the native Arab tribes, who, on the occasion of my 
 first visit, made it unsafe to venture a hundred yards from 
 the fortification, were glad to seek our protection rather 
 than fall under Turkish rule. The result has been a 
 certain tension between the Turkish authorities and British 
 officials, arising out of this newly born propinquity ; and 
 the fear lest our influence should spread into the interior, 
 has induced the Ottoman Government strictly to prohibit 
 Englishmen from entering Yemen. When I was at Mocha, 
 it was only necessary to enlist the favour of the Shereef of
 
 THE OVERLAND ROUTE FORTY-SIX YEARS AGO. 11 
 
 that place, and obtain permission from the Imaum of Sana 
 to get into the interior, which, although it was never thor- 
 oughly explored, had already been visited by "Wellstead, 
 Cruttenden, and other travellers. 
 
 Meantime Mocha has suffered severely under all these 
 changes; and from having a population of 10,000 in- 
 habitants, has dwindled down to a mere village, all the 
 trade of Yemen finding its outlet at Aden, which is only 
 eighty miles distant from it by sea. 
 
 The Shereef of Mocha, when we visited him, was a great 
 personage, and received us with much ceremony, gave us 
 excellent coffee, which, under the circumstances, was only 
 to be expected, and was delighted with the present of a 
 ship's musket, which the captain gave him to enlist his 
 influence in the wood question. He immediately loaded 
 it, and took a shot at a mark on the opposite wall of the 
 street, which was not more than a foot or two above the 
 heads of the people, by whom it was crowded. Their 
 alarm and astonishment, as the ball whistled close to their 
 ears, were ludicrous to behold, and highly amused the 
 Governor, who I don't think would have been much 
 affected even if the consequences had been serious. 
 
 The indifference of the natives to human life was re- 
 markably illustrated while we were here. From morning 
 till night our ship was surrounded by boats loaded with 
 wood, their crews keeping up a most discordant din of 
 screaming refrain while engaged in the process of dis- 
 charging their cargoes into us. The abundance of this 
 article was a strong evidence of its existence in the 
 interior ; but as it had all come on camels' backs, it must 
 have been an expensive commodity. One of these boats,
 
 p 
 
 12 THK OVERLAND ROUTE FORTY-SIX YEARS AGO. 
 
 with a couple of men in it, got capsized, the boat turned 
 over, and the men scrambled on to the keel. There must 
 have been a strong current, as they speedily drifted out to 
 sea, without any efforts being made by their comrades to 
 rescue them, though the accident took place at mid-day, 
 in full view of everybody. I suppose our captain thought 
 that it was the business of the natives to look after each 
 other. We watched them with our glasses until they 
 disappeared on the horizon ; but as the sea is very narrow 
 at this part, it is to be hoped they drifted ashore on the 
 opposite side. 
 
 From Mocha, with our wood fuel and our rickety 
 bottom, we steamed slowly round to Aden, where the 
 ship was laid up for repairs, and I was kindly received as 
 a guest by Captain Staines, then Commissioner at that 
 place. Forty-six years have worked a great change at 
 Aden, as at all the other places on the route. It had 
 then been only two years in our possession, and was held 
 like a post in an enemy's country. Every morning and 
 evening long strings of camels were to be seen passing into 
 the camp from the interior with supplies, and returning 
 again to the desert, every Arab who accompanied them 
 being compelled to have a pass, and none of them being 
 permitted to sleep within the gates for fear of treachery. 
 
 We have now reduced all these unruly tribes to subjec- 
 tion, and within a certain radius of Aden the petty sultans 
 by whom they are governed have been placed under our 
 protection notably the Sultan of Lahaj, whose village is 
 a day's ride distant into the interior, and who can now be 
 visited with perfect security. We have annexed a small 
 district adjoining the peninsula, and upon it, three miles
 
 AN ASCENT OF ADAM'S PEAK. 13 
 
 from the fortifications, have established a town called 
 Sheikh Osman, which has a population of 12,000, com- 
 posed of Somaulis, Hindoos, Abyssinians, and Arabs. 
 Each of these nationalities has its own quarter, and per- 
 fect peace and order are maintained without the inter- 
 vention of any European there being no white man in 
 the place. Aden itself has now a population of at least 
 50,000, and is a growing commercial emporium, while 
 large sums are about to be spent upon its fortifications. 
 When I first visited it, the resident population, outside the 
 garrison, were to be counted by hundreds; and both at 
 the " Camp " and the " Point," into which the settlement 
 was divided, the residences were of the most flimsy de- 
 scription. To me, however, their quaint and unsubstantial 
 character possessed all the charm of novelty ; and the 
 conditions of existence generally were so strange and 
 unlike anything to which I had been accustomed, that I 
 enjoyed my week's stay immensely, and was quite sorry 
 when the repairs of the ship were completed, and we were 
 called upon to bid adieu to its hospitable society. 
 
 The remainder of the voyage was only remarkable for 
 our slow rate of speed, and we reached Ceylon without 
 further incident, sixty days after leaving England. 
 
 I read a very interesting article in ' Blackwood's Maga- 
 zine ' not long since on sacred footprints, in which the 
 writer suggested that many of them were originally 
 coronation-stones, and in which he offered some ingenious 
 suggestions as to the religious character which attaches 
 to them among the various races in the different countries 
 where they are found. They seem, indeed, to possess a
 
 14 AN ASCENT OP ADAM*S PEAK. 
 
 peculiar fascination to the devotional mind among oriental 
 races ; and we not unfrequently find the same footprint 
 invested with a traditional sanctity by the adherents of 
 religions which have no relation to each other beyond one 
 or two of those broad ideas which are more or less common 
 to all worship. This is notably the case with the print 
 on Adam's Peak, the Sripada of the Buddhists ; the peni- 
 tential mountain of our first parent, of the Mohammedans. 
 It was from here that Gautama is supposed to have 
 stepped across the Bay of Bengal into Siam a gigantic 
 stride, but not so wonderful a performance as that attrib- 
 uted to Adam, as described by a devout Mussulman to a 
 friend of mine, when discussing the means by which he 
 transported himself to Ceylon, after his expulsion with 
 his wife, according to Moslem traditions, from the Garden 
 of Eden. It seems that poor Eve, after being separated 
 from Adam for two hundred years, and reunited with him 
 on Mount Ararat, died before he left Arabia; for her 
 tomb, which is regarded with great veneration by Moslems, 
 is pointed out to the pious pilgrims on their way to Mecca, 
 at Jeddah. According to this tradition, it was at the 
 former place that Adam knelt down to ask forgiveness 
 upon that stone, which has been invested with the utmost 
 sanctity from a period long anterior to Mohammed the 
 sacred Caaba of Mecca ; and there he had his penance im- 
 posed upon him. Then, travelling to the coast, Eve died, 
 and was buried about a mile from Jeddah, in a tomb 200 
 feet long; for she was a tall woman. The human race 
 seems steadily to have degenerated after her time, for 
 Noah occupies a tomb which was pointed out to me near 
 Zahleh, in the Lebanon, only 104 feet long by 10 wide.
 
 AN ASCENT OF ADAM'S PEAK. 15 
 
 If Eve was 200 feet high, her husband, to judge by the 
 present proportions of the sexes, must have been a good 
 deal taller, say 25 or 30 feet. Now the difficulty which 
 my friend suggested to his Moslem disputant was how, 
 in those early days, a man 220 or 230 feet high could find 
 a sambook, or craft such as are now used in those seas, big 
 enough to carry him on a long voyage ? 
 
 "There was no difficulty at all about it," replied the 
 Moslem ; " he went over to Ceylon in several sambooks ! " 
 
 After performing such a wonderful feat as this, the fact 
 that he should have been able to stand on the top of 
 Adam's Peak on one leg for a thousand years, and leave 
 his footprint there deeply embedded in the rock, dwindles 
 into insignificance. Moslem traditions vary considerably 
 in regard to the proceedings of our earliest ancestors, and 
 I by no means pin my faith to this one. According to 
 another, Ceylon itself was the Garden of Eden, and in 
 that case Adam's post of penance was handy, while his 
 enormous height would enable him to reach the top a 
 great deal more easily than I did, and then Eve must 
 have gone over in " several sambooks " to Jeddah. Again, 
 the most commonly accepted version of the origin of the 
 Caaba is, that it was originally a white stone given by the 
 angel Gabriel to Abraham, and has since been blackened 
 by much kissing ; while others again say that Hagar rested 
 there with Ishmael, when, after being turned out of house 
 and home, they drank at Mecca at the sacred spring Zem- 
 zem. These are all fertile themes of discussion among 
 Moslems, and the reader may take his choice of them. 
 Meantime many pilgrims go annually to the top of Adam's 
 peak, which is about 7500 feet above the sea-level, both
 
 16 AN ASCENT OF ADAM*S PEAK. 
 
 Moslem aiid Buddhist ; and must feel not a little indig- 
 nant with each other at finding it appropriated by two 
 such very different characters as Adam and Buddha. By 
 far the greater number, however, are Buddhists. 
 
 There are two paths of ascent : the one most commonly 
 taken by pilgrims is from Eatnapoora, a place which owes 
 its importance chiefly to its trade in precious stones. The 
 sand-washings of the river which flows past it, yield 
 rubies, sapphires, amethysts, cat's-eyes, besides cinnamon 
 stones and others of less value, and furnish a fair source 
 of profit to the inhabitants. While watching the washers 
 one day, I bought on the spot a cat's-eye from one man I 
 saw find it, which, when polished, proved to have been a 
 good bargain. 
 
 As it is rather a fatiguing day's journey from Katna- 
 poora to the top of the Peak, I made an early start with a 
 friend from the house of the hospitable judge who was at 
 that time exercising his functions in this district, attended 
 by our horsekeepers as grooms are called in that country 
 and some natives, who acted as guides and carriers of 
 the provisions we required for a three days' trip. To say 
 that our way led us through beautiful scenery is to use a 
 platitude in connection with the central and mountainous 
 districts of Ceylon, where the luxuriance of tropical vegeta- 
 tion merges, as we reach higher altitudes, into the heavy 
 forests peculiar to them where the villages are no longer 
 embowered in groves of cocoa-nut trees, or nestle beneath 
 the broad leaves of the plantain, but where they are sur- 
 rounded by coffee-bushes red with berry, and are shadowed 
 by the feathery bamboo ; while the valley bottoms are ter- 
 raced for the irrigation of rice, another variety of which,
 
 AN ASCENT OF ADAM'S PEAK. 1*7 
 
 called hill -paddy, clothes the steep hill-sides where these 
 are not already occupied by forest. Now, these once 
 heavily-timbered slopes are for the most part covered with 
 coffee plantations up to a certain elevation, beyond which 
 coffee gives place to tea and cinchona. But forty years 
 have made a difference in this respect; and when I 
 ascended Adam's Peak, the villages became fewer and 
 farther between as we increased our elevation, while our 
 path often led us up the steep mountain-flank, through a 
 dense jungle, as yet untouched by the hand of the foreign 
 capitalist. We passed the night at a native house in one 
 of the higher villages, and leaving our horses there, on the 
 following morning pursued our way on foot amid scenery 
 which at every step became more grand and rugged, the 
 path in places skirting the edge of dizzy precipices, at the 
 base of which foamed brawling torrents. The way was 
 often rendered dangerous by the roots of large trees, which, 
 having become slippery by the morning mist, stretched 
 across the narrow path, and one of these nearly cost me 
 my life. The path at the spot was scarped on the precip- 
 itous hillside ; at least 300 feet below roared a torrent of 
 boiling water, when my foot slipped on a root, and I 
 pitched over the sheer cliff. I heard the cry of my com- 
 panion as I disappeared, and had quite time to realise that 
 all was over, when I was brought up suddenly by the 
 spreading branches of a bush which was growing upon a 
 projecting rock. There was no standing-ground anywhere, 
 except the rock the bush grew upon. For some time I 
 dared not move, fearing that something might give way, 
 as the bush seemed scarcely strong enough to bear my 
 weight. Looking up, I saw my companion and the natives 
 
 B
 
 18 AN ASCENT OF ADAM'S PEAK. 
 
 who were with us peering over the edge above, and to their 
 intense relief shouted that so far I was all right, but dared 
 not move for fear the bush would give way. They, how- 
 ever, strongly urged my scrambling on to the rock ; and 
 this, with a heart thumping so loudly that I seemed to 
 hear its palpitations, and a dizzy brain, I succeeded in 
 doing. The natives, of whom there were five or six, then 
 undid their long waist-cloths, and tying them to each 
 other, and to a piece of cord, consisting of the united con- 
 tributions of all the string of the party and the packages 
 they were carrying, made a rope just long enough to reach 
 me. Fastening this under my armpits, and holding on to 
 it with the energy of despair, or perhaps I should rather 
 say of hope, I was safely hauled to the top ; but my nerve 
 was so shaken that, although not in the least hurt, it was 
 some moments before I could go on. This adventure was 
 not a very good preparation for what was in store for us, 
 when not very far from the top we reached the mauvais 
 pas of the whole ascent. Here again we had a precipice 
 with a torrent at the bottom of it on one side, and on the 
 other an overhanging cliff not metaphorically overhang- 
 ing, but literally its upper edge projected some distance 
 beyond the ledge on which we stood ; it was not above 
 forty feet high, and was scaled by an iron ladder. The 
 agonising moment came when we had mounted this ladder 
 to the projecting edge, and had nothing between our backs 
 and the torrent some hundreds of feet below, and then had 
 to turn over the edge and take hold of a chain which lay 
 over an expanse of bare sloping rock, to the links of which 
 it was necessary to cling firmly, while one hauled one's self 
 on one's knees for twenty or thirty yards over the by no
 
 AN ASCENT OF ADAM'S PEAK. 19 
 
 means smooth surface. My sensations, at the critical 
 moment when I was clinging backwards on to the ladder, 
 remind me of a subsequent experience in a Cornish mine. 
 I was some hundreds of feet down in the bowels of the 
 earth, crawling down a ladder similarly suspended; and 
 feeling that the temperature was every moment getting 
 warmer, I said to a miner who was accompanying 
 me 
 
 "It is getting very hot down here. How far do you 
 think it is to the infernal regions ? " 
 
 " I don't know exactly, sir," he promptly replied ; " but 
 if you let go, you will be there in two minutes." 
 
 Thus did he meanly take advantage of my precarious 
 and helpless position to reflect upon my moral character ! 
 which was the more aggravating as I afterwards discovered 
 that the remark was not original. 
 
 It was my companion's turn, after we had safely accom- 
 plished this disagreeable feat of gymnastics, to pant with 
 nervousness. And here let me remark that the Alpine 
 Club did not exist in those days, and we were neither of 
 us used to go about like flies on a wall. He was a mis- 
 sionary, in fact ; and he was so utterly demoralised that 
 he roundly declared that nothing would induce him to 
 make the descent of the same place. Now the prospect 
 of imitating Adam, and staying permanently on the top of 
 the peak called after him, was so appalling, that I pro- 
 posed opening a bottle of brandy, which we had brought 
 with us, and fortifying our nerves by taking a light repast 
 there and then a measure which was further recommend- 
 ed to us by the fact that the spot commanded an extensive 
 and magnificent bird's-eye view of the whole southern por-
 
 20 AN ASCENT OF ADAM'S PEAK. 
 
 tion of the island, with the sea distinctly visible in the 
 extreme distance, and thousands of feet helow us the forests 
 from which we had so abruptly ascended. We had one or 
 two pretty steep places after this, but nothing comparable 
 to the mauvais pas, and reached the summit an hour or so 
 before sunset. Here we found the solitary inhabitant of 
 a single hut to be a Buddhist, who was guardian of the 
 sacred footprint, over which was a wooden erection some- 
 thing like a light arbour, and which was secured to the 
 rock by chains riveted into it. The print itself was about 
 four feet long and nearly three wide, so far as I can recol- 
 lect, and was so misshapen that it required some stretch 
 of imagination to detect in it a resemblance to a human 
 impression on a gigantic scale, more especially as the toes 
 were almost undefined. The whole area of the summit, 
 which was almost circular in shape, was not more than 
 twenty yards in diameter: and the sensation of being 
 perched up at so great an elevation on such a relatively 
 minute point of rock, was an altogether novel one. One 
 felt as though a violent gale of wind might blow one off it 
 into space ; and that there was some such danger was evi- 
 dent from the fact that the two flimsy erections upon it 
 were fastened to the rock. 
 
 We now congratulated ourselves on having brought up 
 thick blankets ; for, accustomed as we had been for some 
 time past to the heat of tropical plains, we felt the change 
 to the sharp night air of such an elevation, the more 
 especially as the priest's hut was too filthy-looking for us 
 to occupy, and we preferred taking shelter under its lee. 
 We had no inducement, after a night on the hard rock, to 
 sleep late ; and by getting up an hour before sunrise, I was
 
 AN ASCENT OF ADAM'S PEAK. 21 
 
 fortunate enough to witness a spectacle which was well 
 worth all the fatigues and perils of the ascent. 
 
 As Adam's Peak rises from a comparatively low range 
 of hills in the form of a perfect cone, it presents a far 
 grander aspect than its rival Pedrotallagalla, which, 
 although more than 1000 feet higher, neither stands out 
 from its neighbours with the same solitary grandeur, nor 
 does it furnish anything like the same extent of panoramic 
 view, while it is easy of ascent on horseback. When I awoke 
 to look about me, by the light of a moon a little past the 
 full, in the early morning, I looked down from this isolated 
 summit upon a sea of mist which stretched to the horizon 
 in all directions, completely concealing the landscape be- 
 neath me. Its white, compact, smooth surface almost gave 
 it the appearance of a field of snow, across which, in a deep 
 black shadow, extended the conical form of the mountain 
 I was on, its apex just touching the horizon, and produc- 
 ing a scenic effect as unique as it was imposing. While I 
 was watching it, the sharpness of its outline gradually 
 began to fade, the black shadow became by degrees less 
 black, the white mist more grey, and as the dawn slowly 
 broke, the whole effect was changed as by the wand of a 
 magician. Another conical shadow crept over the vast 
 expanse on the opposite side of the mountain, which in its 
 turn reached to the horizon, as the sun gently rose over 
 the tremulous mist; but the sun-shadow seemed to lack 
 the cold mystery of the moon-shadow it had driven away, 
 and scarcely gave one time to appreciate its own marvel- 
 ous effects before the mist itself began slowly to rise, and 
 to envelop us as in a winding-sheet. For half an hour or 
 more we were in the clouds, and could see nothing ; then
 
 22 AN ASCENT OF ADAM*S PEAK. 
 
 suddenly they rolled away, and revealed the magnificent 
 panorama which had been the object of our pilgrimage. 
 Even without the singular impression which has capti- 
 vated the religious imagination of the devotees of two faiths, 
 the peculiar conditions under which this remarkable 
 mountain was exhibited to us were calculated to inspire a 
 sentiment of awe, which would naturally be heightened in 
 the minds of the ignorant and superstitious by the discov- 
 ery on its summit of a resemblance to a giant's footprint. 
 
 We heard that there was another and much easier way 
 down, but it led in the wrong direction. Fortunately 
 my companion having taken counsel with himself dur- 
 ing the sleepless hours of the night, had now screwed up 
 his courage for the descent, which we accomplished with- 
 out further adventure ; and we reached the hut where we 
 had left our horses, in time to proceed on our journey the 
 same day to visit some coffee plantations which had been 
 recently opened in the neighbouring district of Saffragam.
 
 23 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 REVOLUTIONARY EPISODES IN ITALY IN THE YEAR 1848, 
 AND AN ADVENTURE IN GREECE. 
 
 IN the year 1846, my father, who was then Chief- Justice 
 of Ceylon, came on a long leave to England. I was on the 
 point of going up to Cambridge at the time, but when he 
 announced that he intended to travel for a couple of years 
 with my mother on the Continent, I represented so strongly 
 the superior advantages, from an educational point of view, 
 of European travel over ordinary scholastic training, and 
 my arguments were so urgently backed by my mother, 
 that I found myself, to my great delight, transferred from 
 the quiet of a Warwickshire vicarage to the Champs 
 Elysees in Paris ; and, after passing the winter there, spent 
 the following year roaming over Germany, Switzerland, 
 and the Tyrol, by rail in the few cases where railways 
 existed, but more often by the delightful but now obsolete 
 method of vetturino ; while, for a couple of months, fishing-:, 
 rod in hand, we explored on foot the wild and then little 
 known valleys of the Tyrol. I often wondered, while thus 
 engaged, whether I was not more usefully and instructively 
 employed than labouring painfully over the differential
 
 24 REVOLUTIONARY EPISODES IN ITALY. 
 
 calculus ; and whether the execrable patois of the peasants 
 in the Italian valleys, which I took great pains in acquir- 
 ing, was not likely to be of quite as much use to me in 
 after life as ancient Greek. 
 
 Meantime, mutterings of the coming revolutionary storm 
 had been heard all over Europe, and it was just bursting 
 over Italy as we descended into that country at the close 
 of 1847. Indeed, Italy has always proved an excellent 
 field for moss-gathering since the day when, as I entered 
 Rome for the first time, I passed cannon pointed down 
 the streets, and found the whole town seething with revo- 
 lution to the year 1862, when, as the guest of a regiment 
 of Piedmontese cavalry, I hunted brigands in the plains 
 of the Basilicata and Capitanata. The incidents of my 
 first visit are so long ago now, that I only remember their 
 most salient features, but these are indelibly stamped 
 upon my memory. I shall never forget joining a roaring 
 mob one evening, bent I knew not upon what errand, and 
 getting forced by the pressure of the crowd, and my own 
 eagerness, into the front rank, just as we reached the Aus- 
 trian Legation, and seeing the ladders passed to the front, 
 and placed against the wall, and the arms torn down; 
 then I remember, rather from love of excitement than any 
 strong political sympathy, taking hold, with hundreds of 
 others, of the ropes which were attached to them, and 
 dragging them in triumph to the Piazza del Popolo, where 
 a certain Ciceroachio, who was a great tribune of the 
 people in those days, and a wood-merchant, had a couple 
 of carts loaded with wood standing ready ; and I remember 
 their contents being tumultuously upset, and heaped into 
 a pile, and the Austrian arms being dragged on the top of
 
 REVOLUTIONARY EPISODES IN ITALY. 25 
 
 them, and a lady I think the Princess Pamphili Doria, 
 who was passing in a carriage at the time being com- 
 pelled to descend, and being handed a flaming torch, with 
 which she was requested to light the bonfire, which blazed 
 up amid the frantic demonstrations of delight of a yelling 
 crowd, who formed round it a huge ring, joining hands, 
 dancing and capering like demons, in all of which I took 
 an active part, getting home utterly exhausted, and feel- 
 ing that somehow or other I had deserved well of my 
 country. 
 
 And I remember upon another occasion being roused 
 from my sleep, about one or two in the morning, by the 
 murmur of many voices, and looking out of my window 
 and seeing a dense crowd moving beneath, and rushing 
 into my clothes and joining it for even in those early 
 days I had a certain moss-gathering instinct and being 
 borne along I knew not whither, and finding myself at 
 last one of a shrieking, howling mob at the doors of the 
 Propaganda, against which heavy blows were being 
 directed by improvised battering-rams; and I remember 
 the doors crashing in, and the mob crashing in after them, 
 to find empty cells and deserted corridors, for the monks 
 had sought safety in flight. And I remember standing on 
 the steps of St Peter's while Pope Pio Nono gave his 
 blessing to the volunteers that were leaving for Lombardy 
 to fight against the Austrian s, and seeing the tears roll 
 down his cheeks as I supposed, because he hated so 
 much to have to do it. These are events which are 
 calculated to leave a lasting impression on the youthful 
 imagination. Unfortunately, in those days newspaper 
 correspondence was in its infancy, and posterity will have
 
 26 REVOLUTIONARY EPISODES IN ITALY. 
 
 but a comparatively meagre record of the exciting scenes 
 and stirring events of the great revolutionary year. 
 
 If it was disagreeable to the Pope to bless the Italian 
 patriots in their struggle against Austria, it \Vas still more 
 hateful to the King of Naples to have to grant a constitu- 
 tion to his subjects, and swear to keep it upon crossed 
 swords, which I saw him do with great solemnity in a 
 church, after a revolution which had lasted three days, 
 and in which at length the troops refused to fire upon the 
 people. It was true that he had no intention of keeping 
 his oath, and broke it shortly afterwards, but the moment 
 was none the less humiliating ; and his face was an 
 interesting study. Some idea of the confusion which 
 reigned in all parts of Italy about this time may be 
 gathered from an incident which happened to my father 
 and myself at Leghorn on the day of our arrival in that 
 town. It had been more or less in a chronic state of 
 revolution for some weeks past. The Grand Duke still 
 reigned in Florence, but he had lost control of Leghorn, 
 which was practically in the hands of the facchini and the 
 scum of the population. Considering themselves the 
 masters of the situation, the porters who carried our 
 luggage from the quay to the hotel made such an ex- 
 orbitant charge that we refused to pay it. They accord- 
 ingly summoned us before the magistrate. After hearing 
 the case, that worthy decided that the charge was 
 reasonable, and that we must pay it. With the instinct 
 of resisting extortion to the last, which is characteristic of 
 the Briton, we persisted in our refusal notwithstanding 
 this judgment; upon which the magistrate said that in 
 that case it would be his painful duty to commit us to
 
 REVOLUTIONARY EPISODES IN ITALY. 27 
 
 prison. We replied that we were travelling for informa- 
 tion moss-gathering, in fact; that we were much inter- 
 ested in Italian prisons ; that we could not have a better 
 opportunity of examining into their management and 
 internal economy than by being committed to one; and 
 that we were quite ready to go, provided that he would 
 take the consequences. And we reminded him that we 
 had still a British Minister at Florence. It will be seen 
 from this that we were of that class of tourists who are a 
 perfect pest to unhappy diplomats. We were conscious 
 of this at the tune, but reconciled ourselves to it by the 
 reflection that a great principle was at stake. Moreover, 
 we had a suspicion, which proved well founded, that 
 matters would never be allowed to reach that point. Our 
 refusal to satisfy the demands of the facchini completely 
 nonplused the poor judge : he now appealed to them to 
 moderate their claim, but this they sternly refused to do ; 
 upon which, after a few moments' sombre reflection, he 
 thrust his hand into his pocket, and, to our intense aston- 
 ishment, paid them the full amount of their extortionate 
 charge himself. We suggested to the hotel-keeper, who had 
 accompanied us to the court, that the dispensation of justice 
 on these principles must be an expensive operation ; but he 
 said that, on the contrary, it simplified justice very much, 
 for the judge always gave judgment in favour of the mob, 
 knowing very well that, if he did not, he would be stabbed 
 on his way home the same evening, and that few ever 
 thought of resisting any demand which was backed by an 
 institution then existing at Leghorn similar to the Camorra 
 at Naples. The course we had taken had left him no other 
 alternative but to satisfy the claim out of his own pocket.
 
 28 REVOLUTIONARY EPISODES IN ITALY. 
 
 So we gave the amount to our host, and told him at once 
 to reimburse the unhappy functionary. 
 
 We had scarcely reached the hotel before we had the 
 satisfaction of seeing our facchini friends receive a lesson 
 which our late experiences with them enabled us keenly 
 to appreciate. A boat approached the quay containing 
 two young Englishmen. Not only was their nationality 
 unmistakable, but they appeared what they afterwards 
 turned out to be university men in the prime of "biceps." 
 On the boat touching the quay, it was boarded by half-a- 
 dozen facchini, each one attempting to grab something, were 
 it only an umbrella, for which to claim payment. In vain 
 did the travellers struggle to select two, which was more 
 than enough for all their requirements. Each porter 
 obstinately clung to what he had seized, and refused to 
 part with it. One of them at last sprang on shore, fol- 
 lowed by a young Englishman, who, finding he could not 
 regain possession of his property, incontinently knocked 
 his man down. This was the signal for a general assault 
 upon the travellers, who, from the beautifully scientific 
 way in which they handled their fists, must have been 
 pupils of some great master in the noble art of self- 
 defence. In less time than it takes to write it, six 
 porters were lying in a heap on the quay : they were so 
 taken by surprise, they had not even time to draw their 
 knives, and so demoralised that those who were not too 
 much stunned to do so crawled off, leaving the two travel- 
 lers to carry their own baggage triumphantly into the hotel. 
 
 I think, however, it is better to be in a town which is 
 completely in the hands of the mob, than in one which 
 is half held by the people and half by the Government.
 
 REVOLUTIONARY EPISODES IN ITALY. 29 
 
 This happened to us at Messiua. The Mole and fort at 
 the end were held by the Neapolitan troops, but the town 
 was in the hands of the populace. It was difficult to 
 land except at night, because during the day even, a 
 foreign flag ran the risk of being fired upon from the 
 Mole. However, we succeeded in doing so without mis- 
 hap though we had not been long on shore before we 
 began to repent of our curiosity, and to wish ourselves at 
 sea again. 
 
 We had hardly taken up our quarters at an hotel, 
 before a Neapolitan man-of-war entered the harbour and 
 began to bombard us one ball entering the wall so near 
 our window, that by making a long arm one could touch 
 it, which illustrates the folly of going to an hotel on the 
 quay of a town which is liable to bombardment. We 
 found all the streets by which the enemy were likely to 
 attempt an assault defended by sandbag batteries, in 
 many of which cannon had been already placed. While 
 the work of fortification was being pushed forward ener- 
 getically, at one point I came upon a party of Messinese 
 in despair at being unable to haul a gun up to a battery 
 which had been erected on the hillside behind the town, 
 when their difficulty was solved by a party of British 
 tars, apparently on shore for a spree, who laid hold with 
 a will, and in a few moments had placed the gun in 
 position. Pushing my explorations rashly in the direction 
 of the Mole, I heard a shot fired and a bullet whistle past 
 me, and had just time to throw myself flat behind a low 
 wall to escape the volley which followed. I had strayed 
 unconsciously on to the neutral ground between the fort 
 and the town, and had crossed unobserved an open space
 
 
 30 REVOLUTIONARY EPISODES IN ITALY. 
 
 which intervened between the wall under which I was 
 lying and the nearest street, which was barricaded. I had 
 not approached the wall from this direction; but this, I 
 observed, was the nearest shelter, and I calculated that it 
 was at least a hundred and fifty yards back to the town 
 an unpleasantly long distance to run the gauntlet of a 
 heavy fire. So I lay still for at least a quarter of an hour 
 pondering. At the end of that time I saw a sympathetic 
 citizen waving to me from the corner of a house where 
 he was concealed from the fort in an opposite direction. 
 Indeed I now perceived that I was an object of interest to 
 a good many of the townspeople, who had discovered my 
 unpleasant position, and were watching me from sundry 
 safe corners. As the friendly signaller indicated that I 
 was to keep along the wall in the opposite direction from 
 which I had come, although it seemed to slant somewhat 
 towards the enemy, I followed it on my hands and knees to 
 a point where it turned off straight towards the fort : here 
 I perceived a ditch turning towards the town, in which, 
 by lying flat on the bottom and wriggling along snake- 
 fashion, I thought I could escape observation. It took 
 me a long while to accomplish this operation, and as the 
 ditch was muddy in places, dirtied me considerably. At 
 last I thought I was at long enough range to risk a rush 
 across the open for the remaining distance, and this I 
 accomplished successfully, a harmless bullet or two being 
 sent after me by the garrison, who were not expecting my 
 appearance in this direction, and who still supposed me 
 crouched behind the wall. I was warmly welcomed by 
 my rescuer, who was by this time surrounded by a small 
 group of spectators, by whom I was accompanied back to
 
 AN ADVENTURE IN GREECE, 31 
 
 the hotel a sort of mild hero, their interest being increased 
 by the fact that I was a sympathetic Englishman. 
 
 We afterwards went on to Catania and Syracuse, and at 
 the latter place were present a Ithe peaceable transfer of 
 the town from the royal to the popular authorities, all 
 the officials, finding further resistance hopeless, handed 
 over their functions in the most amiable way to those 
 appointed by the people, and the small garrison vacated 
 their premises to the national guard without firing a shot. 
 Indeed, wherever there were sentries posted, they were 
 relieved with all due military ceremony by the new troops ; 
 and the royal soldiery, together with the civilians, were 
 embarked in a transport which had been sent to convey 
 them away. So complete was the popular success at one 
 time throughout the kingdom, that it was difficult to be- 
 lieve that in a few months the country would lapse into a 
 worse condition, if possible, than that from which it had 
 emerged, and have to wait for another twelve years for its 
 deliverance. 
 
 If, in presenting my moss to my readers, I am compelled 
 to have recourse to personal narrative, it is because at this 
 distance of time I can thereby best illustrate the political 
 and social conditions of the country in which I happened 
 to be at the time. Here is a little bit of Greek moss 
 characteristic of the year 1848 in Athens. The newly 
 constructed little country which had just before been 
 erected into an independent monarchy, felt a ripple of 
 the wave of revolutionary sentiment which swept over 
 Europe in that eventful year. In order to overawe the 
 population of the capital, King Otho had quartered in it a
 
 62 AN ADVENTURE IN GREECE. 
 
 regiment of Mainotes a reckless, dare-devil set of men, 
 recruited in the most lawless province in his kingdom, 
 imperfectly disciplined, and still more imperfectly edu- 
 cated in any moral code. One morning at six o'clock I 
 went with my sketch-book to the tomb of Socrates, in- 
 tending to take a sketch of the Acropolis from the neigh- 
 bourhood of that lonely spot, before breakfast. I had not 
 been above a quarter of an hour at work, when a burly 
 figure approached me, and addressed me in Greek. I was 
 sufficiently fresh from school to be able to make out that 
 he asked me what o'clock it was. I looked at my watch 
 and told him, when he put out his hand as though to .take 
 it. I instinctively sprang back ; upon which he laughed, 
 threw back his big cloak and displayed the uniform of a 
 Mainote soldier, at the same time drawing his bayonet. 
 He did all this with rather a good-natured air, as though 
 not wishing to resort to violence unless it was absolutely 
 necessary ; at the same time, he stooped, picked up a rather 
 expensive many-bladed knife, with which I had been cut- 
 ting my pencil, and put it in his pocket. In the mean- 
 time I had folded my camp-stool, which was one of those 
 used by sketchers, with a sort of walking-stick end, and 
 which, in default of a better weapon of self-defence, I 
 thought might be turned to account. I expected every 
 moment to be attacked for the sake of my watch, which 
 he told me to give up, but which I had determined to 
 make a struggle for; on my pretending not to under- 
 stand him, he stood watching me, while I put up my draw- 
 ing things with as much sang froid as I could assume, 
 with the view of beating a retreat. When I walked off, he 
 walked behind me in most unpleasantly close proximity.
 
 AN ADVENTURE IN GREECE. 33 
 
 1 (.lid not like to take to ignominious flight for fear of pre- 
 cipitating matters, as I could not feel sure of outstripping 
 him ; but on the other hand, he trod so closely on my heels, 
 that I felt a constant premonitory shiver down my back 
 of six inches of his horrible bayonet running into it. I 
 certainly never had a walk so full of discomfort in my 
 life. Nor could I account for his conduct. He had got 
 my knife, and evidently wanted my watch ; then why did 
 he not use his bayonet and take it ? As I was thus un- 
 pleasantly ruminating, I perceived in the distance the 
 king's coachman exercising a pair of his Majesty's horses 
 in a break. I knew it from afar, for it was the only turn- 
 out of the kind in Athens. I hesitated no longer, but started 
 off for it at my best pace across country. I need not have 
 been in such a hurry, for the soldier did not follow me, 
 but continued calmly to walk towards the town. On 
 reaching the break, I eagerly explained to the coachman, 
 who was a German, what had happened. He told me at 
 once to jump up beside him, and as the plain happened to 
 be tolerably level, put his horses into a gallop across it, 
 so as to cut off the soldier. The latter no sooner saw him- 
 self pursued than he took to his heels ; but we overtook 
 him before he could reach the town. He did not attempt 
 to deny the theft, overawed by the royal equipage, but at 
 once gave up his plunder. 
 
 " Now," I said to my good-natured Jehu, " let us insist 
 upon his accompanying us to the police ; the man deserves 
 punishment." 
 
 " Eest satisfied with having got your property back," he 
 replied. " In the first place, he would not consent to 
 come, and I doubt whether we could make him ; and in 
 
 C
 
 34 AN ADVENTUKE IN GREECE. 
 
 the second, it is not my business to mix myself up in such 
 an affair." 
 
 So, to my great disgust, we let him walk off. 
 
 I then asked the coachman why he had been satisfied 
 with taking my knife : he knew I had a watch, and if he 
 had searched me, he would have found that I had money. 
 I was unable to account for his forbearance. 
 
 " I will show you how to account for it," he replied, 
 with which enigmatical response I was obliged for the 
 moment to be satisfied. 
 
 A few moments later we passed a piece of a ruined wall, 
 behind which three or four soldiers were standing. 
 
 " Do you see those men ? " said the coachman ; " they 
 are his comrades. They saw you go out alone to a solitary 
 place a thing you should never do again while you are 
 in Athens and they sent one of their number after you, 
 so as to prevent your escaping them by going back some 
 other way ; but this was the place where you were to have 
 been robbed on your return, and the plunder equally 
 divided. The thief could not resist pocketing the knife 
 on his own account ; but he saw no reason why he should 
 incur all the risk of committing a murder, if he could not 
 keep all the spoil to himself afterwards." 
 
 As I felt sure I could recognise the man, I called on the 
 British consul to consult him as to the expediency of 
 prosecuting the matter further. But he took very much 
 the same view of it as the king's coachman. 
 
 "If you get the man punished," he said " which, as 
 you are a foreigner, you will very probably be able to do 
 you will have to leave Athens the next day, for your 
 life will not be safe and the punishment will be light, for
 
 AN ADVENTURE IN GREECE. 35 
 
 these troops are kept here for the express purpose of in- 
 timidating the population, and as soon as you are gone he 
 will be released. If you are bent upon going to solitary 
 spots alone, take a pistol with you : you might have shot 
 that man, and nothing would have been said." 
 
 The present Sir Aubrey Paul, who was travelling with 
 us at the time, and who was about my own age, was 
 delighted when he heard of this advice. 
 
 " Let us devote ourselves," he said, " to the pleasing 
 sport of trying to get robbed, and of shooting Mainote 
 soldiers. We shall be conferring a benefit upon the in- 
 habitants, and amusing ourselves." So we armed our- 
 selves with our revolvers, and at all hours of the day and 
 night used to prowl about in the most secluded localities, 
 in the hope of finding sport. "We were very young and 
 silly in those days ; and though we often encountered 
 Mainote soldiers, both alone and in company, a merciful 
 Providence deprived us of any valid excuse for shooting 
 any of them. 
 
 But if Athens was in a lawless condition at this time, 
 we had experiences illustrating the reverse of the picture 
 in other parts of the country. My father chartered a 
 native schooner at the PiraBus, and had her nicely cleaned 
 out, her hold partially filled with white sand, over which 
 were spread carpets ; in fact, we fitted her out as a yacht 
 with such humble appliances at were at our disposal, and 
 started for a cruise amid the Isles of Greece, our party 
 consisting of four gentlemen and two ladies. 
 
 After the first day, however, the weather and the accom- 
 modation combined proved too much for the ladies. The 
 cook, I remember, always would make the salad in his old
 
 36 AN ADVENTUKE IN GREECE. 
 
 straw-hat. So we put into the exquisite land-locked little 
 harbour of Poros, the memory of which still rests upon 
 my mind like a dream, to consider in calm water what 
 should be done for we men did not at all like the idea of 
 abandoning our cruise. "We had happened to cast anchor 
 just off an extensive orange-grove ; and when we landed 
 with the ladies to explore its beauties, they became com- 
 pletely fascinated by the ideal charm of its position. 
 There was a delightful wooden summer-house in fact, 
 almost a summer cottage, except that it had only trellis 
 walls, over which crept heavy vines ; and there was a 
 gurgling brook of crystal water rippling past it, and wide- 
 spreading umbrageous trees, besides oranges and lemons, 
 and a lovely view over the Bay and the Island of Poros 
 opposite for this orange-garden was on the mainland. 
 
 " Can't you land us here, and leave us ? " exclaimed the 
 younger and the fairer of the ladies. " It will be quite, too 
 awfully quite, delicious ! " I don't think those were the 
 words she used, but they would have been had she spoken 
 seven-and-thirty years later. Ah me! she is seven-and- 
 thirty years older now, and has gathered moss of all sorts. 
 We had a most willing and intelligent Greek dragoman, 
 by name Demetri all Greek dragomans are Dernetris 
 and he assured us that he could guarantee the safety of 
 the ladies, if we liked to leave them under his charge. It 
 seemed rather a rash thing to do ; but that was a matter 
 for the consideration of the person responsible for them 
 and he was willing to take the risk, as were the ladies 
 themselves; so we landed them, bag and baggage. We 
 made a beautiful bower of bliss for them under the 
 orange-trees, with canvas and carpets and shawls, and
 
 AN ADVENTURE IN GREECE. 37 
 
 landed mattresses and cooking utensils, and everything 
 needful for a week's camping. Demetri, with the assist- 
 ance of a boy, undertook not merely to protect them, but 
 to procure supplies, cook for them, and wait upon them 
 generally; and so, with a parting injunction to these 
 deserted fair ones to betake themselves to the summer- 
 house in case of rain, we sailed away without having seen 
 a human being during the whole process of their installa- 
 tion on shore. We visited Hydra, and Poros, and Naxos, 
 and sundry other islands, landing at quiet coves where 
 there were no inconvenient officials to ask for our pass- 
 ports, and make us pay port-dues, shooting and fishing 
 and bathing ; and so to Argos, from whence we made an 
 excursion to Tiryns and Mycenae ; and so back to Poros, 
 feeling rather nervous and guilty as we approached that 
 port, and speculating upon the possible chances of mishap 
 which might have occurred to the ladies during our 
 week's absence. Our fears were set at rest as we neared 
 our anchorage, and perceived a great waving of pocket- 
 handkerchiefs ; but lo ! we discerned also the waving of a 
 hat ! This was the more remarkable as the Greek costume 
 was at that time almost universal, and a stove-pipe hat 
 did not form part of it ; so we pulled ashore full of curi- 
 osity, and were introduced by the ladies to a gentleman in 
 irreproachable Western costume the proprietor of the 
 garden, in fact. His residence was about two miles distant, 
 and he had been much surprised, on visiting his garden 
 the day after our departure, to find it occupied by two er- 
 rant damsels, protected only by a dragoman. Fortunately 
 he had spent some years of his life in civilised Europe, 
 and had now returned to his native laud with a fortune ;
 
 38 AN ADVENTURE IN GREECE. 
 
 so he could appreciate a lady when he saw one even in 
 unlawful occupation of his garden. So far from resenting 
 it, he was perfectly enchanted with an act of trespass 
 which had provided him such guests, and he had danced 
 attendance upon them from morning till night during all 
 the time of our absence. He had invited them to his 
 residence, where he had a wife and family ; but was evi- 
 dently so much relieved at his invitation being declined, 
 that it is probable that he kept the whole affair a secret, 
 as he seemed to enjoy the monopoly of his self-imposed 
 service. The result was that the camp was supplied 
 with every delicacy which the resources of the country 
 could supply in the way of comestibles, and numerous 
 articles of furniture were added to the slender stock of 
 those we had left behind ; so that, in spite of the waving 
 of pocket-handkerchiefs, I believe our reappearance, which 
 was to put an end to this romantic sojourn among the 
 Greek orange-groves, was viewed with regret rather than 
 otherwise.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 MY FIRST EXPERIENCES IN DIPLOMACY. 
 
 FROM Greece we went to Egypt, and spent a mouth on 
 the Nile, finally riding across the desert to Suez by the 
 route then supposed to have been the track of the Israel- 
 ites a theory which subsequent investigation has entirely 
 exploded. By this time all idea of Cambridge had been 
 given up, and I returned to Ceylon as my father's private 
 secretary. Here I spent three years, devoting my time 
 largely to sport as well as to law, my avocations and 
 amusements enabling me to travel over the island pretty 
 thoroughly. My residence here was further enlivened by 
 the excitement incident on what was called a rebellion in 
 the Kandyan Province a very trumpery affair, to which 
 I shall have occasion to refer later and by an expedition 
 which I made on the invitation of Jung Bahadoor, who 
 spent a few days in Ceylon, and whom I subsequently 
 accompanied to Nepaul. This visit into a little-known 
 and most interesting country, and the trip through India 
 which I afterwards made with the present Duke of West- 
 minster, the Hon. Mr Leveson Gower, and the Hon. Captain, 
 now Admiral Egerton, formed the subject of a book which
 
 40 MY FIRST EXPERIENCES IN DIPLOMACY. 
 
 I published a year later in England. Meantime I had got 
 called to the Ceylon bar, and had some curious legal experi- 
 ences, not the least of which was that at the age of twenty- 
 two I had been engaged in twenty-three murder cases. 
 This success, and the desire I had to bring out my book, 
 induced me to return to England for the purpose of being 
 called to the English bar. While I was engaged in this 
 very uninteresting operation, my journey to Nepaiil was 
 published by Murray, with such satisfactory results that 
 I became bitten with a mania for authorship. The diffi- 
 culty was to find something to write about : this I solved 
 by deciding to go to some out-of-the-way place, and do 
 something that nobody else had done. Unfortunately, I 
 had only the long vacation at my disposal. The only part 
 of Europe within reach, fulfilling the required conditions, 
 seemed to me to be Eussian Lapland, for I heard from an 
 Archangel merchant that the Kem and other rivers in 
 that region swarmed with guileless salmon who had never 
 been offered a fly, and that it would be easy to cross over 
 to Spitzbergen and get a shot at some white bears; be- 
 sides, too, it appeared probable that I should come across 
 other uncommon varieties of game. I propounded this 
 scheme to my friend Mr Oswald Smith, who agreed to 
 accompany me; and, well-equipped with the necessary 
 tackle, we started one day in August 1852 for the shores 
 of the White Sea. On our arrival at St Petersburg we 
 found, to our dismay, that we had to deposit the whole 
 value of our equipment in cash before we were allowed to 
 bring our guns and rods into the country, and then only 
 on the express condition that we should leave Eussia by 
 our port of entry. This disgusted us so much that we
 
 MY FIRST EXPERIENCES IN DIPLOMACY. -41 
 
 packed our whole sporting apparatus back to England 
 without entering them at all, and thus found ourselves 
 stranded in Kussia, and unable to carry out the object of 
 our journey. We therefore bent our steps southwards, 
 visited Moscow, the great fair at Nijni Novgorod, went 
 down the Volga, through the country of the Don Cossacks, 
 across the Sea of Azof, and all over the Crimea, finally 
 leaving Russia at Odessa, and returning home by way of 
 the Danube. As it turned out, I owed the Russian autho- 
 rities at St Petersburg a debt of the deepest gratitude for 
 the journey thus forced upon us in default of a better, as 
 the book which I wrote describing it, and especially the 
 Crimea, appeared at the moment that war was declared 
 by England against Russia, and a military expedition, 
 which should have for its objective point the Tauric pen- 
 insula, had been decided upon. 
 
 Thus it happened that in the early part of the year 
 1854, 1 was startled one morning by the clattering of a 
 mounted orderly, who reined up at the door of my modest 
 lodging in Half-Moon Street, and impressed my worthy 
 landlady with a notion of my importance which she had 
 not hitherto entertained, by handing her a letter which 
 required an immediate answer. I found it to contain a 
 request from Lord Raglan's chief of the staff, that I should 
 repair at once to the Horse Guards. As may be imagined, 
 I lost no time in obeying the summons. I was ushered 
 into a room containing a long table covered with maps, 
 and round which were standing several officers of rank, 
 among whom the only two that I remember, were Lord 
 de Ros and Sir John Burgoyne. The Commander-in- 
 chief himself was not present. The Crimea was at that
 
 42 MY FIRST EXPERIENCES IN DIPLOMACY. 
 
 time almost a terra incognita in England, and travellers 
 who had ever been actually inside the forbidden precincts 
 of Sebastopol itself were rare. 
 
 It so happened that we had spent two or three hours 
 within the walls of that celebrated fortress, and I \vas 
 now summoned to tell the chiefs of the expedition all 
 I knew about it. Sir John Burgoyne told me that he had 
 just been examining a Pole, who had given him an ac- 
 count of the serious character of the fortifications on the 
 land side which did not altogether tally with other in- 
 formation he had received, and he begged me to give him 
 the result of my observations. I assured him that if any 
 such fortifications on the land side existed, they must 
 have been erected since my visit. We had entered the 
 town from Balaclava, and I must certainly have remem- 
 bered passing through them. I was therefore prepared 
 most positively to assert that, in October 1852, there was 
 no more impediment to an army, which should effect a 
 landing at Balaclava, from marching into Sebastopol, than 
 there would be for an army to march into Brighton from 
 the downs behind it ; and I felt sure that my travelling 
 companion, Mr Oswald Smith, would, if further evidence 
 were required, confirm this statement. At the same 
 time, I had, without any pretension to a knowledge of 
 military tactics, amused myself, as soon as a hostile in- 
 vasion of Eussia was determined upon, in forming quite 
 another plan of campaign, which consisted in a combined 
 attack upon the Isthmus of Perekop, by way of the Gulf 
 of Perekop on the west and the Sea of Azof on the east. 
 The capture of the small fort there would have cut off 
 the whole of the Crimea, to which very few troops had
 
 MY FIRST EXPERIENCES IN DIPLOMACY. 43 
 
 yet been transported. It would have been impossible for 
 Eussia to reinforce Sebastopol, either by sea or laud, and 
 the fall of that fortress, provided that the Allies could 
 have maintained their position at Perekop, would simply 
 have been a question of time. "We should have stood 
 upon the defensive against Eussia at a position of great 
 natural strength, instead of on the offensive against her, 
 at the point where, as it afterwards turned out, the genius 
 of Todleben made her impregnable for a year. 
 
 The capture of Kertch and Theodosia would have given 
 us command of the resources of the Crimea; and the 
 defeat of the garrison of Sebastopol, had it ventured out 
 to attack us, would not only have sealed the fate of that 
 garrison, but would have given us the whole peninsula, 
 which we should have held as a permanent guarantee; 
 and then if Eussia still refused to come to terms, we 
 should, by leaving a sufficiently strong force to defend 
 Perekop, have been free to transfer the scene of our opera- 
 tions to the Caucasus and the provinces beyond it. I 
 ventured, after giving Sir John Burgoyne all the informa- 
 tion in my power as to the defences of Sebastopol, the 
 apparent strength of its garrison, and so forth, to point to 
 Perekop as a weak spot ; but, of course, could only do this 
 with the greatest diffidence. So far as I can remember, 
 he listened without making any remark ; at all events, I 
 soon felt so much impressed with a sense of my own pre- 
 sumption in volunteering a plan of campaign, that I con- 
 fined myself to a mere hint of it ; but I have often won- 
 dered, if the whole thing had to be done over again, 
 whether it would be attempted the same way as before. 
 
 The immediate prospect of a war in the East had the
 
 
 44 MY FIRST EXPERIENCES IN DIPLOMACY. 
 
 effect of utterly unsettling my mind, so far as my legal 
 studies were concerned. I had determined in my first 
 enthusiasm to come to the Scotch bar as well as the 
 English, and was indeed ultimately called to both ; but the 
 world at large seemed such a much bigger oyster to open 
 than my neighbour's pockets, that I never even went to the 
 expense of buying a wig and gown, while the absurdity of 
 perpetually paying for dinners at Lincoln's Inn that I 
 never ate, induced me at last to disbar myself. Meantime 
 I was extremely anxious to take part in the Crimean 
 campaign in some capacity or other, and should have 
 accepted an offer of the late Mr Delane to go out as 
 'Times' correspondent, had not Lord Clarendon kindly 
 held out hopes that he would send me out when an oppor- 
 tunity offered. It was while anxiously awaiting this that 
 Lord Elgin proposed that I should accompany him to 
 Washington on special diplomatic service as secretary, 
 and as the mission seemed likely to be of short duration, 
 I gladly accepted the offer, in the hope that I might be 
 back in time to find employment in the East before the 
 war was over. 
 
 The mission to which I was now attached arose out of 
 the unsatisfactory nature of the commercial relations ex- 
 isting between Canada and the United States, and the 
 futile attempts, lasting over a period of seven years, 
 which had been from time to time made to put them upon 
 a better footing, and which finally determined the English 
 Government to send the Earl of Elgin, then Governor- 
 General of Canada, to Washington, with instructions to 
 negotiate a treaty of commercial reciprocity between the 
 two countries. Our party, on leaving England, consisted
 
 
 
 MY FIRST EXPERIENCES IN DIPLOMACY. 45 
 
 only of Lord Elgin ; Mr Hiucks, then Prime Minister of 
 Canada, afterwards Sir Francis Hincks ; Captain Hamil- 
 ton, A.D.C. ; and myself : but at New York we were joined 
 by the Hon. Colonel Bruce, and one or two Canadians, 
 whose advice and assistance in the commercial questions 
 to be treated were of value. 
 
 We happened to arrive at Washington on a day which, 
 as it afterwards turned out, was pregnant with fate to the 
 destinies of the republic, for upon the same night the cele- 
 brated Nebraska Bill was carried in Congress, the effect of 
 which was to open an extensive territory to slavery, and 
 to intensify the burning question which was to find its 
 final solution seven years later in a bloody civil war. 
 
 We found the excitement so great upon our arrival in 
 Washington in the afternoon, that after a hurried meal 
 we went to the Capitol to see the vote taken. I shall never 
 forget the scene presented by the House. The galleries 
 were crammed with spectators, largely composed of ladies, 
 and the vacant spaces on the floor of the House crowded 
 with visitors. The final vote was taken amid great enthu- 
 siasm, a hundred guns being fired in celebration of an 
 event which, to those endowed with foresight, could not 
 be called auspicious. I remember a few nights afterwards 
 meeting a certain Senator Tombs at a large dinner given 
 by one of the most prominent members of Congress who 
 has since filled the office of Secretary of State in Lord 
 Elgin's honour. It was a grand banquet, at which all the 
 guests were men, with the exception of the wife of our 
 host. He himself belonged to the Republican, or, as it 
 was then more generally called, the Whig party. Not- 
 withstanding the divergence of political opinion among
 
 46 MY FIRST EXPERIENCES IN DIPLOMACY^ 
 
 many of those present, the merits of the all-absorbing 
 measure, and its probable effects upon the destinies of the 
 nation, were being discussed freely. Senator Tfrmbs* a 
 violent Democrat, was a large pompous man, witha 
 
 tendency, not uncommon among American politicians, 
 
 ' 
 
 to "orate" rather than to converse in ( society. He waited 
 for a pause in the discussion, and then, addressing Lord 
 
 V 
 
 Kl'ji n in stentorian tones, remarked, apropos of the engros- 
 sing topic 
 
 "Yes, my lord, we are about to relume the torch of 
 liberty upon the altar of slavery." 
 
 Upon which our hostess, with a winning smile, and^n 
 the most silvery accents imaginable, said 
 
 " Oh, I am so glad to hear you say that again, Senator ; 
 for I told my husband you had made use of exactly the 
 same expression to me yesterday, and he said you would 
 not have talked such nonsense to anybody but a woman ! " 
 
 The shout of laughter which greeted this sally abashed 
 even the worthy senator, which was the more gratifying to 
 those present, as to do so was an achievement not easily 
 accomplished. 
 
 When the war broke out, Senator Tombs was among the 
 fiercest and most uncompromising partisans of the South. 
 He was one of the members of Jefferson Davis's Cabinet, 
 and I believe only succeeded with some difficulty, at the 
 conclusion of hostilities, in making his escape from the 
 South. He remained to the last a prominent political 
 figure, and only died quite recently. 
 
 It was the height of the season when we were at 
 Washington, and our arrival imparted a new impetus to 
 the festivities, and gave rise to the taunt, after the treaty
 
 MY FIEST EXPERIENCES IN DIPLOMACY. 47 
 
 & 
 
 \\(\< concluded, by those who were opposed to it, that "it 
 
 had been floated through on champagne." Without 
 altogether admitting this, there can be no doubt that, in 
 the hands of a skilful diplomatist, that beverage is not 
 without its value. Looking through an old journal, I find 
 the following specimen entry : 
 
 " Map 26. Lunclfeon at 2 P.M. at Senator F.'s. Sat 
 between a Whig anda Democrat senator, who alternately 
 poured abolitionism^ and the divine origin of slavery into 
 the ear thsy commanded. I am getting perfectly stunned 
 with harangues upon political questions I don't understand, 
 and confused with the nomenclature appropriate to each. 
 Besses Whigs and Democrats, there are Hard Shells and 
 Soft hells, and* Free-Soilers, and Disuriionists, and 
 Federals, to say* nothing, of filibusters, pollywogs, and' a 
 host of other nicknamesr One, ^)f" my neighbours, dis- 
 coursing on one of these varied issiies, told me that he 
 went the whole hog. He was the least favourable -specimen 
 of a senator I have ee, and I felt inclined to tell Jiim 
 that he looked the animaVhe went, but smiled appreciatively 
 instead. There were, howev4|& some interesting men 
 present, among them Gblonel Fremont, a spare wiry man 
 with a keen grey eye, and a face expressing great' deter- 
 mination, but most sympathetic withal ; and a senator from 
 Washington Territory? which involves a journey of seventy" 
 days each way ; and. another from Florida, who, from his* 
 account of the country, represents principally alligators; 
 and Colonel Benton, who is writing a great work^ and is 
 ' quite a fine man ' ; and the Governor of Wisconsin, whose 
 State has increased in population in ten years from 30,000 
 to 500,000, and who told me that he 'met a man the other
 
 48 MY FIRST EXPERIENCES IN DIPLOMACY. 
 
 
 clay who had travelled over the whole globe, and examined it 
 
 narrowly with an eye to its agricultural capabilities, and 
 who therefore was an authority not to be disputed ; and this 
 man had positively asserted that he had never in any coun- 
 try seen fifty square miles to equal that extent in the State 
 of Wisconsin and therefore it was quite clear that no spot 
 equal to it was to be found in creation.' As various other 
 patriots have informed me that their respective States are 
 each thus singularly favoured, I am beginning to feel 
 puzzled as to which really is the most fertile spot on the 
 face of the habitable globe. After two hours and a half 
 of this style of conversation, abundantly irrigated with 
 champagne, it was a relief to go to a matinte dansante at 
 the French Minister's." 
 
 Here follow remarks upon the belles of that period at 
 Washington, which, though they are for the most part 
 complimentary, are not to the purpose, more especially as 
 they were the result of a crude and youthful, and not of 
 a matured judgment. 
 
 " Got away from the French Minister's just in time to 
 dress for dinner at the President's. More senators and 
 politics, and champagne, and Hard Shells and Soft Shells. 
 I much prefer the marine soft-shell crab, with which I 
 here made acquaintance for the first time, to the political 
 one. Then with a select party of senators, all of whom 
 were opposed in principle to the treaty, to Governor A.'s, 
 where we imbibed more champagne and swore eternal 
 friendship, carefully avoided the burning question, and 
 listened to stories good, bad, and indifferent, till 2 A.M., 
 when, after twelve hours of incessant entertainment, we 
 went home to bed thoroughly exhausted."
 
 MY FIRST EXPERIENCES IN DIPLOMACY. 49 
 
 Meantime, to my inexperienced mind no progress was 
 being made in our mission. Lord Elgin had announced 
 its object on his arrival to the President and the Secretary 
 of State, and had been informed by them that it was quite 
 hopeless to think that any such treaty as he proposed 
 could be carried through, with the opposition which 
 existed to it on the part of the Democrats, who had a 
 majority in the Senate, without the ratification of which 
 body no treaty could be concluded. His lordship was 
 further assured, however, that if he could overcome this 
 opposition, he would find no difficulties on the part of 
 the Government. At last, after several days of unin- 
 terrupted festivity, I began to perceive what we were 
 driving at. To make quite sure, I said one day to my 
 chief 
 
 "I find all my most intimate friends are Democratic 
 senators." 
 
 " So do I," he replied, drily : and indeed his popularity 
 among them at the end of a week had become unbounded ; 
 and the best evidence of it was that they ceased to feel 
 any restraint in his company, and often exhibited traits 
 of Western manners unhampered by conventional tram- 
 mels. Lord Elgin's faculty of brilliant repartee and racy 
 anecdote especially delighted them ; and one evening, 
 after a grand dinner, he was persuaded to accompany a 
 group of senators, among whom I remember Senator 
 Mason afterwards of Mason and Slidell notoriety and 
 Senator Tombs figured, to the house of a popular and very 
 influential politician, there to prolong the entertainment 
 into the small hours. Our host, at whose door we knocked 
 at midnight, was in bed ; but much thundering at it at 
 
 D
 
 50 MY FIRST EXPERIENCES IN DIPLOMACY. 
 
 length roused him, and he himself opened to us, appearing 
 in nothing but a very short night-shirt. 
 
 " All right, boys," he said, at once divining the object 
 of our visit ; " you go in, and I'll go down and get the 
 drink;" and without stopping to array himself more 
 completely, he disappeared into the nether regions, shortly 
 returning with his arms filled with bottles of champagne, 
 on the top of which were two huge lumps of ice. These he 
 left with us to deal with, while he retired to clothe the 
 nether portion of his person. He was a dear old gentle- 
 man, somewhat of the Lincoln type, and had the merit of 
 being quite sober, which some of the others of the party 
 were not, and though thus roughly roused from his first 
 sleep, expressed himself highly delighted with our visit. 
 He was, moreover, evidently a great character, and many 
 were the anecdotes told about him in his own presence, 
 all bearing testimony to his goodness of heart and readi- 
 ness of wit. At last one of the party, in a fit of exuberant 
 enthusiasm and excessive champagne, burst out 
 
 " As for our dear old friend the Governor here, I tell 
 you, Lord Xgine" the accent was frequently laid on the 
 last syllable, and the g in Elgin pronounced soft, "he 
 is a perfect king in his own country. There ain't a man 
 in Mussoorie dar say a word against him ; if any of your 
 darned English lords was to go down there and dar to, 
 he'd tell them " here followed an expression which 
 propriety compels me to omit, and which completely 
 scandalised our worthy host. 
 
 " That's a lie," he said, turning on his guest, but with- 
 out changing his voice, as he slowly rolled his quid of 
 tobacco from one cheek to the other. " I can blaspheme,
 
 MY FIRST EXPERIENCES IN DIPLOMACY. 51 
 
 and profane, and rip, and snort with any man; but I 
 never make use of a vulgar expression." 
 
 The impoliteness of the allusion to the British aris- 
 tocracy, in Lord Elgin's presence, which called forth this 
 strong asseveration on the part of the Governor, also 
 evoked many profuse apologies from sojne of the others 
 present, who maintained that, if all English lords were 
 like him, and would become naturalised Americans, they 
 would "run the country"; and that, so far as he was 
 individually concerned, it was a thousand pities he had 
 not been born an American, and thus been eligible for the 
 Presidency. Certainly it would not have been difficult to 
 be more eligible for that high office than the respectable 
 gentleman who then filled it. Of all Presidents, I sup- 
 pose none were more insignificant than Mr Pierce, who 
 was occupying the White House at the time of our visit ; 
 while in his Secretary of State, Mr Marcy, we found a 
 genial and somewhat comical old gentleman, whose popu- 
 larity with his countrymen seemed chiefly to rest on the 
 fact that he had once charged the United States Govern- 
 ment fifty cents " for repairing his breeches," when sent 
 on a mission to inquire into certain accounts in which 
 great irregularities were reported to have taken place. 
 
 Thirty-two years have doubtless worked a great change 
 in Washington society, as indeed it has upon the nation 
 generally, and more especially upon the eastern cities, 
 since I first knew them. Then, Washington, " the city of 
 magnificent distances," struck me as a howling wilderness 
 of deserted streets running out into the country, and end- 
 ing nowhere, its population consisting chiefly of politicians 
 and negroes. Now, it is developing rather into a city of
 
 52 MY FIRST EXPERIENCES IN DIPLOMACY. 
 
 palaces, and becoming a fashionable centre during the 
 winter for the diU of society, from all parts of the United 
 States. Its population is growing rapidly under the 
 new impetus thus received, and it will in all probability 
 ultimately become the handsomest and most agreeable 
 place of residency in the country. At the time of our 
 visit Sir Philip Crampton was British Minister at Wash- 
 ington, and under his hospitable roof I remember meeting 
 Lincoln, and being struck by his gaunt figure, and his 
 quaint and original mode of expression. 
 
 I cannot convey a better idea of the effect produced 
 upon society by our festive proceedings at Washington 
 than by quoting the following extract from a paper at the 
 time describing the ball given by Sir Philip Crampton in 
 honour of the Queen's birthday : 
 
 "As for the ladies present, our pen fairly falters in the 
 attempt to do justice to their charms. Our artists and modistes 
 had racked their brains, and exhausted their magazines of 
 dainty and costly fabrics, in order to convince the world in 
 general, and the English people in particular, that the sovereign 
 fair ones of Washington regarded their sister sovereign of Eng- 
 land with feelings, not only of 'the most distinguished con- 
 sideration,' but of downright love, admiration, and respect, 
 love, for the woman admiration, for the wife of the hand- 
 somest man in Europe and respect, for the mother of nine 
 babies. More was accomplished last evening in the way of 
 negotiation than lias been accomplished from the days of Ash- 
 burton to the advent of Elgin. We regard the fishery question 
 as settled, both parties having partaken freely of the bait so 
 liberally provided by the noble host. 
 
 "Amid the soft footfalls of fairy feet the glittering of 
 jewels the graceful sweep of $500 dresses the sparkling
 
 MY FIUST EXPERIENCES IN DIPLOMACY. 53 
 
 of eyes which shot forth alternately flashes of lightning and 
 love there were two gentlemen who appeared to be the 
 ' observed of all observers.' One was the Earl of Elgin, and 
 the other Sir Charles Gray. Lord Elgin is a short, stout 
 gentleman, on the shady side of forty, and is decidedly Johu 
 Bullish in walk, talk, appearance, and carriage. His face, 
 although round and full, beams with intellect, good feeling, 
 and good-humour. His manners are open, frank, and winning. 
 Sir Charles Gray is a much larger man than his noble country- 
 man, being both taller and stouter. He is about sixty years of 
 age, and his manners are particularly grave and dignified. 
 
 " The large and brilliant company broke up at a late hour, 
 and departed for their respective homes, pleased with their 
 courtly and courteous host ; pleased with the monarchical form 
 of government in England ; pleased with the republican form 
 of government in the United States ; pleased with each other, 
 themselves, and the rest of mankind." 
 
 At last, after we had been receiving the hospitalities at 
 Washington for about ten days, Lord Elgin announced to 
 Mr Marcy, that if the Government were prepared to 
 adhere to their promise to conclude a treaty of reciprocity 
 with Canada, he could assure the President that he would 
 find a majority of the Senate in its favour, including 
 several prominent Democrats. Mr Marcy could scarcely 
 believe his ears, and was so much taken aback that I 
 somewhat doubted the desire to make the treaty, which 
 he so strongly expressed on the occasion of Lord Elgin's 
 first interview with him, when he also pronounced it 
 hopeless. However, steps had been taken which made 
 it impossible for him to doubt tliat the necessary majority 
 had been secured, and nothing remained for us but to go 
 into the details of the tariff', the enumeration of the articles
 
 54 MY FIRST EXPERIENCES IN DIPLOMACY. 
 
 of commerce, and so forth. A thorny question was inti- 
 mately associated with the discussion of this treaty, which 
 was settled by it for the time ; and this was the question 
 of the fisheries off the coasts of British North America, 
 claimed by American fishermen. This vexed subject, 
 which was reopened by the abrogation of the treaty, has 
 recently been the matter of protracted negotiation between 
 the English and American Governments ; which, however, 
 has proved so imperfect that serious disputes are da'ily 
 arising, which it will, require all the tact and forbearance 
 of the English and American Governments to arrange 
 amicably. 
 
 For the next three days I was as busily engaged in 
 work as I had been for the previous ten at play ; but the 
 matter had to be put through with a rush, as Lord Elgin 
 was due at the seat of his Government. And, perhaps, 
 under the circumstances, we succeeded better so than had 
 longer time been allowed the other side for reflection. As 
 it was, the worthy old Secretary of State was completely 
 taken by surprise. I will venture to quote the description 
 I wrote at the time of the signing of the treaty, and ask 
 the reader to make allowance for the style of mock heroics, 
 and attribute it to the exuberance of youth : 
 
 "It was in the dead of night, during the last five 
 minutes of the 5th of June, and the first five minutes 
 of the 6th of the month aforesaid, that four individuals 
 might have been observed seated in a spacious chamber 
 lighted by six wax candles and an Argand lamp. Their 
 faces were expressive of deep and ^jnest thought, not 
 unmixed with suspicion. Their feelings, however, to the 
 acute observer, manifested themselves in different ways;
 
 MY FIRST EXPERIENCES IN DIPLOMACY. 55 
 
 but this was natural, as two were in the bloom of youth, 
 one in the sear and yellow leaf, and one in the prime of 
 middle age. This last it is whose measured tones alone 
 break the silence of midnight, except when one or other 
 of the younger auditors, who are both poring intently over 
 voluminous MSS., interrupts him to interpolate an ' and ' 
 or erase a ' the.' They are, in fact, checking him as he 
 reads ; and the aged man listens, while he picks his teeth 
 with a pair of scissors, or cleans out the wick of a candle 
 with their points, which he afterwards wipes on his grey 
 hair. He may occasionally be observed to wink, either 
 from conscious 'cuteness or unconscious drowsiness. Pres- 
 ently the clock strikes twelve, and there is a doubt 
 whether the date should be to-day or yesterday. There 
 is a moment of solemn silence, when the reader, having 
 finished the document, lays it down, and takes a pen 
 which had been previously impressively dipped in the ink 
 by the most intelligent-looking of the young men, who 
 appears to be his ' secretary,' and who keeps his eye warily 
 fixed upon the other young man, who occupies the same 
 relation to the aged listener with the scissors. 
 
 " There is something strangely mysterious and sugges- 
 tive in the scratching of that midnight pen, for it may 
 be scratching fortunes or ruin to toiling millions. Then 
 the venerable statesman takes up the pen to append his 
 signature. His hand does not shake, though he is very 
 old, and knows the abuse that is in store for him from 
 members of Congress and an enlightened press. That 
 hand, it is sai^u not all unused to a revolver ; and it 
 does not now TO^r, though the word he traces may be 
 an involver of a revolver again. He is now Secretary of
 
 56 MY FIRST EXPERIENCES IN DIPLOMACY. 
 
 State ; before that, he was a judge of the Supreme Court ; 
 before that, a general in the army ; before that, governor 
 of a State; before that, Secretary of War; before that, 
 minister in Mexico ; before that, a member of the House 
 of Eepresentatives ; before that, a politician ; before that, 
 a cabinet-maker. He ends, as he began, with cabinet- 
 work; and he is not, at his time of life and with his 
 varied experiences, afraid either of the wrath of his 
 countrymen or the wiles of an English lord. So he 
 gives us his blessing and the treaty duly signed; and 
 I retire to dream of its contents, and to listen in my 
 troubled sleep to the perpetually recurring refrain of the 
 three impressive words with which the pregnant docu- 
 ment concludes ' Unmanufactured tobacco. Eags ! ' ' 
 
 Thus was concluded in exactly a fortnight a treaty, to 
 negotiate which had taxed the inventive genius of the 
 Foreign Office and all the conventional methods of di- 
 plomacy for the previous seven years, and which, as it 
 has since proved, has been of enormous commercial ad- 
 vantage to the two countries to which it was to be applied. 
 A reference to figures will furnish the most satisfactory 
 evidence on this point. 
 
 In 1853, the year prior to our mission to Washington, 
 the trade of Canada with the United States amounted 
 to $20,000,000, as recently given from correct data, by 
 the 'Toronto Mail.' In 1854 the treaty commenced to 
 operate, and the volume of trade at once increased to 
 $33,000,000. In 1855, it was $42,000,000; in 1857, 
 $46,000,000 ; in 1859, 848,000,000; in 1863, 855,000,000; 
 in 1864, $67,000,000 ; in 18G5, 871,000,000 ; and in 1866, 
 the year the treaty was abrogated by the action of the
 
 MY FIRST EXPERIENCES IN DIPLOMACY. 57 
 
 American Government, it had reached the high figure 
 of $84,000,000. It had thus nearly quadrupled in the 
 course of twelve years under the action of the treaty, 
 which the Americans erroneously believed to be so much 
 more to the advantage of the Canadians than of them- 
 selves, that they seized the earliest available opportunity, 
 after the term fixed for its expiry, to abrogate it, a 
 measure dictated, I fear, rather by sentiments of jealousy 
 than of political economy, and from which the States 
 suffer certainly as much if not more than Canada, whose 
 trade with the mother country has latterly undergone 
 considerable development in consequence. 
 
 The brilliant and dashing manner in which Lord Elgin 
 achieved this remarkable diplomatic triumph, apparently 
 certain of his game from the first, playing it throughout 
 with the easy confidence of assured success, made a pro- 
 found impression upon me an impression which I had 
 no reason to modify throughout a subsequent intimate 
 association with him of three years in two hemispheres 
 during which he was nearly all the time engaged in con- 
 fronting difficulties and overcoming obstacles which I used 
 to think to any other man would have seemed insurmount- 
 able. As one by one they melted before his subtle touch, 
 my confidence in his profound sagacity and his undaunted 
 moral courage became unbounded ; and I could enter in- 
 to the feelings of soldiers whose general never led them 
 to anything but victory. It was both a pleasure and a 
 profit to serve such a man; a pleasure, because he was 
 the kindest and most considerate of chiefs a profit, 
 because one could learn so much by watching his 
 methods, which indeed he was always ready to discuss
 
 58 MY FIRST EXPERIENCES IN DIPLOMACY. 
 
 and explain to those who occupied confidential relations 
 towards him. By his premature death the country lost 
 one of its most conscientious and ablest public servants- 
 one whose services, and whose great capacity for render- 
 ing them, have never received their just recognition at the 
 hands of his countrymen. 
 
 Our progress from New York to Canada was triumphal. 
 On our arrival by a special train at Portland, Maine, we 
 were received with the thunder of salutes, and went in 
 procession to the house of one of the leading citizens, with 
 bands of music, and flags, and escorts, mounted and on 
 foot, the whole of the gallant militia having turned out to 
 do Lord Elgin honour. A characteristic incident occurred 
 prior to our starting for a banquet at the city hall. While 
 we were assembled in the drawing-room of our host, a tray 
 with various kinds of wines and spirits was brought in, 
 and our hospitable entertainer remarked 
 
 " You'll have to take your liquor in here, gentlemen ; 
 for I guess you'll get none where we're going to. We've 
 got a liquor law in Maine, you know," he added, with a 
 sly look at the tray. 
 
 Drinking all you want before dinner is not a satisfac- 
 tory way of " taking it in." However, we made the best 
 of it, and soon found ourselves seated at a table plenti- 
 fully supplied with tumblers of water, at which were two 
 hundred guests. I am bound to say, considering the ab- 
 sence of stimulants, there was no lack of noise and merri- 
 ment; and when dinner was over, speeches followed in 
 rapid succession, in response to toasts and sentiments. 
 Lord Elgin was facile princeps in this respect, and his 
 speeches provoked enthusiastic applause. He brought
 
 MY FIRST EXPERIENCES IN DIPLOMACY. 59 
 
 down the house by a retort upon one of the speakers whose 
 good taste was not equal to his patriotism, and who took 
 the opportunity of comparing the position and functions 
 of the governor of a State with those of the Governor- 
 General of Canada, much to the disparagement of the 
 latter. Alluding in one of his speeches to the uncompli- 
 mentary parallel thus drawn, Lord Elgin said he wouldj 
 narrate an anecdote. In the course of his travels in the 
 United States he had one day found himself next a stage- 
 driver, with whom he entered into conversation as to the 
 political parties in the States. The driver informed him 
 that the majority in the State was Whig, but that the 
 governor of it was a Democrat. 
 
 " How comes that about, if the majority are Whigs ? " 
 inquired Lord Elgin. 
 
 "Oh," replied the driver, "we traded the governor off 
 against the land agent." 
 
 "Now, gentlemen," pursued his lordship, amid loud 
 laughter, "you could not trade the Governor-General of 
 Canada off against any land agent." 
 
 All the way from the Canadian frontier to Montreal 
 arches were erected, addresses presented, and all the para- 
 phernalia of a triumphal progress exhibited. British 
 troops lined the streets of Montreal, and a large procession 
 attended the party to the hotel ; we did not linger here, 
 however, but pushed on without delay to the seat of 
 Government.
 
 * 
 60 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 POLITICS AND INDIAN AFFAIKS IN CANADA. 
 
 I DO not remember ever having been more vividly im- 
 pressed by the beauties of nature than on that lovely 
 spring morning, when, in order to avoid any more demon- 
 strations, we landed unostentatiously from the steamer in 
 which we had descended the St Lawrence, at the foot of 
 the beautiful grounds which encircle Spencerwood, then 
 the residence of the Governor-General. Although it was 
 the llth of June, the trees were still in their spring garb 
 of tender green ; there was a delicious stillness in the air, 
 and a peculiar clearness and brilliancy in the light with 
 which the landscape was flooded, which enhanced its own 
 rare beauty; and as I now knew that I was to be a 
 dweller here for some months, I was enchanted by the 
 sort of fairyland that was to be my future residence. For 
 within the last twenty-four hours a new prospect had 
 dawned upon me. Although our Washington treaty was 
 completed, I was not, as I had originally anticipated, to 
 return at once to England, after accompanying Lord Elgin 
 to Canada, but to enter upon new functions for which I 
 was altogether unprepared. The exigencies of the service
 
 POLITICS AND INDIAN AFFAIRS IN CANADA. 61 
 
 compelled Lord Elgin's brother, Colonel Bruce, who had 
 hitherto filled the office of Civil Secretary of Canada and 
 Superintendent - General of Indian Affairs, to join his 
 regiment in the Crimea, and I was appointed to succeed 
 him. The department of Indian Affairs was then under 
 imperial control. It has, since confederation, been handed 
 over to the Dominion. 
 
 The novelty of the functions I was now called upon 
 suddenly to assume, invested my new position with great 
 interest. I soon began to realise this by the style of the 
 correspondence which poured in upon me. First came a 
 letter to the Queen from an Indian tribe, expressing to 
 their " Great Mother across the Big Lake " their sympathy 
 with the war in the Crimea, and the desire of the warriors 
 to participate in it ; and another addressed to myself, in 
 which the " red skins " write to their " great brother who 
 lives towards the sunrising, to express their confidence in 
 his administrative talents, which alone reconciles them to 
 the loss of their good brother [Colonel Bruce], who is now 
 upon the war-path." The colonel's paternal administra- 
 tion had rendered him very popular. No doubt his being 
 a " warrior " by profession was also a point in his favour ; 
 and I feared that they would consider me little better 
 than a "squaw," while their confidence in my adminis- 
 trative talents had about as solid a basis of knowledge as 
 their sympathy with the objects for which the Crimean 
 war was undertaken. The important political events 
 which transpired immediately on our arrival at Canada, 
 obliged me, however, to suppress for the present the 
 desire which began to consume me to make a closer ac- 
 quaintance with my red brothers, to visit the industrial
 
 62 POLITICS AND INDIAN AFFAIRS IN CANADA. 
 
 schools which my predecessor had established, and to 
 smoke the "calumet of peace" with them in their wig- 
 wams. 
 
 Lord Elgin's first act upon arriving at Quebec was to 
 open Parliament in state. The number of British troops 
 in those days quartered in Quebec rendered this a very 
 imposing ceremony, as the streets were lined with them. 
 The striking feature in the procession was the state car- 
 riage, in which I accompanied the Governor-General to the 
 House, and the panels of which were gaping with cracks and 
 splits, inflicted upon them by the mob of Montreal on the 
 occasion when they stoned his Excellency some years before, 
 and burned down the Parliament Houses. The carriage 
 had never been repaired since that event, in order that it 
 might serve to remind the populace of the measure to 
 which they had resorted in order to give vent to their feel- 
 ings. Until that time the party in power had been the 
 Tories, or loyalists, who found themselves in a minority 
 on the occasion of the passing of the Eebellion Losses 
 Bill, and who expressed their indignation on being turned 
 out of office to make way for those who commanded the 
 parliamentary majority, by these acts of violence. They 
 had been out of office for about six years, during which 
 time the leaders of the party had resented the constitutional 
 conduct of the Governor- General so keenly, that many of 
 them had ever since refused to set foot in Government 
 House, and even neglected to salute his Excellency in the 
 street. It was only as the result of the somewhat exciting 
 events upon which we were now entering, that they finally 
 came to understand that Lord Elgin did not allow himself 
 to be influenced by personal sympathies, and was deter-
 
 POLITICS AND INDIAN AFFAIRS IN CANADA. 63 
 
 mined to give effect to a parliamentary majority, of whom- 
 soever it might be composed. After several days' debate 
 the Government was beaten on an amendment to the ad- 
 dress, and Ministers determined to go to the country. Lord 
 Elgin came down a week after he had opened the House 
 to prorogue it, when a somewhat exciting episode occurred. 
 When the Commons were sent for, they refused to come. 
 The pause was in the highest degree embarrassing. The 
 Legislative Chamber, filled with an audience en grande 
 tenue Lord Elgin seated on the throne a silence, broken 
 only by a whispering and tittering, which did not add to 
 the dignity of the situation, all contributed to form a 
 unique political situation. At last, after the lapse of 
 nearly half an hour, the Speaker of the Lower House, 
 who had been engaged drawing up a protest against the 
 course which was being adopted, appeared, supported by 
 a large body of members, and read it a proceeding which 
 the Governor-General promptly met by declaring the House 
 dissolved ; and for the next few days a state of feverish 
 excitement pervaded political circles, the Opposition de- 
 claring the whole course of proceeding to be unconstitu- 
 tional, and the local Opposition press teeming with abusive 
 articles denouncing a tyranny which had deprived them of 
 their liberties. 
 
 Altogether the month had been in the highest degree 
 exciting and eventful ; for in the short space of four 
 weeks, Lord Elgin had negotiated and signed a treaty with 
 the American Government, made a triumphal progress from 
 Boston to Quebec, opened the Canadian Parliament, pro- 
 rogued and dissolved it. But though the difficulty had 
 been overcome, so far as any opposition to the treaty at
 
 64 POLITICS AND INDIAN AFFAIRS IN CANADA. 
 
 Washington was concerned, it had still to receive the 
 assent of all the Colonial Legislatures. In Nova Scotia 
 especially it was unpopular, owing to the fishery clauses ; 
 and it required the exercise of all the authority and tact 
 of the Governor-General to force the adoption of a measure 
 to which, as it afterwards turned out, that colony owed a 
 greater degree of prosperity than it has ever enjoyed be- 
 fore or since. In 1869, or four years after the Eeciprocity 
 Treaty of 1854 was abrogated, the ' Halifax ' remarks : 
 
 " From the making of the Eeciprocity Treaty until its abro- 
 gation, Nova Scotia increased in wealth and population at a 
 most extraordinary rate. From its abrogation until the present, 
 we have retrograded with the most frightful rapidity. "Want of 
 a good market has depreciated the value of our coal-mines has 
 nearly pauperised our fishermen, farmers, and miners ; and 
 should this want not be supplied in the only way it can be, by 
 a new treaty with the United States, Nova Scotia will in five 
 years be one of the least desirable countries to live in on tbis 
 continent." 
 
 This quotation affords an interesting illustration of the 
 incompetence of the popular judgment to arrive at accurate 
 conclusions in matters affecting the public interests ; for I 
 can bear personal testimony to the furious opposition 
 which the treaty encountered from all classes in the pro- 
 vince, from the Lieutenant-Governor downwards, at the 
 time it was proposed, and of the conviction generally 
 entertained that it would prove the ruin of the colony. 
 Under these circumstances the final result was satisfac- 
 tory beyond our most sanguine expectations, as may be 
 gathered from the fact that the treaty ultimately passed 
 through the Congress of the United States, and through
 
 POLITICS AND INDIAN AFFAIRS IN CANADA. 65 
 
 the Colonial Legislatures of Canada, New Brunswick, Nova 
 Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland, with a 
 total of only twenty-one dissentient votes. Had Canada 
 then been confederated, as it was fourteen years later, the 
 task would have been much easier. Unfortunately the 
 reaction predicted in the Nova Scotia newspaper has oc- 
 curred in that province, and the decline in its prosperity 
 is attributed to confederation. It is really due to the un- 
 satisfactory state of our relations with the United States 
 on the subject of the fisheries ; and if those were placed 
 upon a sound footing, the outcry against confederation 
 which has recently been raised in Nova Scotia would 
 soon die away. What is needed in Canada is an imperial 
 officer, who might still be called Civil Secretary, and be 
 attached to the Governor-General's staff, and whose func- 
 tions should be partly political and partly diplomatic. At 
 present, when delicate questions arise between the con- 
 federated provinces, involving a special mission and local 
 treatment, the settlement has necessarily to be intrusted 
 to an agent appointed by the Dominion Government 
 which means an agent of the political party then in power ; 
 and whatever arrangement he may make is certain to be 
 objected to by the Opposition. 
 
 This consequence of party government is unfortunately 
 not confined to Canada, and receives daily lamentable 
 illustrations in our own political performances at home. 
 So, in questions arising between Canada and the United 
 States, our Minister at Washington is necessarily guided 
 by the information and advice of the Canadian politicians 
 sent to assist him. And as whatever they do must be 
 wrong, in the opinion of the other side, the result is sure 
 
 E
 
 66 POLITICS AND INDIAN AFFAIRS IN CANADA. 
 
 to be severely and unfairly criticised. Whereas, if negotia- 
 tions of this character, whether as between the provinces 
 or with the United States Government, were intrusted to 
 an imperial officer thoroughly conversant with the ques- 
 tions at issue, outside of all local politics, and who could 
 not be suspected of being influenced by them, they would 
 meet with far less opposition on the part of local politi- 
 cians, and be arranged on a broader and more satisfactory 
 basis. Had such an officer existed, it is probable that 
 neither the British Columbia nor the North- West ques- 
 tions would have assumed the proportions they did; that 
 Newfoundland would ere this have been included in the 
 confederation ; that the discontent now existing in Nova 
 Scotia might have been appeased; and that the fishery 
 and other questions which are still outstanding with the 
 United States would have obtained a satisfactory solu- 
 tion. I received assurances from leading members of the 
 Dominion Government only a few years ago, that so far 
 from being opposed to the idea of availing themselves of 
 the good offices of an imperial functionary of this kind, 
 they would even be prepared to contribute to. his salary, 
 which could be added to from funds drawn from the 
 Foreign and Colonial Offices at home. The amount re- 
 quired would be very small, and would simply constitute 
 an increase on the present salary of the Governor's secre- 
 tary, whose position would naturally qualify him for the 
 exercise of these functions. In these days, when the idea 
 of imperial federation has assumed such prominence, such 
 appointments, calculated rather to soothe than to wound 
 sensibilities, would form additional traits iU union between 
 the mother country and her dependencies.
 
 POLITICS AND INDIAN AFFAIRS IN CANADA. 67 
 
 The excitement into which the whole country was 
 thrown by a Ministerial defeat, and a general election so 
 unexpected, created a social and political lull in Quebec 
 itself, which I was thankful to avail myself of, in order to 
 pay a round of visits to my " red children." This duty 
 was eminently to my taste ; it involved diving into the 
 depths of the backwoods, bark-canoeing on distant and 
 silent lakes or down foaming rivers, where the fishing was 
 splendid, the scenery most romantic, and camp-life at this 
 season of the year for it was now the height of summer 
 most enjoyable. It was a prolonged picnic, with just 
 enough duty thrown in to deprive it of any character of 
 selfishness. There were schools to inspect, councils to be 
 held, tribal disputes to be adjusted, presents to be distri- 
 buted, and, in one case, a treaty to be made. At nearly 
 all the stations there was a school or mission-house of 
 some kind, and here the meeting of the " warriors " and 
 the " young braves " with their " father " took place ; and 
 as I had barely attained the age of five-and-twenty when 
 these paternal responsibilities were thrust upon me, the 
 incongruity of my relation towards them, I am afraid, 
 presented itself somewhat forcibly to the minds of the 
 veterans on these occasions. It was a novel and exhilarat- 
 ing experience to paddle up in a sort of rude state at the 
 head of a train of canoes, and to be received by volleys 
 from rifles and fowling-pieces by way of a salute from all 
 the members of the tribe collected on the margin of the 
 lake or river, as the case might be, to receive me. Then 
 they would form in line and file past me, every man, 
 woman, and child shaking hands as they did so, and in 
 solemn procession escort me up to the place of meeting,
 
 
 68 POLITICS AND INDIAN AFFAIRS IN CANADA. 
 
 when, if it was a chapel, I mounted into the pulpit, and 
 solemnly lighting a pipe, waited till my audience were all 
 seated on their heels and had lighted theirs, before enter- 
 ing upon the business of the hour. This generally 
 terminated in a lecture upon temperance and industry; 
 for their love of spirituous liquors and their inveterate 
 indolence are the curse of these poor people, and render 
 them an easy prey to the more unscrupulous class of 
 white settlers, who systematically carry on a process of 
 demoralisation, with the view to their extermination, a 
 result which is being rapidly achieved. I do not know 
 whether my efforts to convince them that they were 
 themselves their own worst enemies, procured for me the 
 name of Pah Dah Sung, or " The Coming Sun " possibly 
 from the light I was expected to throw upon the subject. 
 
 My two most interesting experiences in connection with 
 my brief administration of Indian affairs in Canada, were 
 the distribution of annual presents upon the island of 
 Manitoulin, and a treaty which I succeeded in negotiating 
 with a tribe which owned an extensive tract of territory 
 upon the shores of Lake Huron. Manitoulin, which is 
 over a hundred miles in length, is said to be the largest 
 fresh-water island in the world, and was destined by a 
 former Governor-General of Canada Sir Francis Bond 
 Head as an eligible territory on which to make the 
 experiment of collecting Indians, with a view to their 
 permanent settlement and civilisation. It has not 
 succeeded, however, and at the time of my visit was the 
 rendezvous of thousands of Indians belonging to nuiny 
 different tribes, who, with their whole families, congregated 
 here to receive blankets, agricultural implements, and
 
 POLITICS AND INDIAN AFFAIRS IN CANADA. 69 
 
 other presents which it was hoped would conduce to their 
 welfare. These, correctly speaking, were not presents, as 
 they were purchased, from funds in the hands of the 
 Indian Department, whose principal function it was to 
 invest the large sums of money which had accrued to the 
 Indians from the sale of their land to white settlers, and 
 to apply the interest to their advantage. The collection 
 of birch-bark wigwams which surrounded the little har- 
 bour where I landed looked like a huge camp, and in 
 these were huddled a swarm of dirty occupants, some of 
 them having travelled hither from a great distance, 
 miserably clad in frousy blankets and skins. Here and 
 there were fine-looking picturesque figures, more gaudily 
 decorated with paints and feathers ; but, taking them as a 
 whole, I know of no nomads and I have seen Calmuck 
 Tartars, Kirghiez, Bedouins, and gipsies who presented a 
 more poverty-stricken and degraded appearance than did 
 the majority of my red children ! I was the more disap- 
 pointed with them in their savage state, because I expected 
 an improvement upon their semi- civilised brethren, with 
 whom I had hitherto come in contact. I believe the 
 annual congregation of Indians on this island, and distri- 
 bution of presents among them, has been discontinued by 
 the Dominion Government. 
 
 The occupation by the Indians of large tracts of country 
 eligible for settlement by whites, which they reserve as 
 hunting-grounds, from which they got nothing but a few 
 foxes and musk-rats, was a fruitful source of trouble to 
 the Department, as settlers were constantly unlawfully 
 squatting upon them, who had to be driven off. The 
 largest and only remaining one of these in the immediate
 
 70 POLITICS AND INDIAN APFAIKS IN CANADA, 
 
 vicinity of a thickly settled district, was called the 
 Sangeen Peninsula, a promontory extending into Lake 
 Huron, and containing about half a million of acres of 
 fine land. I determined to try and induce the tribe to 
 which this extensive tract belonged, and who practically 
 derived no revenue from it, to make a cession of it to the 
 Government for the purpose of having it sold in lots to 
 white settlers, the whole of the proceeds to belong to the 
 tribe, which would thus become one of the wealthiest in 
 the country. In order to do this, it was necessary to 
 undertake an expedition to a remote, and, in those days, 
 very inaccessible spot. My journey involved sundry 
 adventures by flood and fell, for I was nearly wrecked in 
 a small boat coasting along the shore of Lake Huron, and 
 lost in a swamp while endeavouring to follow the Indian 
 trail through the forest, where sometimes we only had the 
 " blaze " or places where the trees had been scored with 
 an axe to guide us. 
 
 On my arrival at my destination, I found all the males 
 of the tribe collected in a chapel where a native catechist 
 acted as interpreter, the tribe being a branch of the Chip- 
 peways. In order not to lose time, the meeting was con- 
 vened for 7 P.M., on the evening of my arrival. As usual 
 I opened the proceedings with a pipe and a speech from 
 the pulpit, the twelve elders of the tribe sitting imme- 
 diately below me on the ground, each with his pipe, and 
 forming the front row of a crowd of squatting men, all 
 smoking. My address was frequently interrupted by 
 what Fenimore Cooper calls " expressive ughs " ; and the 
 grunts and murmurs of the audience, expressive of their 
 disagreement with my proposal, were not encouraging.
 
 POLITICS AND INDIAN AFFAIRS IN CANADA. 71 
 
 A pause of at least ten minutes ensued after I had 
 finished, during which they all smoked vigorously. Then 
 their principal chief rose, and in an energetic speech set 
 forth his objections, which were received with grunts of 
 approval by the majority. Then another chief rose, who 
 seemed to be a man of some weight, and delivered himself 
 forcibly in the opposite sense. In the course of his re- 
 marks he made some observations apparently of a char- 
 acter uncomplimentary to the previous speaker, for a 
 fierce wrangle ensued, in which many took part, and in 
 which, when I came to understand it, I occasionally joined, 
 adding, by the advice of the catechist, fuel to the fire. 
 When the atmosphere had become sufficiently stormy, 
 it was already so smoky that I could not see across the 
 room, but perhaps that was partly owing to its being 
 illuminated only by a couple of tallow-dips, I, again by 
 the advice of my interpreter, retired, " to let them fight it 
 out," which, as he afterwards assured me, they did liter- 
 ally with their fists. As he believed himself to be pecuni- 
 arily interested, he remained to take part in the tn&Ut a 
 course of proceeding which I left him to reconcile with 
 his own conscience as a religious teacher. I reconciled it 
 to mine by the fact that my efforts were being directed 
 entirely in the interests of the Indians themselves, which 
 they were too stupid to understand. 
 
 It was past midnight when the catechist summoned me 
 from the little outhouse in which I had been waiting, with 
 the welcome intelligence that all the difficulties had been 
 overcome, and that the chiefs expressed themselves ready 
 to consent to the proposed arrangement. It seemed to 
 be my fate, while in America, to assist at the signing of
 
 72 POLITICS AND INDIAN AFFAIRS IN CANADA. 
 
 midnight treaties ; but on this occasion the scene was in- 
 finitely more novel and picturesque than on the previous 
 one. Bound a table below the pulpit, which was covered 
 with papers and maps, crowded a wild-looking group of 
 Indians, in blankets and leggings and mocassins, with their 
 bare arms and long straight black hair. Twelve of these 
 placed their totems opposite my signature, each totem con- 
 sisting of the rude representation of a bear, a deer, an otter, 
 a rat, or some other wild animal. 
 
 It was one o'clock in the morning before I set out with 
 a light heart, for I had the treaty in my pocket, on a two- 
 mile tramp through the forest in pitchy darkness to the 
 rude tavern at Southampton, then the extreme outpost of 
 civilisation, which did duty for a lodging ; but it was not 
 to find rest. The Indians all followed me ; and my host, 
 in anticipation of my triumphant return, had exhausted 
 the resources of the place in preparing a grand meal for 
 me, to which we Indians and all, with a sprinkling of 
 whites attracted by the excitement of the event sat down 
 at 4 A.M. The Indians, so lately at loggerheads, now 
 became reconciled over copious libations of whisky, under 
 the influence of which there was a general fraternisation 
 with the whites as well, who were in high spirits at the 
 prospect of so much new territory being opened up to set- 
 tlement, and who offered to give me a banquet if I would 
 only prolong my stay a day ; but on my declining this, 
 the whole crowd, red and white, when day broke, accom- 
 panied me to the river, and gave me three cheers as I fer- 
 ried across it on my return journey. 
 
 By means of the revenue derived from this cession of 
 Indian territory, I was enabled to reorganise the whole
 
 POLITICS AND INDIAN AFFAIRS IN CANADA. 73 
 
 financial system of the Indian Department, and to effect a 
 clear saving to the imperial exchequer of 13,000 a-year, 
 an economy with which Lord Taunton, then Colonial 
 Minister, expressed himself so well satisfied, that he was 
 kind enough to offer me a small lieutenant-governorship 
 in the West Indies, which I should have gratefully ac- 
 cepted had it not been for my preference for diplomatic 
 work, and desire to go to the seat of war in the Crimea. 
 
 The most distant Indian settlement I visited was in the 
 immediate neighbourhood of Lake Superior. Finding 
 myself so far west, I determined to return by a very 
 roundabout way, for the purpose of seeing some of the 
 country to the west of the lake. My companions were 
 Lord Bury, who had been for some time previously Lord 
 Elgin's guest at Quebec, and Messrs Petre and Clifford, 
 whom we met on Lake Superior, and with whom we made 
 a bark-canoe voyage from the western end of the lake to 
 the head- waters of the Mississippi, coming down that river 
 to Dubuque, from which place we crossed the prairies of 
 Illinois to Chicago, then a rising young city of 75,000 in- 
 habitants, and so by way of Niagara back to Quebec, a 
 trip which afforded me material for a book at the time, 1 
 and which is interesting now to look back upon as furnish- 
 ing the recollection of a country in which the Indian and 
 the buffalo still roamed, where the scream of the loco- 
 motive was then unheard, and where not an acre of land 
 was taken up by a white settler. It is now a thickly 
 peopled region, from which Indians and buffaloes have 
 alike retired, and where the traveller, instead of poling up 
 
 1 Minnesota and the Far West. By Laurence Oliphant. William 
 Blackwood & Sons : 1855.
 
 74 POLITICS AND INDIAN AFFAIRS IN CANADA. 
 
 a river in a bark-canoe can fly across the country by train, 
 and look forward at night to a comfortable hotel, instead 
 of the turf for a bed, and a lean-to of pine-branches for a 
 shelter. 
 
 In view of the future which I saw for the country, I 
 bought a town lot at the city of Superior, which then 
 consisted of one log-shanty and a tent, and to find which 
 I had to wade up to my knees in water, and cut my way 
 to it with a billhook. The city of Superior rose at one 
 time to contain about 1200 inhabitants; then was vic- 
 timised by a political intrigue, and, to use the expressive 
 phrase of a citizen, "bust up flat," so that the cottage 
 which I had built upon my lot, and which, had I been 
 wise enough to sell it at one moment, would have realised 
 a handsome profit, became worthless, and I had to sell the 
 doors and windows to pay the taxes, for the place was 
 deserted. Five years ago a slow upward movement com- 
 menced, and I accepted an offer which exactly covered 
 the money expended upon it during the previous five-and- 
 twenty years. Since then, I believe it has come under 
 the influence of what is called " a boom," and the purchaser 
 is in possession of a property which will yield him a large 
 return. Such are the ups and downs of western towns, 
 and of people who speculate in them. 
 
 The Canadian elections had been completed during my 
 absence from Quebec, and Lord Elgin opened the new 
 Parliament a few days after my return. I found that I 
 arrived just in time for another political crisis, as the 
 elections had resulted unfavourably for the Government. 
 The two great questions which it was Lord Elgin's great 
 ambition to settle before closing his term of office, were
 
 POLITICS AND INDIAN AFFAIRS IN CANADA. 75 
 
 the abolition of Seigneurial Tenure and the Secularisation 
 of the Clergy Beserves, which, in his speech from the 
 Throne, he recommended to the attention of the House. 
 To the settlement of both these questions in the popular 
 sense, the Opposition, or Tory party, had been vigorously 
 opposed. When, therefore, the Government was beaten 
 on the election of the Speaker, the fate of these measures 
 seemed somewhat critical. I was fortunately situated 
 for watching the progress of the parliamentary proceed- 
 ings, and the crisis resulting therefrom. By virtue of my 
 office, I had a seat on the floor of the House, without, 
 however, the right of voting or of speaking, except to 
 offer explanations in the event of any question affecting 
 the Indians coming up. I was thus present at all the 
 debates, and on excellent terms with the leaders of both 
 parliamentary parties. In fact I had practically all the 
 fun of being a member of the House without any of the 
 responsibilities, and after the vote on the Speaker was 
 taken, had sundry confidential meetings in the small hours 
 of the morning with the prominent men on both sides, the 
 result of which was, that I could not resist, in my excite- 
 ment, waking the Governor-General up at 5 A.M. to inform 
 him of the defeat of the Government, and what I had 
 learned since. The day following, the Prime Minister 
 placed his resignation in his Excellency's hands ; and to 
 the great astonishment of the public, as well as to his own, 
 Sir Allan M'Nab, who had been one of his bitterest 
 opponents ever since the Montreal events, was sent for to 
 form a Ministry Lord Elgin by this act satisfactorily 
 disproving the charge of having either personal or political 
 partialities in the selection of his Ministers. After some
 
 7G POLITICS AND INDIAN AFFAIRS IN CANADA. 
 
 little delay, Sir Allan succeeded in forming a Coalition 
 Ministry, which adopted the address of their predecessors 
 in toto, and thus committed themselves to passing the two 
 important measures alluded to in it, in exactly the same 
 sense as their opponents intended to do a sense which 
 they had always resisted. Meantime the Reciprocity 
 Treaty also passed unanimously, and the Governor-General 
 went down in state to give it the royal assent. 
 
 We immediately afterwards started on a tour through 
 Upper Canada, which was a triumphal progress through- 
 out the people, many of whom until lately had been his 
 Excellency's bitterest opponents, turning out en masse to 
 do him honour ; while at sundry banquets, and on other 
 numerous occasions when he was called upon to speak, 
 he explained to the people the advantages of the treaty he 
 had secured for them. In fact, a reaction of popularity 
 had set in ; and the defeat of the previous Administration, 
 which at first seemed an untoward circumstance to have 
 occurred so near the close of his government, proved the 
 most fortunate event for Lord Elgin's own reputation, for 
 it gave unanswerable evidence to the constitutionality of 
 his conduct, which had always been impugned. I cannot 
 do better than quote his own words on this subject : 
 
 " I have brought into office the gentlemen who made them- 
 selves for years most conspicuous and obnoxious for personal 
 hostility to myself, thus giving the most complete negative to 
 the allegation that I am swayed by personal motives in the 
 selection of my advisers ; and these gentlemen have accepted 
 office on the understanding that they will carry out in all 
 particulars the policy which I sketched out while my former 
 Administration was in office, thus proving that the policy in
 
 POLITICS AND INDIAN AFFAIES IN CANADA. 77 
 
 question is the only one suited to the country the only one 
 which an Administration can adopt. I do not see how the 
 blindest can fail to draw this inference from these facts. The 
 first thing which my new Administration have had to do is to 
 adopt and carry through the House the address responsive to 
 my speech from the Throne. This is, certainly for me, and 
 I hope for the country, the most fortunate wind-up of my con- 
 nection with Canada which could have been imagined." l 
 
 It was indeed a fortunate wind-up, and we determined 
 to celebrate it as such. For the last three months of our 
 residence at Quebec we lived in a perfect whirl of gaiety. 
 Balls, dinner and garden parties, and picnics, were the 
 order of the day. Society took the cue from Government 
 House, and I found, under the temptation of more con- 
 genial pursuits, my parliamentary attendance getting slack. 
 The delights of a Canadian winter, with its sleighing and 
 tobogganing parties, have become proverbial. Unfortu- 
 nately we only enjoyed one month of them, as Sir 
 Edmund Head, Lord Elgin's successor, had arrived, and 
 we merely remained a few weeks to facilitate the transfer 
 of the Government. Sir Edmund was so kind as to urge 
 me to remain with him in the office I was now filling ; 
 but the promise which Lord Clarendon had previously 
 made to find me employment in the East, where the 
 stirring nature of the events which were transpiring, 
 offered the strongest attraction, induced me to decline this 
 offer and to return to England with Lord Elgin, and Lord 
 Bury became my successor in Canada. When I left home 
 I had not expected to be absent above eight weeks, but 
 
 1 Extracts from the Letters of James, Earl of Elgin, to Mary Louisa, 
 Countess of Elgin, 1847-1862. Privately printed.
 
 78 POLITICS AND INDIAN AFFAIRS IN CANADA. 
 
 the same number of months would now nearly have elapsed 
 before our return to British soil. It was nevertheless with 
 a heavy heart that on a bitter morning towards the end of 
 December, with the thermometer 26 below zero, I left 
 Quebec; the streets were for the last time lined with 
 troops as we drove down to our place of embarkation, and 
 the greater part of the society was collected on the bank 
 of the St Lawrence, as, after taking an affectionate fare- 
 well of the friends with whom I had formed ties of warmer 
 friendship than is usual after so short a residence, we 
 stretched ourselves at the bottom of the bark-canoes in 
 which we were to be ferried across the broad bosom of 
 the river, at this time encumbered with huge ice-floes and 
 enshrouded in a dense fog. The traject is not without 
 danger, and is exciting in proportion. Our muscular boat- 
 men paddle us rapidly across the narrow lanes of swift 
 open water, haul us up on the ragged floes, and running 
 on the ice by the side of the canoes, rush us rapidly across 
 them, to plunge us into the river again on the other side, 
 until, after more than an hour's battling with the ice, we 
 find ourselves safely hauled up under the bank at Point 
 Levi. A few days afterwards I watched the outline of 
 the American continent fading on the horizon, and little 
 imagined as I did so that this was only the second of 
 twenty-two passages I was destined to make across the 
 Atlantic in the course of the ensuing seven-and-twenty 
 years.
 
 79 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CKIMEAN AND CIRCASSIAN EXPERIENCES. 
 
 OWING to the events related in the last chapter, nearly a 
 year had elapsed before I was again in a position to offer 
 my services to the Government for employment at the seat 
 of war, but Sebastopol was still holding out bravely, and 
 the public were getting impatient at a siege so protracted 
 and so barren of definite results. I was emboldened 
 thereby to publish a pamphlet, in which I suggested the 
 expediency of a campaign in the Caucasus, a part of the 
 world to which it was difficult to attract attention, until 
 the siege of Kars forced its strategic value upon public 
 notice. Feeling strongly the importance of a diversion 
 in this direction, and the use which might be made of 
 the Circassians, who were in a chronic state of guerilla 
 warfare with Russia, but with whom, during the year 
 that our own hostilities with that empire had lasted, we 
 had opened no relations, with the view of inviting their 
 co-operation and alliance, I proposed to Lord Clarendon 
 that I should undertake a mission to Schamyl, for the 
 purpose, if possible, of concerting some scheme with that 
 chieftain by which combined operations could be carried
 
 80 CRIMEAN AND CIRCASSIAN EXPERIENCES. 
 
 on, either with the Turkish contingent which was then 
 just organised by General Vivian, or with the Turkish 
 regular army. It had always seemed to me that to 
 ignore the existence of a race of brave and warlike 
 mountaineers, who were fanatic Moslems, fighting in the 
 heart of Eussia for their independence, and yet most 
 easily accessible by sea, was wilfully to cast aside a most 
 powerful weapon for attack which the fortune of war had 
 placed in our hands : we had only to land a strong Moslem 
 force at Sujak Kaleh, on the Black Sea coast, whether of 
 Beatson's Bashi-Bazouks, or Vivian's contingent, or Tur- 
 kish regulars, provided they were Moslems, to have the 
 whole male population of Circassia, every one a trained 
 warrior, flock to our standard. Such a force would have 
 the friendly mountains on its right flank to retreat to in 
 case of necessity, the river Kuban to protect its left flank, 
 and the rich plains which lie between the Kuban and the 
 mountains to march across. 
 
 The objective points of such an expedition would have 
 been the passes of Dariel and Derbend. These two moun- 
 tain defiles closed by an allied army of Circassians and 
 Turkish or irregular Moslem troops, all access into Trans- 
 caucasia would have been barred to Eussia except by way 
 of the Caspian Sea from Astrakhan a most difficult and 
 tedious operation, for in those days the steam-transport 
 upon it was too limited for the conveyance of an army 
 except in minute dribblets. The Eussian army in the 
 Caucasus, at that time under General Mouravieff, only 
 amounted to 60,000 men. The Transcaucasian Provinces 
 of Abkhasia, Mingrelia, Imeritia, Georgia, and Gouriel 
 were all of them disaffected to" Eussia, as I afterwards
 
 CRIMEAN AND CIRCASSIAN EXPERIENCES. 81 
 
 had an opportunity of knowing when I campaigned 
 through them, and being almost exclusively Christian, 
 would have welcomed with delight a Christian army 
 come to release them from the Muscovite yoke. This 
 army would only have had to contend with that under 
 Mouravieff, and would have operated in combination not 
 only with the force on the Kuban, holding the northern 
 passes, but with a Turkish army advancing from the direc- 
 tion of Kars. Mouravieff and his force would thus have 
 infallibly been caught in a trap, from which there was 
 positively no escape. Not only would Kars never have 
 fallen, but Eussia would have lost all her Transcaucasian 
 provinces to boot. At that time the allied armies, French, 
 English, and Italian, round Sebastopol numbered 150,000 
 men ; but even supposing none of these could be spared, 
 Turkey could have furnished a force of 50,000 men under 
 Omer Pasha, exclusive of the Kars troops, which, with 
 25,000 of Vivian's and Beatson's, would have sufficed for 
 the operation. 
 
 These considerations I urged so strongly on Lord Clar- 
 endon, that he determined to send me to Constantinople 
 with a letter to Lord Stratford de Eedcliffe, authorising 
 him to send me to Daghestan, in the Eastern Caucasus, 
 where Schamyl had his stronghold, for the purpose of 
 making certain overtures to him, at his lordship's own 
 discretion. Lord Stratford listened most sympathetically 
 to my proposal ; indeed he had been for months urging on 
 the Government that a campaign should be undertaken 
 without delay for the relief of Kars and of the rival 
 plans proposed, was by no means opposed to the opera- 
 tion being undertaken by way of the Caucasus, as a diver- 
 
 F
 
 82 CRIMEAN AND CIRCASSIAN EXPERIENCES. 
 
 sion to compel Mouravieff to raise the siege. He had also 
 sent Mr Lougworth to the coast of Circassia to communi- 
 cate with the Naib, SchamyTs lieutenant in the Western 
 Caucasus ; but he declined to commit himself to sanction- 
 ing my proposed expedition to Schamyl, on account of the 
 great personal risk which attached to such an enterprise. 
 Of the Naib's own messengers, which he despatched from 
 time to time from the Western to the Eastern Caucasus, 
 it was calculated that not more than one in three ever 
 reached his destination ; to do so, it was necessary to 
 cross a district in Kussian hands, called the Two Ka- 
 bardas. The only way to do this was to ride all night, 
 and lie concealed in some hiding-place all day; but, as 
 I understood, neither woods nor caves abounded, and to 
 play a game of hide-and-seek in an open country, with 
 a scattered hostile population, and Cossack guerillas 
 continually scouring it in every direction for the express 
 purpose of intercepting such messengers, was one which 
 experience had proved had more often than not cost those 
 who had engaged in it their lives. Lord Stratford's hesi- 
 tation, therefore, to despatch me at once, proceeded from 
 motives for which I could not feel otherwise than grateful, 
 though I was much disappointed at his objections, which 
 I did my best to overcome. Finally he gave me a sort of 
 qualified promise, and in the meantime proposed to me as 
 a consolation that I should accompany him to the Crimea 
 on the occasion of his proceeding to the seat of war to 
 confer medals and decorations on the gallant officers who 
 had so well earned them. Until the day appointed for 
 our departure arrived, he was so kind as to extend the 
 hospitality of the Embassy to me, and here I came in
 
 CRIMEAN AND CIRCASSIAN EXPERIENCES. 83 
 
 contact with probably a more brilliant group of men, so 
 far as talent was concerned, than could be found in any 
 diplomatic circle in Europe. 
 
 Lord Napier, then Secretary of Embassy ; Odo Eussell, 
 afterwards Lord Ampthill ; Percy Smythe, afterwards 
 Lord Strangford ; Charles Alison, afterwards Minister in 
 Persia, were all men of quite remarkable ability, and 
 the last two of exceptional oriental attainments; while, 
 if Lord Pevensey, Lionel Moore, and Brodie, the three 
 juniors, never made a mark in the world, it was from no 
 lack of capacity of a truly high order, which they each 
 severally possessed. The days passed in such society are 
 not to be forgotten ; and I have never since been thrown 
 with so many men where the stories were so racy, the 
 repartee so quick, the flow of wit so constant, or the con- 
 versation generally so brilliant, as among those by whom 
 Lord Stratford was surrounded at the time of the Crimean 
 war. If anything could reconcile me to delay in the 
 realisation of my projects, it was life on the lovely shores 
 of the Bosporus, under these conditions, with all the 
 excitement attendant upon a residence at the Embassy, 
 when any hour might bring stirring intelligence from the 
 seat of war, and almost every day brought arrivals of 
 officers fresh from it, with graphic details of personal 
 adventure. The little quay at Therapia swarmed with 
 uniforms, faded and war-worn, or spick and span, betray- 
 ing the veteran or the new-comer, as the case might 
 be ; while a constant succession of transports and steam- 
 vessels of all kinds, varied now and then by a man-of- 
 war and caiques darting to and fro, imparted an air of 
 animation to a scene which is at all times one of the
 
 84 CRIMEAN AND CIRCASSIAN EXPERIENCES. 
 
 most beautiful in Europe, but which was then invested 
 with a thrilling interest. 
 
 At last the day fixed for our departure arrived, and on the 
 24th August 1855 we embarked on H.M. despatch-vessel 
 Telegraph, the party consisting of the Ambassador, Lord 
 Napier, General Mansfield (afterwards Lord Sandhurst), 
 Count Pisani whose name must ever be identified with 
 the British Embassy at Constantinople, as one of the old- 
 est and most trusted members Messrs Alison, Moore, 
 Brodie, and myself. Owing to a fog, it was dark the 
 following evening before we approached our destination, 
 and we only knew of our proximity to land by the distant 
 flashes of the guns through the darkness, and the sullen 
 reverberation which followed them. When day broke, I 
 found that we were at anchor at the entrance to Kamiesch 
 Bay, which was crowded with the British fleet. Weigh- 
 ing, we steamed slowly through them, amid the thunder 
 of salutes, the manning of yards, and the strains of the 
 National Anthem, to our anchorage; then followed the 
 official visits, and long discussions on the affairs of the 
 nations, between Lord Stratford and Admirals Lyons and 
 Bruat, during which I watched the progress of the bom- 
 bardment through a telescope, being able distinctly to see 
 the shells from the Russian batteries exploding in the 
 French trenches, and the scurry which followed each such 
 event. We spent the whole day in Kamiesch Bay, dining 
 at night at a banquet given to the Ambassador on board 
 the Eoyal Albert, at which the two English and two 
 French admirals were present, besides a great many dis- 
 tinguished officers. I could not but feel the contrast as 
 we sat on deck and sipped our coffee after dinner, listen-
 
 CRIMEAN AND CIRCASSIAN EXPERIENCES. 85 
 
 ing to the incessant roar of the cannonade, and watching 
 shell after shell explode in the darkness between our 
 own condition of luxurious and festive enjoyment, and the 
 agonies which hundreds of poor fellows were at that very 
 moment enduring. 
 
 The next morning we rode up to camp, where I was so 
 fortunate as to find my old friend Captain Valentine 
 Baker, then of the 12th Lancers (now Baker Pasha), in 
 command of the headquarter escort, established in a cap- 
 acious Indian hut, which he kindly invited me to share 
 with him during my stay in the Crimea, and where, owing 
 to its proximity to headquarters, I was in the best position 
 to be informed as to the events which were transpiring. 
 The Ambassador, less fortunate, as I considered, than I 
 was, slept every night during his stay with the army on 
 board the Telegraph, the labour of riding to camp and 
 back each day adding not a little to the fatigue of the 
 functions he was called upon to perform. First, there 
 was a grand breakfast given in his honour by Sir James 
 Simpson, who had succeeded Lord Eaglan as Commander- 
 in-Chief, the solemn dignity of which I was glad to escape, 
 and take a more lively mid-day meal with Captain (now 
 Admiral Sir Harry) Keppel, and some of the Naval 
 Brigade. I had also many friends among the Engineers 
 and Artillery, with one of whom I made an exciting ex- 
 pedition to the most advanced trench, which, as it was 
 only a few weeks prior to the surrender of Sebastopol, had 
 been pushed to an unpleasantly close proximity to the 
 fortress, and the shelter of which, to my unprofessional 
 mind and unaccustomed nerves, was meagre to a degree, 
 and by no means dispensed with the constant exercise of
 
 86 CKIMEAN AND CIRCASSIAN EXPERIENCES. 
 
 watchfulness and agility, as the enemy's shells came lob- 
 bing into it, and exploding in all sorts of unexpected quar- 
 ters. To go to the furthest extreme point, to pop one's 
 head over the trench for a moment and take a hurried 
 glance over the narrow space intervening between it and 
 the nearest embrasures, to see them belch forth their 
 smoke almost in one's face, to hear the ping of the rifle 
 bullets aimed at too curious observers of this description, 
 and suddenly to pop down again was to achieve an ex- 
 perience which one felt it totally unnecessary to repeat, 
 more especially as the main object of undergoing it at all 
 seemed to -be to be able afterwards to say you had done it. 
 It was in the Engineers' camp that I first made the ac- 
 quaintance of General Gordon a fact which we had both 
 forgotten, until, on comparing notes in Palestine in De- 
 cember 1883, only a month before he left London for 
 Khartoum, we recalled the circumstances of our first meet- 
 ing eight-and-twenty years before. 
 
 Scrambling about the camp before Sebastopol was at- 
 tended with extreme difficulty for a visitor ; the distances 
 were so great, and the disposition of the army to a stranger 
 seemed so complicated, that endless inquiries often landed 
 you at last at a wrong destination. Then the walking was 
 so detestable, that a horse, which had on each occasion to 
 be borrowed, was an almost absolute necessity. I could 
 scarcely recognise, as I wandered through the maze of tents 
 and huts, that three years before I had driven across the 
 same country from Balaclava into Sebastopol, without, so 
 far as I can recollect, meeting a soul ; and that the frown- 
 ing batteries which held at bay the English, French, 
 Italian, and Turkish armies had all been erected since
 
 CRIMEAN AND CIRCASSIAN EXPERIENCES. 87 
 
 then. It was a strange coincidence that, on leaving 
 Sebastopol on that occasion, the wheel of the waggon I 
 was in should have given way, 1 and afforded me an oppor- 
 tunity of sketching the identical slopes of Inkermann, 
 with the stream meandering at their base, upon which, 
 about eighteen months afterwards, the celebrated battle 
 was destined to be fought. 
 
 Finding myself next to Sir John Burgoyne at dinner 
 one night at headquarters, I reminded him of our meeting 
 in London, and I asked him whether the information I had 
 given him on that occasion, as to the defenceless condition 
 of Sebastopol, was correct. He admitted that it was, and 
 that after the battle of the Alrna it would have been per- 
 fectly possible to have taken the town by assault ; but he 
 said it would have involved a great loss of men, as the fire 
 from the houses in which the enemy were ensconced would 
 have been very destructive, a loss which he calculated 
 would be avoided by awaiting the arrival of the siege- 
 train. He further had the frankness to admit, however, 
 that he had not taken the genius of a Todleben into his 
 calculations, and that they had been completely upset by 
 the remarkable engineering skill, in the matter of earth- 
 works, of that celebrated officer. 
 
 On the third day after our arrival in the Crimea, the 
 grand function took place which had been the special 
 object of Lord Stratford's visit to the seat of war. The 
 weather was lovely. About 2000 men were formed into 
 
 1 See The Russian Shores of the Black Sea in the Autumn of 1852 ; 
 with a Voyage down the Volga, and a Tour through the Country of the 
 Don Cossacks. By Laurence Oliphant. William Blackwood & Sons, 
 Edinburgh and London: 1854.
 
 88 CRIMEAN AND CIRCASSIAN EXPERIENCES. 
 
 a square, which was decorated with numerous flags floating 
 in the breeze. A sort of raised dais had been constructed 
 for the Ambassador, who, seated upon it, invested Sir 
 Edmund Lyons and Sir Colin Campbell with the insignia 
 of G.C.B., and several other officers with the lower grades 
 of the same order. It was a striking moment as the guns 
 thundered forth a royal salute, to hear it broken in upon 
 by the boom of the cannon sending forth their defiant 
 response, and to see now and then a shell bursting in the 
 air, to remind one that these gallant soldiers, like the 
 knights of old, were being decorated upon the field of battle, 
 and amid the din of actual warfare. 
 
 Meantime I was getting anxious about my own fate. 
 The Ambassador had been so much occupied with recep- 
 tions, entertainments, and grand functions among them 
 a great display which M. Soyer gave us of camp cookery 
 that I had shrunk from troubling him with my personal 
 affairs, and yet the prospect of going back with him to 
 Constantinople did not smile upon me. The Duke of 
 Newcastle, who was then in the Crimea, having resigned 
 his seat in the Cabinet, projected a trip to the Caucasus, 
 and was kind enough to invite me to accompany him ; but 
 I clung rather to the idea of a special mission to Schamyl 
 in Daghestan, the necessity for which, it seemed to me, 
 was every day more pressing. It had become evident that 
 Sebastopol could not hold out much longer ; but there was 
 no reason to suppose that we were going to be dragged 
 into a peace by the French, by which the results of the 
 war would be in a great measure sacrificed. On the con- 
 trary, it seemed likely that the scene of operations would 
 be transferred to another quarter, and that the Govern-
 
 CRIMEAN AND CIRCASSIAN EXPERIENCES. 89 
 
 raent would at last open its eyes to the fact that the most 
 vulnerable spot in the Eussian empire was the Caucasian 
 provinces. I did not then know, what I discovered after- 
 wards, as may be proved by official documents, that it 
 entered into the policy of our Allies to sacrifice our 
 Eastern interests to their own immediate necessities, 
 though, as it afterwards turned out, at the period of my 
 visit to the Crimea, General Pelissier was pursuing a 
 course which could bear no other construction. At that 
 very moment Lord Stratford was receiving from General 
 Williams news of the straits to which the garrison of Kars 
 was being rapidly reduced by the besieging army under 
 General Mouravieff, and of the necessity of immediate re- 
 lief being sent to prevent its capture ; and was urging on 
 the British Government the expediency of sending the 
 Turkish army, then lying idle in the Crimea under Omer 
 Pasha, to its relief. Six weeks before our visit, Omer 
 Pasha had met the generals of the Allied armies in con- 
 ference, had explained to them the useless inactivity to 
 which he, with his whole army, was condemned, and had 
 implored them to let him at once undertake an Asiatic 
 campaign for the relief of Kars ; but his arguments had 
 failed to move them General Pelissier being most em- 
 phatic in his objection to it, and General Simpson being a 
 passive tool in the hands of his French colleague. Lord 
 Stratford, however, took a very different view of the situa- 
 tion, and so strongly advocated the measure urged by 
 Omer Pasha, that he had extracted the consent of the 
 British Government to it, qualified, however, by the pro- 
 viso, " that the Government of the Emperor will concur in 
 it." The Emperor only concurred in it subject to the
 
 90 CRIMEAN AND CIRCASSIAN EXPERIENCES. 
 
 approval of General Pelissier, who flatly refused. It was 
 at this juncture that we were in the Crimea, the battle of 
 the Tchernaya had been fought, the fall of Sebastopol had 
 become a matter of days. There were 150,000 allied 
 English, French, and Italian troops awaiting its surrender, 
 and not exposed to the slightest danger; and yet, in 
 General Pelissier's opinion, the safety of these three 
 European armies depended upon the presence by their 
 side of 30,000 Turkish troops. Had this force been 
 allowed to leave the Crimea while we were there, the 
 event proved that they would have been in plenty of time 
 to have saved Kars, which did not capitulate for three 
 months after this. A month later, the Turkish army was 
 still kicking its heels in front of Sebastopol, to the great 
 discomfort of the other three armies, who had difficulty 
 enough in finding camping-grounds and supplies. Sebas- 
 topol had fallen a fortnight before. General Pelissier 
 had been deprived of his last excuse, and yet we read in a 
 despatch from Colonel (now General) Sir Lintorn Simmons, 
 the English commissioner with the Turkish army, dated 
 the 21st September : " General Simpson has informed me 
 that he sees no objection to their [the Turkish troops] de- 
 parture. The only obstacle seems to be that the assent of 
 General Pelissier and the French Government has not 
 been given." At last, a week later, this consent was re- 
 luctantly extracted. And the record of the campaign of 
 the Turkish army in the Caucasus, in which I took part, 
 proved that it was given three weeks too late. Had the 
 Turkish army been released even the day after Sebastopol 
 fell, it would have been in Tiflis before Kars surrendered, 
 and Mouravieff would have been compelled to raise the
 
 CRIMEAN AND CIRCASSIAN EXPERIENCES. 91 
 
 siege of that fortress. As it was, we had arrived at a 
 point 130 miles from Tiflis, or ten days' easy marching, 
 with nothing to oppose our advance but a Russian force 
 scarce a third of our own number, which had already 
 suffered one serious defeat at our hands, and was in full 
 retreat before us, when the news reached us of General 
 Williams's surrender. 
 
 It was a story which has since almost found its parallel 
 in the failure of the expedition to relieve General Gordon 
 at Khartoum ; but the circumstances which attended the 
 fatal delay were not so well known, for at that moment 
 the entente cordiale with France was supposed to be a con- 
 sideration of paramount importance in our policy, and it 
 might have been seriously imperilled had the British 
 public thoroughly understood at the time that the fall of 
 Kars, which was being defended by British officers, was 
 directly due to the refusal of the French Government to 
 allow a force which was doing nothing in the Crimea, to 
 proceed to its relief. 
 
 It was doubtless the increased prominence which the 
 exposed territories of Russia on the eastern shores of the 
 Black Sea were likely to assume so soon as Sebastopol 
 fell, which induced Lord Stratford to send Mr Alison 
 from the Crimea at this time on a special mission to Cir- 
 cassia, with instructions to confer with Mr Longworth in 
 anticipation of future contingencies, the more especially as 
 the conduct of the Turkish officials who had been placed 
 in the forts captured by us from the Russians on the coast 
 of Circassia, and their treatment of the natives, had not 
 been such as to give unqualified satisfaction. In Mr 
 Alison's instructions he was directed to confer with Mr
 
 p 
 92 CRIMEAN AND CIRCASSIAN EXPERIENCES. 
 
 Long worth in regard to my project of going as an emissary 
 of the British Government to Daghestan, and I was in- 
 formed that I was to accompany him. 
 
 It was therefore in high spirits that, on the evening of 
 the last day of August, I embarked with Mr Alison on 
 board H.M.S. Highflyer, Captain Moore, which was de- 
 tached from the squadron in order to take us to Circassia, 
 At Kertch I found the 71st Highlanders, whom I had 
 known well the previous year at Quebec, and after spend- 
 ing a pleasant day with them, went on to Anapa, the first 
 or most northerly Circassian fort which we had taken 
 from the Eussians. Here we transferred ourselves to 
 H.M.S. Cyclops, which had been placed at the disposal of 
 Mr Longworth ; and in that comfortable and roomy old 
 tub of a type now obsolete had a most enjoyable cruise 
 along the Circassian coast, landing repeatedly at the dis- 
 mantled Eussian forts occupied by Circassians, who re- 
 ceived us everywhere most cordially, for they had formed a 
 most exalted idea of British prowess when they found that 
 the forts which had always resisted their efforts had either 
 been abandoned or surrendered at once to the guns of the 
 British fleet. I had earnestly wished to proceed on my 
 mission to Daghestan from Anapa, which I thought the 
 most eligible starting-point; but both Alison and Long- 
 worth were of opinion that it would be desirable first to 
 communicate with the Naib, Schamyl's lieutenant in the 
 Western Caucasus, and procure, if possible, an escort. 
 
 We hoped to find that chief within reaching distance 
 from the coast; but in this we were disappointed, and it 
 was deemed undesirable to incur the delay of trying to 
 reach him in the mountains, as it was considered inipor-
 
 CRIMEAN AND CIRCASSIAN EXPERIENCES. 93 
 
 tanfc that a conference should first be held with Omer 
 Pasha, who had just arrived at Trebizond, to decide upon 
 the best strategical measures to be taken for the relief of 
 Kars. To my mind the enjoyment of a yachting cruise in 
 a comfortable man-of-war, at the loveliest season of the 
 year, along the most exquisite coast-scenery to be found 
 anywhere, and in most agreeable company, scarcely com- 
 pensated for the uncertainty and delay which thus attended 
 the realisation of my own project. Our party consisted 
 of Messrs Alison and Longworth; Mr (now Sir Alfred) 
 Sandison, the nephew and at that time the private secre- 
 tary of the latter ; Captain Ballard, who commanded the 
 Cyclops ; and myself. At Trebizond we found the Turk- 
 ish Commander-in-Chief perfectly furious at the delay to 
 which he had been subjected by the generals in the 
 Crimea, unable to form any definite plan of campaign 
 until he knew what the strength of his army was to be, 
 and when it was to be at his disposal; a position of 
 matters which was aggravated by the fact that while here 
 we heard of the fall of Sebastopol, but received no intelli- 
 gence that the Turkish army had left the Crimea in 
 consequence. 
 
 The strategic question at issue was, whether it would 
 be best to attempt the relief of Kars direct from Tre- 
 bizond by way of Erzeroum the objection to which plan 
 was, that there was no harbour at Trebizond, and the 
 disembarkation of troops might be attended with great 
 danger, delay, and difficulty ; or from Batourn, which 
 possessed an excellent harbour, but the roads from which 
 place, across the country to Kars, were almost imprac- 
 ticable for artillery ; or whether it would not be best
 
 
 94 CRIMEAN AND CIRCASSIAN EXPERIENCES. 
 
 to land at Sukhum Kaleh, and march directly on Tiflis, 
 thus threatening the whole of Russian Transcaucasia, 
 and creating a diversion in favour of Kars by compelling 
 Mouravieff to raise the siege of that fortress. On visiting 
 Batoum, I was much struck with its great strategic value 
 as a port a value which the Russians recognise so fully, 
 that they succeeded in acquiring it by the Treaty of 
 Berlin, and are now fortifying it in direct defiance of a 
 clause in that treaty prohibiting them doing so. The 
 American code of commercial morality is, that it is per- 
 fectly legitimate to break a solemn contract if the advan- 
 tages to be gained more than compensate for the damages 
 which you will have to pay for so doing under a legal judg- 
 ment. The modern code of international morality seems 
 to be, that it is perfectly legitimate to break a treaty if you 
 can do so without incurring the risks of war ; and it is 
 in accordance with that code that the Russians are now 
 acting in the matter of Batoum. 
 
 The delays consequent upon the departure of his army 
 from the Crimea, finally decided Omer Pasha to undertake 
 a campaign in the Transcaucasus, with Tiflis as an objective 
 point. Meantime Mr Alison left us at Trebizond, to go 
 back to Constantinople ; and we returned in the Cyclops 
 to Sukhum Kaleh, to start upon an expedition from that 
 point into the interior, which had been decided upon, 
 with the object of distributing proclamations, calling upon 
 the inhabitants to rise and co-operate with their Moham- 
 medan brethren, who were coming to free them from the 
 Muscovite yoke. As, however, there were reasons why we 
 could not start upon this mission until Omer Pasha arrived, 
 and as the Commandcr-in-Chief lingered so long at Batoum
 
 CRIMEAN AND CIRCASSIAN EXPERIENCES. 95 
 
 that our patience was becoming exhausted, Mr Longworth 
 sent me Lack to that place in the Cyclops to discover the 
 cause of the delay. In answer to my urgent representations 
 that we were anxious before the season for crossing the 
 mountains closed, to start on our expedition, Orner Pasha 
 insisted that there was no cause for hurry; that he intended 
 to summon a great meeting of Circassian chiefs at Sukhum 
 Kaleh, and that he would then make arrangements for us 
 all to start from Sujak Kaleh and go into the interior 
 together, by way of the plains to the north of the range. 
 I represented that we should thus be exposed to Russian 
 attack ; but he maintained that we could always retreat in 
 case of necessity into the mountains on our right flank, 
 and that he would arrange that the force should be large 
 enough to resist any Cossack irregulars we were likely to 
 meet. Meantime he desired me to return to Sukhum 
 Kaleh and request Mr Longworth to come back to Batoum, 
 and to stop on the way at a small place called Shefkatil, 
 to meet there the Prince of Georgia's brother, and en- 
 deavour to make terms with him, which should induce the 
 Prince to declare himself in favour of the Allies. On our 
 way back we took provisions to the Turkish garrison at 
 Redoute Kaleh, which, I verily believe, would have starved 
 to death had it not been for our opportune arrival. Mr 
 Longworth at once responded to Omer Pasha's appeal; 
 but no Georgian prince was forthcoming at Shefkatil 
 according to appointment, though an extremely picturesque 
 emissary arrived at Batoum shortly after we got there, 
 and had a long and secret conference with Omer Pasha. I 
 suspect, however, that his master the Prince was not 
 inclined to commit himself definitely to the desertion of
 
 96 CRIMEAN AND CIRCASSIAN EXPERIENCES. 
 
 the Russians ; and as it afterwards turned out, it was 
 fortunate for him that he contented himself with tempor- 
 ising. At last we succeeded in dragging Omcr Pasha out 
 of Batoum, and took him with us to Sukhum on board the 
 Cyclops. 
 
 I had now performed the voyage between Sukhum and 
 Batoum six times, hammering away in a futile manner on 
 the rim of the country I so ardently desired to penetrate, 
 unable to get any positive decision arrived at in regard to 
 my mission, which was all the more aggravating, as it was 
 constantly being talked of as a thing which, sooner or 
 later, under some circumstances or other, either in com- 
 pany with Mr Longworth or alone, or with a strong force 
 or a small escort, or by the mountains or by the plains, 
 was to come off ; but as week after week passed, it seemed 
 further from being accomplished than ever. At last, three 
 days after our arrival at Sukhum Kaleh, Omer Pasha 
 informed me that he wished to send me on a special 
 mission from himself to the Naib. As, when its purport 
 was explained to Mr Longworth, it received that gentle- 
 man's full concurrence, my spirits rose as they had never 
 done before. I had made all my preparations, received 
 my instructions, and on the morning of my start was only 
 waiting the arrival of the Turkish officer who was to 
 accompany me, when he appeared with the depressing 
 intelligence that Omer Pasha had changed his mind, and 
 had given up the idea of sending the proposed mission, as 
 news had reached him that the Naib was on his way from 
 the interior to pay his respects in person to the Turkish 
 generalissimo. I thought the Fates were certainly against 
 me, as I sadly ordered my horse back to the stable, and
 
 CRIMEAN AND CIRCASSIAN EXPERIENCES. 97 
 
 myself to the chapter of accidents. Omer Pasha 
 had not been misinformed. The Naib arrived a few days 
 after, and at the same time the Highflyer appeared, having 
 on board the Duke of Newcastle and Mr (now Lord) 
 Calthorpe. Transports also came pouring in from the 
 Crimea, disgorging the army for which we had been so 
 long waiting; and the picturesque harbour of Sukhum, 
 with its fort and village which had been abandoned by 
 its Eussian occupants when I first saw them, and was a 
 spot of silent and deserted loveliness was now a scene of 
 life and bustle, and for those whose fate obliged them to 
 live on shore, of no little discomfort. 
 
 Oiner Pasha received the Naib with every mark of 
 respect and consideration. He was evidently a person- 
 age of great authority among the mountaineers, and was 
 very proud of an expedition he had just made against 
 the Ptussians in the province of Karachai, which he de- 
 clared was a great success, but which some Karachai men, 
 whom I afterwards saw, pronounced a failure. He was 
 invested by the Commander-in-Chief with Turkish official 
 rank as Governor of the Western Caucasus, and in that 
 capacity could, I thought, have easily forwarded me in 
 safety to SchamyL Whether as a bigoted Moslem he had 
 a prejudice against allowing me to penetrate where no 
 foreigner had ever been before, or was jealous of any direct 
 communication with Schamyl, between whom and the out- 
 side world he was at that time the sole intermediary, I 
 know not ; but he made objections to my proposed jour- 
 ney on the ground of the lateness of the season and the 
 insecurity of the country, which neither Omer Pasha nor 
 Mr Longworth used any arguments to overcome. Had 
 
 G
 
 98 CRIMEAN AND CIRCASSIAN EXPERIENCES. 
 
 they done so, I do not think he would have persisted in 
 his opposition ; indeed I have a strong suspicion that Omer 
 Pasha looked upon the mission with disfavour, believing, 
 as did Mr Longworth, that it would be rendered unneces- 
 sary by a successful advance on Tiflis, from which point 
 Daghestan and its celebrated chieftain could be visited 
 without difficulty by Mr Longworth himself, as well as by 
 Turkish emissaries, none of whom were anxious to under- 
 take the risks of a mission under present conditions. I 
 was therefore finally compelled to reconcile myself to the 
 disappointment, and gladly accepted an invitation from 
 the Duke of Newcastle to accompany him on a short trip 
 into the interior. Our party was a large one, and con- 
 sisted of his Grace, Mr Calthorpe, Captain Moore, Mr 
 Simpson (the well-known and popular artist of the ' Illus- 
 trated London News '), Mr Longworth, Mr Sandison, and 
 myself. A small abandoned Eussian post on the coast, 
 called Vardan, was our starting-point, and the utterly 
 unknown and unexplored Circassian province of Ubooch 
 the scene of our wanderings. These lasted for a little 
 more than a week, and led us high into the mountains, 
 through the most romantic scenery, and among a people 
 as new and interesting to us as we must have been to 
 them. As, however, I published a record of our adven- 
 tures and observations on that occasion, 1 I will not allude 
 to them further now. On our return to Sukhum Kaleh, 
 we became the guests of Prince Michael of Abkhasia of 
 which province Sukhum is the capital who organised a 
 grand shooting-party at one of his country residences in 
 
 1 Patriots and Filibusters. By Laurence Oliphant. William Black- 
 wood & Sons, Edinburgh and London : 1860.
 
 CRIMEAN AND CIRCASSIAN EXPERIENCES. 99 
 
 honour of the Duke, who afterwards returned to England, 
 whilst I, finding all chance of diplomatic work of the kind 
 I ambitioned at an end, for the present at all events, 
 attached myself to the Turkish army, with which there 
 were then five English officers, and especially to Colonel 
 Ballard of the East India Company's Service, who com- 
 manded two battalions of Eifles, and was an officer of 
 signal capacity and merit. Under him I did some amateur 
 soldiering, and devoted myself to chronicling the events of 
 the campaign in the columns of the ' Times,' afterwards 
 republished, 1 a duty which seemed to me the more neces- 
 sary, as there was no correspondent of any paper with the 
 army throughout, and no public record would otherwise 
 have existed of a military episode in the highest degree 
 interesting at the time, and which, had it been successful, 
 would have been pregnant with the most important poli- 
 tical results. On my return to Constantinople I received 
 a reprimand from Lord Stratford for having imposed this 
 task upon myself while engaged in a quasi diplomatic 
 capacity ; but I represented that I considered this to have 
 come to an end as soon as the diplomatic object which had 
 brought me to Circassia had become unattainable, and that 
 as I was receiving no pay at the time, my pen was at my 
 own disposal : at the same time, I declined an offer which 
 he kindly made me that I should remain at Constantinople 
 as his private secretary. 
 
 The chief incidents of the campaign were the battle of 
 the Ingour ; the long and unaccountable delay at Sugdidi, 
 
 1 The Transcaucasian Campaign of the Turkish Army under Omer 
 Pasha : A Personal Narrative. By Laurence Oliphant. With Maps and 
 Illustrations. William Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh and London : 1856.
 
 100 CRIMEAN AND CIRCASSIAN EXPERIENCES. 
 
 the capital of Mingrelia, which followed it ; and the disas- 
 trous retreat when the winter rains set in, and the news 
 reached us of the fall of Kars. In regard to the first, the 
 ease with which we overcame the Russian army sent to 
 oppose us, proved the facility with which we might have 
 advanced on Tiflis, and rendered it all the more difficult 
 to explain the delay of a fortnight which had occurred. 
 
 The ostensible reason for our inaction after the battle of 
 the Ingour, was the necessity which had arisen for chang- 
 ing our base from Sukhum to Eedoute Kaleh for commis- 
 sariat and other transport. It was to this latter point 
 that we ultimately retreated not before the enemy, but 
 the weather losing a very large proportion of our force 
 from fever and starvation, harassed night and day by 
 Cossack irregulars, drenched to the skin by flooded rivers 
 and unceasing torrents .of rain, and compelled to endure 
 privations which, in my own case, brought on an illness 
 that I thought at one time would abruptly terminate my 
 record of them. As it was, I was barely able, on the 22d 
 of December just four months after I had landed in the 
 Crimea to scramble on board a steamer bound for Trebi- 
 zond; and about the same day, between our rear-guard 
 and some Cossack skirmishers, the last shot of the war 
 was fired. 
 
 I would say one word finally in regard to the peace 
 which followed, and which, by its premature conclusion, 
 prevented the scene of our late campaign again becoming 
 the theatre of hostile operations this time to be under- 
 taken by an English army, supported by the Turkish con- 
 tingent and Bashi-Bazouks which we had organised, and 
 by a Turkish force of regulars co-operating with us on the
 
 CRIMEAN AND CIRCASSIAN EXPERIENCES. 101 
 
 Kuban. This plan was abruptly put an end to by a peace 
 which practically did nothing towards checking Russia's 
 Asiatic policy. But even then she would have been 
 powerless to resist the insertion of a clause which would 
 have changed the whole course of events in the East since 
 that period, and this was simply for England to refuse 
 to consent to the reoccupation by Eussia of the nine 
 or ten forts which we had taken from her, and which had 
 been dismantled on the Eastern or Circassian shore of the 
 Black Sea. 
 
 When we consider that even when, by the Russian 
 occupation of the coast and the erection of these forts, 
 the Caucasus had become a besieged mountain, its brave 
 defenders, unable to obtain arms or ammunition from 
 without except with the greatest difficulty, had success- 
 fully held Russia at bay for thirty years, it is evident 
 that the final conquest of the country and its annexation 
 to the empire would have been a work of enormously in- 
 creased cost and labour if, indeed, it could ever have 
 been achieved had the whole of its coast remained in 
 the hands of the Circassians, and traffic with the outside 
 world been thus unimpeded. With the Russians deprived 
 of a Black Sea fleet, and their access to Circassia barred 
 from the coast, which would thus have been open to all 
 comers to supply the population with arms, volunteers, 
 and material aid, the absorption of this wild and inacces- 
 sible mountain-range into the empire would have been a 
 matter almost of impossibility ; it would have remained a 
 barrier permanently separating Russia from her Transcau- 
 casian provinces, and have protected Turkey from that 
 campaign in 1878 which resulted in the annexation of
 
 102 CRIMEAN AND CIRCASSIAN EXPERIENCES. 
 
 Kars and Batoum, and is about shortly to culminate in 
 the acquisition of Armenia and the ultimate extension of 
 the Eussian frontier to the shores of the Mediterranean. 
 
 The neglect of this simple precaution has entailed con- 
 sequences which have had a predominant influence on 
 recent events in the East. The Eussian Government, per- 
 ceiving the narrow escape they had made from a termina- 
 tion of the war which would have checkmated their policy 
 in Asiatic Turkey, took the most stringent measures, as 
 soon as peace was concluded, to repair the weak spot in 
 their armour of national defence and aggression, by con- 
 centrating their whole energies upon the final subjugation 
 of the Circassians. This, after some years of severe fight- 
 ing, they succeeded in achieving ; and the Moslem high- 
 landers, refusing to part with an independence for which 
 they had struggled so long and so bravely, emigrated en 
 masse into the dominions of the Sultan. 
 
 The influx of about 200,000 destitute strangers, of all 
 ages and both sexes, was a severe strain upon a crippled 
 treasury ; and large numbers were settled in colonies in 
 Bulgaria and other parts of the empire, there to shift for 
 themselves as best they could. Lawless by nature, cattle- 
 lifters by training and instinct, brave and inured to wars, 
 they found themselves planted in a fertile country, sur- 
 rounded by a race in close affinity with the one they most 
 detested, speaking almost the same language, and profess- 
 ing the same abhorred religion. The Bulgarian atrocities 
 followed, as a matter of course. One might as well have 
 transplanted a penniless clan of Highlanders in the middle 
 of the last century into Kent, and expected them to live
 
 CRIMEAN AND CIRCASSIAN EXPERIENCES. 103 
 
 peaceably with their neighbours, as have colonised Circas- 
 sians in the midst of Bulgarians and have expected frater- 
 nisation. 
 
 The philanthropic British public, who a few years 
 previously had held meetings of sympathy and collected 
 funds for the relief of the poor expelled Circassians, now 
 demanded vengeance against Turkey for the atrocities 
 committed by them upon the Bulgarians ; and the Eussian 
 army crossed the Danube to execute it, while the British 
 public calmly looked on, and saw every object, to attain 
 which they had expended so much blood and treasure in 
 the Crimea twenty-four years before, ruthlessly sacrificed, 
 and the treaty of 1856, which had resulted from it, torn 
 up and scattered to the winds. We had already yielded 
 the important clause prohibiting Eussia from having a 
 fleet on the Black Sea : we then, by the Treaty of Berlin, 
 gave her back Bessarabia, permitted her to annex Kars, 
 with the harbour of Batoum, and consented to the un- 
 limited extension of her influence across the Danube. All 
 this was due, in the first instance, to our having concluded 
 the Crimean war without finishing the work to which we 
 had set our hand, by means of a Transcaucasian campaign 
 with a British army, with the Circassians as our allies; 
 and in the second, to our having utterly ignored the 
 strategical value and importance of the country they 
 occupied, and to our having taken no steps at the con- 
 clusion of peace to secure its independence. 
 
 How little apprehended at the time were the circum- 
 stances connected with the fall of Kars, which an ignor-
 
 104 CRIMEAN AND CIRCASSIAN EXPERIENCES. 
 
 ant public attributed chiefly to neglect on the part of Lord 
 Stratford, and the effect which our Circassian policy 
 was destined to produce upon subsequent events in the 
 East, may be gathered from the following letter from the 
 Ambassador himself, dated 30th April 1856, to whom I 
 had sent a copy of my narrative of the campaign in which 
 I had just been engaged, and who was as much disap- 
 pointed at the sudden and inept conclusion of the war, as 
 was everybody else who had the interest of their country 
 at heart, and understood the position of affairs at the time. 
 
 " I am greatly obliged to you," he writes, " for thinking 
 of me in the distribution of your Circassian volume. I 
 accept the copy you have kindly sent me as a valuable 
 testimony of your regard. I have been assailed with so 
 much reckless self-seeking malignity, that the discernment 
 of any disinterested witness having a just hold on public 
 confidence is doubly precious to me. Many a false notion 
 respecting the fate of Kars and its neighbourhood remains 
 still to be dispelled ; but I rely with confidence on that 
 sense of justice and love of truth which seldom fail our 
 countrymen after allowing themselves the indulgence of a 
 little temporary riot. We shall be delighted to see you 
 again whenever you are tempted to explore these regions 
 in a more complete manner. The restoration of peace 
 gives so much uncertainty to our plans, that I can hardly 
 venture to look forward beyond a month. Yours very 
 sincerely, STRATFORD DE R." 
 
 The misfortune is, that whatever may be " the sense of
 
 (JK1MEAN AND CIRCASSIAN EXPERIENCES. 105 
 
 justice and love of truth of our countrymen," their ignor- 
 ance of political conditions abroad, especially in the East, 
 and their effect upon British interests, remains unchanged. 
 They were unable then to perceive that the sure way to 
 prevent a Eussian advance upon India was to wrest from 
 her her Transcaucasian provinces, and that we could attack 
 her far more easily and effectively in Circassia than in 
 Afghanistan. Although we have allowed the golden 
 opportunity to escape us, strategically this proposition 
 still holds good should we unfortunately ever find our- 
 selves forced into hostilities with the Power which is ever 
 the disturbing element in Eastern affairs, we should act, 
 not on the defensive at Herat, but on the offensive at 
 Batoum and Sukhum Kaleh, and endeavour to occupy the 
 country between the Black Sea and Caspian thus cutting 
 her line" of communication to the East, and forcing her to 
 concentrate her attention on her own frontiers instead of 
 upon ours. To do this effectively, however, it would be 
 necessary to come to an understanding with Turkey, both 
 in regard to our passage into the Black Sea, which it would 
 be better to arrange peaceably than by force, and in regard 
 to a Turkish military contingent, which, with the thou- 
 sands of Circassians who would flock to our standard at 
 the prospect of returning to their own country, would 
 form a most valuable auxiliary force ; while the restora- 
 tion to Turkey of the Asiatic provinces recently annexed 
 by Eussia, with possibly a further extension of territory 
 towards the Caspian, would in some measure repay her 
 for the sacrifices to which she is being now subjected in 
 Europe. It was universally admitted at the close of the
 
 106 CRIMEAN AND CIRCASSIAN EXPERIENCES. 
 
 Crimean war, by those who were engaged in it and had 
 studied the subject, that the true theatre of operations 
 from the first should have been the Transcaucasus. The 
 proof of it was that we were making preparations to con- 
 vey an army there when peace was made. Is it possible 
 that the lesson we learnt then should be so soon forgotten ?
 
 107 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ADVENTURES IN CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 I HAD not been many months back from Circassia, and, 
 Micawber-like, was waiting for something to turn up not 
 anxiously, however, for the London season of 1856 was 
 not without its attractions when, towards the close of it, 
 I found myself once more starting for Liverpool on an- 
 other trip across the Atlantic, my fellow-traveller on this 
 occasion being my much- valued and lamented friend Mr 
 Delane of the ' Times,' to whom I was able to act as cicer- 
 one on our arrival at New York, where we underwent a 
 round of festivities and enjoyed an amount of hospitality 
 which, I used to think afterwards on perusing the columns 
 of the Thunderer, had not been altogether without their 
 effect. The pressure of my companion's editorial duties 
 unfortunately obliged us to part all too soon he to re- 
 turn to England, and I to visit each one of the British 
 North American colonies in turn, on some business with 
 which I had been intrusted; but I cannot neglect this 
 opportunity of paying the tribute of a grateful memory to 
 one of the best and truest men I have ever known. 
 
 My intimacy with Delane extended over nearly twenty 
 years, during which I had frequent business as well as
 
 108 ADVENTURES IN CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 uninterrupted private relations with him. I had thus 
 abundant opportunities of testing alike the power of his 
 intellect and the warmth of his affections, and found in 
 him a man who, with everything to spoil him, was never 
 spoilt who never allowed his social or public position to 
 paralyse in the slightest degree that generosity of nature 
 which was constantly prompting him to extend his strong 
 arm to help those in trouble, and to perform acts of kind- 
 ness which were never known except to the recipients of 
 them. As an instance, I remember on one occasion bring- 
 ing to his notice the case of a widow whose husband, an 
 officer who had been severely wounded in the Crimea, was 
 refused her pension because, although it was not denied 
 that he died of his wound, he lingered a day or two be- 
 yond the allotted time within which he ought to have 
 succumbed, the plea of the "War Office being that an awk- 
 ward question might be asked in the House of Commons 
 if an exception were made in his favour. On my showing 
 him the correspondence, Delane immediately took up the 
 cudgels for the widow, and a leading article appeared in 
 the old slashing style, which concluded with the following 
 stinging epigram, in allusion to the possibility of an objec- 
 tion being taken in Parliament : " The House of Commons 
 is never stingy, except when it suspects a job ; the War 
 Office is always stingy, except when it commits one." But 
 the question was never allowed to come before the House ; 
 for two days after the appearance of this article, the widow 
 got her pension. 
 
 We made at New York the acquaintance of all the lead- 
 ing members of the press of that city at an entertainment 
 given by them to Mr Delane ; and the occasion was doubly
 
 ADVENTURES IN CENTRAL AMERICA. 109 
 
 interesting, because the Presidential election was going on 
 at the time, which resulted in Buchanan being sent to the 
 White House at Washington. How little did any of us, 
 in the political discussions in which we took part, foresee 
 how pregnant with disastrous results that Presidentship 
 was destined to be, that it would involve the most bloody 
 civil war of modern times, and that nearly thirty years 
 would elapse before a Democratic administration would 
 again be formed in the United States ! Among the emi- 
 nent men whose acquaintance we made, and whom it is 
 interesting to recall to memory for they have all, I think, 
 passed away were General Scott, then Commander-in- 
 Chief of the army ; Commodore Perry ; Mr Grinnell, who 
 fitted out the first American Arctic expedition ; and Ban- 
 croft, the historian. We fraternised much with a most 
 agreeable group of Southerners, from whom I was glad to 
 accept invitations to visit them on their plantations, an 
 experience I the less regret, as I was thus able to form an 
 independent judgment of the practical working of the 
 " peculiar institution " which was destined so soon to be 
 abolished ; to see the South in the palmy days of its pros- 
 perity, under conditions which can never recur again ; and 
 to enjoy a hospitality which possessed a charm of its own, 
 however much one might regret the surroundings amid 
 which it was exercised, or condemn the abuses to which the 
 system of slavery gave rise. I put the result of my obser- 
 vations on record at the time in an article in ' Blackwood's 
 Magazine ' ; and from what I saw and heard, it was not diffi- 
 cult to predict in it the cataclysm which took place four years 
 later, though the idea of the South resorting to violence 
 was scouted in the North ; and when, upon more than one
 
 110 ADVENTURES IN CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 occasion, I ventured to suggest the possibility to Republi- 
 cans, I was invariably met by the reply that I had not 
 been long enough in the country to understand the temper 
 of the people, and attached an importance it did not de- 
 serve to Southern " bounce." When, three months after 
 the close of the war, I again traversed the same States 
 which I was now visiting during a period of peace and 
 plenty, the contrast was heartrending. Homesteads which 
 then were rich and flourishing, were now masses of charred 
 ruins; whole towns had been swept away. This, I re- 
 member, was conspicuously the case at Atlanta, where 
 only a few wooden shanties where I found it very diffi- 
 cult to get accommodation for the night indicated the 
 site of the former town. It is now again a flourishing 
 city. Ruin and devastation marked the track of invading 
 armies over vast tracts of country, and testified alike to 
 the severity of the struggle and the obstinacy of the resist- 
 ance. In this respect the country exhibited a very strik- 
 ing contrast to France after the German campaign. As 
 it was my fortune to accompany the German armies 
 through a great part of the war, and to march with them 
 through several provinces of France, I could compare the 
 conditions of the theatre of military operations with that 
 of the Southern States immediately after the war, and 
 judge of the nature of the conflict by the traces which it 
 left. In the latter case, one may say that, except im- 
 mediately round Paris and in one or two isolated local- 
 ities like Chateaudun, it left no traces at all, and enabled 
 one to estimate at its proper value, even if one had not 
 been present at the battles, the flimsy nature of the re- 
 sistance which had been offered.
 
 ADVENTURES IN CENTRAL AMERICA. Ill 
 
 Perhaps one of the best evidences of the different char- 
 acter of the fighting which took place between the North- 
 ern and Southern armies in America, and that which 
 occurred in France, is to be found in the fact that the 
 Franco-German battles were essentially artillery combats ; 
 and that, with the exception of one or two of the earlier 
 battles, such as Spicheren and Gravelotte, the opposing 
 forces never came to close quarters at all. In fact, during 
 the Loire campaign, which I made with the Grand Duke 
 of Mecklenburg, both sides played at such long bowls that 
 it was very difficult, even with the aid of a field-glass, to 
 see a Frenchman ; whereas, towards the close of the Amer- 
 ican war, both sides almost abandoned artillery as a use- 
 less arm, and a source of weakness rather than of strength, 
 when men, not to be deterred by noise, rushed in on the 
 guns. Modern inventions and machine-guns may make 
 this more difficult, but certainly the artillery of even fif- 
 teen years ago, mitrailleuse included, required an amount 
 of protection when opposed by a resolute foe, which 
 scarcely compensated for the relatively small extent of 
 injury it could inflict ; and I have often thought that if 
 the German armies had found themselves confronted with 
 the comparatively raw and untrained levies of the Amer- 
 ican rebellion, they would have discovered that there is 
 another art of war altogether from that in which they 
 have perfected themselves of which they have had as 
 yet no experience and which consists in an invincible 
 determination to get at close quarters with the enemy as 
 quickly as possible, and, if necessary, to die there rather 
 than come away. 
 
 In no Southern city, perhaps, was the stress of war
 
 112 ADVENTURES IN CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 more severely felt than in New Orleans, though it was 
 never devastated by shot and shell. At the time of rny 
 first visit in the winter of 1856-57, it was socially the 
 most delightful city in the Union ; and as I was fortunate 
 in the possession of many friends, and of an age to appre- 
 ciate gaiety, my stay there was one of unqualified enjoy- 
 ment. In the autumn of 1865 it was the saddest place 
 I ever entered, sadder to me, perhaps, from the contrast 
 as I had known it in happier days. Some of my friends 
 had been killed, others were totally ruined, others in self- 
 imposed exile. A new and not a pleasant class had taken 
 their place, trade was at a stand-still, enterprise of all 
 sorts was languishing, and a feeling of gloom and despond- 
 ency reigned supreme. My last visit there was made 
 during the last days of 1881, when it seemed like a city 
 rising from the dead: hope and joy beamed from every 
 countenance ; and though, after the lapse of so many 
 years, I scarcely found a soul I knew, there was a life 
 and animation which augured well for the recovery of the 
 place from its long torpor. Still it has undergone a change 
 which will prevent it ever becoming the New Orleans I 
 first remember. Then its charm lay in its French-Creole 
 society an element which has given way to the inroad 
 from the North and, if I may venture to confess it, in a 
 certain lawlessness, which made it what, in local parlance, 
 was called the "jumping-off place" for harebrained expe- 
 ditions of a filibustering character to Cuba, Central 
 America, or any other tempting locality. Among the 
 most hospitable houses on the occasion of my first visit, 
 was that of Mr Pierre Soule", formerly United States 
 Minister to Madrid, and whose son at whose wedding I
 
 ADVENTURES IN CENTRAL AMERICA. 113 
 
 assisted fought a duel with the Duke of Alva, which 
 made some noise at the time. At this juncture Walker 
 was endeavouring to establish himself as President of 
 Nicaragua, and engaged in a war with the Costa Eicans, 
 who were being aided in their resistance to his attempt 
 by money and men supplied by Commodore Vanderbilt, 
 with whom Walker had foolishly quarrelled upon the 
 subject of the transit route through Nicaragua, of which 
 the American capitalist desired to retain the control. Mr 
 Soule was acting in New Orleans as Walker's agent, and 
 he explained to me that Walker's intention was not, as 
 erroneously supposed by the British Government, to 
 conquer the small republics of Central America, with 
 the view of annexing them to the United States, but for 
 the purpose of welding them into a new Anglo-Saxon 
 republic a project which it seemed to me, though it was 
 undertaken by a single man, was not more immoral than 
 similar enterprises are when undertaken by governments, 
 and one which was calculated to benefit not only the 
 Central American States themselves, but the cause of 
 civilisation generally. Subsequent observation confirmed 
 me in this view, which has been further illustrated by 
 the history of the country during the thirty years which 
 have elapsed since this tune, when it has been the prey 
 to constant revolutions, while it has made absolutely no 
 advance in the arts of peace. I therefore listened with a 
 favourable ear to Mr Soul^'s offer of a free passage to 
 Nicaragua in a ship conveying a reinforcement of 300 
 men to Walker's army, and of carrying strong personal 
 recommendations to that noted filibuster, who was re- 
 quested by Mr Soule* to explain the political situation to 
 
 H
 
 114 ADVENTURES IN CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 me, in the hope that on my return to England I might 
 induce the British Government to regard his operations 
 with a more favourable eye than they had hitherto done. 
 The fact that if I succeeded I was to be allowed to take 
 my pick out of a list of confiscated haciendas, or estates, 
 certainly did not influence my decision to go, though it 
 may possibly have acted as a gentle stimulant; but I 
 remember at the time having some doubts on the subject 
 from a moral point of view. Had I been brought up in 
 the city, or been familiar with the processes of promoting 
 joint-stock companies, these probably would not have 
 occurred to me. As it was, I remember spending Christ- 
 mas-day in high spirits at the novelty of the adventure 
 upon which I was entering. And here I may remark, as 
 an illustration of the rapidity with which, in my capacity 
 of a moss-gathering stone, I was rolling about the world, 
 that my Christmas-days during these years were passed in 
 very varied localities. 
 
 On Christmas-day 1854 I was in Quebec ; on the same 
 day 1855 I was in Trebizond; in 1856 at New Orleans; 
 and in 1857 in the Canton river. 
 
 It was on the last day of the year that the good ship 
 Texas cleared out of New Orleans with 300 emigrants on 
 board. At least we called ourselves emigrants a mis- 
 nomer which did not prevent the civic authorities, with 
 the city marshal at their head, trying to stop us ; but we 
 had the sympathies of the populace with us, and under 
 their aegis laughed the law to scorn. It would have been 
 quite clear to the most simple-minded observer what kind 
 of emigrants we were the day after we got out to sea, and 
 the men were put through their squad-drill on deck.
 
 ADVENTURES IN CENTRAL AMERICA. 115 
 
 There were Englishmen who had been private soldiers in 
 the Crimea, Poles who had fought in the last Polish in- 
 surrection, Hungarians who had fought under Kossuth, 
 Italians who had struggled through the revolutions of '48, 
 Western " boys " who had just had six months' fighting in 
 Kansas, while of the " balance " the majority had been in 
 one or other of the Lopez expeditions to Cuba. Many 
 could exhibit bullet-wounds and sword-cuts, and scars 
 from manacles, which they considered no less honourable 
 notwithstanding all which, the strictest order prevailed. 
 No arms were allowed to be carried. There were always 
 two officers of the day who walked about with swords 
 buckled over their shooting-jackets, and sixteen men told 
 off as a guard to maintain discipline. Alas ! the good 
 behaviour and fine fighting qualities of these amiable emi- 
 grants were destined to be of no avail ; for on our arrival 
 at the mouth of the San Juan river we found a British 
 squadron lying at anchor to keep the peace, and the 
 steamer by which we hoped to ascend the river in the 
 hands of our enemies, the Costa Eicans. Our first feeling 
 was that we were not to be deterred by such trifles. The 
 men were all drawn up below, each had received his rifle, 
 revolver, and bowie, with the necessary ammunition, and 
 all the arrangements were made for cutting out our prize, 
 which was lying about 300 yards off, in the night. As a 
 compliment, which I could not refuse but did not appre- 
 ciate, I was given command of a boat (I think it was the 
 dingy), and I costumed myself accordingly. Just before 
 sunset we observed to our dismay a British man-of-war's 
 boat pulling towards us; and a moment later, Captain 
 Cockburn, of H.M.S. Cossack, was in the captain's cabin,
 
 116 ADVENTURES IN CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 making most indiscreet inquiries as to the kind of emi- 
 grants we were. It did not require long to satisfy him ; 
 and as I incautiously hazarded a remark which betrayed 
 my nationality, I was incontinently ordered into his 
 boat as a British subject, being where a British subject 
 had no right to be. As he further announced that he 
 was about to moor his ship in such a position as would 
 enable him, should fighting occur in the course of the 
 night, to fire into both combatants with entire impartial- 
 ity, I the less regretted this abrupt parting from my late 
 companions, the more especially as, on asking him who 
 commanded the squadron, I found it was a distant cousin. 
 This announcement on my part was received with some 
 incredulity, and I was taken on board the Orion, an 80-gun 
 ship, carrying the flag of Admiral Erskine, to test its 
 veracity, while Captain Cockburn made his report of the 
 Texas and her passengers. As soon as the Admiral re- 
 covered from his amazement at my appearance, he most 
 kindly made me his guest ; and I spent a very agreeable 
 time for some days, watching- the " emigrants " disconsol- 
 ately pacing the deck, for the Costa Eicans gave them the 
 slip in the night and went up the river, and their oppon- 
 ents found their occupation gone. The question they now 
 had to consider was how to get to Walker. Few ever 
 succeeded in doing so ; and the non-arrival of this rein- 
 forcement was the immediate cause of the disaster which 
 obliged " the blue-eyed man of destiny," as his friends 
 called him, not long after to escape from the country. 
 Poor Walker! he owed all his misfortunes, and finally 
 his own untimely end, to British interference ; for on his 
 return to Central America, where he intended to make
 
 ADVENTURES IN CENTRAL AMERICA. 117 
 
 Honduras the base of his operations, he was captured at 
 Truxillo by Captain (now Sir Nowell) Salmon, and handed 
 over to the Honduras Government, who incontinently hung 
 him. This was the usual fate which followed failure in 
 this country ; and those who fought in it knew they were 
 doing so with a rope round their necks which doubtless 
 improved their fighting qualities. I did not know, how- 
 ever, until my return to England, that rumour had accred- 
 ited me with so tragic an end, when at the first party I 
 went to, my partner, a very charming young person, whom I 
 was very glad to see again after my various adventures, put 
 out two fingers by way of greeting, raised her eyebrows 
 with an air of mild surprise, and said in the most silvery 
 and unmoved voice, " Oh, how d'ye do ? I thought you 
 were hung ! " I think it was rather a disappointment to 
 her that I was not. There is a novelty in the sensation of 
 an old and esteemed dancing partner being hanged, and it 
 forms a pleasing topic of conversation with the other ones. 
 Eight years after this escapade, Admiral Erskine and I 
 used to meet under very different circumstances : he was 
 member for the county of Stirling, and I for the Stirling 
 burghs, and he used laughingly to maintain that he had 
 rescued me from a gang of desperadoes, and restored me 
 to respectable society a view which I attribute to narrow 
 prejudice; for if you come to sheer respectability, there 
 can be no doubt in the mind of any one who has tried 
 both, that the life of a filibuster is infinitely superior in 
 its aims and methods to that of a politician : a conclusion 
 which was forcibly impressed upon my mind by one of my 
 earliest experiences in the House of Commons, when a 
 Eeform Bill was passed by the Conservatives, which they
 
 118 ADVENTURES IN CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 would vehemently have opposed had it been brought in by 
 the Liberals, and which the latter, in defiance of their 
 political convictions, opposed because it was brought in 
 by the Conservatives a piece of political filibustering on 
 the one side, as immoral to my unsophisticated mind as 
 the tactics by which it was met on the other, but which, 
 by voting steadily against the party to which I had the 
 honour to belong, I contributed my mite to thwart. It 
 did not take me long after this to discover that I was not 
 cut out for a party man, and I entered into the repose of 
 the Chiltern Hundreds. 
 
 To return to the purer atmosphere of Greytown : there 
 was no inducement to go ashore, as there was absolutely 
 nothing to see in the sleepy little mestizo town ; so I took 
 leave of my hospitable naval entertainers, and embarked 
 in a passing steamer for Aspinwall, and crossed the 
 Isthmus to Panama, where I found a mild revolution 
 in progress, which had for the time handed over the 
 town to the tender mercies of the negro part of its 
 population. 
 
 It had always occurred to me that if one wanted to 
 connect the two seas by a ship canal, the first part of the 
 Isthmus to examine was the narrowest. Yet so far as I 
 am aware, this route has never, even to this day, been 
 surveyed. While at Panama, I thought I would make 
 the attempt, and indeed reached a point by the Bayanos 
 river within seventeen miles of the Gulf of Mexico. It is 
 true that I was confronted by a high range of hills, which 
 the hostility of Darien Indians who obstruct the progress 
 of the explorer by shooting little poisoned arrows at him 
 through blow-pipes prevented my traversing; but I
 
 ADVENTURES IN CENTEAL AMERICA. 119 
 
 heard that at one place there was a low pass, across which 
 the Indians were in the habit of dragging their canoes ; 
 and I still think Monsieur Lesseps, before deciding to 
 make the canal by the side of the railway, and thus en- 
 countering the almost insuperable obstacle of the Chagres 
 river which it may be predicted with tolerable certainty 
 will prevent the work from ever being completed would 
 have done well to examine the country between the 
 Bayanos river and Manzanilla bay. I argued these con- 
 siderations in an account of my expedition which I 
 published in ' Blackwood's Magazine ' at the time. Upon 
 returning from it, I recrossed the Isthmus, and proceeded 
 to Carthagena, meeting on the steamer an interesting 
 priest, who, on discovering my filibustering propensities, 
 proposed to me to enter into a conspiracy for making a 
 revolution in Honduras and upsetting the Government. 
 This was to be done in the interest of the Church to which 
 he belonged, the president for the time being having so far 
 emancipated himself from spiritual guidance as in the 
 opinion of the highest ecclesiastical authorities to render a 
 change desirable. My informant assured me, under a solemn 
 pledge of secrecy, that the whole matter was arranged; 
 that the revolution would probably be bloodless or nearly 
 so ; that he was on his way to Europe in search of funds 
 for just in proportion as you had money, could you save 
 the shedding of blood ; but that, in order to be prepared 
 for all contingencies, a few resolute men were required. 
 These he would prefer to obtain, if possible, from England, 
 the importation of Americans for such purposes not 
 having proved satisfactory witness "Walker, who was 
 invited to help in a revolution, and who, when he had gained
 
 120 ADVENTURES IN CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 the day for the presidential candidate he came to assist, 
 deliberately ousted him, and put himself in his place. 
 
 I expressed my sense of the compliment paid to the 
 more disinterested character of my countrymen, and asked 
 the holy father how many of them he wanted. To my 
 astonishment he said twenty would be enough. They 
 were only required as leaders when fighting was to be 
 done; and if there were more, it would be difficult to 
 provide for them afterwards. In fact I was to bring out 
 from England twenty of the biggest dare-devils I could 
 find, land them at a time and place which would be 
 appointed, and obey orders, which I should receive from a 
 bishop ! My spiritual tempter was rather disappointed to 
 learn that I was not a Eomanist, as then I should have 
 been supported by the high moral consciousness that I was 
 fighting in the cause of the Church ; and was obliged to 
 rest satisfied with my assurances that I was free from 
 theological bigotry of any kind. Men, he said, derived 
 great spiritual benefit by fighting on the right side, even 
 though, to begin with, the motives by which they were 
 actuated were low ones. This naturally suggested the 
 question, "What temporal advantage was to accrue to me 
 for the service I was rendering the Church ? He was not 
 in a position, he replied, to make me any definite promises 
 in this respect ; but I might count on high office, probably 
 the head of the War Department, if I developed strong 
 clerical sympathies. What a vista of conquest and great- 
 ness did this suggestion open to my youthful and ardent 
 imagination ! To be War Minister of Honduras at seven 
 or eight and twenty, with Costa Rica, Guatemala, San 
 Salvador, and Nicaragua, all waiting to be gobbled up. I
 
 ADVENTURES IN CENTRAL AMERICA. 121 
 
 would out-Walker Walker. Of course we did not get to 
 this climax till after several days of secret confabulation, 
 for I had to inspire the holy father with confidence. 
 Meantime my moral sense was getting more and more 
 confused. Decidedly there was something in the atmos- 
 phere of Central America which had a tendency to mix 
 things up. Possibly it is still haunted by the shades of 
 Pizarro and Kidd and Morgan, and freebooting and 
 buccaneering influences hang round the lovely land to 
 tempt the lonely wanderer disgusted with the prosaic 
 tendencies of modern civilisation. I went so far as to 
 learn a secret sign from this pious conspirator, so that on 
 my return with my twenty men I should know how to 
 find a friend in case of need. After all, he was only 
 proposing to me to do on a small scale in Honduras what 
 a clerical deputation five years afterwards proposed to the 
 brother of the Emperor of Austria to do in Mexico on a 
 larger one, and which that unhappy prince accepted as a 
 religious duty. 
 
 I had a long talk with the Emperor Maximilian at 
 Trieste just before he started for Mexico, and gave him 
 the benefit of some of my Central American experiences ; 
 for when I heard the noble and lofty ambitions by which 
 his soul was fired, I foresaw the bitter disappointment 
 in store for him, though I could not anticipate his tragic 
 end. 
 
 "It is the paradise of adventurers, sir," I remember 
 saying, " but not a country for any man to go to who has 
 a position to lose or a conscience to obey." In my small 
 way I felt, after I had escaped from the influence of my 
 ghostly tempter, that I had both, and dismissed him and
 
 122 ADVENTURES IN CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 his proposals from my mind. I watched, however, the 
 fortunes of Honduras in the papers ; and sure enough, 
 not many months elapsed before the Government was 
 overthrown by a peaceful revolution, as the father had 
 predicted, and a new president and administration were 
 installed in its place, where the name of the priest him- 
 self figured more than once as an important character in 
 the politics of the country. 
 
 Almost immediately on my arrival in England, a dis- 
 solution of Parliament, followed by a general election, took 
 place, and I was actively engaged for a fortnight endeav- 
 ouring to filibuster a constituency. I failed in the at- 
 tempt; but I was more than consoled by the fact that 
 during the contest a special embassy to China was decided 
 upon, with Lord Elgin as ambassador, who offered, if I 
 did not get into Parliament, to take me out with him as 
 his secretary. As special embassies to China are rarer 
 events than general elections, I accepted my defeat with 
 a light heart, more especially as I knew I had made the 
 seat sure for next time, and a month afterwards was 
 steaming down the Bay of Biscay on my way to far 
 Cathay, with my dreams of empire in Central America 
 relegated to the limbo of the past. 
 
 At Singapore we transferred ourselves from the P. & 0. 
 Company's steamer in which we had made the journey 
 thus far, to H.M.S. Shannon, a 50-gun frigate commanded 
 by Sir William Peel. She was a magnificent specimen of 
 the naval architecture of those days; and her captain, 
 who was justly proud of her, was, I think, not altogether 
 satisfied with the prospect, during war-time, of the peace- 
 ful duty of carrying about an ambassador which had been
 
 ADVENTURES IN CENTRAL AMERICA. 123 
 
 allotted to him. Poor fellow ! his fighting propensities 
 were destined all too soon to be gratified, and the brilliant 
 professional career which seemed in store for him to be 
 abruptly and fatally terminated. I have never met a 
 naval officer who so completely realised one's Icau icttal 
 of a sailor, or in whom a thorough knowledge of and 
 devotion to his profession was combined with such a 
 sound judgment, such gentle and amiable qualities, and 
 such chivalrous daring. In some points there was a. 
 marked similarity in his character to that of General 
 Gordon. There was the same high principle, stern sense 
 of duty, lofty aspiration of aim, unbounded self-reliance, 
 and intolerance of what seemed unworthy or ignoble, 
 whether in governments or individuals. 
 
 It was at Galle that we had heard the first news of the 
 outbreak of the Indian Mutiny ; but the appalling details 
 reached us at Singapore, and determined Lord Elgin, on 
 his own responsibility, to divert the destination of the 
 China expeditionary force from Hong Kong to Calcutta. 
 Meantime we proceeded ourselves to the former place ; and 
 after staying there a few weeks to transact some neces- 
 sary business, Lord Elgin determined to go himself to 
 Calcutta, with the view of affording Lord Canning all the 
 moral support in his power. On our return to Singapore 
 in company with H.M.S. Pearl, commanded by Captain 
 Sotheby, we found the 90th Eegiment, together with some 
 other troops, waiting for transport to Calcutta. These were 
 embarked in the two ships, and we proceeded with them 
 to India. 
 
 The transport which had conveyed the 90th Kegiment 
 had been wrecked in the Straits of Sunda, and one young
 
 124 ADVENTURES IN CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 officer had particularly distinguished himself in the con- 
 fusion attendant upon getting the men safely ashore and 
 putting them under canvas. This was the junior captain ; 
 and as he took passage with us in the Shannon, I was so 
 fortunate as to make his acquaintance. I little suspected, 
 however, when we parted at Calcutta, that the next time 
 I was destined to meet him it would be as Lord Wolseley.
 
 125 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 CALCUTTA DURING THE MUTINY, AND CHINA DURING 
 THE WAR 1857-1859. 
 
 THE extraordinary sensation produced by our arrival at 
 Calcutta, and the relief which the appearance of a large 
 body of British troops at so critical a juncture afforded 
 the foreign population, I alluded to in a book published 
 two years later ; l but as this narrative had reference more 
 especially to war and diplomacy in China, I may be per- 
 mitted to recall the impressions which Calcutta made 
 upon me at the time, and which are omitted in it. Cer- 
 tainly at the moment of our arrival the prevailing senti- 
 ment was panic. Each day witnessed the appearance of 
 refugees from up country, with tales of fresh horrors. 
 The whole country seemed slipping from our grasp : 
 Delhi and Agra were in the hands of the mutineers ; an 
 English garrison, with a numerous party of civilians, with 
 ladies and children, were besieged in Lucknow, which 
 Havelock had not yet succeeded in relieving; the soli- 
 tary survivor of the Cawnpore massacre had only arrived 
 two or three days before. He was pointed out to me one 
 
 1 Narrative of Lord Elgin's Embassy to China and Japan.
 
 126 CALCUTTA DURING THE MUTINY. 
 
 afternoon in awe-stricken tones by a friend. Almost every 
 private house was an asylum for refugees. I was the guest 
 of my old friend, the late Sir Arthur Buller, and shared 
 his hospitality, with two ladies who had both been obliged 
 to fly for their lives. One of them in particular had a very 
 narrow escape. She left the station at which she was stay- 
 ing at nine P.M., fearing an outbreak, but scarcely anticipat- 
 ing it so soon. By six o'clock the next morning every 
 man, woman, and child in the place had been murdered. 
 For two nights and a day she rode or drove with a double- 
 barrelled gun across her knees. Although she was robbed 
 of this and of all the money she possessed, her life was 
 spared by the natives she encountered ; but during these 
 thirty-six hours she tasted no food, and I remember be- 
 ing deeply impressed by the narrative of her adventures, 
 though these are all the particulars I can recall. As 
 everybody one met had lost some dear relative or friend, 
 or was in feverish anxiety as to the fate of those from 
 whom no news had been received, a fearful gloom per- 
 vaded the community; and this was heightened by the 
 suspense attaching to Lucknow, where so many officials 
 in both branches of the service, with delicate women and 
 children, were collected. Every day we expected to hear 
 the news of its fall ; and with the experience of Cawnpore 
 fresh in our memories, we knew that this meant the mas- 
 sacre, under the most revolting conditions, of every soul. 
 It was no wonder, under these circumstances, that every 
 soldier we brought was hurried up to Havelock, and that 
 a naval brigade formed from the Shannon and Pearl, and 
 placed under the command of Sir William Peel, was or- 
 ganised without delay. The whole force was drawn up
 
 CALCUTTA DURING THE MUTINY. 127 
 
 on the morning of its despatch to the front, and addressed 
 in a stirring speech by Lord Elgin, when we parted from 
 our shipmates, many of whom we should never see again. 
 There can be little doubt that these reinforcements, arriv- 
 ing when they did, enabled Havelock to relieve Lucknow, 
 and that the salvation of that place by the English was 
 the turning-point of the Mutiny. The China force thus 
 diverted by Lord Elgin without waiting for instructions 
 from home, thereby indefinitely postponing his own mis- 
 sion, amounted to 5000 men; and these just turned the 
 scale at the critical moment. As a testimony to this, I 
 cannot do better than quote a letter addressed by Sir 
 Henry Ward, whose position as Governor of Ceylon en- 
 abled him to judge of the situation as well as any man, 
 to Lord Elgin : 
 
 " You may think me impertinent," he says, " in volunteering 
 an opinion upon what, in the first instance, only concerns you 
 and the Queen and Lord Canning. But having seen something 
 of public life during a great part of my own, which is now fast 
 verging into the ' sear and yellow leaf,' I may venture to say 
 that I never knew a nobler thing than that which you have 
 done, in preferring the safety of India to the success of your 
 Chinese negotiations. If I know anything of English public 
 opinion, this single act will place you higher in general estima- 
 tion as a statesman than your whole past career, honourable 
 and fortunate as it has been. For it is not every man who 
 would venture to alter the destination of a force upon the de- 
 spatch of which a Parliament has been dissolved, and a Gov- 
 ernment might have been superseded. It is not every man who 
 would consign himself for many months to political inaction 
 in order simply to serve the interests of his country. You have 
 set a bright example at a moment of darkness and calamity ; 
 and if India can be saved, it is to you that we shall owe its
 
 128 CALCUTTA DUEING THE MUTINY. 
 
 redemption, for nothing short of the Chinese expedition would 
 have supplied the means of holding our ground until further 
 reinforcements are received." l 
 
 I have ventured to introduce this quotation because I 
 do not think that either in public estimation, or in the 
 accounts of the Indian Mutiny which have been published, 
 the important bearing of this act on the part of Lord Elgin 
 upon the destiny of our Indian empire has ever been 
 sufficiently recognised and appreciated. The ambassador 
 was at this time staying as the guest of Lord and Lady 
 Canning, with his brother Sir Frederick Bruce, and Mr 
 (now Sir Henry) Loch, at Government House. Here I 
 used constantly to dine, and here I remember meeting 
 Lord Clyde on the evening of his arrival in India to take 
 the command of the army. It gave one a curious sensa- 
 tion to pass the native sentries at the gates and in the 
 corridors of the Governor-General's residence, and see them 
 all keeping guard with ramrods in their hands, instead of 
 the muskets of which they had been deprived ; and I was 
 much struck, amid the universal exasperation, mingled 
 with panic and gloom, which prevailed, at the perfectly 
 calm and even unemotional attitude both of Lord and 
 Lady Canning. For not only was the Governor-General 
 overwhelmed with the cares and anxieties arising out of 
 the formidable progress which the Mutiny was making, 
 but he was exposed to the severest censure on the part of 
 the English community at Calcutta, by whom he was nick- 
 named Clemency Canning, and who accused him of a for- 
 bearance in his conduct of affairs and treatment of the 
 natives which had brought matters to their present pass, 
 
 1 Extracts from Letters of Lord Elgin. Privately printed.
 
 CALCUTTA DURING THE MUTINY. 129 
 
 and which they believed imperilled not only the Indian 
 empire, but their own lives. As nothing has a tendency 
 to destroy the faculty of calm judgment so completely as 
 panic, the violence of the language employed was usually 
 in proportion to the degree of alarm that was felt a 
 sentiment no doubt exaggerated by the fact that it was 
 mingled with contempt for the race from whose cruelty 
 so much was feared. 
 
 " I have seldom," says Lord Elgin, in his diary during this 
 episode, " from man or woman since I came to the East, heard 
 a sentence which was reconcilable with the hypothesis that 
 Christianity had ever come into the world. Detestation, con- 
 tempt, ferocity, vengeance, whether Chinamen or Indians be 
 the object. There are some three or four hundred servants in 
 this house (Government House). When one first passes by their 
 salaaming, one feels a little awkward. But the feeling soon 
 wears off, and one moves among them with perfect indifference, 
 treating them not as dogs, because in that case one would 
 whistle to them and pat them, but as machines with which one 
 can have no communion or sympathy. Of course those who 
 can speak the language are somewhat more en rapport with the 
 natives; but very slightly so, I take it. When the passions 
 of fear and hatred are grafted on this indifference, the result 
 is frightful, an absolute callousness as to the sufferings of those 
 passions, which must be witnessed to be understood or believed." 
 
 I remember meeting one clergyman who contrasted, in 
 my mind, very unfavourably with the filibustering friends 
 with whom I had lately been associating, in the ferocious 
 vindictiveness of his language, and the fury with which he 
 expressed his indignation with Lord Canning because the 
 latter had removed some commissioners who, not content 
 with hanging all the rebels they could lay their hands on, 
 
 I
 
 130 CALCUTTA DURING THE MUTINY. 
 
 had been insulting them by destroying their caste, and 
 thus interfering, in their belief, with their prospects in a 
 future state of existence. Alluding to this conversation, 
 Lord Elgin remarks : " The reverend gentleman could not 
 understand the conduct of the Government ; could not see 
 that there was any impropriety in torturing men's souls ; 
 seemed to think that a good deal might be said in favour of 
 bodily torture as well. These are your teachers, Israel ! 
 Imagine what the pupils become under such a leading ! " 
 The poor man was evidently utterly demoralised by fear. 
 The holy father who offered to make me War Minister of 
 Honduras was, I think, a better specimen of the Church 
 militant here upon earth than he. Perhaps if, during my 
 early experiences, I had not met such a singular variety 
 of ecclesiastical specimens in different parts of the world, 
 instead of remaining a rolling-stone to this day, they might 
 have builded me into one of their temples. 
 
 At the same time, I must admit that the treatment of 
 such a rebellion as that with which Lord Canning had to 
 deal, involves very difficult and complicated considerations, 
 as well from a moral as from an expediency point of view. 
 . I think there can be little doubt that if, when the first 
 regiment mutinied at Barrackpore, the Governor-General 
 had ordered them to be blown from the guns, instead of 
 treating them with the leniency he did, the Mutiny would 
 have been nipped in the bud, while he would have been 
 handed down to posterity as a butcher of the most ferocious 
 description, and his name branded with universal execra- 
 tion. No one would have known what thousands of lives 
 and untold horrors might thus have been spared, and how 
 merciful this act would have been, judged by the light of
 
 CALCUTTA DURING THE MUTINY. 131 
 
 events which only transpired because it was not consum- 
 mated ; for had the Mutiny been thus checked, there 
 would have been no apparent justification for an act of 
 such barbarity. An illustration of an opposite kind 
 occurred some years later in the case of the late Governor 
 Eyre of Jamaica. It is impossible to say, now, what 
 massacres by the negroes his timely severity may not 
 have prevented : it is easy for those ensconced comfort- 
 ably by their own firesides to sit in judgment upon men 
 who have this tremendous responsibility to bear, and who 
 feel that the lives of thousands of their country men and 
 women depend upon the promptitude and vigour of their 
 action ; and it would be well that these arm-chair hu- 
 manitarians should remember that the very spirit which 
 prompts them to show no mercy to an unfortunate gover- 
 nor who may, under this terrific pressure, commit an 
 error of judgment, is just the tendency which would lead 
 them, if they were put in the place of their victim, to act 
 as he did. Another very interesting instance of the same 
 kind was brought under my immediate notice in Ceylon. 
 I was in that island when a native rising occurred in the 
 Kandyan province in the year 1849. Lord Torrington 
 was Governor at the time, and my father was the Chief- 
 Justice. It was soon apparent that the movement was 
 not dangerous ; not a European life was taken, and beyond 
 the gathering on one or two occasions of some hundreds 
 of natives, and the robbing of one or two planters' bun- 
 galows, nothing of importance occurred. Nevertheless, 
 martial law was proclaimed, continued over a long period 
 I forget how long but from first to last some two 
 hundred natives were shot or hung. The sentiments of
 
 132 CALCUTTA DURING THE MUTINY. 
 
 the English community became divided ; so strong a cur- 
 rent of public opinion set in condemnatory of the acts of 
 the Government, that it was thought best at last to invoke 
 the action of the civil tribunals, and a few acres were 
 exempted from the operation of martial law in Kandy, 
 in order that my father might try some of the leading 
 rebels who had been captured, for high treason. This was 
 a manifest blunder on the part of the Governor; either 
 the country was too disturbed for the civil courts to sit, 
 or it was sufficiently peaceable to render the action of the 
 courts-martial unnecessary. As it was, while sitting in 
 court listening to the tedious formalities of the ordinary 
 legal processes, I actually on one occasion heard the 
 distant reverberation of the volley which was terminat- 
 ing the existence of a man who had been tried the same 
 day for the same crime by a drum-head court-martial. 
 This was an insult alike to the majesty of the law and 
 the common-sense of the community, and excited ro strong 
 a feeling of resentment on the part of the latter, that it 
 ultimately led to Lord Torrington's recall. At the same 
 time I have always felt that if Lord Torrington committed 
 an error in judgment, which he undoubtedly did, it was 
 one for which he was not to be judged too hardly, con- 
 sidering the pressure which at the first moment of panic 
 was brought to bear upon him from certain quarters, 
 though it was difficult to realise the state of mind which, 
 after the insignificant character of the movement became 
 evident, led him to prolong the state of martial law, and 
 intrust the lives of men to the judgment of two or three 
 young military officers, when there was no reason why 
 they should not have the advantage of a trial in a legally
 
 CALCUTTA DURING THE MUTINY. 133 
 
 constituted court It may generally be assumed that 
 when the British community cease to feel that danger 
 exists, it has passed away some time before. A governor 
 may often have to resist their demand for severity; he 
 is safe in acceding to their appeal for clemency and this 
 was made by the majority of the Europeans in Ceylon 
 for some time before the pressure of public opinion be- 
 came so strong as finally to put an end to summary 
 executions. Under no circumstances have the public in 
 England any right to work themselves up to a state of 
 excitement upon a subject upon which their remoteness 
 from the scene of action, and ignorance of local conditions, 
 absolutely disqualify them from passing a judgment. By 
 so doing they run the risk of committing grave injustice 
 and of blasting the career of conscientious and painstaking 
 public servants, who, if they have blundered, are certainly 
 not likely to have done so wilfully, and whose action, 
 which they so loudly condemn, may have averted a very 
 grave catastrophe. 
 
 The only excitement during our month's stay in Cal- 
 cutta, beyond that attendant upon the arrival of news and 
 refugees from the interior, was the anticipation of a riot 
 happily falsified during the great Mohammedan festival 
 of the Mohurrum. Some of the more timid residents 
 adopted all sorts of precautions for escape in case of a 
 general massacre; indeed there was a universal sense of 
 living on a volcano, which imparted some piquancy to an 
 existence that during the heats of August would otherwise 
 have been decidedly dull. 
 
 By this time we had felt enough of what India during 
 the Mutiny was like, not to care to prolong our experi-
 
 134 CHINA DURING THE WAR, 1857-59. 
 
 ence, especially as there was no possibility of active co- 
 operation ; so we were not sorry to hear that a P. & 0. 
 steamer, which had been expressly chartered and fitted up 
 for the accommodation of the embassy, was ready ; and in 
 it we bade adieu to Calcutta on the 3d of September, and 
 shortly after found ourselves once more at anchor in the 
 harbour of Hong Kong, within two mouths after we had 
 left it. 
 
 The incidents of our war with China, and of our em- 
 bassy to that country and Japan, which extended over 
 two years, were so fully recorded in the history of it 
 which I published shortly after our return to England, 
 that it leaves me little to relate here. The experience was 
 one pregnant alike with excitement and instruction. The 
 excitement consisted in the novelty of some of our methods 
 of warfare and the incidents attendant upon it, and the 
 instruction in the new regions we visited. It was strange, 
 for instance, in this nineteenth century, to find one's self 
 adopting the contrivances of a by-gone age, and scaling 
 walls by means of ladders in the face of the enemy. I do 
 not know when I have felt a keener thrill of emotion than 
 when we raced for the ladders at the taking of Canton, and 
 clustered up them like bees, holding on to one another's 
 legs, and nearly pulling each other down in the eager 
 scramble. It was on this occasion that I saw Lord Gil- 
 ford (now Admiral the Earl of Clanwilliam) shot in the 
 arm. Then came the rush into the city, with its million 
 of inhabitants, all crouching in terror, to capture Yeh, an 
 achievement which was performed by Sir Astley Cooper 
 Key, who seized him by the neck as he was in the act of
 
 CHINA DURING THE WAR, 1857-59. 135 
 
 scrambling over a wall in his back-garden, and held him 
 down till assistance came. I came up a moment later 
 with General Crealock, who made an admirable sketch of 
 the truculent mandarin, while he was still trembling with 
 alarm and uncertainty as to his fate. The other most 
 memorable incidents, so far as they affected me personally, 
 were the capture of the Peiho Forts, the scaling of the walls 
 of Tientsin, and the bombardment of Nankin. On the first 
 occasion, I had obtained permission from Lord Elgin to 
 accompany the attacking squadron, and accepted the invi- 
 tation of the late Captain Eoderick Dew to go on board the 
 Nimrod, the ship told off to lead the attack. When I saw 
 the rows of batteries bristling with cannon on each side of 
 the narrow river, between which we were to run the 
 gauntlet, I somewhat repented of my warlike enthusiasm, 
 and suggested to my kind host that I thought I should be 
 safer in the maintop than on deck. He recommended me, 
 however, to wait and see how the shot went ; and it was 
 fortunate I took his advice, for one of the first carried 
 away the whole maintop. The Chinese had trained their 
 guns, making sure we should attack on a high tide. As 
 we attacked at low water, nearly all their shot passed over 
 the attacking gunboats, and we escaped with but few casu- 
 alties, the whole number not amounting to thirty. A year 
 later, when the same forts were attacked, the Chinese had 
 profited by experience, and repulsed the British force under 
 Admiral Hope with a loss of over 400 men out of 700. 
 
 The scaling of the walls of Tientsin was a very absurd 
 affair. Some English officers in the town having been 
 insulted, and redress refused, a column of marines was 
 sent down to exact it, upon which the gates were closed,
 
 136 CHINA DURING THE WAR, 1857-59. 
 
 and they were denied admittance. These gates were so 
 massive that nothing short of artillery or battering-rams 
 would have forced them. It occurred to Captains Sherard 
 Osborn and Dew, with whom I happened to be, and who 
 were accompanied by a boat's crew, to scale the walls and 
 come upon the enemy in rear. This was no sooner said 
 than done. By means of a pent roof of a house under the 
 walls, and the crevices in the wall itself, we scrambled up 
 unobserved, and, drawing our revolvers, suddenly dashed 
 with loud yells upon the dense mass of people holding the 
 gate on the inside. These, too panic-stricken to think of 
 counting our numbers, and not knowing how many were 
 behind us, fled in all directions, and we had quietly un- 
 barred the gates and let in the troops before they had time 
 to recover themselves. In this amusing operation not a shot 
 was fired or a drop of blood spilt. It was different at the 
 bombardment of Nankin, when the Taiping rebels opened 
 upon us very unexpectedly as we were steaming past their 
 batteries in the Furious, accompanied by four other ships 
 of the squadron. Lord Elgin and I were standing with 
 Captain Osborn on the bridge, and the first shot cut 
 through a rope a couple of feet above his lordship's head. 
 Osborn immediately ordered us both below, and the am- 
 bassador went down into his cabin to find another round- 
 shot which had just entered it through the ship's side so 
 he did not seem much safer there. I was leaning over 
 the bulwarks watching the batteries when another round- 
 shot came through them close under my arm, one of the 
 splinters tearing out my watch-chain. The ball then 
 passed across the crowded deck without touching a soul, 
 and through the opposite bulwark.
 
 CHINA DURING THE WAR, 1857-59. 137 
 
 For interest, however, nothing equalled our entry into 
 the bay of Yedo, and our fortnight's residence in that 
 city, which until then had been hermetically sealed to 
 foreigners. The suddenness with which Japanese civil- 
 isation burst upon our surprised senses, and its extreme 
 novelty, can scarcely be realised now ; but to have been 
 the first Europeans who ever invaded the exclusive pre- 
 cincts of that great city was an experience never to be 
 forgotten. So also was our memorable cruise for 600 miles 
 up the unknown waters of the Yang-tse-Kiang, with its 
 cities desolated by civil war, its majestic reaches, fine 
 scenery, and the wondering population on its banks, as we 
 steamed silently past them or wriggled for hours, and 
 sometimes days, on some treacherous shoal. This kind of 
 work, varied by one or two special missions upon which I 
 was sent one to Soochow, a large and at that time rarely 
 visited city in the interior, where I had an interview with 
 the governor-general of the province, and another to the 
 head of the Taiping rebellion at Nankin, was pleasanter 
 than that which afterwards fell to my lot as commissioner 
 for the settlement of the trade and tariff, which used to 
 involve a daily ride in chairs to the Chinese officials ap- 
 pointed for the purpose in Shanghai, numerous unwhole- 
 some Chinese repasts, and incessant wranglings over export 
 and import duties. In June 1858 Sir Frederick Bruce 
 returned to England with the Treaty of Tientsin, and I 
 became acting secretary to the Embassy. 
 
 At last it all came to an end, winding up with an inter- 
 esting four days' march with a column of 1200 men to a 
 town near Canton, where it was considered desirable to 
 make a display of force, on which occasion the French
 
 138 CHINA DURING THE WAR, 1857-59. 
 
 contingent, consisting of 150 men, who did not fire a shot, 
 were afterwards reported in the French papers to have 
 performed prodigies of valour. My companion on this 
 march was the late Sir Harry Parkes, with whom, as well 
 as with Sir Thomas Wade, I had been constantly asso- 
 ciated, and whose unflinching nerve, knowledge of the 
 language and of the character of the people, enabled him 
 to render inestimable service. In his premature death in 
 the midst of a brilliant career, the country has lost one of 
 its most conscientious and gifted servants. In April 1859 
 the Embassy, having successfully accomplished its labours, 
 often in the face of difficulties which seemed at the time 
 almost insurmountable, returned to England.
 
 139 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 SOME SPORTING REMINISCENCES. 
 
 JUST four-and-thirty years have elapsed since I wrote my 
 first article in 'Blackwood's Magazine.' It was entitled 
 " A Sporting Settler in Ceylon," and was a review of Mr 
 (now Sir Samuel) Baker's most graphic and entertaining 
 book, ' The Eifle and the Hound in Ceylon.' I ventured 
 to suggest to my friend the late Mr John Blackwood that, 
 as I had taken part in many of the incidents that are 
 there described, and had participated in some of those 
 striking episodes of sport, I might be allowed to try my 
 'prentice hand at reviewing the book. Till then I had 
 been more familiar with the use of the gun than of the 
 pen; but the former has been long since laid aside in 
 favour of the latter, and, on the whole, I think more sport 
 can be got out of society than out of any herd of elephants, 
 provided that you know where the weak spots lie, and 
 your aim be accurate. Whether the effects which result 
 to the literary sportsman in search of social quarry, are 
 comparable from a moral and physical point of view with 
 those which are involved in the pursuit of ferae naturce, is 
 a very different question ; and when I look back to the
 
 140 SOME SPORTING REMINISCENCES. 
 
 years '49 and '50, and remember the keen unmitigated 
 delight with which I anticipated a day in the jungle with 
 the dogs, I doubt whether any more healthy or innocent 
 form of enjoyment exists than the chase in wild tropical 
 mountains of the grand animals with which they abound. 
 For this purpose there is no spot more delightfully 
 situated than Newera Ellia, the sanatorium of Ceylon. 
 It is a small plain, now partially converted by artificial 
 means into a lake, surrounded by mountains, the highest 
 rising to a height of nearly 9000 feet above the sea, and 
 2000 above the plain. Six-and-thirty years ago these 
 highlands were all heavily timbered, as their elevation 
 was too great for coffee-planting. I believe, however, 
 that since they have been found adapted to the cultiva- 
 tion of tea and cinchona, plantations have taken the place 
 of the thick jungle, which in those days were abundantly 
 stocked with elephants, cheetahs, elk, wild boar, and many 
 other descriptions of game. So numerous and daring 
 were these animals, that the footprints of elephants which 
 had been paying a nocturnal visit to the kitchen-garden 
 were often to be seen among the cabbages ; the loud bark 
 of the elk was constantly audible from the house ; and on 
 more than one occasion cheetahs were killed making de- 
 predations upon the live stock. Upon one of these the 
 bold forager came down and carried off a calf from the 
 lawn at mid-day not, however, without being observed. 
 We followed him up so closely that he was obliged to 
 drop his prey not many hundred yards after entering the 
 jungle; and set three spring-guns, covering the carcass, 
 feeling assured that the cheetah would return. We were 
 not disappointed : an hour had scarcely elapsed before we
 
 SOME SPORTING REMINISCENCES. 141 
 
 heard the guns go off, and on rushing to the spot found 
 the traces of blood, which we followed until we reached 
 the animal breathing his last gasp. He was a fine 
 specimen, but not so large as another which we captured 
 alive in a trap, which we had baited with a kid. Al- 
 though at this distance of time I have forgotten his exact 
 dimensions, he was the largest I ever saw, and I preserved 
 his skin for many years. 
 
 In those days there were generally two and sometimes 
 three packs of hounds at Newera Ellia, each consisting of 
 eight or ten couple; and at certain seasons I went out 
 elk-hunting on foot for the jungle was too thick to ride 
 through almost every morning, sometimes being in at 
 the death of two of these noble animals before mid-day. 
 The sambre, or elk, as he is popularly called, usually 
 stands about thirteen hands high, and has magnificent 
 antlers. "When brought to bay he makes a gallant fight 
 for it ; and as it was not considered orthodox to carry any 
 other weapon than a long hunting-knife, the final struggle 
 was generally exciting, and by no means devoid of risk. 
 The sport was rendered doubly enjoyable by the contrast 
 it presented to the life in the plains. One left Colombo 
 with a thermometer ranging perhaps from 90 to 95, 
 and in twenty-four hours was enjoying the blaze of a 
 crackling wood-fire, glad to turn into bed under a thick 
 blanket, and in the early morning to turn out again and 
 find the edges of the puddles on the road fringed with a 
 thin coating of ice. The reaction from the enervating 
 heats that had been escaped, produced a delightful feeling 
 of exhilaration, which was increased by the pleasures of 
 anticipation, as one followed the experienced master of
 
 142 SOME SPORTING REMINISCENCES. 
 
 the pack and his dog-boy into the jungle, with the cer- 
 tainty, whichever beat one tried, of a scramble through 
 splendid scenery, and the chance of some wild adventure 
 by " flood or fell." Down all these wooded valleys dashed 
 mountain torrents, in one of which the instinct of the elk 
 would most probably bring him to bay ; while here and 
 there the forest ended abruptly, and enclosed island-like 
 patches of open land, of greater or less extent, covered 
 with long coarse grass, to which the game would also be 
 very apt to turn, trusting to his superior fleetness in the 
 open as a means of escape. There were always two or 
 three greyhounds, or Scotch deerhounds, with the pack, to 
 provide for this contingency; and these were kept in a 
 leash, to be slipped as soon as the game broke cover, or, 
 in the event of a bay, to be despatched in aid of the less 
 powerful hunting-dogs. These, as a rule, were not neces- 
 sarily thoroughbred, it being found that well-bred dogs 
 were apt to get too keen, and lose themselves in their 
 ardent pursuit of their game falling, probably, a prey to 
 the cheetahs ; while your cur would abandon the chase 
 when he found himself too far from home, and prudently 
 return to the bosom of his family. 
 
 One of the inconveniences as it constituted also one of 
 the excitements of this sport was, that you were liable 
 at any moment to come upon game that you were not 
 looking for, and did not want to find. I remember upon 
 one occasion, after listening to the music of the dogs in 
 the distance as they were apparently crossing some patch 
 of open, to judge from the pace they were going, and after 
 making up my mind as to the direction the elk was taking, 
 and the pool in which he was likely to come to bay for
 
 SOME SPORTING REMINISCENCES. 143 
 
 F knew the country well for miles round making a rush 
 by the only available path through the dense jungle, and 
 coming suddenly upon the stern of an elephant taking his 
 mid-day siesta ; at least I presumed, from his motionless 
 attitude, that he was dozing, and I was thankful for it. 
 He was standing in the narrow path, and completely 
 blocked it up. I was so near him that I could have 
 pulled his tail, had I felt inclined to be impertinent ; as it 
 was, the only course open to me was a strategic movement 
 to the rear. The jungle was so thick that it was impos- 
 sible to turn him without attracting his attention; and, 
 under the circumstances, it seemed a pity to disturb his 
 noon-day dreams. As he was quite alone, he was probably 
 a "rogue" or "must" elephant; and in that case my 
 chances of escape, should he happen to detect me, would 
 have been small. I felt compelled even to deny myself 
 the pleasure of trying to get a glimpse of his head and 
 face. His huge hind-quarters towered above me as fixed 
 and motionless as though they had been carved in stone. 
 After staring at them for a minute or two, and turning 
 the situation over in my mind, I retired stealthily and on 
 tiptoe; and the result was, that before I could strike 
 another path in the desired direction, the sound of the 
 chase had died away. However, I made steadily for my 
 pool, and as I approached it, knew, from the changed notes 
 of the hounds, that what I had anticipated had occurred. 
 The elk was standing on the edge of a fall some twenty or 
 thirty feet high, with a part of the pack squatting on their 
 haunches in a semicircle, barking at him, but afraid to go 
 in at him : one foolhardy young cur had apparently been 
 rash enough to venture too near, and got an ugly gash for
 
 144 SOME SPORTING REMINISCENCES. 
 
 his pains, which he was now licking disconsolately. The 
 rest of the pack, with the seizing hounds and their owner, 
 had apparently gone off upon some other scent, for they 
 were nowhere to be seen, so I had all the fun to myself. 
 No sooner did I appear upon the scene, than the elk made 
 a bound, and plunged over the cataract into the pool 
 below. It was a dark, deep-looking hole, some twenty 
 yards in diameter, and here he began to swim about, 
 apparently uninjured. The pack, declining to follow him 
 in his leap, ran round, and jumping in from below, were 
 soon all swimming about him, giving tongue and snapping 
 prudently at his stern. As he apparently shrank from 
 the shallow water, and kept swimming about the centre, 
 there was nothing for it but to go in after him. So, 
 putting my knife between my teeth, I swam out to him. 
 When one is young and excited, the idea that animals 
 suffer pain does not seem to occur to one ; at all events, I 
 look back to my performance upon that occasion with a 
 certain feeling of disgust. The picture of the fine animal, 
 with his head and magnificent antlers thrown back, his 
 eye-balls staring, and his tongue half out, rises before me 
 as vividly as if it was yesterday ; but I cannot remember 
 the details of that horrible struggle. I know that it 
 lasted a long time ; that more than once I had to swim 
 ashore and rest ; that the waters of the pool were tinged 
 with blood from the repeated stabs I gave the poor beast, 
 for it was difficult, while swimming, to strike a vital spot 
 with sufficient force for it to be fatal ; that the dogs, in 
 their excitement, were very apt to mistake me for the 
 elk ; that, finally, we all came tumbling into the shallow 
 water together, and that there I despatched him a
 
 SOME SPORTING REMINISCENCES. 145 
 
 splendid animal of unusual size. I have had several 
 encounters with elk at bay, and more than once have 
 seen dogs receive such severe wounds that they have 
 died of them, so savagely has the elk fought ; but none 
 of them were so exciting as this perhaps because I was 
 alone. 
 
 One soon got to know, from the way they gave tongue, 
 whether the dogs were on an elk or on some other animal. 
 A steady barking for a long time in one place was sure to 
 indicate either a wild boar or a cheetah. On one occasion 
 when we came up, we found the whole pack sitting in a 
 circle round a tree, with their noses in the air, barking 
 frantically, and on looking up we saw in the fork of the 
 branches, about twelve feet from the ground, a cheetah, 
 with his back curved like a cat, and his long tail swaying 
 to and fro, looking viciously down, as though making up 
 his mind for a spring, and only hesitating which hound to 
 choose. It was a difficult matter to get the dogs off, and 
 not altogether a safe one, as one never felt sure that the 
 brute would not spring upon a hound as he saw them re- 
 treating. However, in spite of the aggressive expression 
 of his ugly countenance, he was only too happy to be left 
 alone, and we parted with every token of mutual respect, 
 if not of esteem. This was the only occasion on which I 
 ever saw the dogs " tree " a cheetah, and it is a somewhat 
 rare occurrence ; but they often used to bring a boar to 
 bay, to the great disgust of their owner, who knew that it 
 possibly meant the loss of a dog or two, and would cer- 
 tainly involve some severe wounds. 
 
 Once I came upon the pack when they had got a porcine 
 monster ensconced in a bush, out of which gleamed his 
 
 K
 
 146 SOME SPORTING REMINISCENCES. 
 
 great curved tusks, while a dog lying dead by his side 
 showed to what effective use he had already put them. 
 The pack were evidently demoralised at the sight, for they 
 kept at a respectful distance, but barked frantically. One 
 or two dogs bolder than the rest would occasionally make 
 a rush in ; and they were so far useful, that they distracted 
 the brute's attention, and enabled my friend and myself to 
 crawl behind, while the dog-boy was helping the dogs to 
 make demonstrations in front. Our object was to ham- 
 string the beast while his attention was otherwise engaged ; 
 and this we succeeded in doing in one leg, though the sud- 
 denness with which he turned upon us when he felt the 
 cut made us jump back with remarkable alacrity. We 
 had meant to do both legs at the same moment, but the 
 half-squatting position of the boar made it difficult, and I 
 failed in mine ; so we had to wait for another opportunity, 
 for the boar was now on his guard. I did not note the 
 time it took us to despatch this animal, but I do not think 
 I exaggerate when I say that our struggle lasted half an 
 hour, so wary was he, and so difficult was it to approach 
 him near enough to stab him without getting gored. On 
 the chance of having to deal with boars, it is as well to let 
 the dog-boy carry a short spear. 
 
 In India, when out shooting from an elephant, I once 
 shot a boar, paralysing his hind-quarters without killing 
 him. I had been having good sport, and had only two or 
 three bullets left. With the prospect of still needing 
 these, I did not like to waste a ball on an animal unable 
 to move, and thought of getting down to despatch him 
 with my knife. 
 
 " Stop," said the mahout, when he learnt my intention ;
 
 SOME SPORTING REMINISCENCES. 147 
 
 " that is quite uniiecessary. I will tell the elephant to kill 
 him." 
 
 The mahout accordingly communicated his instructions 
 to the elephant, who evidently did not relish them. The 
 more the mahout urged him to advance on the boar, the 
 more the latter showed his angry tusks, and the more the 
 elephant backed away from him. Suddenly, as the result 
 of repeated goading, the latter seemed to make up his great 
 mind. He wheeled sharply round, backed upon the boar, 
 got him between his hind legs, and fairly ground him up, 
 I heard all his bones cracking. 
 
 A very different kind of sport from that I have been 
 describing at Newera Ellia, is to be had in the flat coun- 
 try in the northern province of Ceylon. One of the 
 pleasantest shooting-trips I ever made, was in company 
 with a friend now the governor of a West India island 
 in this part of the country. We took a tent, a first- 
 rate cook, and a train of a dozen or more men to carry 
 our baggage, bedding, drinkables, and condiments, trust- 
 ing entirely to our guns for the staple of existence for 
 the whole party. As the game is most abundant in a 
 region almost totally uninhabited, we could not rely upon 
 the resources of the natives. We were then in the dry 
 season, when the only water-supply is contained in ponds, 
 or tanks, as they are called. Many of these dry up, and 
 those that contain water, being far apart, become the 
 resort of the wild animals inhabiting a wide range of 
 country. The pleasantest time to shoot is at night: in 
 the first place, because it is so fearfully hot, that it is 
 almost impossible to be out during the day between nine 
 in the morning and five in the afternoon ; and in the
 
 148 SOME SPORTING REMINISCENCES. 
 
 second, because one is certain to see a much greater 
 variety of game, and to have a much better chance at 
 them. 
 
 Our plan of operations was to pitch our tent in the 
 shadiest grove we could find near a tank. We then had 
 two circular holes dug in the ground at a convenient 
 distance apart on the edge of the tank each hole four or 
 five feet in diameter and about two feet deep. Eound 
 these we piled brushwood a foot high. This gave us a 
 screen about three feet high, and in these holes we lay 
 in ambush. A brilliant moon is of course indispensable 
 for this kind of sport ; and to assist our aim we whitened 
 the sights of our rifles. Then, after a good dinner, we 
 sallied forth, each accompanied by a native, who carried 
 a bottle of strong cold tea, some sandwiches, and some dry 
 elephant's droppings, to serve as tinder and keep a spark 
 in all night for our pipes. I have counted the following 
 different specimens of game come down to drink in the 
 course of the night: elephants a herd of sixteen sev- 
 eral buffaloes, a cheetah, two bears, some elk and wild 
 boar, and a large herd of spotted deer, besides hog-deer, 
 porcupines, and smaller animals. The latter always came 
 early in the night ; and in order not to disturb the larger 
 game, which generally came after midnight, we usually 
 refrained from firing at them. The deer were so num- 
 erous that it was always easy to kill two or three by 
 daylight, so we reserved the moonlight hours for nobler 
 sport. Even when the elephants came down it was more 
 interesting to watch them than to shoot them. There 
 would be the fine old patriarch with his harem, and the 
 young ones performing the most fantastic aquatic gambols :
 
 SOME SPORTING REMINISCENCES. 149 
 
 the clumsy disportings of a baby elephant, at a loss to know 
 how to give full vent to the exuberance of his spirits, is 
 one of the most grotesque sights imaginable, and one only 
 to be witnessed under such exceptional conditions as I 
 have described. Looking through a peep-hole in the 
 brushwood screen, one could watch them at one's leisure. 
 On one occasion, on their return from the water, in which 
 they had been paddling and splashing themselves, to the 
 jungle, the whole herd would have walked straight into 
 the hole in which I was squatting had I not shown my- 
 self. I had already marked the father of the flock as the 
 one I intended to kill, and he was not ten paces from me 
 when I fired. He stopped, while the herd scattered, and 
 fearing he would charge, I gave him the second barrel, and 
 he sank ponderously to the earth. In my excitement I did 
 not stop to reload, but making sure he was dead rushed 
 out to secure my trophy. I had just got out my knife, 
 and was stretching out my hand to lay hold of his tail to 
 cut it off, when to my disgust he slowly rose and walked 
 off after the ladies, leaving me amazed and confounded, 
 and the subject of a good deal of chaff on the part of my 
 companions. I was more lucky with a wild boar an hour 
 or two afterwards. He, too, was approaching me in a 
 direct line, coming from the jungle, when I fired at him,' 
 upon which he made a rush straight at me. The impetus 
 was so great that, though he received the second barrel full 
 in the forehead, he actually rolled dead into the hole. 
 So close was my rifle to his head the second shot that his 
 hair was all singed where the ball had entered. I have 
 killed several wild-boar at different times in my life, but 
 his were the largest tusks I ever got.
 
 150 SOME SPORTING REMINISCENCES. 
 
 Feathered game were no less abundant and varied. 
 There were pea-fowl, jungle-fowl which is more like the 
 domestic fowl than any other wild bird I know and 
 various kinds of water-fowl, from which it may be in- 
 ferred that we fared sumptuously every day. Our cook, 
 who was really an artist, and had served an apprentice- 
 ship under a French chef at Government House, found 
 ample scope for his talents, and did full justice to his 
 training. He had been careful before starting to lay in a 
 good supply of sauces and flavourings. This was the 
 kind of menu he used to place before us: wild-boar's 
 head, venison-pasty, salmi of wild duck, roast peacock 
 with buffalo - tongue, and curry of jungle -fowl. Our 
 camp-followers rioted in good living ; and though, includ- 
 ing servants and horse-keepers, they numbered sixteen or 
 eighteen, it was impossible for them to consume all the 
 game we killed, and this in spite of neither of us being 
 remarkably good shots. 
 
 The most singular shot I ever made was under rather 
 peculiar conditions. It was a blazing hot day I should 
 think the thermometer must have been over a hundred in 
 the tent and I was lying panting on my bed, in a state 
 of entire nudity, vainly trying to get a wink of sleep, 
 in anticipation of the night-watch in store for me, when 
 my servant stealthily crept into the tent with the in- 
 telligence that there was a flock of pea-fowl just outside. 
 He held the flap of the tent back, and there they were 
 strutting about within a hundred yards of it. As I looked 
 they seemed to be taking alarm, and, afraid of losing 
 them, I seized my rifle and rushed out with nothing else 
 on. It was useless to attempt to stalk them the plain
 
 SOME SPORTING REMINISCENCES. 151 
 
 upon which they were was a hard surface of baked 
 cracked clay, with scarcely a shrub upon it. The only 
 plan was to get as near them as possible not an easy 
 matter, for they took to running too, and pea-fowl can 
 run faster than one has any idea of. At all events they 
 seemed to me to do so, as, with bare head and body exposed 
 to the scorching rays of the mid-day sun, I hurried on in 
 pursuit, cutting my bare feet terribly on the sharp angles 
 of the cracked clay. At last they took to wing, and I 
 brought down to my surprise a splendid bird at least he 
 was splendid to look at, but proved rather tough to eat, 
 for he was an old cock. I thought of clothing myself 
 with his feathers so as to be able to return to the camp 
 with some decency, but it might have looked vainglorious, 
 considering the wonderful shot I had made. Indeed I took 
 some credit for it at the time, for it is not everybody who 
 has knocked over a peacock on the wing at a hundred 
 yards with a rifle, especially with nothing on ; but I am 
 free to admit, after this lapse of time, that it was a pure 
 fluke. I was so out of breath and blinded by perspiration 
 at the moment, that I fired without being able to take 
 any kind of aim. In India, where pea-fowl are sacred, 
 they are perpetually offering the most tantalising shots 
 to the sportsman, who is unable to take advantage of 
 them ; but no such prejudice exists in Ceylon, and they 
 form a most valuable addition to the larder. 
 
 I remember once, when campaigning with the Turkish 
 army in the provinces of the Transcaucasus, arriving at 
 Sugdidi, the capital of Mingrelia, the day after the battle 
 of the Ingour, only to find it deserted, and provisions 
 scarce. Going out on a foraging expedition, and thinking
 
 
 152 SOME SPORTING REMINISCENCES. 
 
 that, as the palace had only just been abandoned by the 
 Princess Dadiani, I might find something in the larder, I 
 directed my steps in that direction, but found Turkish 
 sentries at every ingress. Suddenly I heard the scream 
 of a peacock, and my Ceylon experience recurred vividly 
 to my mind. What a contribution to our mess he would 
 be, I thought, if I could only get hold of him ! Shooting 
 him in the gardens of the palace was out of the question; 
 indeed, I found that the one he was in was enclosed with 
 a high wall. Scrambling to the top of it by the aid of the 
 branches of a tree, I saw several members of his family 
 strutting about. Now, it so happened I had provided 
 myself with a hook and line with the view of also trying 
 my luck in the river, and as I had a piece of bread also in 
 my pocket, the notion occurred to me of fishing for one of 
 these majestic birds from the top of the garden wall. This 
 idea I immediately put into practice, and in a few moments 
 my efforts were rewarded, and I was gingerly hauling up 
 a tender young hen, in an agony lest her weight and 
 struggles should break the line before I got her safely 
 landed. A night or two afterwards I was dining with 
 Omer Pasha, and recommended him to try one of the 
 Princess's pea-fowl, a hint which resulted in my partak- 
 ing of one at his table shortly afterwards. 
 
 In Ceylon, as a rule, the game is so abundant that one 
 is never reduced to experimenting on strange diet. I 
 once dined off young monkey, which is something like 
 rabbit, but immeasurably superior to it. Travelling in 
 the wilds of America, I lived for some time on bear-meat, 
 which is excellent; and once the entire rations for the 
 day for four of us consisted of a jay, a magpie, and a
 
 SOME SPORTING REMINISCENCES. 153 
 
 woodpecker. During the last days of the siege of Paris I 
 tried the dainties which were then in vogue; but they 
 were so far disguised by the exercise of culinary skill, 
 that they all tasted very good. It requires a little prac- 
 tice to recognise at once the difference between dog, cat, 
 and rat, if they are all prepared with equal care and deli- 
 cacy. One of my sporting friends in Ceylon, camping 
 out with his pack, and depending solely upon their exer- 
 tions, succeeded, thanks to the talent and ingenuity of his 
 cook, in giving some British tourists who paid him a visit 
 a most varied menu. There was ris de vcau, filet de bceuf, 
 cdtelettes en papillotes, poulet saute, and I don't know what 
 else besides. It was some time before his guests dis- 
 covered that, under these high-sounding names, they were 
 eating various preparations of elk. If it is the tailor who 
 makes the man, it is the cook who makes the beast. In 
 China and Japan diet is proverbially attended with the 
 greatest uncertainty, and I never dined with a native of 
 either of these countries without suffering for it the next 
 day. On one occasion I was given a soup in which was 
 floating what appeared to be pieces of vermicelli, chopped 
 in lengths of about an inch. On inquiring what these 
 little string-like substances were, I was informed they 
 were rock-leeches ! 
 
 But to return to our camp by the tank-side. I never 
 in any part of the world saw so many deer as there were 
 in its neighbourhood. The country was flat and park-like, 
 the difference being that there was only a little burnt-up 
 grass, and that the trees were for the most part represented 
 by thorny bushes, from ten to fifteen feet high, dotted 
 about it. Among these, large herds of deer were con-
 
 
 154 SOME SPOUTING KEMINISCENCES. 
 
 stautly feeding ; and they had been so little molested, 
 that it was no difficult matter to stalk them. 
 
 The tanks abounded in alligators, who came ashore to 
 bask in the sun, all their heads turned towards the water 
 except the watcher, whose face was turned landwards. 
 When he gave the signal of danger, there was a general 
 stampede into the tank. They were so numerous that we 
 did not think them worth powder and ball, and their 
 horny hides made it more trouble to kill them than they 
 were worth. Once, when we were walking home, I saw 
 my friend, who was walking parallel to myself on the 
 other side of the tank, which was about fifty yards broad, 
 take a shot at an alligator right in front of him; an 
 instant afterwards I heard the ball crash into the branches 
 of a tree under which I was walking. It had been de- 
 flected at right angles from the reptile's back, and I had 
 a narrow escape in consequence. There is a method of 
 catching alligators which I once saw practised in the 
 southern part of the island, which affords some sport to 
 those who are indifferent to the suffering it entails. You 
 take a live puppy, and strap him on to a raft, formed of two 
 pieces of tough wood lashed in the form of a cross. You 
 sharpen all the four points of this cross, and fasten to it 
 a hank of twine a yard long ; to this you attach a rope. 
 You then float your puppy, who is calling attention to his 
 unhappy predicament by yelping loudly, on a still pool or 
 backwater of the stream, and tie the end of the rope to 
 a tree. You then see that your revolver is handy, and, 
 with half-a-dozen or more natives, you sit under the tree 
 and watch. In a few moments a pair of enormous jaws 
 appear above the surface of the water, the puppy dis-
 
 SOME SPORTING REMINISCENCES. 155 
 
 appears into them, but they do not close with the facility 
 with which they opened, for the cross has stuck in the 
 brute's throat, and the strands of the hank of twine have 
 got between his teeth. You now lay on to the rope with a 
 will, and slowly draw the reluctant monster to shore, 
 while he lashes the water with his tail in impotent rage. 
 When you have got him on shore, you keep at a respect- 
 ful distance, and make ball-practice with your revolver at 
 his eye. If you keep on doing this long enough, you 
 finally kill him. The alligators in some of the rivers of 
 Ceylon are so voracious and numerous, that the natives, 
 who are very fond of bathing, stake off their bathing- 
 places. From these strongholds you can safely taunt an 
 alligator, should he come and poke his nose between the 
 bars, and sniff your tempting flavour even jobbing at it 
 with a knife. Near the mouths of the rivers, I have had 
 places pointed out to me by the natives where they said 
 it was safe to bathe, as the water was too salt for the 
 alligators and too fresh for the sharks. My impression 
 is, had I made the experiment, that I should have found 
 them both there. 
 
 I once made rather an interesting shooting excursion to 
 a rarely visited island, called Karative, on the western 
 coast of Ceylon. It was evidently once a mere sandbank, 
 and though it is fifteen miles in length, it narrows in 
 places to a width of fifteen or twenty yards, the sea in 
 rough weather making a clean breach over it. In parts it 
 is more than a mile wide, and is covered with a low thick 
 jungle, with patches of open. It is inhabited only by a 
 few fishermen. It is well stocked with deer, buffalo, and 
 wild black cattle. These latter are doubtless the descen-
 
 156 SOME SPORTING REMINISCENCES. 
 
 dants of cattle that were originally tame, but it must have 
 been very long ago, for their fine delicate limbs and active 
 motions, and uniformly black colour, present marked 
 characteristics of difference from tame cattle ; while their 
 great shyness renders them an extremely difficult animal 
 to shoot. I only managed to bag one, which I stalked 
 after rather an original fashion. The herd were grazing 
 in the open, so far from any jungle that it seemed im- 
 possible to get near them. It was a perfectly still day; 
 the sea was like glass, as it generally was on the lee side 
 of the island ; and they were not above fifty yards from its 
 edge ; so I determined to stalk them from the sea. It was 
 a nice sandy bottom, which did not deepen too abruptly, 
 and when I had waded in about fifty yards I found my- 
 self up to the armpits. I had to wade for nearly a quarter 
 of a mile, always keeping nothing but my head and 
 shoulders visible, before I found myself opposite the herd, 
 tormented the while by the fear that some sporting shark 
 might consider me as good game as I thought the black 
 cattle. Then crawling carefully shorewards, I got an easy 
 shot at about eighty yards, and knocked over a fine young 
 bull. We also stalked successfully, in the course of two 
 days' shooting here, a couple of wild buffalo. The natives 
 made a very novel suggestion : they were great fishers of 
 porpoises, which they captured for the sake of the oil, and 
 possessed in consequence a quantity of strong porpoise-nets. 
 These they proposed to stretch across a narrow isthmus, 
 from sea to sea, and staking them firmly, to drive the deer 
 into them. As, when thus stretched and staked, they 
 would be about eight feet high, there would be no chance 
 of escape for the deer. At each end of the net men were
 
 SOME SPORTING REMINISCENCES. '157 
 
 stationed, who concealed themselves, as we did ourselves, 
 while the drive was in progress, so as to prevent the deer, 
 when they saw their danger, making a rush for the sea. 
 It was a moment of great excitement, as we heard the 
 crackling of the jungle in advance of the beaters betoken 
 the presence of game ; then out rushed half-a-dozen noble 
 animals. "We sprang to our feet as they crossed the narrow 
 patch of open at full speed, and turning neither to the right 
 nor left, dashed headlong into the net. In a moment all 
 was confusion ; there was a heap of deer entangling them- 
 selves more and more in their frantic struggles to break 
 loose and escape, while the men ran up with ropes to bind 
 them and make them captive : this was no easy matter, as 
 their sharp hoofs and antlers inflict nasty wounds ; how- 
 ever, it was at last successfully accomplished. I shall 
 never forget the appearance which that struggling mass of 
 men and deer presented, but I cannot now call to mind 
 how many we captured the stag with the finest antlers, I 
 know, escaped. 
 
 Buffalo are very dangerous animals to shoot, I think 
 more so than elephants, as it is more difficult to get away 
 from them when they charge. I was once charged by one 
 when riding peacefully on horseback and entirely unarmed, 
 and he gave me an unpleasantly severe chase across country 
 before I could shake him off. 
 
 The easiest way to shoot bears is to smoke them out of 
 the holes or caves which they use as sleeping-places, and 
 which the natives always know, and to lie in wait for 
 them at the mouth; or to watch for them by tanks 
 though probably the commonest method is to drive them. 
 This is the plan adopted in Turkey. Seven years ago,
 
 158 SOME SPORTING REMINISCENCES. 
 
 while staying at Constantinople, I was invited to join a 
 bear-shooting expedition. News had arrived that they 
 were numerous on the peninsula of Guemlik, in the Sea 
 of Marmora, and good sport was promised us as a certainty. 
 Nearly twenty years had elapsed since I had fired off a 
 gun. I had never used a breech-loader in my life, for 
 they had come into fashion after my day, and I had lost 
 all kind of sporting enthusiasm ; but the trip promised to 
 be enjoyable so far as climate, new country, and fine 
 scenery were concerned, and I was tempted by the society 
 of four agreeable companions to make one of the party, 
 rather as a spectator than as an active participator in the 
 sport, which was the more reasonable as I was the only 
 one of the party who had ever shot a bear. We landed 
 at Guemlik, where H.M.S. Fawn, then surveying the Sea 
 of Marmora, was lying at anchor, and adding two or three 
 of the officers to our party, made a night sail in a native 
 boat to the small fishing-village from which we were to 
 strike inland. From this point we advanced in the early 
 morning through lovely scenery some three or four miles 
 into the interior, and found ourselves in the midst of a 
 beautifully wooded, rolling, upland country, with open 
 grassy valleys, rich soil, and abundance of water, almost 
 totally uninhabited, and only thirty miles as the crow 
 flies from Constantinople. It is one of the anomalies of 
 Turkey that a region twenty miles in length by about ten 
 broad, comprising fine forests and splendid agricultural 
 land, should be lying waste within so short a distance of 
 the capital of the empire and of the market which it 
 affords. However, had it not been so, we should have 
 had to go farther afield for our bears. As it was, with a
 
 SOME SPORTING REMINISCENCES. 159 
 
 good gang of beaters, we toiled all day without any result 
 except a few false alarms. En revanche we had splendid 
 appetites and sound slumbers on leaf-beds under the 
 blue canopy of heaven, for we had brought no tents with 
 us. Meantime I had so far caught the infection that I 
 had accepted the offer of his second gun from a friend, 
 and had occupied the post assigned to me at each beat 
 with the most sportsmanlike conscientiousness. Next day 
 we tried some new country. I had expressly asked the 
 master of the hounds to post the others in the best 
 stations, and was occupying the least likely place in one 
 of the drives, my thoughts at the time far away from bear- 
 shooting, when the sudden clamour of the dogs right in 
 front of me roused my attention. There was no doubt 
 about it this time. I was standing on the slope of a 
 valley, bare except for a few bushes, near a path which 
 led across a little stream into a wood on the opposite 
 slope, which was now resounding with the shouts of 
 beaters and the yelping of dogs. As I fixed my eyes on 
 the point where the path entered the wood, I saw Bruin 
 emerge. Slowly and deliberately he trotted up the path 
 straight towards me; slowly and deliberately I retired 
 behind a bush about six yards from the path, so as to 
 screen myself from his observation and have a shot, which, 
 even after twenty years without practice, it would be 
 impossible to miss. The bear did not quicken his pace, 
 and he was exactly abreast of me. I fired at least I 
 pulled the trigger. The first barrel responded with a 
 gentle tick ; the second followed suit. I almost fancied I 
 could see the bear wink. At all events, he did not 
 quicken his pace, and I had almost time to put a couple
 
 160 SOME SPORTING REMINISCENCES. 
 
 of cartridges into my gun which, I need not say, did not 
 go off for the simple reason that there was nothing in it 
 before he disappeared into some brushwood. Thus my 
 first and only experience of breech-loaders has not been 
 encouraging. But how was I, who had never been out 
 with a party of breech-loading sportsmen, to suppose that, 
 after I had loaded my own gun, and leant it against a tree 
 during luncheon, somebody else's servant would come and 
 abstract the cartridges and put them in his pocket, and 
 then after luncheon hand me the gun without saying a 
 word about it ? I had been accustomed to consider that 
 when I had loaded a gun myself it remained loaded unless 
 I fired it off. The idea that any one else would consider 
 himself entitled to draw the charge and pocket the 
 cartridges never entered my head ; but it seems it is the 
 custom, for on my remonstrating with the man, who was 
 an Englishman, he replied 
 
 "Well, sir, I thought you would ha' looked to see 
 whether the gun was loaded before you undertook to fire 
 it off." 
 
 So I had to accept the situation, and the chaff by which 
 it was accompanied ; and as we none of us had another 
 chance, I established my reputation as a " duffer," and we 
 returned to Constantinople empty-handed. 
 
 The most magnificent country for sport, because the 
 game is both larger and of a rarer description than in 
 Ceylon, is in the Nepaulese Terai. Here, besides ele- 
 phants, of which there are great numbers, there are tigers 
 and rhinoceroses, and many other kinds of large game. 
 In one of our beats here, which were organised on a large 
 scale by the late Jung Bahadoor, whose guest I was at the
 
 SOME SPORTING REMINISCENCES. 161 
 
 time, we came upon traces of a rhinoceros, and were in 
 great hopes that we should enclose him in the huge net 
 of beaters that had been spread to surround the game, 
 and which consisted of 400 elephants and two regiments 
 of soldiers ; but to my great disappointment he managed 
 to break through and get away. We got, however, in the 
 course of this beat, a couple of tigers, and several deer 
 and wild boar. This is the only country in which the 
 singular sport can be obtained of hunting wild elephants 
 with tame ones, and capturing them alive, an experi- 
 ence of which the Prince of Wales partook, also under 
 the auspices of Jung Bahadoor, on the occasion of 
 his visit to India. His Koyal Highness, however, wit- 
 nessed it as a spectator on horseback, which is exciting 
 enough, but nothing to be compared to participating in it 
 as an active combatant on the back of one of the ele- 
 phants engaged in the m&Ue. When I proposed that I 
 should be allowed to make this experiment when I was 
 with Jung Bahadoor in the winter of 1851, he at first ab- 
 solutely refused, on the ground that it would be too dan- 
 gerous for a novice and was at last only induced to con- 
 sent on my acquitting myself creditably at a rehearsal, 
 when I was sent among the trees on the bare back of an 
 elephant, with nothing but a rope to hold on by, and made 
 to dodge the branches, as he was sent through them at his 
 full speed. But this was nothing to the difficulty of 
 arriving sound in wind and limb at the end of the chase 
 on the following day, when the elephant I bestrode, or 
 rather upon which I squatted monkey-fashion, formed one 
 of a band of 150, tearing at a clumsy run through the 
 jungle after the wild herd, which it finally overtook, and 
 
 L
 
 162 SOME SPORTING REMINISCENCES. 
 
 with which it engaged in a pitched battle. I shall never 
 forget the uproar and excitement of that singular conflict ; 
 the trumpeting of the elephants the screams of the 
 mahouts the firing by the soldiers of blank-cartridge 
 the crashing of the branches as the huge monsters, with 
 their trunks curled up, butted into one another like rams, 
 and their riders deftly threw lassoes of rope over their 
 unwieldy heads, formed a combination of sounds and of 
 sights calculated to leave a lasting impression. It is so 
 difficult to take prisoners under these conditions, that we 
 thought we did well in capturing four out of a herd of 
 twelve. The mahout of the elephant I was on had par- 
 ticularly distinguished himself in one encounter, and 
 presented me with the splintered tusk of an elephant that 
 had been broken off in a charge upon us, as a trophy. I 
 came home utterly exhausted by the violent exertion 
 which had been necessary to escape being smashed to 
 pieces by overhanging branches, or crushed by the mob of 
 jostling elephants, which must have inevitably been my 
 fate had I lost my grip of the loop of rope which was all 
 there was to hold on by. In order the better to cling on, 
 I had taken off my shoes, and my bleeding hands and feet 
 bore testimony to the violence of the struggle it had cost 
 me to retain my precarious position ; but so great was my 
 excitement at the time, that I only discovered afterwards 
 how much my skin was the worse for wear. 
 
 All other sport in India of which I have partaken pales 
 by comparison with this experience, though I know of 
 nothing in its way to compare with a good day's pig- 
 sticking, nor anything more disagreeably agitating than 
 tiger-shooting on foot. Not being utterly reckless of
 
 SOME SPORTING REMINISCENCES. 163 
 
 existence, I was only once induced to share in this 
 pastime ; and as I felt that the chances were all in favour 
 of the tiger, I was infinitely relieved to find that a rustling 
 in the bushes within ten yards of me proceeded from a 
 hyena, into which I did the unsportsmanlike thing of 
 firing promptly, thus causing the tiger, which, I after- 
 wards discovered, was just behind him, to head back upon 
 the beaters, and break through them, to the great disgust 
 of my poor host, a most daring sportsman and infallible 
 shot, who afterwards fell a victim in the Mutiny under 
 the most painful circumstances. It was under his auspices 
 that I shot my first and only blue bull or nylgau, an 
 animal the flesh of which is capital eating. 
 
 One of the most interesting countries I ever visited, 
 in so far as large game is concerned, is the Malay Penin- 
 sula. I once took advantage of the kind invitation of the 
 Tumangong, now the Sultan of Johore, to cross over from 
 Singapore into his territory, and found on my arrival at a 
 village, situated on a river a short distance in the interior, 
 which had been recently settled by Chinamen engaged in 
 the cultivation of gambier, that the whole population was 
 panic-stricken by the depredations of tigers. No fewer 
 than fifty men had been carried off by these ferocious 
 beasts during the preceding three weeks while out at 
 work. On one day alone five had disappeared, and the 
 graveyard was full of umbrellas, the sign that the bones 
 below them had been picked by tigers. Twenty planta- 
 tions in the immediate vicinity were deserted in conse- 
 quence ; and as I had brought my rifle with me, I pro- 
 posed going to one of these with a live bait, and watching 
 for a marauder. The Chinamen would not hear of beating
 
 164 SOME SPORTING REMINISCENCES. 
 
 the jungle, as they felt convinced that they would simply 
 fall a prey to the tigers, with which it was literally swarm- 
 ing. They eagerly accepted the other proposition, how- 
 ever, and soon secured a couple of dogs, who were doomed 
 for bait. With these we started for a night-watch. Un- 
 fortunately, we had scarcely reached the deserted planta- 
 tion, from which three men had been taken a day or two 
 previously, when the sky became suddenly overcast, and 
 the rain came down in a tropical torrent, putting all hope 
 of sport out of the question. I much regretted I had not 
 time to prolong my visit to this village, as, by killing 
 tigers here, one would have been rendering a real service 
 to the people ; besides this, the surrounding country was 
 full of other and in some respects more interesting game. 
 
 On the banks of these muddy rivers the sportsman, if 
 he is also a naturalist, will find a double interest in 
 bagging a saladang or wild water-ox, a species peculiar 
 to the Malay Peninsula, In the recesses of these mag- 
 nificent but gloomy forests he may surprise the wary 
 tapir; while rhinoceroses are abundant, and elephants 
 and nearly all the animals known in Southern India and 
 Ceylon are to be found besides. I do not know how it 
 may be now, but twenty-nine years ago, when I was there, 
 these jungles were untrodden by the sportsman, and I feel 
 convinced that any enterprising Nimrod who should go 
 there now would find a happy hunting-ground.
 
 165 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 AN EPISODE WITH GARIBALDI, AND AN EXPERIENCE 
 IN MONTENEGRO. 
 
 THE political attention of Europe was chiefly occupied 
 during the early part of the year 1860 by negotiations of 
 a mysterious character, which were taking place between 
 the Emperor Napoleon and Count Cavour, which were 
 consummated at Plombie'res, and which resulted in an 
 arrangement by which, in return for the services France 
 had rendered Italy during the war with Austria, and no 
 doubt with a view to further favours to come, it was ar- 
 ranged on the part of Italy that Savoy and Nice should 
 be given to France, provided that the populations of those 
 provinces expressed their willingness to be thus trans- 
 ferred from one crown to another. The operation was 
 one which I thought it would be interesting to witness, as 
 I felt decidedly sceptical as to the readiness of a popula- 
 tion thus to transfer their allegiance from one sovereign 
 to another, and exchange a nationality to which, by tradi- 
 tion and association, they were attached, for one which 
 they had been in the habit of regarding hitherto rather in 
 the light of an enemy and a rival than as a friend. I
 
 166 AN EPISODE WITH GARIBALDI. 
 
 therefore went in the first instance to Savoy, satisfied 
 myself that my suspicions were well founded, and that 
 the people in voting for annexation to France were doing 
 so under the most distinct pressure on the part of the 
 Italian Government and its officials on the spot, and that 
 the popular sentiment was decidedly opposed to the con- 
 templated transfer; and then proceeded to Turin, with 
 the intention of going on in time to be present at the 
 voting at Nice, after having conferred with certain Niz- 
 zards to whom I had letters of introduction at Turin, 
 where the Chambers were then sitting, It was a self- 
 imposed mission from first to last, undertaken partly to 
 gratify curiosity, partly in the hope that I might be able 
 to aid those who desired to resist annexation to France, 
 and with whom I felt a strong sympathy, and partly to 
 obtain " copy " wherewith to enlighten the British public 
 as to the true state of the case. This I did to the best of 
 my ability at the time j 1 but it was not possible then to 
 narrate those more private incidents which, after the 
 lapse of seven-and-twenty years, as most of the actors are 
 dead, and the whole affair has passed into history, there 
 is no longer any indiscretion in referring to. 
 
 At Turin I presented my letters of introduction to one 
 of the Deputies from Nice, by whom I was most kindly 
 received. Finding how strongly my sympathies were en- 
 listed in the cause of his countrymen, he introduced me 
 to several Nizzards, then staying in Turin for the purpose 
 if possible of thwarting the policy of Count Cavour in so 
 far as the transfer of their province to France was con- 
 
 1 Universal Suffrage and Napoleon the Third. By Laurence Oliphant. 
 William Blackwood & Sous, Edinburgh and Loudou.
 
 AN EPISODE WITH GARIBALDI. 167 
 
 cerned. It is due to the great Italian minister and 
 patriot to say that no one regretted more deeply than he 
 did the necessity of parting with Nice, and of forcing from 
 the inhabitants of that province their consent to their 
 separation from Italy. It was, in his view, one of the 
 sacrifices he was compelled to make for the unification of 
 Italy or rather the price which the Emperor demanded 
 for abstention from active opposition to the creation of a 
 United Italy ; and even then, Napoleon never anticipated 
 that it would ultimately include the Papal States and the 
 kingdom of Naples. But inasmuch as it had been agreed 
 that this annexation should only take place with the free 
 consent of the populations concerned, and that, provided 
 the Italian Government abstained from influencing them 
 in an opposite sense, France could not claim the provinces 
 if the plebiscite went against annexation the Nizzards 
 maintained that the unity of Italy would not be im- 
 perilled by allowing the people freedom of choice, and 
 that it was not fair of the Government to throw all its 
 influence into the scale, and to coerce them in the direc- 
 tion opposed to their wishes. It was probably a question 
 upon which no one was really competent to form an 
 opinion but Cavour himself. In all likelihood the under- 
 standing between that astute Italian and the French 
 Emperor was, that the provinces must be given to France 
 by fair means or foul, and that it was Cavour's business 
 to make them appear fair. No one knew better than the 
 Emperor how plebiscites might be arranged. However, 
 this is only a conjecture : what is certain is, that the Niz- 
 zards whom I met at Turin were as patriotic as any other 
 Italians, and did not wish to imperil Italian unity for the
 
 168 AN EPISODE WITH GARIBALDI. 
 
 sake of Nice. They only wanted the terms of the conven- 
 tion with the French Emperor fairly carried out, and the 
 people of Nice to be allowed to vote in entire freedom. 
 
 I confess I felt somewhat of a conspirator when, on the 
 second night after my arrival at Turin, in response to an 
 invitation to meet the Nizzard Committee, I was shown 
 up a long dark stair to a large upper chamber, somewhere 
 near the top of the house, where some fourteen or sixteen 
 men were seated at a table. At its head was a red- 
 bearded, slightly bald man, in a poncho, to whom my con- 
 ductor introduced me. This was General Garibaldi, who, 
 as a native of Nice himself, was the most active and ener- 
 getic member of the Committee, and most intolerant of 
 the political escamotage, as he called it, by which his birth- 
 place was to be handed over to France. The point which 
 the Committee was discussing when I entered was, whether 
 it was worth while attempting any parliamentary opposi- 
 tion, or whether it would not be better to organise an tmeutc, 
 at Nice, which would at all events have the effect of post- 
 poning the vote, and of proving a strong feeling of opposi- 
 tion on the part of the people. Garibaldi was decidedly 
 in favour of this latter course. Though a member of the 
 Chamber himself, he had no belief, he said, in being able 
 to persuade it to take any view that the Government 
 would oppose ; nor, in fact, did he see any form of parlia- 
 mentary opposition open to him. His dislike and con- 
 tempt for all constitutional methods of proceeding, and 
 strong preference for the rough-and-ready way of solving 
 the question which he advocated, were very amusing. 
 The strongest argument in favour of the course he pro- 
 posed lay in the fact that on the Sunday week, or in ten
 
 AN EPISODE WITH GARIBALDI. 169 
 
 days froni the night of our meeting, the vote was to take 
 place at Nice, and if peaceable measures were persisted in 
 much longer, there would be no time to organise violent 
 ones. I had remained silent during the whole discussion, 
 when Garibaldi suddenly turned to me and asked me my 
 opinion. I ventured to say that I thought constitutional 
 methods should be exhausted before violent ones were 
 resorted to. 
 
 " Oh," he said, impatiently, " interpellation, sempre inter- 
 pcllatione ! I suppose a question in the Chamber is what 
 you propose : what is the use of questions ? what do they 
 ever come to ? " 
 
 " There is one question," I said, " which I think you 
 should ask before you take the law into your own hands, 
 and if you are beaten on that, you will be able to feel a 
 clearer conscience in taking stronger measures, for the 
 Chamber will, from our English constitutional standpoint, 
 have put themselves in the wrong." 
 
 The fact of my being an Englishman made me an 
 authority in a small way in the matter of parliamentary 
 proceedings, and I was eagerly asked to formulate the 
 motion which 1 1 proposed should be laid before the Cham- 
 ber. I do not at this distance of time remember the exact 
 wording, but the gist of it was that the Franco-Italian 
 Convention, which provided for a plebiscite to be taken 
 at Nice, should be submitted to the Chamber before the 
 vote was taken, as it seemed contrary to all constitutional 
 practice that a Government should make an arrangement 
 with a foreign Power by which two valuable provinces 
 were to be transferred to that Power, without the Cham- 
 bers of the country thus to be deprived of them ever
 
 170 AN EPISODE WITH GARIBALDI. 
 
 having an opportunity of seeing the document so dispos- 
 ing of them. It took Garibaldi some time to get this 
 point into his head, and when he did, he only gave it a 
 very qualified approval. However, it commended itself 
 to the majority of those present, was put into proper 
 shape, and, finally, Garibaldi consented to speak to it, but 
 in such a half-hearted way that I did not feel much con- 
 fidence in the result. 
 
 The next night I dined with Cavour, but avoided all 
 allusion to the Nice question ; indeed, when I thought of 
 the magnificent services he had rendered to Italy, of the 
 extraordinary genius he had displayed in the conduct of 
 affairs, and of his disinterested patriotism, my conscience 
 smote me even for the small share I was taking in an in- 
 trigue against his policy. But then his policy was one of 
 intrigue from first to last of splendid intrigue it is true, 
 in which the Emperor of the French was to a great extent 
 caught in his own toils and one intrigue more or less 
 would not matter, provided we could succeed without in- 
 juring the cause we all had at heart. Indeed I am con- 
 vinced that Cavour in his secret soul would have been 
 pleased at the success of a conspiracy which would have 
 saved Nice to Italy, if it could have been made plain that 
 he had no complicity in it; though he would probably 
 have found a great difficulty in making the French Em- 
 peror believe this, and it might have involved him in 
 serious complications. However, the game was too inter- 
 esting not to take a hand in it, even if it was a very in- 
 significant one ; and the sympathy that I felt for my host, 
 which his charming manner and which his subtle but 
 great ability was ever sure to win for him, in no way
 
 AN EPISODE WITH GARIBALDI. 171 
 
 conflicted with the regard I was already begiiming to 
 conceive for blunt, honest Garibaldi, with his hatred of 
 the tortuous methods and diplomatic wiles of the great 
 minister. Two days after, I went to the Chamber to hear 
 Garibaldi speak to his interpellation. I had spent an hour 
 or two with him in the interval talking it over. But cer- 
 tainly politics were not his strong point. He would not 
 make a note or prepare his ideas; he told me several 
 times what he intended to say, but never said twice 
 the same thing, and always seemed to miss the principal 
 points. I was not surprised, therefore, at a speech 
 which brought down the House with cheers from its 
 patriotic sentiments and glowing enthusiasm, which 
 abounded in illogical attack upon Cavour, but which 
 never really touched the point of his motion. Members 
 who had cheered his references to United Italy could quite 
 logically vote against his motion, for practically he had 
 never spoken to it; and when we met later, after an 
 ignominious defeat, he shrugged his shoulders and said 
 
 " There, I told you so ; that is what your fine interpella- 
 tions and parliamentary methods always come to. I knew 
 it would be all a waste of time and breath." 
 
 " Not so," I said ; " at any rate, you have put yourself 
 in the right ; you have asked the Government to let you 
 see the treaty under which Italy is to be despoiled of two 
 of its fairest provinces, and they have refused. They have 
 decided to hand them over to a foreign Power, without 
 giving the country a chance of expressing an opinion upon 
 the bargain which has been made, or of knowing what it 
 is to get in return. I think, in default of this information, 
 you can now, with a clear conscience, take any measures
 
 172 AN EPISODE WITH GARIBALDI. 
 
 which seem to you desirable to prevent this act of arbitrary 
 spoliation." 
 
 " Meet us to-night," he said, " and we will talk matters 
 over." 
 
 So we had another conference in the upper room, and 
 all were united in the opinion that the time had come for 
 preventing the plebiscite from being taken on the follow- 
 ing Sunday. 
 
 The plan proposed was a simple one, and did not involve 
 any serious disturbance. It was alleged by the Nizzards 
 present that the local officials had instructions to mislead 
 the people, by telling them that the Government ordered 
 them to vote " Yes " ; and that, in fact, the Prefect and 
 all the subordinate employes were engaged in an active 
 canvass among the peasantry, who did not understand 
 enough of the question, which had never been explained to 
 them, to take a line of their own and vote " No " against 
 the wish of the authorities. It was maintained that a 
 fortnight of active canvassing by Garibaldi and the Nice 
 Committee, with other patriots who, when they under- 
 stood it, would eagerly embrace the cause would suffice 
 not only to enlighten public opinion, but completely to 
 change it ; and that, if the day of the plebiscite could be 
 postponed to the Sunday fortnight, the plebiscite might 
 safely be taken on that day, with a tolerable certainty 
 that the popular vote would be given against the annexa- 
 tion. The French troops were at this juncture on their 
 return, after the peace which had been concluded between 
 Austria and France at Solferino, to France, vid the 
 Kiviera, and a large body of them were actually at Nice. 
 It had been arranged, however, that, to avoid all appear-
 
 AN EPISODE WITH GARIBALDI. 173 
 
 ance of compulsion, the town should be entirely denuded 
 of troops on the day of the plebiscite, and that the Italian 
 as well as the French soldiers should evacuate it for the 
 day. The coast would therefore be comparatively clear 
 for a popular movement, which, after all, would be on a 
 very small scale for all that it was intended to accomplish 
 was to wait until the vote was taken, and then, before the 
 contents could be counted, to smash the ballot-boxes, thus 
 rendering a new ballot necessary. The friends of Nice at 
 Turin would then negotiate with the Government to have 
 the plebiscite taken a fortnight later ; and they trusted to 
 the effect which this disturbance would produce, and to 
 the attention that would thus be called throughout the 
 country to the attempt which had been frustrated, to force 
 a premature vote to obtain this concession. 
 
 It was finally decided that on the following Saturday 
 Garibaldi should leave Genoa, in a steamer to be chartered 
 for the purpose, with two hundred men, and choosing his 
 own time for landing, should enter the town, and break 
 the ballot-boxes before the authorities had time to take the 
 necessary precautions. I forget now the details of the 
 plan ; indeed I am not sure that they were discussed, as 
 the affair was naturally one which was to be kept secret, 
 and the execution of which was entirely to be intrusted to 
 Garibaldi. The General now asked me whether I wished 
 to join in the expedition, and on my expressing my 
 readiness to do so, invited me to accompany him to Genoa 
 a day or two afterwards. We made the journey in a 
 carriage which had been reserved for him, and in which 
 there was nobody but the General, his aide-de-camp, and 
 myself. "We had scarcely any conversation on the way,
 
 174 AN EPISODE WITH GARIBALDI. 
 
 for he had brought a packet, containing apparently his 
 morning's mail, and he was engaged in reading letters 
 nearly the whole way. These for the most part he tore 
 up into small fragments as soon as he had made himself 
 acquainted with their contents ; and by the time we 
 reached Genoa, the floor of the carriage was thickly strewn 
 with the litter, and looked like a gigantic waste-paper 
 basket. My curiosity was much exercised to imagine 
 what this enormous correspondence could be ; but I have 
 since had reason to believe that they were responses to a 
 call for volunteers, but not for the Nice expedition. 
 "And now," he said at last, after tearing up the last 
 letter, as though his mind had been occupied with some 
 other matter, and turning to me, " Let us consider what 
 part you are to play in this Nice affair." I assured him I 
 was ready for any part in which I could be useful. It 
 was then arranged that immediately on my arrival at 
 Genoa I should go to the diligence office, and try and 
 engage at once an extra diligence to start the same evening 
 for Nice. When I had secured the diligence, and arranged 
 the hour for the start, I was to report to Garibaldi, who 
 gave me the address at which he was to be found; he 
 would then instruct eight or ten of his friends to wait for 
 me at the outskirts of the town. These I was to pick up, 
 and they were to prepare matters for his arrival on the 
 following Sunday morning with 200 men. He also wrote 
 a note in pencil to a confidential friend in Nice, in- 
 troducing me to him, informing him that I was in his 
 confidence, that I would explain to him so much of the 
 plan as I knew, and be ready to offer any assistance in my 
 power. By the time all these arrangements were dis-
 
 AN EPISODE WITH GARIBALDI. 175 
 
 cussed and the note written, we reached Genoa. In order 
 to lose no time, as it was now getting late in the afternoon, 
 after hurriedly taking some refreshment, I went off to the 
 diligence office. Here I did not find my mission so easy 
 of accomplishment as I expected. I asked whether it was 
 possible to get an extra diligence to Nice. 
 
 " Yes," said the clerk ; " by paying for it." 
 
 " All right," I replied ; " tell me what it costs." 
 
 " How many passengers ? " he asked. 
 
 Now Garibaldi had impressed upon me great reserve in 
 this respect. 
 
 " I do not wish," he had said, " the people at the office 
 to know who are going, or how many ; you must engage 
 the diligence, if possible, for yourself, and answer no 
 questions." 
 
 Now that it came to the point, I found this an ex- 
 tremely difficult matter to do. The only plan was to fall 
 back upon the proverbial eccentricity of the Milord 
 Anglais. 
 
 " Oh, I have a friend or two ; we meant to go by the 
 diligence this morning, but were detained at Turin. It is 
 my habit whenever I am too late for a diligence to take 
 another. I like having a whole diligence to myself, then 
 I can change about from one seat to another, and am sure 
 not to be crowded." 
 
 " And you are ready to pay for sixteen places and six 
 horses for that pleasure ? " said the clerk. 
 
 " If I like to spend my money that way, what does it 
 matter to anybody else ? " 
 
 " What baggage have you ? " 
 
 " A portmanteau each."
 
 176 AN EPISODE WITH GARIBALDI. 
 
 "It is very irregular," persisted the clerk; "such a 
 thing has never happened to me before as for a man to 
 want to engage a whole extra diligence to carry himself 
 and his friend and a couple of portmanteaus, and I cannot 
 take the responsibility of giving you one without consult- 
 ing my superiors, which it is difficult for me to do at this 
 late hour. If you like, I will give you a large carriage 
 which holds six, that ought to satisfy you." 
 
 Finally it was arranged that if I came back in an 
 hour, the clerk would in the interval find out whether I 
 could have the diligence, and I would then give him my 
 answer in regard to the carriage, in the event of the dili- 
 gence being refused. 
 
 I now repaired to the hotel which Garibaldi had indi- 
 cated as his address, and which was a rough, old-fashioned, 
 second-rate-looking place upon the quay. There was no 
 doubt about the General being there, for there was a great 
 hurrying in and out, and a buzzing of young men about 
 the door, as though something of importance was going on 
 inside. Before being admitted to the General, I was made 
 to wait until my name was taken in to him : it was evi- 
 dent that precautions were being taken in regard to ad- 
 missions into his presence. After a few moments I was 
 shown into a large room, in which twenty or thirty men 
 were at supper, and at the head of the table sat Garibaldi. 
 He immediately made room for me next him ; and before 
 I had time to tell him the result of my mission at the 
 diligence office, accosted me with 
 
 " Amico mio, I am very sorry, but we must abandon all 
 idea of carrying out our Nice programme. Behold these 
 gentlemen from Sicily. All from Sicily ! All come here
 
 AN EPISODE WITH GARIBALDI. 17 7 
 
 to meet me, to say that the moment is ripe, that delay 
 would be fatal to their hopes ; that if we are to relieve 
 their country from the oppression of Bomba, we must act 
 at once. I had hoped to be able to carry out this little 
 Nice affair first, for it is only a matter of a few days ; but 
 much as I regret it, the general opinion is, that we shall 
 lose all if we try for too much ; and fond as I am of my 
 native province, I cannot sacrifice these greater hopes of 
 Italy to it." 
 
 I will not vouch for these being the very words he used, 
 but this was their exact sense. 
 
 I suppose my face showed my disappointment, for, as I 
 remained silent, he continued 
 
 " But if you desire to fight in a good cause, join us. I 
 know you are not a soldier, but I will keep you with me, 
 and find work for you." 
 
 I have never ceased regretting since I did not accept 
 this offer. I should have been the only one of the 800 
 prodi that left Genoa a fortnight later who was not an 
 Italian. I afterwards saw these 800 decorated at Naples. 
 It is true many followers joined Garibaldi almost im- 
 mediately on his landing ; but those who embarked with 
 him from Genoa were to a man Italians. While I was 
 hesitating, the General explained to the Sicilians present 
 the circumstances under which I was among them, and the 
 offers he had made me, in which they all cordially joined. 
 I had, however, just left England, expecting to be absent 
 about a month, and had made engagements there which 
 necessitated my return. Moreover, I had become so in- 
 terested in this Nice question, and knew so little of what 
 the chances of success were in Sicily, that I scarcely felt 
 
 M
 
 178 AN EPISODE WITH GARIBALDI. 
 
 disposed to embark in an enterprise which, at the first 
 glance, seemed rash and foolhardy in the highest degree. 
 I wavered in my resolution, however, a good deal during 
 supper, under the influence of the enthusiasm by which I 
 was surrounded; and finally bidding Garibaldi a cordial 
 farewell, and wishing him and his companions all success, 
 beat a retreat, fearing that I should be unable otherwise to 
 resist the temptation, which was every moment getting 
 stronger, of joining them. 
 
 I went next morning to the office in time to catch the 
 diligence, and my friend the clerk received me with a 
 compassionate smile. 
 
 " So you have given up the idea of having a diligence 
 to yourself," he remarked. 
 
 I fear he thought me not merely a very eccentric but a 
 very weak-minded Englishman. I humbly crawled up 
 into the banquette with a nod of assent, disappointed and 
 dejected, and more and more a prey to vain regrets that 
 I had not cast in my lot with the Sicilians. 
 
 At Nice I delivered the letter of introduction I had 
 received from Garibaldi, now become useless, and told the 
 gentleman to whom it was addressed the whole story. 
 What I heard from him, combined with what fell under 
 my own observation, made me feel still more regret at the 
 abandonment of the enterprise; for it was the general 
 opinion that the Nice episode would not have delayed the 
 Sicilian expedition. Half an hour would have sufficed to 
 break the ballot-boxes and scatter the votes; and Gari- 
 baldi could have been back in Genoa, and left the further 
 details to those interested in carrying them out. I asked 
 why it was necessary for Garibaldi to be present at all at
 
 AN EXPERIENCE IN MONTENEGRO. 179 
 
 so simple an operation, and whether there was not any one 
 in the town who could collect a few determined men and 
 carry it out. But the idea was scouted as impossible. 
 There was only one man in all Italy, the magic of whose 
 name and the prestige of whose presence was sufficient for 
 these things. In Nice itself there was no one either with 
 the faculty to organise, the courage to execute, or the 
 authority to control, a movement of this sort; and I 
 therefore consoled myself by taking the only revenge I 
 could upon a population so weak and so easily misled by 
 their authorities, by voting myself for their annexation to 
 France. Of course I had no right whatever to vote ; but 
 that made no difference, provided you voted the right way. 
 As for voting "No," that was almost impossible. The 
 "No" tickets were very difficult to procure, while the 
 "Yeses" were thrust into your hands from every direc- 
 tion. If ever ballot-boxes deserved to be smashed, and 
 their contents scattered to the winds, those did which 
 contained the popular vote under which Nice now forms 
 part of the French Eepublic ; and the operation of break- 
 ing them was one which a dozen resolute men, who were 
 prepared to stand the consequences, might have performed 
 with the greatest ease. 
 
 At the same time I am bound to say that, looked at by 
 the light of subsequent events, and the prosperity which 
 has attended Nice since its incorporation with France, 
 the inhabitants have had no reason to regret the escamot- 
 age of which at the time they seemed the victims. 
 
 Two or three months after my return to England, in my 
 quality of a rolling stone, I began rolling again. I rolled
 
 180 AN EXPERIENCE IN MONTENEGRO. 
 
 very pleasantly through Hungary, gathering moss of vari- 
 ous sorts at divers hospitable Magyar country-houses. 1 
 rolled on to Belgrade, reaching it the day before Prince 
 Milosch's death, an event which it was expected would 
 produce a revolution which, however, proved a mere 
 flash in the pan and witnessed the very singular funeral 
 of that remarkably able and wicked old man. Here I 
 made the acquaintance of his son and successor Prince 
 Michael, destined to meet a violent death by assassination, 
 and while staying with my old friend Mr Longworth, with 
 whom I had been associated five years before in Circassia, 
 and who was now Consul-General in Servia, was joined 
 by the late Lord Edward St Maur; with him I rolled 
 on through Bosnia and the Herzegovina, wilder and more 
 turbulent in those days than they are now, abounding in 
 brigand bands, enchanting scenery, and fleas, and in a 
 chronic state of guerilla warfare with the Turkish Gov- 
 ernment, which invested travelling through the country 
 with the pleasing charm of perpetual risk to life and limb. 
 We sailed down the Narenta in an open boat, cruising 
 delightfully through the archipelago of islands which 
 fringe the Dalmatian coast to Eagusa. We rolled on by 
 way of Cattaro into Montenegro, where I made the ac- 
 quaintance of the Prince, then just married ; and here I 
 gathered a piece of moss which was so characteristic of 
 the scale upon which the administration of the Princi- 
 pality was conducted, that it is worth narrating. The 
 little town of Cettinje, which is its capital, did not then 
 contain any hotel, properly so called, but the rare stranger 
 who visited it was accommodated in a sort of lodging- 
 house, in which there were one or two spare bedrooms ; or,
 
 AN EXPERIENCE IN MONTENEGRO. 181 
 
 if they were not actually spare, their occupants turned out, 
 I suppose for a consideration, on the arrival of a guest. 
 The chamber assigned to me had apparently been thus 
 vacated. Its former occupant had evidently been a man 
 of modest requirements, for the entire furniture consisted 
 of a bed, a huge chest, and a chair. I much wondered at 
 the absence of a table and the presence of the chest, but 
 the latter was better than nothing; and when a boiled 
 chicken was brought to me as my evening repast, I spread 
 one of my own towels upon it, in the absence of a table- 
 cloth, and squatting uncomfortably on the solitary chair, 
 proceeded to make the best of existing conditions. I was 
 in the act of dissecting an extremely tough wing, when 
 the door suddenly opened, and a stalwart Montenegrin, 
 looking magnificent in his national costume, stalked in. 
 He addressed me with great politeness in his native 
 tongue at least I gathered from his manner that he was 
 polite, for I could not understand a word of what he said. 
 As he was evidently a man of some position, in other 
 words, as he seemed to be a gentleman of Montenegro, I 
 rose and bowed with much ceremony, addressing him 
 fluently in the English language ; upon which he drew an 
 immense key from his pocket, and pointed to the lock of 
 the chest, thus giving me to understand that he wished to 
 open it. In order for him to accomplish this, it was 
 necessary for me to remove my dinner, an operation which 
 was speedily performed. As he seemed a frank and en- 
 gaging sort of person without any secrets, and as I was 
 possessed with the natural curiosity of a stone gathering 
 moss, I looked over him while he opened the chest, to see 
 what was in it. To my astonishment it was full to the
 
 182 AN EXPERIENCE IN MONTENEGRO. 
 
 brim of bags of money. Not only this, but my strange 
 visitor opened one of them, and poured out a handful of 
 gold. They were evidently all full of gold. When he 
 had counted out what he wanted which, as well as my 
 memory serves me, was over a hundred pounds he tied 
 up the bag again, replaced it, locked up the chest, helped 
 me with many Sclavonic expressions, which I have no 
 doubt were apologies, to lay my cloth and spread my ban- 
 quet again; and with a final polite salutation vanished, 
 leaving me alone, and in perfect confidence with the un- 
 told treasure which he had thus revealed to me. There 
 was something almost uncanny in dining and sleeping 
 alone with so much money. At night the chest seemed to 
 assume gigantic proportions, and I felt as if I had been 
 put into a haunted room. The absolute confidence placed 
 in me, an utter stranger, for I had not been in the place a 
 couple of hours, and had not yet presented my letter of 
 introduction to the Prince, appalled me ; and I went to 
 sleep vainly trying to unravel a mystery so unlike any I 
 had expected to find in the barren wilds of Montenegro. 
 It was not solved until next day, when, dining with the 
 Prince, I met my visitor of the previous evening. I then 
 acquired the information, through a Kussian gentleman 
 present who spoke French, that the chest upon which I 
 had dined contained the entire finances of the Princi- 
 pality; and that the Montenegrin who had unlocked it, 
 and vacated his chamber in my behalf, was its Chancellor 
 of the Exchequer ! 
 
 From Montenegro we rolled down to Corfu, where 
 Mr Herbert, then attached to the Legation at Athens, 
 joined us, and we spent some very pleasant days to-
 
 AN EXPERIENCE IN MONTENEGRO. 183 
 
 gether. I little thought when I parted from my friends, 
 to embark on board the steamer for Ancona, how tragi- 
 cally their young lives were destined to be terminated 
 Lord Edward to fall a victim to a bear while shooting in 
 India, and Herbert to be held for a ransom by brigands, 
 and finally murdered by them near the plains of Marathon. 
 At Ancona I found the hospitals full of wounded from the 
 battle of Castel Fidardo, which had just been fought; 
 thence I rolled through Italy in a diligence for three days 
 and two nights, in company with sundry Papal sbirri 
 as fellow-passengers, who were escaping to the shelter of 
 Eome from the provinces which the Pope was rapidly los- 
 ing, in terror of their lives lest their identity should be 
 recognised by the inhabitants of the villages at which 
 we stopped to change horses ; and so into the sacred city, 
 where all was suppressed excitement at the changes which 
 were transpiring in the Italian Peninsula. 
 
 But I did not linger there, for I was anxious to see. 
 Garibaldi once more, now administering at Naples the 
 kingdom which he had conquered since we had parted a 
 few months before. He received me with affectionate 
 cordiality, and listened with interest to my account of the 
 taking of the vote at Nice, but insisted that he could not 
 regret the decision he had arrived at, as he felt con- 
 vinced that his Sicilian expedition would have been 
 marred had he involved himself in political difficulties 
 with his own Government at such a crisis, in which he 
 was very possibly right. Then I rolled out to see a little 
 fighting near Capua, but all the serious work had been 
 accomplished, and I lodged a few days with my friend the 
 late General Eber, who had made his headquarters in the
 
 184 AN EXPERIENCE IN MONTENEGRO. 
 
 royal palace at Caserta; lodged sumptuously, for every 
 room and every bed in the palace was occupied except 
 the royal bedroom and the royal bed, which the General 
 himself had been too modest to appropriate, and which, 
 as it was the only one vacant, he assigned to me a bed 
 so gorgeous, with its gold and lace and satin, that I 
 doubted whether the king himself did not keep it for 
 show. However, it turned out a very good one to sleep 
 in. 
 
 At last the day came when Victor Emmanuel arrived 
 to receive a kingdom from the hands of the Nice sailor ; 
 and as I saw them both appear on the balcony of the 
 palace from the square below, I was reminded of a certain 
 day twelve years before, when I formed one of a mob in 
 that same square, at the moment that, by Bomba's order, 
 it was fired upon by the troops, and I was able to identify 
 the very port cochere into which I had fled for refuge on 
 that occasion. Now I was listening to the voice of the 
 deliverer, standing with bared head, and in red shirt, pre- 
 senting a kingdom to his sovereign, and to the ringing 
 cheers of the liberated multitude, as, with enthusiastic 
 demonstrations of joy, they welcomed their new ruler. 
 Thus did United Italy owe its existence to a combination 
 of the most opposite qualities in the persons of its two 
 greatest patriots, who would not work together ; for it is 
 certain that Cavour could never have created it without 
 Garibaldi, or Garibaldi have achieved success without 
 Cavour.
 
 185 
 
 CHAPTEK X. 
 
 THE ATTACK ON THE BRITISH LEGATION IN JAPAN 
 IN 1861. 
 
 IN October 1860, Mr de Norman, First Secretary of 
 Legation in Japan, who was temporarily attached to Lord 
 Elgin's second special embassy to China, was barbarously 
 tortured and murdered at Pekin ; and early in the follow- 
 ing year I was sent out to succeed him. Sir Eutherford 
 Alcock, who had been appointed Minister to Japan under 
 the treaty which we made with that country in 1858. 
 when I was acting-secretary to the special mission, had 
 applied for two years' leave ; and thus the prospect was 
 opened to me of acting as chargt d'affaires at Yedo for 
 that period. It was one which my former brief expe- 
 rience in that interesting and comparatively unknown 
 country rendered extremely tempting; and early in 
 June I reached Shanghai, on my way to Yokohama. I 
 was extremely sorry to find that I had just missed Sir 
 Kutherford, who had left Shanghai, only a fortnight 
 before, for Nagasaki, from which town he intended to 
 travel overland to Yedo a most interesting journey of 
 at least a month, through an entirely unknown country ;
 
 18t> ATTACK ON BRITISH LEGATION IN JAPAN. 
 
 an experience which, in view of my future residence in 
 it, would have been valuable in many ways. There was 
 nothing left for it but to go, on the first opportunity, by 
 sea ; and towards the end of the month I reached Yoko- 
 hama, from which port I lost no time in pushing on to 
 Yedo. Here I found the Legation established in a temple 
 at the entrance to the city, in one of its principal suburbs, 
 called Sinagawa. It was separated from the sea by a 
 highroad, and on entering the large gateway, an avenue, 
 about three hundred yards long, led to a second gateway 
 behind which stood the temple buildings. In the outside 
 court were the servants' offices and stables, in which stood 
 always, saddled and bridled, like those of the knights of 
 Branksome Hall, the horses of our mounted Japanese body- 
 guard, without whose escort no member of the Legation 
 could at that time take a ride abroad. Besides these, 
 there was a foot-guard, partly composed of soldiers of the 
 Tycoon, or Temporal Emperor, as he was then called, 
 and partly by retainers of the Daimios, or feudatory 
 chiefs of the country the whole amounting to 150 men. 
 These guards were placed here by the Government for our 
 protection, although some of us at the time thought that 
 the precaution was altogether exaggerated and unneces- 
 sary, and that their constant presence was intended 
 rather as a measure of surveillance over our movements. 
 To what extent this latter motive operated it is impos- 
 sible to conjecture, but the sequel showed that the ap- 
 prehensions of the Government for our safety were by 
 no means unfounded. I had been accompanie'd from 
 England by Mr Eeginald Russell, who had been ap- 
 pointed attach^, and it was with no little curiosity that
 
 ATTACK ON BRITISH LEGATION IN JAPAN. 187 
 
 we rode up the avenue to what was to be our future 
 home. 
 
 Two or three members of the Legation were waiting to 
 receive us, and showed us over the quaint construction 
 which had been appropriated by the Japanese Govern- 
 ment to the use of the first foreign Minister who had ever 
 resided in their capital. Part of the building was still 
 used for ecclesiastical purposes, and haunted by priests; 
 but our quarters were roomy and comfortable, the interior 
 economy being susceptible of modification in the number, 
 size, and arrangement of the rooms, by the simple expe- 
 dient of moving the partition -walls, which consisted of 
 paper-screens running in grooves. The ease with which 
 these could be burst through, as it afterwards proved, 
 afforded equal facilities of escape and attack. One felt 
 rather as if one was living in a bandbox ; and there was 
 an air of flimsiness about the whole construction by no 
 means calculated to inspire a sense of security in a capital 
 of over two millions of people, a large proportion of whom, 
 we were given to understand, were thirsting for our lives. 
 Fortunately for our peace of mind, we did not realise this 
 at the time, and were taken up rather by the quaintness 
 and novelty of our new abode, and the picturesqueness of 
 its surroundings. We congratulated ourselves upon the 
 charming garden and grounds, comprising probably two 
 or three acres, abundantly furnished with magnificent 
 wide-spreading trees, and innumerable shrubs and plants 
 which were new to us ; while small ponds and tiny islands 
 contributed a feature which .is generally to be found in 
 the landscape-gardening in which the Japanese are so 
 proficient. Sir Rutherford Alcock was not expected to
 
 188 ATTACK ON BRITISH LEGATION IN JAPAN. 
 
 arrive for a week, and I occupied the time in establishing 
 myself in my new quarters, and in exploring the neigh- 
 bourhood on horseback. 
 
 On these occasions we were always accompanied by an 
 escort of twenty or thirty horsemen, or yaconins, as they 
 are called, mounted on wiry ponies, shod with straw shoes, 
 and with a marked tendency to being vicious and unman- 
 ageable. These exploratory rides were a great source of 
 delight and interest to me, for although I had been in the 
 country before, my visit had only lasted a fortnight ; and 
 my time had been exclusively devoted to official work, and 
 the examination of the city of Yedo itself, so that I had 
 seen nothing whatever of the surrounding country. Now 
 we scampered across it, to the great consternation of our 
 escort, who found great difficulty in keeping up with us 
 so much so, that upon more than one occasion only two or 
 three of the original number succeeded in reaching home 
 with us. I had determined, moreover, upon making an 
 entomological collection for the British Museum, and set 
 the juvenile part of the population of the villages through 
 which I passed to collecting insects, in the hope that on 
 subsequent visits I might find something worth having. 
 I was successful in almost my first ride in finding a com- 
 mon-looking but very rare beetle ; and in this pursuit my 
 English servant who had spent his youth in the house of 
 a naturalist and ornithologist, and was skilled in the use 
 of the blow-pipe, and in the cleaning and stuffing of birds 
 took an eager interest. 
 
 After I had been at Yedo about a week, we received 
 news of the approach of Sir Rutherford Alcock and his 
 party, and rode out ten miles to meet them. We were
 
 ATTACK ON BRITISH LEGATION IN JAPAN. 189 
 
 delighted to see them arrive safe and sound after a land- 
 journey of thirty-two days, as we had not been without 
 anxiety on their behalf for Japan at that period was a 
 region in which sinister rumours were rife, and we never 
 knew how much or how little to believe of them ; but 
 now the great experiment of traversing the country for the 
 first time by Europeans had been safely and successfully 
 accomplished, and perhaps contributed to lull us into a 
 security, the fallacy of which was destined so shortly to be 
 proved to us. 
 
 On the night of the 5th of July a comet was visible, a 
 circumstance to which some of us possibly owed our lives, 
 for we sat up till an unusually late hour looking at it. 
 As one of the party was gifted with a good voice and an 
 extensive repertory of songs, and the evening was warm 
 and still, we protracted our vigil in the open air until past 
 midnight. At our mid-day halt on my ride from Yoko- 
 hama to Yedo, I had acquired the affections of a stray 
 dog, by feeding him with our luncheon-scraps; and this 
 animal had permanently attached himself to me, and was 
 lying across the threshold of the door of my room when I 
 went to bed. I had scarcely blown out my candle and 
 settled myself to a grateful repose, when this dog broke 
 into a sudden and furious barking, and at the same 
 moment I heard the sounds of a watchman's rattle. We 
 had two of these functionaries, whose business it was to 
 perambulate the garden alternately throughout the night, 
 and to show that they were on the alert by springing 
 from time to time a rattle made of bamboo which they 
 carried. Roused by these noises, I listened attentively, 
 and distinctly heard the sounds of what seemed a
 
 190 ATTACK ON BRITISH LEGATION IN JAPAN. 
 
 scuffle at the front door. My room was on the other side 
 of the house, and opened on to the garden, from which 
 quarter it was entirely unprotected. It was connected 
 with the front of the house by a narrow passage, the walls 
 of which, if I remember right, were of lath-and-plaster, or at 
 all events of some firmer material than the usual paper- 
 screens. Thinking that the disturbance was probably 
 caused by some quarrel among the servants, I jumped out 
 of bed, intending to arm myself with my revolver, which 
 was lying in its case on the table. Unfortunately my 
 servant had that day been cleaning it, and after replac- 
 ing it and locking the case, had put the key where I could 
 not lay my hand upon it. A box which contained a 
 sword and a coat of mail, which had been laughingly pre- 
 sented to me before leaving England by an anxious friend, 
 had not been opened; so, although well supplied with 
 means both of offence and defence, I was forced in the 
 hurry of the moment to content myself with a hunting- 
 crop, the handle of which was so heavily weighted, that I 
 considered it a sufficiently formidable weapon with which 
 to meet anybody belonging to our own household that I 
 was likely to encounter. Meantime the dog continued to 
 bark violently, and to exhibit unmistakable signs of alarm. 
 Stepping past him, I proceeded along the passage leading 
 to the front of the house, which was only dimly lighted by 
 "il-l;mi]) thai was standing in the, (lining-room; the first 
 ofi my left was that occupied by Russell, whom I 
 hurriedly roused, and then hearing the noise increasing, 
 rushed out towards it. I had scarcely taken two steps, 
 when I dimly perceived the advancing figure of a Japan- 
 ese, with uplifted arms and sword ; and now commenced a
 
 ATTACK ON BRITISH LEGATION IN JAPAN. 191 
 
 struggle of which it is difficult to render an account. I 
 remember feeling most unaccountably hampered in my 
 efforts to bring the heavy butt-end of my hunting-whip to 
 bear upon him, and to be aware that he was aiming blow 
 after blow at me, and no less unaccountably missing me, 
 and feeling ready to cry with vexation at being without 
 my revolver, and being aware that it was a life-and-death 
 struggle, which could only end one way, when suddenly I 
 was blinded by the flash of a shot, and my left arm, which 
 I was instinctively holding up to shield my head, dropped 
 disabled. I naturally thought I had been shot, but it 
 turned out that this shot saved my life. 
 
 Among those who had accompanied Sir Rutherford 
 Alcock from Nagasaki was Mr Morrison, then consul at 
 that port. His servant seems to have encountered one of 
 our assailants, masked and in chain-armour, in his first 
 rush into the building, about which he fortunately did 
 not know his way, and the servant, escaping from him, 
 succeeded in safely reaching his master's room, and in 
 arousing him. Seizing his revolver, Morrison sallied 
 forth, and, attracted by the noise of my struggle, ap- 
 proached from behind me, and placing his revolver over 
 my shoulder, shot my antagonist at the very moment that 
 he had inflicted a severe cut with his long two-handed 
 sword on my left arm, a little above the wrist. A moment 
 after, Morrison received a cut over the forehead and across 
 the eyebrow from another Japanese, at whom he emptied 
 the second barrel of his pistol. An instant lull succeeded 
 these shots. It was too dark to see what their effect had 
 been, but the narrow passage was no longer blocked by 
 the forms of our assailants. My impression is that one
 
 192 ATTACK ON BRITISH LEGATION IN JAPAN. 
 
 was on the ground. We were both bleeding so profusely, 
 and felt so disabled, that there was nothing left for us but 
 to retreat, and this we instinctively did to the room which 
 contained the light. This was placed in a part of the 
 dining-room which had been screened off so as to make 
 an office for Sir Eutherford Alcock, with whose bedroom 
 it communicated. The screen reached about three-fourths 
 across the dining-room. In this office we found Sir Ruther- 
 ford, who had just been roused, and were joined in the 
 next minute or two by three other members of the Lega- 
 tion, Mr Russell, and my servant B., all hurriedly escaping 
 from a noise and confusion which increased in intensity 
 every moment. B., on the first alarm, had begun to load his 
 double-barrelled gun, and had finished with the exception 
 of putting on the caps this was before the days of breech- 
 loaders when two Japanese jumped in at his window. 
 Fortunately, spread out before it on a table were two 
 open insect-cases, with the spoils of the week impaled on 
 pins. On these the assailants jumped with their bare 
 feet, and upsetting the table, came sprawling into the 
 room, thus giving B., who had lost the caps in the start 
 he received, time to spring through the paper wall of his 
 room, like a harlequin, and reach us in safety. At this 
 juncture the position of affairs was not reassuring. We 
 numbered eight behind the screen, of whom two were 
 hors de combat. Our available means of defence consisted 
 of three revolvers and a double-barrelled gun. Of the 
 European inmates of the Legation three were missing; 
 one of these was Mr Wirgman, the artist of the ' Illus- 
 trated London News/ who had accompanied Sir Ruther- 
 ford in his journey from Nagasaki ; and of the two others,
 
 ATTACK ON BRITISH LEGATION IN JAPAN. 193 
 
 one lived in a cottage somewhat detached from the temple. 
 Meantime Sir Eutherford, who fortunately possessed some 
 surgical skill, was engaged in binding up my arm. The 
 gash was to the bone, cutting through three of the extensor 
 tendons, so that to this day I am unable to hold erect 
 three fingers of my left hand. I should undoubtedly have 
 bled to death had it not been for the efficient measures 
 thus kindly and promptly adopted to stop the haemorrhage. 
 As it was, I was becoming very faint from loss of blood, 
 as I no,w discovered that I had also received another and 
 very serious wound over the right collar-bone, and un- 
 pleasantly near the jugular vein, of which, in the excite- 
 ment of the struggle, I had been totally unconscious. 
 Also a very slight tip from the sword high up on the 
 right arm, the mark of which, however, is still visible; 
 and a blow which I did not discover till next day, which 
 broke several of the metacarpal bones of the left hand. 
 I never could imagine how or when I received this blow ; 
 but it was an evidence that we must have been at one 
 moment of the struggle at very close quarters. 
 
 Meantime the noise of cutting and slashing resounded 
 through the house ; and while it drew nearer every mo- 
 ment, we were at a loss to conceive who our assailants 
 could be, and why the guard had not come to our rescue 
 unless, indeed, they were in the plot to murder us. 
 At last we heard all the glass crash on the sideboard in 
 the dining-room, and we knew that our moment had 
 come. My companions had made up their minds to sell 
 their lives dearly; and every man who was fortunate 
 enough to possess one, was standing with his finger on 
 the trigger of his revolver, while this time the caps were 
 
 N
 
 194 ATTACK ON BRITISH LEGATION IN JAPAN. 
 
 safely on B.'s double-barrelled gun. I suggested to one 
 of the party I forget which now that they would have 
 a chance for their lives by escaping into the garden and 
 hiding among the bushes, which they could easily have 
 done ; but the answer was that they could not take me 
 'with them, and they had determined not to desert me, 
 but to stand or fall together for which I felt at the time 
 intensely grateful, and do still, though I had at that 
 moment given up all hope of escape. I was overcome by 
 a feeling of faintness, which made me regard the prospect 
 of immediate death with complete indifference, until B., 
 while he was giving me some water to drink, murmured 
 in my ear, " Do you think they will torture us, sir, before 
 they kill us ? " This horrible suggestion brought out a 
 cold perspiration ; and I trust I may never again experi- 
 ence the sensation of dread with which it inspired me, 
 and which I was too weak to fight against. It did not 
 last long, however, for almost at the same moment there 
 was an immense increase of noise, and the clashing of 
 swords, intermingled with sharp cries and ejaculations, 
 resounded from the other side of the screen, and our 
 curiosity and hope were excited in the highest degree, 
 for we thought it indicated a possible rescue. In a few 
 moments it subsided, and all was still; and Sir Euther- 
 ford, followed by Mr Lowder, went cautiously out on a 
 reconnoitring expedition, to find the dining-room looking 
 like a shambles, and to discover some Japanese retreating 
 down the passage, at whom Mr Lowder fired a shot from 
 his revolver. Shortly after they returned, Mr Macdonald, 
 one of the gentlemen whose room was situated out of the 
 line of attack, appeared disguised in a Japanese dress, ac-
 
 ATTACK ON BRITISH LEGATION IN JAPAN. 195 
 
 companied by some of the guard, excited and blood-bespat- 
 tered, and we knew that we were saved by them, though 
 not a second too soon. Had our assailants not been at- 
 tacked in rear by the guard at the moment they were in 
 the dining-room, they must inevitably in a few seconds 
 more have discovered us behind the screen, and this 
 account of that eventful night's proceedings would never 
 have been written. We were now informed that some of 
 our assailants had been killed, that the guard were search- 
 ing for others in the grounds, and that reinforcements had 
 been sent for. These appeared soon after; and I have 
 never seen a more dramatic and picturesque sight than 
 these men, all clad in chain-armour, with their steel head- 
 pieces, long two-handed swords, and Japanese lanterns, 
 filing through the house, and out into the starlight. It was 
 like a scene from the " Huguenots," and as I watched them 
 from the arm-chair in which I was still lying, swathed 
 and bandaged, was one of the most vivid impressions 
 produced upon my mind on that night of lively sensations. 
 About this time Mr Wirgman, the artist of the ' Illus- 
 trated London News,' turned up, coated with a thick 
 breastplate of mud. He had taken refuge under the 
 house, which was raised about eighteen inches from the 
 ground, and crawling in on his stomach, had remained in 
 profound but somewhat dirty security under the flooring. 
 With the true spirit of his calling, he immediately set 
 about portraying the most striking features of the episode, 
 for the benefit of the British public. Mr Gower, another 
 gentleman who lived in a little cottage apart, also ap- 
 peared safe and sound, having been throughout removed 
 from the scene of the strife.
 
 196 ATTACK ON BRITISH LEGATION IN JAPAN. 
 
 It was about three o'clock in the morning that I deter- 
 mined to struggle back to bed ; and even then the soldiers 
 were hunting about the garden for concealed members of 
 the gang that had attacked us, prodding the bushes with 
 their swords, and searching into hidden recesses. As, 
 supported by friendly arms, I tottered round the screen 
 into the dining-room, a ghastly sight met my gaze. Under 
 the sideboard, completely severed from the body, was a 
 man's head. The body was lying in the middle of the 
 room. I had in the first instance rushed out of my bed- 
 room barefooted, and in my night-dress. I now found 
 myself slipping about in blood, for butchers' work had 
 been done here, and feeling something like an oyster 
 under my bare foot, I perceived it was a human eye. 
 One of the bodies was terribly disfigured; the whole of 
 the front part of the head had been sliced off as though 
 witli an adze, leaving only the back of the brain visible. 
 Early in the morning I was roused from a troubled doze 
 by six or eight solemn-looking elderly Japanese, who 
 announced that they were the Imperial physicians come 
 to inquire after my health. I positively refused to allow 
 them to remove the bandages and examine the wounds ; 
 so they contented themselves with looking very wise, 
 examining my tongue, and placing their ears over my 
 heart. As the day advanced, and I recovered somewhat 
 from the excitement and the exhaustion, I was surprised 
 at finding that I suffered so little pain, and felt so well, 
 considering the amount of blood that I had lost. So I 
 scrambled out to look at the scene of the conflict for it 
 was difficult under the circumstances to remain quietly in 
 bed. I naturally first visited the spot where I had met
 
 ATTACK ON BRITISH LEGATION IN JAPAN. 197 
 
 my Japanese opponent, and discovered that the reason 
 we had so much difficulty in getting at each other was 
 owing to a small beam, or rather rafter, which spanned 
 the narrow passage, about seven feet from the ground. 
 Its edge was as full of deep sword-cuts as a crimped her- 
 ring, any one of which would have been sufficient to split 
 open my skull, which my antagonist must have thought 
 unusually hard. I evidently owed my life to the fact 
 that I had remained stationary under this beam, which 
 had acted as a permanent and most effective guard the 
 cuts I received being merely the tips from the sword as 
 it glanced off. There was a plentiful bespattering of blood 
 on the wall at the side, in which was also indented the 
 shape of the handle of my hunting-whip. The blow must 
 have been given with considerable force to make it ; but 
 I feel convinced that under such circumstances one is 
 for the moment endowed with an altogether exceptional 
 strength. I now pursued my investigations into some of 
 the other rooms, which all bore marks of the ferocious 
 nature of the attack. The assailants appear to have 
 slashed about recklessly in the dark, in the hope of 
 striking a victim. Some of the mattresses were prodded 
 through and through; one bedpost was completely sev- 
 ered by a single sword-cut; and a Bible lying on a 
 table was cut three-quarters through. We were now in 
 a position to add up the list of killed and wounded, and 
 estimate results generally, while we also had to calculate 
 how they might affect our own future position and policy. 
 Although one of our assailants, a stalwart young fel- 
 low with a somewhat hang-dog countenance, was taken 
 prisoner and afterwards executed, we had some difficulty
 
 198 ATTACK ON BRITISH LEGATION IN JAPAN. 
 
 in making out at the time of whom the gang was actually 
 composed. That they were Lonins there was no doubt. 
 Lonins are an outlaw class, the retainers or clansmen of 
 Daimios who, having committed some offence, have left 
 the service of their prince, and banding themselves to- 
 gether, form a society of desperadoes, who are employed 
 often by their old chiefs, to whom they continue to owe a 
 certain allegiance, for any daring enterprise, by which, if 
 it fails, he is not compromised, while if they succeed in 
 it, they have a chance of regaining their position. The 
 question was, to which particular Daimio these Lonins 
 belonged; and upon this point our guard was singularly 
 reticent. Nor was any light thrown upon the matter by 
 the following document, which was found on the body 
 of one of the gang who was killed, and which ran as 
 follows : 
 
 "I, though I am a person of low standing, have not 
 patience to stand by and see the sacred empire denied by 
 foreigners. This time I have determined in my heart to 
 undertake to follow out my master's will. Though, being 
 altogether humble myself, I cannot make the might of the 
 country to shine on foreign nations, yet with a little faith, 
 and a little warrior's power, I wish in my heart separately, 
 though I am a person of low degree, to bestow upon my 
 country one out of a great many benefits. If this thing 
 from time to time may cause the foreigners to retire, and 
 partly tranquillise the minds of the Mikado and the 
 Government, I shall take to myself the highest praise. 
 Regardless of my own life, I am determined to set out." 
 Here follow fourteen signatures. 
 
 This document, while it showed that the motive which
 
 ATTACK ON BRITISH LEGATION IN JAPAN. 199 
 
 suggested the attack was the hope that it might frighten 
 us out of the country, also proved that the number who 
 had been engaged in it, on this occasion, was fourteen. 
 Some years afterwards I met several Japanese in London, 
 and had some opportunities of being of service to them. 
 I happened one day to mention to one of them that I had 
 been in the British Legation on the night of this attack. 
 " You don't say so ! " he replied. " How glad I am that 
 you escaped safely ! for I, to whom you have shown so 
 much kindness, planned the whole affair, and was in 
 Sinagawa, just outside the gates, all that night, though, 
 not being a Lonin myself, I did not take an active part in 
 it." He then told me that the Lonins belonged to Prince 
 Mito, upon whom, from his known hostility to foreigners, 
 our suspicion had rested from the first ; and as a reminis- 
 cence of the event, in addition to the one I already carried 
 on my arm, he presented me with his photograph. We 
 now heard that three of the Lonins, to avoid being 
 captured alive, had committed suicide by ripping them- 
 selves up, an example which was followed by two more a 
 day or two afterwards, making the total list of killed and 
 wounded twenty-eight, which was composed as follow : 
 
 DEFENDERS. 
 
 Killed, 
 1 Tycoon's guard. 1 Porter. 1 Groom. 
 
 Severely wounded. 
 
 1 Secretary of Legation. 1 Porter. 
 
 1 Tycoon's guard. 2 Servants of the Legation. 
 
 1 Daimio's guard.
 
 200 ATTACK ON BRITISH LEGATION IN JAPAN. 
 
 Slightly wounded. 
 
 1 Consul. 2 Daimio's guard. 
 
 7 Tycoon's guard. 1 Priest of the temple. 
 
 ASSAILANTS. 
 Killed. 
 
 2 on the spot. 
 
 3 tracked next day, committed suicide. 
 2 tracked later, committed suicide. 
 
 1 captured, wounded, and executed. 
 
 Killed, . . . 11 
 Wounded, . ' . . 17 
 
 Total, . . 28 
 
 We heard afterwards that the six Lonins still unaccounted 
 for were caught and executed at intervals later, but had no 
 means of verifying the statement ; but whether it was true 
 or not, the whole forms a record of a tolerably bloody night's 
 work. We were strongly recommended by the Govern- 
 ment to place three of the heads of the Lonins over our 
 gateway as a terror to evil-doers, but I cannot remember 
 whether this advice was followed or not. We were now 
 able to gather from our servants many incidents of the 
 attack. It seems that our assailants first knocked at the 
 outside gate, but being refused admittance, scaled the fence 
 and killed the porter. In passing up the avenue in front 
 of the stables, they came across a groom, whom they also 
 killed. They then slew a dog, and severely wounded the 
 cook, who seems to have heard a noise and gone out to 
 see the cause of it. In like manner they captured a watch- 
 man, whom they tried to peusuade to show them the way ;
 
 ATTACK ON BRITISH LEGATION IN JAPAN. 201 
 
 but he managed to escape, receiving, as he did so, two 
 severe cuts on the back : however, he ultimately succeeded 
 in concealing himself in a lotus-pond. This man's back 
 presented the most ghastly appearance, and I did not think 
 he could have lived. The Japanese have a treatment of 
 their own for sword-cuts, derived from much experience 
 in them. Instead of bringing the edges of the skin as 
 closely together as possible, they plug the wound with 
 chewed paper, a method which, if it is efficacious, leaves 
 the most hideous marks of the gash. The band now 
 seems to have scattered, and to have broken into the 
 temple in parties of three or four, coming across an unfor- 
 tunate priest as they did so, who, however, was not very 
 severely wounded ; and then in the darkness they dashed 
 into all the rooms, slashing recklessly about them, and 
 plunging their swords through the mattresses in the hope 
 of transfixing a sleeper. There can be little doubt that 
 they would have succeeded in their purpose, had it not 
 been for the lateness of the hour at which most of us had 
 retired to rest. 
 
 Before daybreak Sir Eutherford Alcock had despatched 
 an express messenger to Captain Craigie of H.M.S. King- 
 dove, then lying at Yokohama, twenty miles distant, de- 
 scribing the position of matters, and urgently requesting 
 him to come at once to our assistance. Meantime the 
 native guards had been increased to 500 men. At one 
 o'clock in the afternoon we were cheered by the sight of 
 twenty blue-jackets, led by their officers, tramping up the 
 avenue, their faces beaming with the anticipation of a 
 possible fight in store. Their arrival inspired a confidence 
 which our previously defenceless condition probably ex-
 
 202 ATTACK ON BRITISH LEGATION IN JAPAN. 
 
 aggerated ; for what could so few even well-armed men do 
 against the hostile population by whom we were surrounded, 
 had they chosen to renew the attack, which we considered 
 highly probable ? They were accompanied by Monsieur 
 Duchesne de Bellecour, the French Minister, who, on 
 learning of our adventure, instantly put himself on board 
 the Kingdove, bringing with him a party of French sailors, 
 " pour partager les dangers," as he chivalrously remarked. 
 Our most welcome reinforcement instantly set to work 
 improving our means of defence. The palisades all round 
 were looked to and strengthened, and every conceivable 
 measure of precaution taken, to prepare for another at- 
 tack during the night, which seemed highly possible, 
 for we thought that the escaped Lonins might spend the 
 day in recruiting their numbers, and assault us in much 
 stronger force. We heard from various sources that the 
 city was in the highest state of excitement, and we felt, 
 therefore, that we had only as yet, perhaps, been actors in 
 the first scene of a drama, the denouement of which it was 
 impossible to foresee. At the same time, we quite felt that 
 the decision at which our Minister had arrived was the 
 right one, and that we must hold our position at all hazards, 
 as it would never do to allow either the Japanese Govern- 
 ment or people to suppose that we could be frightened by 
 isolated acts of violence into abandoning rights which had 
 been solemnly assured to us by treaty. "With the excep- 
 tion of the American, there was no other foreign Legation 
 in Yedo at the time, and it had so far escaped molestation. 
 In anticipation of a lively night, an elaborate system of 
 sentries was organised upon a somewhat composite basis. 
 At both the gates, and at various points in the grounds,
 
 ATTACK ON BRITISH LEGATION IN JAPAN. 203 
 
 was a mixed guard of Japanese and English or French, 
 while at every bedroom-door a Japanese and a blue-jacket 
 kept watch together. I don't think anybody slept much 
 that night ; and whenever I did fall into a doze, it was only 
 to wake with a start from a dream in which I was being 
 attacked. The bamboo rattle of the Japanese watchmen, 
 associated as it was with my first alarm, produced a pain- 
 ful impression upon my weakened nervous system ; and it 
 was a relief to gaze at my two sentries stolidly facing each 
 other from opposite sides of the doorway, both armed to 
 the teeth according to the fashion of their respective civi- 
 lisations, unable to interchange an intelligible word, but 
 each, no doubt, entertaining some curious speculations in 
 regard to the other. 
 
 All through that first night I fancied I heard the angry 
 murmur of the dense population by which we were sur- 
 rounded, who seemed to me as sleepless as ourselves ; but 
 this may only have been the effect of a fevered imagina- 
 tion. The night passed off without an alarm, but it was 
 only the first of a series in which this unpleasant state of 
 tension was in no degree relaxed. Nor did the days bring 
 much relief. Sinister and unpleasant rumours were con- 
 stantly reaching us through sources of information which, 
 it is true, were not to be much relied upon, for they were 
 Japanese, though in some cases more or less secret. It 
 was not safe for a foreigner to show himself outside the 
 gates, so that we felt more or less beleaguered, while official 
 visits were paid and communications were being kept up 
 between the Minister and the Japanese Government. No- 
 body thought of laying aside his revolver for a moment ; 
 and whether he was eating his meals or copying a
 
 204 ATTACK ON BRITISH LEGATION IN JAPAN. 
 
 despatch, it was always placed on the table beside 
 him. 
 
 Under these circumstances I was only an encumbrance, 
 for I was unable to use either arm, and my wounds needed 
 more serious attention than it was possible to give them 
 on shore. After the first two days, therefore, I was put 
 on board the Eingdove, under the care of the assistant- 
 surgeon. Captain Craigie, who was living on shore, most 
 kindly placed his cabin at my disposal ; and here I entered 
 upon a series of experiences which, in their way, were 
 the most disagreeable which it has ever been my lot to 
 encounter. 
 
 After the wound on my right shoulder was sewn up, 
 my right arm was bandaged to my side, so as not to open 
 the sutures ; my left arm was also firmly bandaged, so that 
 I was deprived of the use of both, and had to be fed by 
 my servant. Then, from loss or poverty of blood, I be- 
 came covered with boils, which of course were worse just 
 under the bandages. In addition to this, ophthalmia broke 
 out among the crew, and I got it in both eyes. The ther- 
 mometer was standing at 95. I was as red as a lobster 
 from prickly heat, which produced an incessant irritation, 
 and the cabin buzzed with mosquitoes like a beehive. A 
 bandage over both eyes kept me in total darkness ; and 
 it was as difficult to lie on my back on account of the 
 boils, as on either side because of my arms. The mon- 
 otony of this existence was only relieved by having myself 
 constantly scratched ; by indicating the localities of mos- 
 quitoes I wished killed ; by having nitrate of silver poured 
 into both eyes, which felt very much as if they were being 
 extracted with corkscrews ; by having my wounds cleaned,
 
 ATTACK ON BRITISH LEGATION IN JAPAN. 205 
 
 plastered, and attended to ; by being fed, and smoking. It 
 is for such emergencies that a beneficent Providence has 
 especially provided tobacco. 
 
 As every available man was on shore, there was nobody 
 to talk to except the assistant-surgeon and the second 
 master. It was just when I was suffering the most acutely 
 from this accumulation of miseries that we had another 
 serious night-alarm. I was vainly trying to find the best 
 position to doze in when I heard a great scrimmage on 
 deck, and some sharp words of command given in an ex- 
 cited tone. Eousing B., who was sleeping near me, I told 
 him to hurry on deck and see what was the matter. In 
 a moment he came back in the highest state of excite- 
 ment, with the pleasing intelligence that an armed Japanese 
 junk was bearing down to board us, and that everybody 
 was on deck with pikes and other weapons of defence. As 
 all the combatant part of the crew had been landed for the 
 defence of the Legation, leaving only the engineers, stokers, 
 cook, steward, and one or two others on board the King- 
 dove was only a gunboat this information was not re- 
 assuring. It seemed that sooner or later I was destined to 
 meet the fate of a rat in a trap. Listening anxiously, I 
 heard the shouting increasing, evidently now proceeding 
 from Japanese throats, and then felt a great bump. Ap- 
 parently the climax had arrived, and I sent B. up again 
 to assist in repelling the boarders. In two or three 
 minutes the noise ceased, and he reappeared, accompanied 
 this time by the doctor, who told me that the junk had 
 sheered off. Whether the collision had been with hostile in- 
 tent, and those on board had changed their minds on finding 
 us prepared for them, and abandoned the idea of attempt-
 
 206 ATTACK ON BRITISH LEGATION IN JAPAN. 
 
 * * 
 
 ing to take us, or whether it was simply the result of 
 clumsy navigation, remained a mystery, which the dark- 
 ness of the night, and the suddenness of the whole episode, 
 rendered it impossible to solve. 
 
 If my various tortures were severe while they lasted, 
 the length of their duration was fortunately short. Owing 
 to the fact that they were unaccompanied by any fever, 
 and that I could eat well, I speedily began to regain 
 strength, and in less than a week was able to go on deck. 
 Here I began to revel in a delightful feeling of security, 
 which had become quite a novel sensation ; the ophthal- 
 mia was cured, and I could indulge in the full enjoyment 
 of the novel aquatic life by which I -was surrounded, in 
 watching the quaint-shaped junks passing to and fro, and 
 the no less quaint-looking fishermen plying their vocation 
 after their peculiar and original methods, in their no less 
 peculiar and original costume, which often consisted of 
 absolutely nothing except a bandage over their noses, 
 the reason for which I never discovered. Their chief 
 occupation seemed to be to prod the muddy bottom of the 
 bay with long tridents for eels. Then there was historic 
 Fusi-yama, with its beautiful conical summit towering 
 over all, and the city of Yedo, with its extensive suburbs 
 straggling for miles all round the margin of the bay. 
 
 A few days later I was glad to find myself able to obey 
 a summons from Sir Rutherford Alcock to come on shore 
 in order to be present at a conference with some of the 
 chief Ministers of State on the subject of the recent 
 attack. It was a blazing hot day, and when I reached 
 the shore, exactly opposite the gate of the Legation, I 
 found the intervening street occupied by the procession of
 
 ATTACK ON BRITISH LEGATION IN JAPAN. 207 
 
 > 
 
 an important Daimio. On the occasion of the progress of 
 one of these great feudal princes, they used to be followed 
 by a small army of samurai or clansmen, numbering 
 sometimes as many as a thousand, all two-sworded swash- 
 bucklers, all ready to fight on the smallest provocation to 
 uphold the dignity of their chief, and exceedingly sensi- 
 tive on the point of honour. The natives, on meeting a 
 procession of this kind, were expected either to move 
 away from the road altogether, or humbly to prostrate 
 themselves while it passed. Under no circumstances was 
 anybody allowed to cross it. This was an insult which it 
 was considered should be wiped out by the death of the 
 rash man who should offer it. Since the great revolution 
 which practically extinguished the Daimios, and which 
 was one of the results of intercourse with foreign nations, 
 I believe these dangerous processions have been abolished. 
 At the time I had no idea of the extreme tenacity of the 
 Japanese on this point of etiquette, or of the risk I should 
 run if I attempted to cross the procession. I stood for 
 some time watching the line, which seemed interminable, 
 the men marching slowly in pairs. At last the heat of 
 the mid-day sun became so overpowering that I feared 
 I should faint. The gate of the Legation, only a dozen 
 yards off, stood invitingly ajar, and, perceiving a wider 
 gap in the line than usual, I made a dash through it. 
 The samurai were so much taken by surprise, that before 
 they could draw their swords I was past them, but not 
 before I had time to perceive their murderous intent, and 
 to slam the gate in the faces of two or three that rushed 
 after me. After our conference with the Ministers was 
 over, I was informed by Sir Kutherford that he had
 
 208 ATTACK ON BRITISH LEGATION IN JAPAN. 
 
 written to Sir James Hope, then admiral on the station, 
 requesting his presence, and that nothing could be finally 
 decided upon until after a consultation with him, but 
 that he had determined to abandon his intention of going 
 home on leave, and would remain at his post until he 
 received instructions from home; that he had further 
 decided on sending me back to England to furnish any 
 information which might be required in addition to the 
 full narrative of events contained in his despatch, and 
 also to be the bearer of a personal letter from the Tycoon 
 to the Queen, apologising for the occurrence. The question 
 of indemnity, and the nature of the satisfaction to be 
 required, were matters also to be discussed; while the 
 trip was one by which, under the circumstances, my health 
 could not fail to derive benefit. During the month which 
 now elapsed before the admiral arrived, the only event of 
 importance which occurred was the news that two Minis- 
 ters of State who had been to see the Tycoon were at- 
 tacked by Lonins : they were, however, bravely defended 
 by their retainers, and, after a severe struggle, the Lonins 
 were completely defeated, many being made prisoners. I 
 now began to perceive how necessary it was, as a measure 
 of self-protection, for Daimios always to be attended by a 
 large escort. 
 
 At last, about the middle of August, Admiral Hope 
 arrived, accompanied by Sir Hercules Robinson, then 
 Governor of Hong-Kong, and it was determined that we 
 should lose no time in paying an official visit in grand 
 state to the Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs. This 
 involved passing through the most crowded and disaffected 
 quarters of the town, for a distance of about two miles. I
 
 ATTACK ON BRITISH LEGATION IN JAPAN. 209 
 
 scarcely knew whether I was sufficiently recovered to 
 make this effort ou horseback, but the alternative was to 
 be cooped up in a norimon, a sort of palanquin, which, 
 however, had the disadvantage of being square, and not 
 oblong, like the latter, and thus obliged me to maintain a 
 squatting position during the whole time. As I considered 
 that the chances were rather in favour of our being 
 attacked than otherwise, I preferred riding, although I 
 had to be led, as I was unable to hold the reins. Still, 
 with a sharp pair of spurs, I had always the chance that 
 my steed, in a wild and headlong flight of his own, would 
 carry me out of the tn&Ue. 
 
 The party consisted of the Minister, the Admiral, Sir 
 Hercules Eobinson, several naval officers, members of the 
 Legation, and myself, escorted between two lines of 
 marines and blue-jackets, who certainly looked as if they 
 were prepared to give a good account of any Lonins who 
 might be rash enough to attack us. The streets through 
 which we passed were densely crowded with scowling 
 multitudes, amongst whom the two-sworded gentry, whom 
 we knew entertained towards us feelings of special 
 animosity, were very numerous. Our progress was 
 necessarily slow, so that it was an hour before we arrived 
 at the building where the two Ministers for Foreign Affairs 
 were waiting to receive us. "We found them attended by 
 many other officials, for it was the custom in Japan never 
 to allow these audiences to assume a private character; 
 and many of those who were present exercised the 
 functions of metsuke in other words, of Government 
 spies or reporters. 
 
 After the first formal compliments had taken place, in 
 

 
 210 ATTACK ON BRITISH LEGATION IN JAPAN. 
 
 accordance with preconcerted arrangement all the English 
 officers and gentlemen who had accompanied us withdrew, 
 leaving only the Minister, the Admiral, and myself, and 
 the interpreters. This was a signal for all the Japanese, 
 except the two Ministers, to retire an unprecedented 
 event, so far, in the annals of Japanese diplomacy ; but it 
 was to be accounted for by the fact that the Ministers had 
 a confidential communication to make to us affecting 
 another European Power, which could not otherwise have 
 been kept quiet : it was therefore in their own interest to 
 break through their ordinary course of procedure. 
 
 After discussing this question, Sir Eutherford Alcock 
 informed them that I was to be the bearer to England of 
 the Imperial Missive to the Queen, and we talked over 
 the possible chances of another attack, and the inconveni- 
 ences which seemed to attend an official residence in the 
 capital of Japan. The first Minister, Ando Tsusimano 
 Kami, remarked, in the course of this conversation, that 
 peril to life was an incident inseparable from high office 
 in his country, and that everybody who filled it, whether 
 foreign or Japanese, must, as a matter of course, run the risk 
 of being murdered. I thought then that this was a mere 
 complimentary way of reconciling us to what was intended 
 to be sooner or later the invariable fate of foreign officials 
 in Japan. But a very short time afterwards poor Ando 
 Tsusimano Kami proved, in his own person, the unjustness 
 of my suspicions ; for he was attacked by a band of eight 
 Lonins, dragged from his norimon, and so severely wounded 
 that for some time his life was despaired of. So far as I 
 was personally concerned, the most important result of 
 this interview was the decision which was arrived at
 
 ATTACK ON BRITISH LEGATION IN JAPAN. 211 
 
 that before going to England I should proceed in H.M.S. 
 Ringdove to the island of Tsusima, situated in the straits 
 of the Corea, accompanied by Admiral Hope in his flag- 
 ship, to investigate the truth of the report which we had 
 received of the Russians having made a permanent settle- 
 ment in that island, contrary to treaty, and to take 
 measures accordingly. A few days afterwards I sailed 
 from Yedo on this most interesting mission.
 
 212 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 A VISIT TO TSUSIMA : AN INCIDENT OF RUSSIAN AGGRESSION. 
 
 THE circumstances under which my visit to Tsusima was 
 made, as the result of my interview with the Japanese 
 Ministers, described in the last chapter, derive additional 
 interest from the fact that now, after an interval of twenty- 
 six years, Eussia is manifesting aggressive tendencies in 
 the same direction. This is evident from the following 
 paragraph, taken from the 'Times' of the 2d Septem- 
 ber 1885. It was, however, in 1861, and not in the pre- 
 vious year, as erroneously stated, that the incident 
 occurred : 
 
 "KussiA IN THE CORBA. German papers publish the fol- 
 lowing extract from the 'Vladivostok' a journal published 
 in the seaport of the same name at the extreme southern corner 
 of the Eussian Asiatic coast : ' The importance of Vladivostock 
 as a seaport is seriously affected by the fact that it is frozen in 
 winter. Hence the opinion has been gaining ground that either 
 Port Lazarev, in Corea, or the island of Quelpaert (33 11' N. 
 lat.), or that of Tsusima (34 40' N. lat.), should be substituted 
 for Vladivostock. As to Port Lazarev, it is by no means cer- 
 tain that it is free from ice all the year round ; and, what is of 
 greater moment, it would be necessary to take possession of
 
 A VISIT TO TSDSIMA. 213 
 
 about the half of the Corean peninsula in order to secure undis- 
 turbed occupation of the port a proceeding certain to provoke 
 the enmity of Japan. The situation of Quelpaert is excellent, 
 but unfortunately there is not a good haven in the island. The 
 island of Tsusima was visited about 1860 by the Russian frigate 
 Possadnik, and the Russian flag was hoisted but subsequently 
 withdrawn. It is some 600 miles distant from our own terri- 
 tory, and so could not well be made a basis of operations. It 
 would seem, therefore, unavoidable to preserve Vladivostock as 
 the base of all serious operations ; but to occupy and fortify 
 Tsusima as a marine station well armed and provisioned. It 
 would thus help to make good some of the drawbacks of Vladi- 
 vostock.' In connection with this suggestion, it may be men- 
 tioned that the island of Tsusima is Japanese territory, and 
 could not be occupied except with the consent of the Govern- 
 ment of Japan." 
 
 It is to be remarked that the last sentence is the comment 
 of the German paper, and does not form part of the quota- 
 tion from the ' Vladivostok.' 
 
 I sailed from Japan in H.M.S. Ringdove in August, 
 under instructions from Sir Rutherford Alcock ; Admiral 
 Hope proceeding thither at the same time in his flag-ship, 
 to render such assistance and advice as might seem neces- 
 sary. The timidity of the Japanese Government at the 
 time was so great that they declined to give us any official 
 assistance, for fear of becoming embroiled with Russia, 
 and I was obliged to proceed to Nagasaki for the purpose 
 of picking up an interpreter. It is about 150 miles from 
 that port to Tsusima ; and on the morning following our 
 departure from Nagasaki, we found ourselves in sight of 
 the island, its twin peaks rising to a height of from 1500 
 to 1800 feet, heavily timbered to their summits, with here
 
 214 A VISIT TO TSUS1MA I 
 
 and there a clearing and a wreath of smoke, indicating the 
 presence of a scattered population. We were approaching 
 the island from the south-east, and were in entire ignor- 
 ance of its ports or centres of habitation. We knew that 
 it was the territory of a prince or Daimio, and we presumed 
 that it must have a capital, so we sent a boat on shore as 
 we neared a fishing hamlet, to ask the way to it. In pur- 
 suance of the directions thus received, we continued steam- 
 ing for a couple of hours along the south-eastern shores of 
 the island, and were much struck by its evident fertility, 
 its fine forests, and pretty scenery, as we opened up one 
 wooded valley after another. Suddenly we came upon a 
 small semicircular harbour, affording an admirable shelter 
 for country craft, with a narrow entrance between project- 
 ing wooded bluffs. At the head of this little haven, and 
 skirting its shore, was the town of Fatchio, a place con- 
 taining possibly from 10,000 to 15,000 inhabitants, and 
 the residence of the Daimio, whose palace, I was afterwards 
 informed, was about four miles distant. 
 
 We did not go much beyond the mouth of the harbour, 
 being entirely ignorant of its depth of water and the char- 
 acter of the anchorage ; and I immediately went on shore 
 to open up communication with the inhabitants. This, 
 however, did not prove a very easy matter. First, some 
 petty officials came down and warned us off. Finding 
 that we paid no attention to their gesticulations, and in- 
 sisted on landing, they retreated a few yards as we jumped 
 on shore, forming, with the assistance of a crowd which 
 now joined them, a semicircle at a distance of a few yards, 
 without manifesting any signs of hostility, but with the 
 apparent intention of amiably and good-naturedly barring
 
 AN INCIDENT OF RUSSIAN AGGRESSION. 215 
 
 our way, should we attempt to go into the town. Our 
 interpreter now commenced a parley, the result of which 
 was, that we were shown into a pretty little wooden erec- 
 tion like a summer-house, on the margin of the sea, at a 
 distance of about a quarter of a mile from the town, and 
 requested to wait there until our arrival and wishes were 
 reported in the proper quarter. Here we were objects of 
 interest to an admiring crowd, principally composed of 
 small boys, for more than an hour, when a messenger 
 returned with the information that the officials refused to 
 receive me, and requested me to return on board the ship 
 and leave them in peace. This I positively declined to do. 
 As it was now getting on towards the afternoon, I said that, 
 so far from complying with their wishes, I intended to 
 send for my meals and sleeping arrangements, and live in 
 the summer-house which at that time of year formed 
 delightfully cool quarters if necessary, for a week. I 
 explained that my patience was inexhaustible, that my 
 time was unlimited, and that I had the less scruple in 
 forcing myself upon their hospitality, as I should ask 
 them for nothing, not even for protection, as I should 
 make arrangements for a guard of blue-jackets to be per- 
 manently stationed on shore for my protection. Whereas, 
 if the prince would accord me an interview, it would prob- 
 ably not last an hour, and we should relieve them of our 
 presence the same evening. The messenger hurried off on 
 hearing the disagreeable alternative I had proposed, and 
 in less than an hour I saw that it had produced its effect ; 
 for a norimon, or native palanquin, appeared on the strand, 
 being hurried along on the shoulders of its bearers, and 
 containing a two-sworded official of a very different rank
 
 216 A VISIT TO TSUSIMA : 
 
 from the humble functionary with whom I had hitherto 
 been in communication. He was accompanied by a man 
 of a lower grade, and for a minute or two we vied with 
 each other in the lowness of our bows and the empresse- 
 ment of our salutations. Then, with many apologies and 
 compliments, I was informed that the Daimio was too ill 
 to receive me ; and in order to convince me that this was 
 no sham illness contrived for the occasion, many details 
 were entered into which were quite unnecessary, for they 
 in no degree removed my suspicions. The most interest- 
 ing items of information which I afterwards obtained in 
 regard to this august personage were, that he possessed 
 great influence at Yedo where his son was retained as a 
 hostage for his good behaviour; that he was of gigantic 
 stature report said seven feet high ; that he was afflicted 
 with a cutaneous disease ; and that he had one wife, twelve 
 concubines, and forty-three children. As I found that he 
 resolutely declined to receive me, I finally consented to an 
 interview with his first Minister instead; but inasmuch 
 as our appearance in the harbour had, according to my 
 informant, already produced great consternation in the 
 town, and as the peace of mind of the inhabitants would 
 be still further disturbed by the presence of a foreigner 
 
 in their streets an event hitherto unknown and as the 
 
 
 
 building in which I was to be received lay at the other 
 extremity of the town, I was requested to agree to the 
 hour for the meeting being fixed for midnight. I Vas 
 perfectly well aware that this was only an excuse, for 
 preventing me from seeing the town or its inhabitants; 
 but I was too well satisfied at having succeeded so far to 
 raise any objection and after a further interchange of
 
 AN INCIDENT OF RUSSIAN AGGRESSION. 217 
 
 polite ceremony, I returned to the ship, having spent 
 nearly four hours in the summer-house. 
 
 The view in Fatchio Bay as the sun set was enchant- 
 ing ; the heavy vegetation coming in places to the water's 
 edge, in others clambering over rocks that rose precip- 
 itously from the sea; the prettily situated little town 
 nestling among its gardens along the shore ; the wooded 
 slopes cut up into cultivated valleys and rising to a peak 
 nearly two thousand feet above the sea, into which a little 
 river emptied itself, all formed a prospect that confirmed 
 the good taste of the Eussians in selecting the island for 
 annexation. 
 
 In my interview with the official, although pressed to 
 state the reasons of my visit, I had absolutely declined to 
 do so to any one except the Prince himself or the Minister 
 he might depute to receive me ; so that doubtless the curi- 
 osity of the authorities was raised to the highest pitch, 
 and the mysterious nature of my proceedings was calcu- 
 lated not a little to excite their suspicions; but this I 
 considered a lesser evil than prematurely to reveal the 
 object of my mission. About eleven o'clock the glimmer 
 of Japanese lanterns at the summer-house told me that 
 my escort had arrived to conduct me to the place of meet- 
 ing, and that the natives intended to keep faith with me, 
 in regard to which I had been in considerable doubt. I 
 therefore put off for the shore, accompanied by the captain 
 of flie Ringdove and another boat containing a guard of a 
 dozen blue-jackets, as it was not considered wise to make 
 a midnight promenade through an unknown town totally 
 unattended; moreover, I considered it advisable to invest 
 the whole proceeding with as much importance as possible.
 
 218 A VISIT TO TSUSIMA I 
 
 There were, as far as I remember, about twenty 
 samurai, or retainers of the prince, with two or three 
 norimons in waiting, and they looked rather timidly and 
 suspiciously at the blue-jackets as they jumped on shore 
 and formed in line ; and indeed the leading official, who 
 was the same with whom I already had an interview, 
 informed me that their presence was quite unnecessary. 
 But on this point I differed with him; and refusing to 
 ensconce myself in a norimon, from which I should have 
 failed to see even the little that was visible in the dark, 
 I started off on foot, between two files of sailors, on my 
 novel expedition. 
 
 It is difficult to judge distance at night except by time ; 
 but as we walked for more than half an hour, the distance 
 traversed must have been at least three miles. More than 
 half of this was through the straggling town, along narrow 
 streets absolutely deserted. Every house had been closed 
 by order, no living soul was to be seen, not even a light 
 glimmered through the shutters. It was a brilliantly 
 clear starlight night, so that I could see enough to observe 
 that the place differed in no respect from an ordinary 
 Japanese third-class town ; so we tramped silently along, 
 the stillness only occasionally disturbed by the barking 
 of a dog, until we emerged into what seemed a straggling 
 suburb, when we turned suddenly into a gateway, went 
 along a short avenue, and entered a building the external 
 characteristics of which I have forgotten, if, indeed, it 
 was light enough to see them; and so along a passage, 
 the walls of which were formed of paper screens, to an 
 apartment in which stood a group of two-sworded officials. 
 One of these, who proved to be the first Minister himself, 

 
 AN INCIDENT OF RUSSIAN AGGRESSION. 219 
 
 now advanced to receive me. He was an agreeable, in- 
 telligent-looking man of about fi ve-and-forty, very digni- 
 fied and self-possessed in manner, and altogether a good 
 specimen of his race. After introducing me to his col- 
 leagues, of whom there were four, if I remember rightly, 
 forming, I imagine, a sort of privy council to the prince. 
 I was conducted into another long narrow room, the walls 
 of wljj.ch were also of paper, and which had evidently been 
 arranged with the idea of meeting the requirements of 
 foreign taste. Down the centre of this room was a long 
 low table, about two feet broad and twenty feet long, 
 covered with red cloth, and on both sides were high 
 benches, almost as high as the table, also covered with 
 red cloth. It was lighted by four monster candles, each 
 on its own huge candlestick, like those in a Roman 
 Catholic cathedral. The first Minister invited me to 
 sit at the head of this table, which I declined to do 
 unless he sat by my side. This point of etiquette de- 
 cided, the other functionaries, the captain and one or 
 two officers of the Ringdove, seated themselves, and tea 
 was brought in. In the centre of the table was the 
 usual smoking arrangement, looking not unlike an ink- 
 stand, with a receptacle for the tobacco on one side, a 
 fire-ball on the other, a pot to receive the ashes of the 
 pipes in the middle, and the pipes themselves, with their 
 diminutive bowls, lying like pens in the tray. As it only 
 takes two whiffs to smoke a pipe, one smokes at least 
 twenty in the course of a moderate visit. If my hosts 
 were anxious to know the nature of my business, they 
 manifested no impatience. We drank several small cups 
 of tea, smoked several pipes, and made a great many
 
 220 A VISIT TO TSUS1MA : 
 
 inane and complimentary remarks, before I felt that I 
 could approach the subject at issue, which I did at last 
 with the incidental observation that I believed we were 
 not the first strangers who had come to Tsusima, but 
 that they had already had a visit from the Russians. 
 To my surprise the Minister opened his eyes with well- 
 feigned astonishment, and made the interpreter repeat 
 the remark, as though he must have misunderstood it. 
 
 " No," he said, when it was repeated ; " no Russians 
 have ever been here." 
 
 I was fairly nonplussed. 
 
 " Will you explain to him," I said to the interpreter, " that 
 I have had positive information that the Russians are now 
 in Tsusima, and I have come here to see if it is true ? " 
 
 " It is not true," he said ; " they are not here, and have 
 never been here." 
 
 This was the promising way in which our interview 
 began. It lasted for more than two hours. At the 
 expiration of that time, I had, as the result of a laborious 
 confidence-inspiring process, into the details of which it 
 is not necessary to enter, extracted from this same discreet 
 and reticent functionary the fact that the Russians had 
 been established in the island for six months ; that they 
 had built houses for themselves; that they had had a 
 fight with the inhabitants, in the course of which one of 
 the latter had been killed; and that the prince and all 
 his Court were living in a chronic state of panic and 
 despair. My informant further admitted that they had 
 been desired by the Russians to keep their presence in 
 the island a secret, under penalty of the gravest con- 
 sequences; and that the reason he had denied that
 
 AN INCIDENT OF RUSSIAN AGGRESSION. 221 
 
 they were here was from the dread of punishment. 
 Nothing could exceed the delight and gratitude mani- 
 fested by all present at the prospect of being relieved 
 of the presence of these unwelcome visitors; but they 
 were still too timid to compromise themselves by giving 
 us a guide to lead us to where they were. All they would 
 say was, that if we went round to the other side of the 
 island we should find a large harbour, and if we looked 
 for them there we should find them. At that time this 
 island had not been surveyed, and so our expedition par- 
 took largely of the character of one of exploration. The 
 dawn was almost breaking when our nocturnal interview 
 came to an end ; but the streets were still silent, and the 
 houses still hermetically sealed, as we passed between 
 them once more on our way back to the ship. 
 
 Steaming out of Fatchio harbour, we coasted round 
 the southern end of the island and along its western 
 shore. As we did so, the highlands of the Corea were 
 distinctly visible, and one could not but be struck with 
 the commanding position which this island occupies stra- 
 tegically, situated as it is in the centre of the straits which 
 separate the Corea from Japan, and which afford access 
 into the Yellow Sea. We had coasted along half the 
 length of the island, which is about forty miles long, 
 when we observed a large opening, as though it were 
 divided in the middle by straits, and into this we steamed. 
 To our amazement we found ourselves in a perfect laby- 
 rinth of lanes of water. In every direction, to the right 
 and left and in front of us, there spread an intricate net- 
 work of deep narrow channels, divided by rocky promon- 
 tories clothed with heavy timber. Large forest -trees
 
 222 A VISIT TO TSUSIMA : 
 
 U.__ 
 
 sprang from the water's e.dge, twining their huge roots 
 among the rocks, and drooping their foliage into the 
 water. It was so deep even close to the shore that it 
 was difficult to find anchorage ; and our excitement was 
 so great, in our desire to explore this strange and unknown 
 water retreat, that we were off in boats before the anchor 
 was down. We "found, as we paddled along these singular 
 channels, that we were in a harbour in which whole fleets 
 might be concealed from observation hidden away, so to 
 speak, among the trees. Here and there the inlets ex- 
 panded, so as to form capacious harbours, again narrowing, 
 often to a breadth of scarce a hundred yards. There was 
 no sign of human habitation anywhere ; the only evidence 
 of man were two Buddhist or Sintoo shrines, perched upon 
 pinnacles of rock under the shade of huge wide-spreading 
 trees, and approached by rock-cut steps. For hours we 
 pulled about in this magnificent haven, never tired of 
 wondering -at its capacity, its safety from storms, its 
 freedom from dangers to navigation, the extraordinary 
 beauty of the scenery by which it was surrounded, the 
 richness of the vegetation, and the absolute calm and 
 stillness which seemed to brood over the whole landscape. 
 But all this time we saw nothing of the Eussians. We 
 passed from one deep creek into another, over the glassy 
 surface of the water, only to exchange their unbroken 
 solitudes, and to find some new and unexpected channel 
 winding off in some fresh direction. At last, in one of 
 these, our attention was suddenly attracted by some taper- 
 ing spars that seemed to shoot out of .the branches of a 
 tree ; and rounding a corner, we came upon the Russian 
 frigate, moored literally, stem and stern, to the branches
 
 AN "INCIDENT OF RUSSIAN AGGRESSION. 223 
 
 of a pair of forest giants, and. with a plank- way to the 
 shore. 
 
 If we were startled to come upon her thus unexpectedly, 
 our surprise can have been nothing to that of those on 
 board at seeing an English man-of-war's boat pull into the 
 sort of pirate's cove in which they had stowed themselves 
 away. Indeed, the Russian captain afterwards told me 
 that he had been so long in solitude that he could scarcely 
 believe his eyes when we" burst thus suddenly upon them, 
 like visitants from some other world. However, he was 
 too much of a gentleman to betray anything but pleasure 
 and apparent gratification at receiving me, when I stepped 
 upon his deck and introduced myself. He at once invited 
 me most hospitably to his cabin ; and while he entertained 
 me with refreshments, we spent a few minutes in some 
 very amusing diplomatic fencing. He was here, he said, 
 for hydrographical purposes, and had made a survey of the 
 island, in obedience to instructions. Looking "out of the 
 cabin window, from which was visible a frame-house with 
 a barn-yard, in which was a cow and some poultry, I asked 
 him if he combined agriculture with hydrography, as the 
 one pursuit implied a more protracted visit to the island 
 than the other. He admitted that he had been here for 
 more than six months ; that his survey was finished, but 
 that he had received instructions to remain till further 
 orders ; and that, to pass away the time, and make himself 
 comfortable, he was doing a little farming. I then went 
 on shore to see his establishment. He -had got a hospital 
 for the sick, from which a Eussian flag was flying, a dairy 
 and poultry-yard, a Eussian steam-bath, and a little cot- 
 tage, in which to vary his residence from shipboard. There
 
 224 ^VISJT TO TSUSIMA : 
 
 was a vegetable garden, and all, the signs of a very com- 
 fortable little naval settlement, at least so far as it was 
 possible for the crew of one frigate to make one. I gently 
 hinted at the existence of treaties," and so forth ; but he 
 said that he was a sailor and not a diplomatist, and knew 
 nothing about them. All he knew were his orders. He 
 denied that he had had any dispute of importance with 
 the natives, with whom, he declared, he was on very good 
 terms though, as their nearest village was at some dis- 
 tajice, he saw very little of them. 
 
 The captain-of the Possadnik turned out such a charm- 
 ing companion, and seemed so delighted to have his mon- 
 otony varied even by an inquisitive diplomat, that I was 
 quite sorry when the lateness of the hour warned me that 
 $ must return to my own ship, in which, as I explained to 
 him, I should be absent for a day, so that it would be use- 
 less for him to attempt to return my visit at once, which, 
 however, I promised to repeat. That night we steamed 
 out to the offing, where the admiral was cruising in his 
 flag-ship, and the next morning I went on board and 
 reported my discovery. Soon after the admiral transferred 
 himself to the Eingdove, and we steamed back to Tsusima 
 harbour, finally bringing her to Eussian Cove, as we named 
 *"the Possadnik's settlement. 
 
 The Eussian captain now came and called and dined 
 with "us, and we discussed the situation' in the most amic- 
 able manner ; the result at which we arrived being, that 
 the admiral should himself go to Olga Bay on the coast of 
 Manchouria, at which port the Eussian admiral then was 
 and present the diplomatic view of the situation to that 
 functionary,- obtaining from him the necessary orders for
 
 AN INCIDENT OF RUSSIAN AGGRESSION. 225 
 
 * 
 
 the evacuation of the island by the Possadnik and her 
 crew. The captain of that ship assured the admiral that 
 he would receive these orders with delight, as he was 
 heartily sick of his e'xile. * 
 
 Meantime our surveying parties had not been idle. It 
 was found that the harbour or sound in which we were, 
 nearly divided the island into two ; a narrow strip of land, 
 not half a mile wide, alone connecting the northern with 
 the southern half, each section being about twenty miles 
 long and from ten to fifteen broad. I had no means of, 
 ascertaining the amount of the population.; but as the 
 island is very fertile, and is well peopled in parts, it- prob- 
 ably contains from thirty to forty thousand inhabitant 
 From the wooded heights of Tsusima Sound, the Corea, 
 distant about forty miles, is very plainly visible, and,- ins- 
 former days, the inhabitants of Tsusima kept up more 
 intercourse with that country than did any other part of 
 Japan, and the Prince maintained a garrison of three 
 hundred men at its nearest port. He enjoyed a monopoly 
 of trade, which consisted chiefly of tiger-skins, rice, hides, 
 silver, and gold. The climate in summer was perfect, and 
 even in winter it is extremely mild. The larger vegetation 
 consists chiefly of evergreen oak, sycamores, maples, cy- 
 presses, and pines of different varieties. One of our officers, 
 who had been to Manchouria, said that the conifers were 
 of the type common in that country ; while among theferce 
 naturae the wild cats and deer differ from those of Japan. 
 At high water the sea covers the isthmus which connects 
 the two islands, and stakes are put across it to prevent 
 the passage of boats at low tide. The highest mountain 
 on the island attains to the height of about 250.0 feet. 
 
 P
 
 226 A VISIT TO TSUSIMA : 
 
 Here, as the Russian paper observes, there is no fear of 
 frost closing the harbour, which would form one of the 
 finest naval stations in the world ; while the agricultural 
 and other resources of the island itself would make it 
 a most valuable acquisition to any Power which might be 
 lucky enough to obtain possession of it. Fortunately the 
 Japanese are fully alive to its importance; and under 
 existing treaties it could only be obtained possession of by 
 an act of war, as the Japanese Government would certainly 
 refuse to part with it for any pecuniary consideration, and 
 the Powers which have treaties with Japan are pledged to 
 ensure its integrity as against each other. From the cool 
 way in which the Eussian paper mentions the possible 
 annexation of the island, no objections on this score seem 
 to have occurred to it. "It would seem, therefore," it 
 says, " unavoidable to preserve Vladivostock as the base of 
 all serious operations ; but to occupy and fortify Tsusima 
 as a marine station well armed and provisioned." By 
 being thoroughly forewarned of this intention, the Powers 
 interested may possibly make it "avoidable"; and it 
 would certainly be a gross breach of faith on their part 
 towards Japan to allow the harbour to be occupied by 
 force. The extreme importance of it to Russia as a winter 
 naval station is indicated by the remarks of the Russian 
 paper; while there is no Power more interested than 
 England in preventing Russia from having a port in the 
 Eastern seas open in winter. Our undefended colonies, 
 our enormous commercial interests, would render resist- 
 ance to such an act a necessary measure of self-preserva- 
 tion in the case of any European Power ; but it is doubly 
 so with Russia, of whose aggressive tendencies, unhindered
 
 AN INCIDENT OP RUSSIAN AGGRESSION. 227 
 
 by scruple of any sort, we have recently had such ample 
 testimony. Every nation is entitled to consider an aggres- 
 sive act of another nation, even though it is not imme- 
 diately directed against its own territory, a justification 
 for precautionary measures on the part of the Power 
 threatened. It was for this reason that the late Sir 
 Harry Parkes so persistently urged upon our Government 
 the expediency of occupying Port Hamilton ; and it is to 
 be hoped, if it is now decided to evacuate that island in 
 favour of China, it will be done under conditions which 
 will not strategically weaken our position in these seas. 
 That the annexation of Tsusima is as much part of the 
 programme of the Eussian Government, as the annexations 
 of Khiva, Merv, and Batoum have formerly been, there is 
 not the smallest doubt. Their first attempt to effect a 
 quiet and unobtrusive occupation was, fortunately, frus- 
 trated in the manner above described. Admiral Hope at 
 once steamed off to Olga Bay, and the result of his com- 
 munication with the Eussian admiral was an order for the 
 immediate evacuation of Tsusima by the Possadnik. 
 
 These are the circumstances under which, in the words 
 of the 'Vladivostok,' "the Eussian flag was hoisted but 
 subsequently withdrawn " from the island of Tsusima, and 
 I trust that the hint will not be thrown away in view of 
 future contingencies.
 
 228 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 POLITICS AND ADVENTURE IN ALBANIA AND ITALY IN 1862. 
 
 THE circumstances under which I returned to England 
 from Japan and Tsusima in the autumn of 1861, and the 
 impaired state of my health, resulting from the wounds 
 I had received during the attack on the Legation, induced 
 Lord Eussell, then Minister for Foreign Affairs, not to in-- 
 sist upon my immediate return to the East. 
 
 I was spending a few days at Vienna in the early part 
 of the following year, when the Prince of "Wales arrived 
 on his way to the Holy Land, and kindly honoured me 
 with an invitation to accompany him to Corfu, which was 
 at the time the objective point of my journey. I accord- 
 ingly proceeded with the party to Trieste, where we em- 
 barked on board the yacht which was in waiting there for 
 his Eoyal Highness, and after visiting Venice, proceeded 
 to Pola, Eagusa, Cattaro, Durazzo, where we had a wild- 
 boar hunt, in which his Eoyal Highness was successful, 
 and so on to Corfu, from which place I took steamer to 
 Antivari then a Turkish town in the immediate neigh- 
 bourhood of the since historic Dulcigno: the district 
 which I was now visiting, has since been ceded to Mon-
 
 ALBANIA AND ITALY IN 1862. 229 
 
 tenegro. From here I rode to Scutari, the capital of 
 Albania, and stayed with my old friend Captain Eicketts, 
 at that time our consul there. I had formed the design 
 of visiting the Miridits, a Roman Catholic tribe of Alban- 
 ian mountaineers, who had excited my interest, both from 
 a political and ethnographical point of view ; but I found 
 their chief, Bib Dodo Pasha, at Scutari, and his absence 
 from his mountain home, where I should have been his 
 guest, deprived the trip of advantages I should otherwise 
 have enjoyed. Moreover I obtained from him much of the 
 information of which I was in search. He has since died 
 and been succeeded by his son, Prenk Dodo Pasha, who, if 
 I mistake not, is detained at Constantinople as a hostage 
 for the good behaviour of his tribe. The question of the 
 future of Montenegro, Albania, and Epirus, with their diver- 
 gent races, religions, and aspirations, in which I was then 
 interested, is too large and complicated to enter upon here. 
 It is destined before long to force itself for a final solution 
 upon the attention of Europe, and it suffices here to say 
 that if that solution is to be satisfactory, those engaged in 
 bringing it about must acquire a more accurate knowledge 
 of the local conditions, and the rival forces at work, than 
 was possessed at the period of my visit. I was very much 
 struck with the popular ignorance which prevailed in 
 this country in regard to the revolt in Bosnia and Herze- 
 govina, which finally led to the Russo-Turkish war. At 
 the outbreak of that movement, the press, so far as I re- 
 member without an exception, assumed that it was a revolt 
 of Christians against Turks, and I found the same impres- 
 sion existed even among members of the Cabinet, the 
 fact being that it was an agrarian rising of Slav Christian
 
 230 POLITICS AND ADVENTURE IN 
 
 peasants against Slav Moslem landlords, very much analo- 
 gous in many aspects to our own landlord and tenant 
 question in Ireland. With this difference, however, that 
 the British Government is able to put in force coercive 
 measures if required, and is far more responsible for the 
 maintenance of law and order in Ireland, than the Porte 
 was in the case of the rebellious populations of these out- 
 lying Slav provinces. I was a guest for a day or two in 
 Herzegovina at the country-house of one of these Slav 
 landlords. He was a rigorous Moslem, but he could not 
 speak a word of Turkish, and he was as hostile to the 
 Turkish Government as his own peasantry were to him. 
 It was a kind of triangular duel, in fact, which, since the 
 transfer of the provinces to Austria, the Government of 
 that country has had to solve. The more stringent meas- 
 ures they found it necessary to adopt, have had the effect 
 of driving out the Moslem proprietary class, many of 
 whom have taken refuge in the Turkish dominions ; and 
 curiously enough, two years ago, I found myself once more 
 the guest of a Herzegovine Slav Moslem, who, with a 
 number of his compatriots, had established himself on the 
 ruins of Ceesarea in the Holy Land. Had they been among 
 Russians, they could have made themselves understood in 
 their native tongue. Surrounded by Arabs, they were 
 strangers in a strange country their only common tie 
 being that of religion. 
 
 At the time of my visit to Scutari, fighting was in pro- 
 gress on the Montenegrin frontier between the Turks and 
 the Montenegrins. I made a trip to the Turkish outpost, 
 then on the island of Lessandria at the northern end of 
 the Lake of Scutari, which has since been ceded to Mon-
 
 ALBANIA AND ITALY IN 1862. 231 
 
 tenegro. The steamer in which I took passage was con- 
 veying troops to this point, and the exciting incident con- 
 sisted in our having to run the gantlet of a narrow strait, 
 on the rocky sides of which Montenegrin sharpshooters 
 concealed themselves, freely playing with their rifles on 
 the decks of passing steamers. However, except for the 
 captain and the man at the wheel, there was not much 
 danger, as everybody either went below, or hid behind the 
 bulwarks, during the few moments it took us to rush by 
 at full speed. 
 
 From Scutari I took a boat and sailed down the Boj- 
 anos river back to the Bay of Antivari, thence returned to 
 Corfu, spending some days there with Sir Henry Storks, 
 then Lord High Commissioner. Thence I crossed over to 
 Ancona. 
 
 The cordial sympathy which the British public had 
 manifested for the people of Italy in their struggle for 
 unity and independence had rendered England very popu- 
 lar at this time, and the name of Palmerston was a talis- 
 man in Europe. I had one or two curious evidences of 
 the extremes of dislike and of affection in which this 
 venerable statesman was held. At Trieste I met an Aus- 
 trian officer who charged him with having imported guns 
 under his own name into Italy during the Lombardy 
 campaign. On my scouting this notion as absurd, my 
 informant said that he had a gun in his possession which 
 had been taken from the Garibaldians, and which would 
 prove the truth of his assertion. This puzzled me so 
 much that I requested to be allowed to see it, and accom- 
 panied him to his house to see a gun upon which " Palmer 
 & Son " was engraved upon the barrel as its makers.
 
 232 POLITICS AND ADVENTURE IN 
 
 I was anxious to drive from Ancona through the Abruzzi 
 to Naples, with a view of judging for myself of Italian rule 
 in the provinces which Victor Emmanuel had so recently 
 acquired from the King of Naples. The difficulty about 
 the journey was the extreme insecurity of the roads. 
 Upon my mentioning this to the general commanding the 
 troops at Ancona, he most kindly offered to see that an 
 escort was furnished to me through the only district which 
 he said was in the least dangerous. I travelled by post, 
 taking the coast road as far as Pescara, and then turning 
 off to Chieti, a most picturesque town situated on a high 
 hill-top, where I stayed two days, enjoying the hospitality 
 of the officer in command of the troops, to whom I carried 
 a letter of introduction from Ancona, and who was to 
 provide the escort. As I was anxious to travel rapidly 
 and to follow my own devices, I took four horses, and had 
 
 no travelling companion but my servant B , whom I 
 
 have already mentioned in my account of the attack on 
 the Legation in Japan. As he was as intelligent as he 
 was faithful, I often on these occasions took him inside 
 with me ; and it was thus that one fine afternoon we ap- 
 proached the town of Salmona, our escort jingling merrily 
 behind, and the four horses clattering over the smooth 
 hard road in most exhilarating style. As we neared the 
 town I perceived that some grand fite was in progress. 
 Flags were flying from the windows, which were crowded 
 with spectators, while the streets were lined with soldiers, 
 and the distant strains of a military band were audible. 
 
 " We are in luck," I said to B ; " there is evidently 
 
 some festival in progress." 
 
 As we drove along the street people cheered, and the
 
 ALBANIA AND ITALY IN 1862. 233 
 
 women waved handkerchiefs ; but I was unable to perceive 
 any object calculated to excite their enthusiasm. When 
 we reached a square about the centre of the town the band 
 struck up "God save the Queen," the troops presented 
 arms, the carriage was suddenly stopped, and half-a-dozen 
 gentlemen in full evening costume, with white ties and 
 white kid gloves, approached hat in hand, with profound 
 salutations. Their leader, who I afterwards discovered 
 was the principal civil functionary, with many polite 
 speeches requested me to descend from the carriage, and 
 partake of a banquet which had been provided for me. It 
 now appeared that all these military demonstrations were 
 in my honour, and it became evident to me that I was 
 mistaken for somebody else an explanation which, in 
 declining the proffered honour, I ventured to suggest to 
 the mayor. He received it with a polite smile. 
 
 " We are well aware," he said, " that you desire to travel 
 incognito, but we have been unable to regard this wish. 
 We could not allow Lord Palmerston's nephew to pass 
 through our town without making some demonstration of 
 respect, in token of the great gratitude we feel for your 
 illustrious relative." 
 
 " But," I persisted, " I have not the honour of being 
 related in the most distant way to the great statesman." 
 
 " No doubt ; we quite understand that under the circum- 
 stances it would not be possible for you to admit the rela- 
 tionship. I will not therefore again allude to it, but 
 simply request you to honour the repast we have prepared 
 for you with your presence, and receive an address, which 
 will accompany one which we will beg you to transmit to 
 Lord Palmerston."
 
 234 POLITICS AND ADVENTURE IN 
 
 During the time this colloquy was taking place, the 
 mayor was standing bareheaded in the square, where a 
 great crowd was collected, and I was sitting bareheaded in 
 the carriage, feeling it incumbent upon me, when an un- 
 usually loud viva was shouted, to acknowledge it with a 
 polite bow. The situation was too ridiculous to be pro- 
 longed ; there was no alternative but to accept the inevit- 
 able. I promoted B on the spot to the rank of " il 
 
 Signor Segretario," in which capacity he was taken charge 
 of by a group of polite men in swallow-tailed coats, to his 
 intense amazement, for I had no time to explain the situa- 
 tion to him, and we passed through a lane of spectators to 
 a public building, in a long hall of which a table was 
 spread for about fifty guests. It was quite a sumptuous 
 repast, with champagne and all the delicacies of the 
 season. There was a gallery in which were ensconced the 
 beauty and fashion of the place at one end, and the band 
 came in and played at the other. The mayor seated me 
 by his side at the top of the table, while the Signor Segre- 
 tario, still in a state of profound bewilderment as to what 
 was happening to him, sat at the other. When the 
 feasting was over the speeches began, and I was obliged, 
 in my quality of Lord Palmerston's nephew, to reply, in 
 execrable Italian, to the compliments which were lavished 
 upon the policy of England in general, and of that states- 
 men in particular, and to receive two addresses, one to his 
 lordship and the other to myself, with a promise that I 
 would forward the former to its destination, which I did 
 at the earliest opportunity, with a full account of the cir- 
 cumstances imder which I had received it, to Lord Palmer- 
 ston's great amusement.
 
 ALBANIA AND ITALY IN 1862. 235 
 
 Snugly ensconced in the bay, beneath what is known as 
 the spur of Italy, on the shores of the Adriatic, lies the 
 little seaport town of Manfredonia. It is a queer little 
 out-of-the-way place, removed from the line of all travel, 
 and very primitive in its manners and customs at least 
 it was then. I do not know how far railways and the 
 general march of events may have affected it since. Not- 
 withstanding its insignificance, we had nevertheless a 
 British vice-consul there, to attend to the wants of the 
 stray colliers or English merchant-ships that rarely visit 
 the port These vice-consuls in the smaller ports of the 
 Mediterranean, are usually natives of the place, and at 
 that time their remuneration consisted chiefly of fees, and 
 other little perquisites, not always strictly legitimate, 
 which they derived from their office. It so happened 
 that I had an affair of some importance to transact with 
 the vice-consul of Manfredonia, and I rode over one day 
 from Foggia, where I had been spending a week, to see 
 him. The whole of the Neapolitan States were infested 
 at this time with bands of banditti, calling themselves 
 Royalist troops, and, under cover of a political character 
 which they did not possess, committing the most whole- 
 sale depredations. It was not considered, under these 
 circumstances, a very safe proceeding to make the journey 
 without an escort ; but I achieved it without mishap, and 
 putting up at a small locanda the only one of which the 
 town could boast went in search of the vice-consul. A 
 daub on a shield, bearing a faint resemblance to the lion 
 and the unicorn, indicated his residence, and on knocking 
 at the door it was opened by a dishevelled little girl. 
 
 " Is the English consul at home ? " I inquired.
 
 236 POLITICS AND ADVENTURE IN 
 
 " Si, signer ; " and she tripped before me up-stairs, and 
 opening a door, ushered me into a room in which was a 
 very pretty woman in bed. I started back at the intru- 
 sion of which I had been guilty. 
 
 " I told you I wanted to see the consul," I said sharply 
 to the little girl. 
 
 "Entrate, entrate, signor!" exclaimed a mellifluous 
 voice from the bedclothes. "The girl made a mistake. 
 The consul is out, and will not be back to-day ; but I am 
 his wife, and he has left his seal with me. If you are the 
 captain of a ship, and wish anything done, I can do it for 
 you. See ! " and she stretched out her hand, and lifted 
 a seal from a little table by the bedside. 
 
 " I am sorry, signora," I said ; " but I am not the captain 
 of a ship, and my business is of a nature which can only 
 be transacted by the vice-consul himself. When do you 
 expect him back ? " 
 
 " He may be a week, he may be more ; it is impossible 
 to say. I am sure, signor, I could transact your business 
 if you would only confide it to me." 
 
 " I am equally sure, signora, that you could not ; " and 
 I explained to her its nature. " From which you will see 
 that it is imperative that I should see your husband. 
 Perhaps you can telegraph for him." 
 
 "Impossible, signor!" and with that she burst into a 
 violent fit of weeping. " It is no use disguising the truth 
 from you any longer. My husband deserted me more 
 than a year ago, and I have no idea where he is." 
 
 " And have you been transacting the business of the 
 consulate ever since ? " I asked. 
 
 " Si, signor. There is very little to transact ; but it is
 
 ALBANIA AND ITALY IN 1862. 237 
 
 almost all I have to live upon. Have mercy upon me, 
 and do not let it be known to the English Government. 
 It was I who used to do the consular business even when 
 my husband was here. He was idle and worthless, and 
 used to do many dishonest things, which I never do." 
 
 " I have no doubt," I replied, " that you are a far more 
 capable and estimable person than your husband indeed 
 his present conduct proves his worthlessness ; but unfor- 
 tunately there is still a prejudice in the world in favour 
 of official business being conducted by men. It is one 
 which we shall no doubt get over in time : until then, I 
 think it is the duty of any Englishman who finds that 
 the British vice-consul has deserted his post and left his 
 wife in charge, to let his Government know it, however 
 capable, honest, and, allow me to add " and I made a 
 polite bow " beautiful that wife may be." 
 
 I threw in the last words to gild the pill, but I evidently 
 did not succeed, for I left her weeping bitterly ; and I am 
 afraid she did not remain long after this British vice-con- 
 sul at Manfredonia. 
 
 I had scarcely taken ten steps from the door of the vice- 
 consulate, and was still in a somewhat softened and re- 
 flective mood, when I was accosted by another little girl, 
 who thrust a folded but crumpled piece of paper into my 
 hand, on which was the superscription, " to English gentle- 
 man." Its contents were as follows : 
 
 "Miss Thimbleby requests the pleasure of English 
 gentleman's company to tea to-night at nine o'clock. Old 
 English style." 
 
 " Follow me," I said to the little girl, " and I will give 
 you the answer." " Who in the world can Miss Thimbleby
 
 238 POLITICS AND ADVENTURE IN 
 
 be ? " I ruminated. " What a name for an old maid in a 
 novel ! It is morally impossible with such a name that 
 she can be a young one." At any rate, it was evident that 
 the invitation was one which should be promptly accepted. 
 So I replied, " The English gentleman has much pleasure 
 in accepting Miss Thimbleby's kind invitation to tea to- 
 night. Old English style." 
 
 I gave the girl the note and accompanied her with it to 
 Miss Thimbleby's house, in order that I might know my 
 way there later, and also because I thought it might give 
 me some clue to the character of its occupant. It was a 
 tumble-down old palazzo, with many evidences of departed 
 grandeur, having probably two or three centuries ago been 
 the town mansion of some large landed proprietor in the 
 neighbourhood. Altogether its aspect rather gave me a 
 pleasant idea of Miss Thimbleby, as being in all prob- 
 ability an antiquated respectable old person herself, in 
 keeping with her abode. I refrained from making any 
 inquiries about her at the hotel, as it was more agreeable 
 to -keep the edge of my curiosity whetted by conjecture, 
 than satisfied by information ; and at the appointed hour 
 I repaired to tea in " old English style." On entering the 
 house I found myself at the bottom of a very wide hand- 
 somely carved oak stair-case, at the top of which I could 
 discern, by the dim lamp which lighted it, the figure of a 
 little old woman like a witch, bobbing and curtseying all 
 the time I was making the ascent. She shook hands with 
 me with the affectionate cordiality of an old acquaintance, 
 trembling either with excitement or with old age for she 
 was very, very old, well on in the nineties, she afterwards 
 told me, but I forget her exact age. She had forgotten
 
 ALBANIA AND ITALY IN 1862. 239 
 
 much of her English, having been in the country ever 
 since the year 1804, when she had accompanied her 
 brother, who was appointed English consul at Manfredonia 
 in that year, to Italy. And here she had lived ever since. 
 Her brother and his wife had died long ago, but she was 
 in the receipt of a small pension from the English Govern- 
 ment, which sufficed for her subsistence, and she was taken 
 care of by sundry nephews and nieces, and by the con- 
 nections of her sister-in-law, who had been a native of the 
 place. Her brother had been connected with the Duke 
 of York's expedition in some capacity, and her sister was 
 the celebrated Mrs Jordan, the mistress of King William 
 IV. Manfredonia was an odd place to come to, to gather 
 the moss of British history, but I really felt as if I had 
 made a discovery, when I learnt from this most venerable 
 and highly respectable old lady that Mrs Jordan the act- 
 ress's maiden name was Thimbleby. She showed me a 
 letter from the Duke of York to her brother, and a paper 
 with Nelson's signature, and many ancient curiosities 
 which she had hoarded up. Tea in " old English style " 
 seemed to consist of our partaking of that beverage tete-ft- 
 tite for except the little servant-girl, I did not see a soul 
 in the deserted old palace. In fact, the surroundings were 
 so much in keeping with this strange old lady and her 
 reminiscences, that I had a general impression of becom- 
 ing fossilised. She insisted on talking English, profusely 
 interlarded with Italian, and was extremely garrulous, but 
 her sense of time had become so confused that she seemed 
 in doubt in what century we were living. Thus she asked 
 me at what hotel I was staying. I mentioned the name 
 of the only tolerably decent one in the place.
 
 240 POLITICS AND ADVENTURE IN 
 
 " Ah," she said, " that is where the English always go 
 when they come to Manfredonia." 
 
 " Why," I replied with some surprise, " I did not know 
 that English travellers often visited Manfredonia." 
 
 " Oh yes," she said, " there was an English family stay- 
 ing there in 1829." 
 
 The ignorance of the benighted inhabitants of these 
 small Neapolitan towns was something incredible. I 
 spent several days as the guest of the mayors of the towns 
 of Ascoli and Candela, situated in the Capitanata, which 
 at that tune was a hotbed of brigandage, and where, in 
 company with a regiment of Piedmontese cavalry with 
 which I was campaigning, I was quartered, with some of 
 the officers, upon the inhabitants. I found the notions of 
 the principal functionaries crude in the extreme upon all 
 matters affecting European politics. This arose from the 
 fact that during the reign of the late King of Naples they 
 were not allowed to take in any newspapers. The mayor 
 of one of these towns was ignorant that England was an 
 island, and I found it difficult to give him any idea of the 
 British Constitution. Yet this was a man who kept his 
 carriage-and-pair, in which his wife used to drive about 
 in silks and satins. It is true that her costume in the 
 morning was of the most scanty and primitive description. 
 None of the ladies thought of really dressing for the day 
 until after the mid-day siesta, when they all regularly 
 turned into bed, as if for the night, for a couple of hours. 
 This was rendered necessary by the shortness of their 
 nights, for we generally supped heavily about eleven, 
 went to bed about one in the morning, and got up a 
 little after daylight.
 
 ALBANIA AND ITALY IN 1862. 241 
 
 I was interested in inspecting a prison full of captured 
 banditti. Here I saw the beautiful wife of a notorious 
 chief of one of the bands, who had been captured, dressed 
 in man's clothes, and using her pistol with such effect 
 that she severely wounded a soldier before she was taken 
 prisoner. Her husband, who escaped at the time, was 
 afterwards captured; but there were several chiefs of 
 minor distinction, picturesque, bronzed, hardened -look- 
 ing ruffians. The one with the most villainous expression, 
 however, was the priest of one of the bands, who, still 
 dressed in his ragged clerical costume, assumed an air of 
 sanctimonious resignation, and who, I was assured, had 
 presided over the roasting alive of a man who had been 
 robbed, and other atrocities, going through the ceremony 
 of shriving the victims before their execution, and grant- 
 ing absolution to the murderers, in consideration of which 
 his share of the spoil was always considerable. Upon two 
 occasions I was present at an exciting chase after bands 
 of banditti, one of which numbered over two hundred 
 strong. As the detachment I was with was much inferior 
 in force, they seemed inclined to show fight. However, 
 when we charged they thought better of it, and scat- 
 tering hi all directions, gave us a run across country 
 which was as exciting as any fox-hunt, but which only 
 resulted in the capture of half-a-dozen of their number. 
 
 It is to be regretted that, owing to the insecurity of the 
 country, Calabria, with its enchanting scenery, is a sealed 
 book to the tourist. The habit of brigandage is so strong 
 in the people, that nearly five-and-twenty years of the 
 more enlightened rule of the Italian Government has been 
 unable to eradicate it. It is engrained in the habits of 
 
 Q
 
 242 POLITICS AND ADVENTURE. 
 
 the peasantry, nearly every one of whom, in some parts of 
 the province, goes out with a band by way of a holiday 
 for some weeks in the year. It was not a country 
 adapted for the operations of cavalry, so I could only 
 get glimpses of the scenery as we followed the enemy 
 occasionally to the foot of the hills for when hard pressed 
 they invariably took to the mountains ; but T saw enough 
 to make my mouth water, and create an intense desire to 
 explore its romantic recesses. Traversing the plain of 
 Cannae, with its battle-field, I crossed the Eubicon, and 
 so made my way to Bari, and from thence by a very 
 pretty road to Tarento, and so along the coast to Cotrone, 
 both highly picturesque places, and well worthy a visit. 
 From thence I crossed over to Sicily, and posted from 
 Catania through the centre of the island, by way of Calt- 
 anizetta to Palermo, arriving there without mishap from 
 brigands, apparently to the surprise of the inhabitants, 
 who had not supposed that the journey was one which it 
 was possible to make in safety. From Palermo I returned 
 to Naples.
 
 243 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 CRACOAV DURING THE POLISH INSURRECTION OP 1863. 
 
 ON my return from Italy, it became necessary for me to 
 decide whether I should return to my post in Japan as 
 chargt d'affaires or resign the diplomatic service. It was 
 with great regret that I found myself compelled by family 
 considerations to adopt the latter alternative, and abandon 
 a career which had at that time peculiar attractions for 
 me, and in which, considering my age, I had made rapid 
 progress. 
 
 In January 1863 the Polish insurrection broke out, 
 and as I had by this time acquired a habit of fishing in 
 troubled waters, I determined to go and see it. 
 
 The proximity of the camp of Langiewicz to the Gal- 
 ician frontier induced me to hurry through Vienna in the 
 hope of reaching Cracow in time to see the largest insur- 
 gent army which had as yet taken the field. That city 
 had for some time past been the centre from which mili- 
 tary operations were more especially directed, just as 
 Warsaw had been, since the commencement of the move- 
 ment, the seat of political and administrative action. It 
 was, consequently, a point of attraction for unquiet spirits 
 from all parts of Europe. Polish refugees, military and
 
 244 CRACOW DURING THE 
 
 political adventurers, enthusiastic sympathisers, or reckless 
 condottieri, were constantly passing along the line from 
 Vienna to Cracow; and although my fellow-passengers 
 were not numerous, I regarded them with a feeling of 
 curiosity and interest which railway passengers in these 
 prosaic days seldom think of according to each other. 
 As, after a long cold night journey, the train moved 
 slowly into the Cracow station, the groups collected on 
 the platform seemed to share these sentiments with re- 
 ference to myself as well as to my fellow-travellers. 
 They peered curiously into every carriage, and had plenty 
 of time to form their conjectures, as no one was allowed 
 to leave the train until his passport had been examined ; 
 but it is only the innocent and unoffending traveller with 
 a genuine passport who ever has it out of order, a false 
 passport is always a faultless document, and can be made 
 to do duty in a variety of ways not necessary here to 
 particularise. Far be it from me to insinuate that any of 
 my respectable companions were thus provided, or be- 
 trayed to the inquiring gaze of a good many officials the 
 slightest consciousness of having their heads in the lion's 
 mouth. It is only when you show signs of alarm that 
 the animal is likely to close his jaws ; but there is a cer- 
 tain air of innocent effrontery, which may be acquired by 
 a little practice, which disarms suspicion. I thought the 
 people who came to see the train arrive seemed rather 
 disappointed when we all passed safely through the ordeal, 
 and drove contentedly away in the vain hope of finding a 
 lodging. The hotels of Cracow are not of any remarkable 
 excellence, even when they are half full ; but when they are 
 crowded to overflowing they are insupportable. Such was
 
 POLISH INSURRECTION OF 1863. 245 
 
 the condition in which I found them ; and I was only res- 
 cued at last from a damp cellar, which I considered myself 
 fortunate in obtaining, through the hospitality of my friend 
 the late Count Adam Potocki. 
 
 The first news I heard was not encouraging to the 
 sightseer. The army of Langiewicz had been destroyed 
 the day before, and the Dictator himself had fallen into 
 the hands of the Austrians. I thought, as I walked along 
 the streets, that I saw the painful news written in the 
 face of every soul I met. The sombre aspect of the pop- 
 ulation, clad in the deepest mourning, the haggard, care- 
 worn countenances of the men, the despondent look of the 
 women, with eyes too often swollen from weeping, could 
 not fail to produce a profound impression upon the most 
 careless observer. At the first moment the shock was 
 terrible. What will the Powers think ? was the first ques- 
 tion put to the foreigner, for every one felt that the dis- 
 aster was in no way serious to the national cause, except 
 in so far as it affected public opinion abroad ; but inas- 
 much as foreign intervention was looked upon as essential 
 to the ultimate success of the insurrection, men's eyes 
 were ever more turned upon the state of feeling without, 
 than upon the incidents which marked the struggle 
 within, and they feared, with reason, that the impression 
 might gain ground which it would be difficult afterwards 
 to destroy that the capture of Langiewicz would be a 
 deathblow to the movement Such, indeed, was the tone 
 of the public press abroad when the catastrophe became 
 known. In order that we may understand why the 
 downfall of the Dictator was utterly without si.mificance 
 at home, it will be necessary to trace shortly the history
 
 246 CRACOW DURING THE 
 
 of the movement, and the circumstances from which it 
 principally derived its force. 
 
 I made a careful study of this at the time, which I 
 recorded in the pages of ' Blackwood's Magazine.' Suffice 
 it here to say, that for some years previously, the leading 
 members of the Polish aristocracy had been earnestly 
 engaged in considering how they might best advance the 
 cause of the national independence without exciting the 
 suspicions of the Eussian Government, and for this purpose 
 they had devised a species of moral crusade, the leader of 
 which was Count Andrew Zamoyski, and the engine used, 
 the celebrated Agricultural Society. The ostensible scope 
 of this organisation was to develop the national resources 
 of the country ; but the questions which came under 
 consideration naturally involved the discussion of social 
 and administrative problems, the solution of which directly 
 affected the civil action of the Government of St Petersburg. 
 "With branch societies in every province, its power and 
 influence soon became widely felt, and the moderate party, 
 as they called themselves, formed the most sanguine 
 anticipations of the effect which a pressure thus legally 
 exercised might have upon the Central Government. 
 
 Their hopes were dashed to the ground by the appearance 
 of a new and important element, which threatened seriously 
 to disturb the political and social aspect of affairs. Thirty 
 years had now elapsed since the last Polish revolution, and 
 the interval had worked a great change upon the face of 
 Europe. To the superficial observer that change is purely 
 mechanical ; to those who connect cause with effect it is a 
 great moral revolution. As the art of printing changed 
 the current of men's ideas, and gave a stimulus to thought
 
 POLISH INSURRECTION OF 1863. 247 
 
 which produced the greatest theological convulsion of the 
 age; so railways and telegraphs are working out the 
 political problems of the day, and will mark an epoch in 
 the moral history of mankind. It is impossible to estimate 
 the influence which facility of transport must exercise upon 
 those who, all their lives buried in the recesses of a remote 
 province in some half -civilised country, are thus enabled in 
 a few days to come into contact with the most advanced 
 phase of existing civilisation. It is difficult to conceive 
 the effect of the instantaneous interchange of enlightened 
 and barbarous ideas, and to follow the varied channels 
 which are thus opened to the spread of civilisation, forcing 
 itself, like a rising flood, slowly but surely along wires and 
 rails. As men's minds are differently constituted, it is a 
 necessary incident to the progress of thought that it should 
 often receive an undue impulse in an opposite sense from 
 that in which it has been cribbed, cabined, and confined, 
 and, passing the bounds of moderation, find an exaggerated 
 expression in ill-regulated and enthusiastic natures. It is 
 also natural that designing men should take advantage of 
 this tendency to convert it to their own purposes, and 
 that they should endeavour, by dint of method and 
 organisation, to consolidate it into a power available for 
 carrying out either their own selfish ends, or giving effect 
 to their political theories. Hence there had been called 
 into existence in almost every country in Europe a large 
 class of society, whose representative men composed what 
 was called "the party of action," and who had gradually 
 acquired such power and influence upon the Continent, 
 that the most successful monarch of the time perceived 
 from the outset of his career the necessity of conciliating
 
 248 CKACOW DURING THE 
 
 them by a certain qualified profession of their political 
 opinions, and by a very large connivance in their secret 
 schemes. The party of action of twenty years ago have 
 since been superseded by a far more advanced body of 
 theorists, they can scarcely be called politicians, recruited 
 from a much lower couche sociale ; but in those days they 
 belonged mainly to the middle class, or, as in Poland, 
 where the middle class properly so called does not exist, 
 to that grade of society which corresponds to it in other 
 countries those persons, in fact, whether untitled nobility 
 or not, who have no large vested interests in the country, 
 but who are possessed of intelligence and education. 
 
 The growth of the urban population, and the diffusion 
 of knowledge, with the increased facilities of its transmis- 
 sion by railway and telegraph, had widely extended this 
 class in Poland of late years ; and the party of action saw 
 that a new field was open to its enterprise, and commenced 
 some time before its political cultivation. They had con- 
 siderably improved their organisation since their first effort 
 in 1848 to carry out their European policy, and have since 
 then incessantly and indefatigably laboured to prepare 
 the nations for a more successful and unanimous attempt. 
 It would be difficult for one not initiated to say in what 
 countries their committees did not exist, or into what 
 circles their agents had not penetrated. They were the 
 b&es noirs of the upper classes abroad, just as Jesuitism is 
 the bugbear of Protestantism in England, and with far 
 greater reason. As may readily be imagined, the more 
 ardent spirits in Warsaw were speedily initiated into the 
 mysteries of the sect. Committees were formed, a propa- 
 ganda was set on foot, and the mine prepared here on the
 
 POLISH INSURRECTION OF 1863. 249 
 
 same scientific principles as had been followed in the case 
 of Turkey, Hungary, and Italy. In February 1861 the 
 first decided demonstration was made by this party in 
 Warsaw. Then it was that the aristocracy, or party of 
 order, as represented by the Agricultural Society, became 
 really conscious of the existence of a powerful and danger- 
 ous rival, and a struggle took place for the pre-eminence. 
 The disturbances which ensued led to the dissolution of 
 the Agricultural Society ; but the members, unwilling to 
 abandon the policy they had marked out for themselves, 
 formed a secret committee out of their number, with the 
 object of counteracting the efforts which the opposition 
 party might make to precipitate the revolutionary crisis. 
 They believed that patience was all that was needed to 
 ensure the ultimate independence of Poland, and trusted 
 to the progress of civilisation, and to gradual measures of 
 reform which they hoped by legitimate pressure to extort 
 from the Eussian Government, so to elevate the masses 
 that the nation might be enabled to triumph at last by a 
 moral victory. The younger and more ardent spirits who 
 rallied round the other party, were not prepared to take 
 this philosophic view of the situation : some of them even 
 formed a third committee, and adopted Mieroslawski as 
 their leader. The party of action, unable to control the 
 forces they had set in motion, saw the necessity of pre- 
 paring for the great struggle which was inevitable, and 
 the summer of 1863 was the time fixed for the outbreak. 
 The danger which threatened the Russian power in Poland 
 was imminent. To avert it the Government resorted to 
 the expedient of the Conscription Act, which contained 
 lists of the suspected and dangerous youth of the country,
 
 250 CRACOW DURING THE 
 
 who were thus to be drafted off to the army serving in the 
 eastern provinces of Kussia. By enforcing this measure 
 in the depth of winter it was hoped that any outbreak 
 would he rendered impossible ; but Providence had willed 
 it otherwise, and Poland escaped that year almost without 
 a winter at all. The connection which subsisted between 
 most of the employes and the committee rendered the 
 secrecy which the Government intended to maintain with 
 reference to the names of the conscripts impossible. Thus 
 forewarned, those youths who found themselves doomed, 
 determined rather to risk the chances of existence in the 
 woods, than incur a certain exile in the deserts of Oren- 
 burg. In opposition to the earnest recommendations of 
 their own committee, and without any kind of preparation 
 for campaigning, a thousand young men suddenly betook 
 themselves in January to the forests and morasses with 
 which the country abounds; and, arming themselves as 
 best they could, precipitated a struggle which, commenced 
 at such a season of the year and under such auspices, 
 seemed even to the party of action almost hopeless. But 
 the mildness of the season favoured them : some unex- 
 pected successes kindled hope when it had ceased to exist. 
 The committee of the party of action determined to make 
 the best of it, and strained every nerve to procure arms 
 and ammunition, and to increase the number of the bands. 
 Soon one or two leaders became known to fame by the 
 successes they achieved, and of these Langiewicz was the 
 most prominent. Meantime the party of order stood aloof, 
 awaiting the triumph to their policy which they considered 
 certain to result from the failure of the premature out- 
 break. So far from these expectations being realised, the
 
 POLISH INSURRECTION OF 1863. 251 
 
 movement acquired greater proportions from day to day, 
 until it became evident that the patriotic sentiment of the 
 nation at large was roused, and that it would not do for 
 the most powerful and influential class to remain longer 
 passive spectators. Negotiations took place between the 
 committees, which resulted in the nomination of Langie- 
 wicz as Dictator, a good deal to the surprise of that leader, 
 and under circumstances which have never been fully 
 cleared up, and which seem to have partaken more of 
 accident than design. The effect in Europe was in many 
 respects favourable to the movement. It invested it with 
 a character of permanence and stability abroad which 
 riveted European interest far more decidedly than when it 
 was under the direction of an unknown committee at 
 Warsaw. At home, it enlisted in the cause the moderate 
 party, who had resisted the direction of the opposition 
 committee, and who accepted as a compromise the Dicta- 
 torship of a single individual. On the other hand, the 
 measure was not without its dangers. By concentrating 
 public attention too closely upon the fortunes of one 
 individual, the success of the movement was apt to be too 
 much identified with his fate, and any serious disaster to 
 him or his army might compromise the success of the 
 cause. For Poland, a still greater inconvenience attended 
 the step. The very fact that the nomination of Langiewicz 
 had satisfied the moderate party, and enlisted their 
 sympathies in behalf of the movement, operated against 
 him in the minds of those who had been the most violent 
 opponents of that party, and who distrusted any leader 
 who possessed their confidence, more especially when he 
 was invested not merely with the military direction of the
 
 252 CRACOW DURING THE 
 
 insurrection, but was possessed of civil powers as well. At 
 the head of this faction, Mieroslawski, who already had 
 many adherents in the country, hastened to place himself. 
 It is unnecessary here to allude to the past history of this 
 man, or to the disasters by which all his enterprises had 
 been invariably characterised. He had only once taken 
 part in active operations during the struggle, and his 
 countrymen accused him of having exhibited cowardice 
 upon that occasion, and thus lost the fortunes of the day ; 
 at all events, he left the band of which for a few days he 
 had been the leader, and repaired to Cracow, in the 
 neighbourhood of which city his rival Langiewicz was 
 endeavouring to organise an army. In spite of the efforts 
 of the Austrian police authorities, he managed to conceal 
 himself successfully there, and to carry out those intrigues 
 in the camp of the Dictator which at last conduced largely 
 to his downfall. The prominence which had been given 
 to Langiewicz, while it rallied to his standard volunteers 
 from all parts of the country, was by no means an assist- 
 ance to his military operations. His nomination was, in 
 fact, premature, and his position an impossible one, even 
 for a man of genius. For one of ordinary capacity, a fiasco 
 was inevitable; it only needed a traitor in the camp to 
 hasten the catastrophe. The first elements of authority 
 were wanting. He possessed neither an army to carry 
 out his military designs, nor an administrative machinery 
 to give effect to his political views. Hunted from one 
 wood to another, deprived of all regular means of com- 
 munication, how was he to assume the functions of the 
 Warsaw committee, and control or direct the movement 
 throughout the whole country ? In the absence of any
 
 POLISH INSURRECTION OF 18G3. 253 
 
 regular base of operations, without artillery, commissariat, 
 means of transport, or any of the appliances of a regular 
 army, how was he to undertake a campaign against 
 Eussian troops ? During the few days of breathing tune 
 allowed him by the Eussians, after a most trying campaign, 
 or rather series of forced marches, the youths of Galicia 
 flocked by hundreds to his standard. Without even a 
 nucleus of trained soldiers upon which to form them, 
 without arms to put into the hands of these undisciplined 
 men, without time to instruct them in the use of the few 
 they had, Langiewicz found himself compelled once more 
 to take the field at the head of a mob of about 3000 per- 
 sons, most of whom had never seen a shot fired in anger, 
 while some harboured designs fatal to his authority. The 
 Eussian tactics meantime seem to have been to allow a 
 sufficient crowd to collect, and then to concentrate upon 
 it an overwhelming force. On the 17th of March Langie- 
 wicz found himself surrounded by the Eussians, and, after 
 a short conflict, succeeded in keeping the enemy at bay, 
 and passing the night on the field of battle. On the 
 following day he was again compelled to accept battle, 
 and again his army made up by heroic valour for their 
 want of organisation. They had now been two days 
 without food, their ammunition was expended, and the 
 enemy, though beaten back with loss, was still receiving 
 reinforcements, and closing round them. The moment 
 was opportune for those who wished to work upon the 
 feelings of men wearied and disheartened by hardship. 
 The murmurs which had been heard in the camp swelled 
 ominously. The Dictator found his authority questioned 
 by his own men, while he had no means of closing their
 
 254 CRACOW DURING THE 
 
 mouths with food, or of supplying them with ammunition 
 to repulse another attack of the enemy. The position was 
 one which would have demoralised a greater spirit than 
 that which the partisan leader possessed. He determined 
 to leave the orders which he considered best calculated to 
 ensure the safety of the army, and to start himself in the 
 middle of the night for another part of the country, with 
 the view of appearing as Dictator in a new sphere of 
 action. The following was the proclamation which he left 
 to be issued after his departure : 
 
 " BRAVE AND FAITHFUL COMPANIONS, My office as Dictator 
 requires my attention to various civil and military matters, and 
 to the strengthening of our numerous bands fighting the Mus- 
 covite in other portions of the country, all of which require a 
 better organisation. 
 
 "This necessity forces me to leave your ranks for a short 
 time those ranks in which I have been since the first night of 
 the insurrection. I had hoped not to have been forced to leave 
 you without sharing in a first victory : for this reason I sought 
 a battle near Miechow ; I stopped at Chrobierz, and fought the 
 bloody encounter of Grochowiska. 
 
 " I do not take leave of you. The objects of my journey 
 requiring secrecy, I cannot teU you whither I am directing my 
 course. I take with me several officers to supply other detach- 
 ments with commanders. Thirty lancers will accompany me as 
 an escort, and will afterwards return to camp. I have divided 
 my corps in two parts with distinct commanders, and I have 
 given instructions to these. 
 
 "We have all sworn to fight. I shall keep my promise, 
 companions, and expect obedience on your part, and a faithful 
 service to the cause of our country. 
 
 "We will continue to fight Russia in the name of the 
 Almighty until we obtain the liberty and independence of our 
 country. (Signed) M. LANGIEWIOZ."
 
 POLISH INSURRECTION OF 1863. 255 
 
 The intrigues which existed in the camp rendered it 
 impossible for Langiewicz to stay and see these orders 
 carried out. He took most of his own staff with him 
 across the Galician frontier, hoping to pass unobserved 
 into the Palatinate of Lublin, and avoid the Eussian 
 troops by taking a short cut through the Austrian pro- 
 vince. "When day broke upon the hungry harassed men 
 he had left behind, their indignation at finding them- 
 selves deserted by their leader knew no bounds. Only 
 one detachment, commanded by Czachowski, which had 
 left the day before, succeeded in getting through the 
 Eussian army and reaching the mountains of St Croix. 
 A general panic seized those who woke on the morning 
 of the 20th, which resulted in a scramble for Galicia. 
 The plans for a division of the army were disregarded; 
 the leaders who remained found themselves without 
 authority ; the coup was so unexpected ; the desertion, 
 to the great mass of persons who did not understand the 
 intrigues which had forced it upon Langiewicz, seemed 
 so base, that the whole army was demoralised, and re- 
 treated precipitately towards Cracow. 
 
 Many of them escaped capture by the Austrian patrols 
 on the frontier, and reached that town wearied and dis- 
 heartened, to spread the sad details among the anxious 
 and gloomy population; but by far the greater number 
 were brought in as prisoners by the Austrians, and lodged 
 in the riding-school, and other public buildings in the 
 town. On the day of my arrival Langiewicz was brought 
 in a prisoner, and placed in the castle ; but all access to 
 him was forbidden, so I contented myself with going to 
 the riding-school to see the dtbris of his late army. A
 
 256 CRACOW DURING THE 
 
 company of Austrian soldiers grouped round the entrance 
 kept off the crowd which had collected under the trees 
 opposite the building, and which was composed of a large 
 proportion of women. All were anxious, under various 
 pretexts, to obtain admittance, but only a certain number 
 were let in at a time, and these ostensibly only upon the 
 ground of relations or friends being among the prisoners ; 
 but really no indisposition on the part of the Austrians 
 was shown to relaxing as much as possible the strictness 
 of their guard. The soldiers and the people seemed to 
 understand each other perfectly, and a little patience and 
 civility was all that was needed to gain admittance. The 
 interior of the building presented a curious sight: about 
 150 ragged, half-starved, footsore young men were here 
 collected together some lying asleep on the straw, with 
 which the floor was abundantly littered others gazing 
 listlessly at the motley groups which filled the body of 
 the large room, or patching their torn garments or their 
 blistered feet. Moving restlessly about were women in 
 black, with anxious sympathising countenances, and with 
 crinolines and shawls distended by articles of wearing 
 apparel or creature comforts, which they had surreptiti- 
 ously brought in for the famished and ragged insurgents. 
 Here you saw an elderly female with her petticoats over 
 her head, and two or three sturdy youths extracting 
 articles from her under garments ; there a gentleman 
 was putting a half-clad figure into his own paletot, and 
 watching the opportunity when they might slip out arm- 
 in-arm past the good-natured sentries. Here was a knot 
 of hungry men emptying a hamper and eagerly discussing 
 its contents ; in one corner, with very little ceremony, two
 
 POLISH INSURRECTION OF 1863. 257 
 
 lads were changing their trousers, and trying on boots. 
 No sooner was a prisoner sufficiently transmogrified to 
 pass for a respectable member of society, than he gave his 
 arm to a lady and walked out under her escort with an 
 assumed air of dignity and nonchalance, flattering himself, 
 perhaps, that the Austrian guard did not know that he 
 was escaping. The fact was that the Austrians had more 
 upon their shoulders than they could comfortably manage. 
 In one way or other nearly 2000 men had fallen into, or 
 rather passed through, their hands; for a prisoner must 
 have wanted ingenuity indeed who remained a prisoner 
 long. Still, so far as appearances went, Langiewicz's 
 army, like himself, was in captivity. The fact that an 
 Austrian soldier had been killed the same morning by 
 the Russians, who had violated the frontier in pursuit of 
 the insurgents, was a circumstance which did not tend to 
 render the Austrian soldiers unnecessarily severe with the 
 latter. Indeed, a very strong feeling of exasperation had 
 sprung up between the Austrian and Russian troops ; 
 while, as most of the Austrian regiments employed in 
 Galicia had been recruited in that province, there was 
 every inclination to be as lenient as possible in their 
 dealings with the insurgents. As all those of the more 
 respectable classes who had been with Langiewicz, had 
 succeeded in escaping from durance during the first 
 twenty-four hours, the men I saw were of an inferior con- 
 dition. I conversed with many who were either domestic 
 servants or artisans, and was surprised to find into how 
 low a grade in society the patriotic feeling had spread. 
 Most of them were from the kingdom, as Russian Poland 
 was always called, and as they had no friends in Cracow 
 
 R
 
 258 CRACOW DURING THE 
 
 some of them manifested no particular anxiety to escape, 
 as without clothes or money their predicament would 
 not be much improved. However, a subscription was 
 speedily got up in the town, charitable ladies bought 
 food and raiment, and ultimately the greater number 
 were provided for somehow or other. One man I ob- 
 served whose Tartar physiognomy plainly showed a dif- 
 ferent origin from that of his companions; he turned 
 out to be a deserter from the Eussian army, belonging to 
 one of the eastern provinces of the empire. He was quite 
 unable to make himself understood, but seemed perfectly 
 contented with his lot. Soon the presence of so many 
 refugee insurgents became apparent in the streets of 
 Cracow. It was not difficult to tell those who had been 
 in the wars a very few weeks of hardship and exposure 
 leave their traces on the face ; and even though nothing in 
 the dress indicated the recent occupation of the wearer, it 
 was not easily to be concealed ; but many were either with- , 
 out means of disguising themselves, or did not care to take 
 the trouble to do so. The day of mystery had gone by ; 
 the whole town was in a ferment; committees were sitting; 
 insurgents expatiating on the past or future; gossips re- 
 tailing news ; women engaged in acts of benevolence and 
 charity. Everybody was in black, every countenance was 
 gloomy and anxious, and a feeling of despondent restlessness 
 pervaded the community. There is a quaint old square in 
 Cracow, with a cathedral on one side, some public buildings 
 on the other, and a large covered market-place down the 
 centre. Here peasant women crowd on market-days in 
 picturesque dresses, and sell vegetables; at other times 
 they leave it to excited groups of patriots. There was
 
 POLISH INSURRECTION OF 1863. 259 
 
 always a sort of movement going on here, and if you got 
 tired of the solitude of your chamber, you could go out and 
 find in a moment some melancholy friend with whom to 
 discourse on passing events, or from whom the last piece 
 of exciting intelligence might be gleaned ; but the question, 
 as I have already said, which chiefly agitated the public 
 mind at this moment, was the effect likely to be produced 
 abroad by the events which were now transpiring. 
 
 I have endeavoured, in as condensed a form as pos- 
 sible, to give the history of the movement up to this 
 point, to convey some idea of the condition of feeling in 
 Austrian and Eussian Poland, as influenced by the dif- 
 ferent systems adopted by the two Governments, and to 
 narrate the circumstances which produced the actual situ- 
 ation of affairs as they existed on my arrival at Cracow. 
 It will easily be perceived now, why on calm consideration 
 the cause itself did not seem in the eyes of those who 
 were most interested in the movement, and most capable 
 of judging, to have suffered by the capture of the Dictator. 
 In the first place, the fusion of parties, so essential to its 
 ultimate success, was in a great measure achieved by the 
 nomination of Langiewicz. During his brief reign the 
 aristocracy had more or less become compromised in the 
 insurrection, and could not, even if they had desired, now 
 abandon it. In the second, with the fall of Langiewicz, 
 his dangerous rival, Mieroslawski, disappeared, at all events 
 for the present, from the scene. The party whose bond of 
 union was antagonism to the Dictator, ceased to exist 
 when he resigned his functions in that capacity, betrayed 
 by Mieroslawski. Discredited by his previous achieve- 
 ments, the latter was now execrated as the prime cause of
 
 260 CRACOW DURING THE 
 
 the late disaster, and not even the most advanced members 
 of the party of action would venture to acknowledge him 
 as a colleague. A general sentiment of cohesion was pro- 
 duced by the very exigencies of the situation. The crisis 
 was too grave to indulge in petty animosities, or allow 
 petty ambition to triumph. For the moment there was a 
 universal rush to the rescue, an earnest desire to see where 
 the mistake had been, how it was to be remedied, and to 
 think what it was best to do next; but, as usual when 
 there is no leader of decided eminence, there were a great 
 many different opinions upon the subject. Before people had 
 had time to reflect, there was an impulse to appoint another 
 Dictator ; and in spite of the failure of the last, there were 
 those who thought themselves capable of filling the office. 
 Persons like myself, who were necessarily not thoroughly 
 informed as to the nature of the various projects discussed 
 by the committees which sat at Cracow, could only follow 
 vaguely the course of events, or obtain a confused notion 
 of the difficulties which at such a crisis must always to a 
 greater or less extent impede the current of affairs. It 
 was impossible for the two great political sections which 
 had hitherto always found themselves in antagonism, to 
 forget completely their old prejudices; and though they 
 were animated by the best intentions, and were most 
 anxious to conceal from strangers any want of harmony 
 in their councils, it would be contrary to human nature 
 to suppose that they both took the same view as to the 
 most expedient measures to be adopted. It is useless now 
 to recur to the points of difference which arose, as they 
 were all settled more or less satisfactorily at last, and both 
 sides were driven by the nature of the emergency into
 
 POLISH INSURRECTION OF 1863. 261 
 
 making concessions for the common cause. The truce 
 was precipitated in an unexpected way by the appear- 
 ance of the following proclamation issued by the Warsaw 
 Central Committee, resuming the functions which they had 
 abdicated on the nomination of Langiewicz : 
 
 "WABSAW, 27th March. 
 " PROCLAMATION. 
 
 "The Central Committee, as National Government, informs 
 the nation that, in consequence of the arrest of the Dictator, 
 Langiewicz, by the Austrian Government, the supreme national 
 authority has been resumed by them. With a view to guar- 
 antee the country from the confusion that might arise from 
 attempts to seize the supreme power by any single individual, 
 the assumption of dictatorial authority, or of any other form 
 of government, whether at home or abroad, is declared trea- 
 sonable." 
 
 There were doubtless those at Cracow who were discon- 
 certed at the suddenness of the measure, which was in fact 
 the act of a single individual, since killed in a duel, but 
 which produced a good effect in one respect, that it recalled 
 to the minds of the Cracow people the existence of a very 
 influential body at Warsaw ; for it was not unnatural that, 
 Cracow being for the time the centre of the movement, the 
 persons interested in it there should have assumed to them- 
 selves the initiative. Anything, however, was better than 
 chaos ; and for the first three or four days after the resig- 
 nation of Langiewicz, there was a period when everybody 
 wanted to do what was best, but no one knew how to do 
 it, and there was no one to tell them. Now, at least, there 
 was a point d'appui. No doubt there were prejudices to 
 be got over on the part of those who had all along objected
 
 262 CRACOW DURING THE 
 
 to the direction of affairs being undertaken by any secret 
 society; on the other hand, their alternative had been 
 tried and had failed. The only thing remaining was a 
 compromise between the two rival committees, and dis- 
 cussions to bring this about occupied the leaders of the 
 parties during that moment of lull which succeeded the 
 downfall of Langiewicz. The pressure of public opinion 
 without, no less than the magnitude of the crisis within, 
 tended to facilitate this fusion. Both parties felt that the 
 eyes of Europe were upon them ; that nothing would be 
 more fatal to the good opinion they desired to obtain than 
 the idea of any split in the camp. The aristocracy were 
 extremely anxious to dissipate any impression which might 
 exist abroad that the movement was revolutionary in the 
 democratic sense of the term. They were fairly committed 
 to it, and could best prove its true character by going 
 thoroughly along with it, and using their influence as best 
 they might with those they had formerly opposed. Their 
 antagonists were too glad to obtain such valuable co- 
 operation to make any unnecessary difficulties. They too 
 decided on substituting for political theories, practical 
 execution ; and both sides at once recognised the strength 
 which such a union would give them, and the beneficial 
 effect it would produce upon foreign cabinets. Hencefor- 
 ward there was to be no party of action, no moderate 
 party ; each and all were to combine to make Poland in- 
 dependent of Eussia, and to allow no sectional jealousy to 
 interfere with the one great national aim. 
 
 There was one other respect in which the experience 
 gained during the Dictatorship was most useful. The 
 inexpediency of massing together large bodies of undisci-
 
 POLISH INSURRECTION OF 1863. 263 
 
 plined men had been made apparent by the disaster which 
 befell Langiewicz's army. Hitherto the Poles had regarded 
 with feelings akin to discontent the scattered bands which 
 might harass the enemy, but could not signalise the in- 
 surrection by any grand military operation. Unused to 
 guerilla tactics, and imbued with the traditions and associ- 
 ations of regular warfare, their ambition was to form an 
 army which might meet the Russians in the field, and 
 settle, by a few decisive actions, the fate of their country. 
 Any such hope was now clearly delusive: circumstances 
 rendered the formation of an army impossible, and victory 
 must be considered to consist, not in meeting and defeat- 
 ing the enemy, but in coexisting with him, and keeping 
 the country in a state of chronic disorganisation. Cracow 
 was the natural and most available centre for concerting 
 the measures necessary to this system of partisan warfare, 
 and it was therefore my first point of observation. After I 
 had learnt all that was to be discovered here, I determined 
 to push on to Warsaw.
 
 264: 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 EXPERIENCES DURING THE POLISH INSURRECTION: 
 WARSAW. 
 
 IF it was impossible, without visiting Poland, to obtain an 
 accurate idea of the true character of the insurrection, and 
 of the nature of the obstacles with which it had to contend, 
 it was still more difficult for me to convey in any satisfac- 
 tory form the result of my observations. As an essential 
 condition to the ultimate success of the movement was 
 secrecy, a stranger must enjoy peculiar advantages to 
 acquire information of any real value, and could only 
 expect to be let in behind the scenes upon the assump- 
 tion, not merely that he was thoroughly trustworthy, but 
 that his sympathies were entirely with the insurgents. 
 He was thus naturally expected to tell only what might 
 advance the cause, and to colour, with a pardonable 
 enthusiasm, his narration of the events which have come 
 under his notice. Under no circumstances was he re- 
 garded as an impartial observer, whose only object was 
 the discovery of truth: if he was not a frantic and 
 unreasoning partisan either of one side or the other, he 
 could be nothing else than a political spy. In that case,
 
 POLISH INSURRECTION : WARSAW. 265 
 
 it was probable that both parties would tell him just so 
 much as they thought proper, and might possibly also 
 take great pains to mislead him where it might seem to 
 serve their ends. Neither Eussians nor Poles would ever 
 believe that an Englishman should have no other object 
 in visiting them, than that of relieving the monotony of 
 the London season by a little mild excitement likely to be 
 afforded by the investigation of the country in a state of 
 revolution, or that he should be animated by the still more 
 natural and worthy motive of improving his mind, and 
 forming his own opinions upon the political events of the 
 day. That he should travel on beaten paths for the mere 
 purpose of sight-seeing, is in their eyes a silly English 
 eccentricity, to which they have got accustomed ; but that 
 he should take an abstract interest in the moral, political, 
 social, or religious condition of foreign nations, is to them 
 incomprehensible. That one should not be contented with 
 learning geography at school, but choose as a pursuit the 
 observation of men, and the study of the working and 
 effects of their institutions in different countries, is in 
 their eyes simply ludicrous; and yet it is only the ex- 
 ploratory tendency cropping out in another form. In- 
 stead of plunging into the centre of Africa to discover the 
 source of the Nile, like Speke and Grant, why not dive 
 into the sources of revolutions ? Why confine exploration 
 to physical geography, when there are so many moral and 
 political geographical problems yet unsolved ? When 
 does human nature lie more open to philosophical ex- 
 amination than when convulsed by mixed and violent 
 passions ? When is the value of political institutions 
 better tested than during a revolution ? When is the
 
 266 EXPERIENCES DURING THE 
 
 national character more easily read ? What is more 
 exciting than the acquisition of knowledge when every- 
 body conspires to retain it from you ? What more 
 interesting than those speculations upon the future, to 
 which the most critical moments in a nation's history give 
 rise ? There was a fermentation in political opinion upon 
 the Continent in 1863 which promised to be a fruitful 
 source of revolution, but each movement would owe its 
 origin to different causes ; it would be marked by its own 
 special conditions; and just in proportion as his former 
 experience has enabled the observer to arrive at just 
 and accurate conclusions, would he find an interest in 
 bringing his knowledge to bear on each successive 
 occasion, and thus be better able to examine, with 
 the calm and impartial scrutiny of a surgeon, the 
 seat of the disease, watch its progress, and predict its 
 result. 
 
 The happy privilege which Englishmen possess of being 
 able to travel without restraint, and to express their 
 opinions openly and without reserve, is calculated to 
 puzzle and mislead foreigners who have lived in the 
 retirement of oppressed nationalities. The impossibility 
 of being frank and open among themselves, renders them 
 suspicious of those who come without arribre penste to 
 visit them, and have no reason to disguise their feelings 
 on political subjects. 
 
 Thus, I was not surprised to find in the ' Czas,' a Polish 
 newspaper published at Cracow, the following paragraph, 
 sent to it from Warsaw, on the occasion of my visit to 
 that city, by its special correspondent, who evidently 
 could not conceive it possible that I should go there at
 
 POLISH INSURRECTION : WARSAW. 267 
 
 such a time for ray own amusement, and, when there, that 
 I should say what I thought : 
 
 "WARSAW, 25th April. 
 
 "I have some further news to announce to you respecting 
 , the Englishman who, ostensibly in the character of an 
 ordinary tourist and observer, but really, I believe, with an 
 object well known to Palmerston, has arrived here to have a 
 nearer view of us. In general, he expressed himself with 
 great hostility towards France ; he thinks we ought to turn 
 out the Russians by every possible means even the least 
 proper ; at the same time he tried very hard to frighten us by 
 detailing the sad consequences of an eventual French inter- 
 vention, pointing out with much indignation the traditional 
 policy of the Napoleonic race, whose members, while constantly 
 making use of us, always ended by leaving us to our own 
 efforts. He expressed much love for us in the name of the 
 three United Kingdoms of Great Britain : it was, however, 
 not difficult to perceive beneath this fine appearance of sym- 
 pathy a much deeper object." 
 
 In other words, I only expressed the sentiments of nine 
 Englishmen out of ten, when I told those Poles with whom 
 I conversed that they possessed the sympathies of the 
 English generally, and that they would retain those sym- 
 pathies more surely by trusting to their own efforts alone 
 to expel the Russians from Poland, than by looking to the 
 French Emperor for assistance, while, like the Italians, 
 they might feel the weight of their obligations to France 
 little less oppressive than the tyranny from which they 
 escaped, if they owed anything to her. It was indeed rather 
 trying to the temper of a Briton to be informed at every 
 turn that England was the only obstacle in the way of the 
 reconstitution of Poland, and that our selfish policy pre-
 
 268 EXPERIENCES DUKING THE 
 
 vented a magnanimous and disinterested Power from 
 liberating the Poles, and advancing the cause of progress 
 and humanity in Europe. The familiarity of the Poles 
 with the French language, and the traditional and historical 
 associations connected with France, drew their sympathies 
 strongly towards that country. Deriving all their ideas 
 of European policy through French newspapers, they were 
 in general ignorant of any other views than those which 
 were put forward in them, and united a profound respect 
 for the French Emperor with an intense admiration for the 
 people he governed. It is difficult to say whether my 
 supposed capacity of political intriguer facilitated or im- 
 peded my very harmless investigations : on the one hand, 
 I found no difficulty whatever in hearing a vast number 
 of political opinions, but there was no great variety in 
 them, and an utter absence of facts. I was perpetually 
 grasping at shadows; the realities were there, but they 
 were difficult to lay hold of. There was a great deal going 
 on while I was at Cracow; bands were forming, people 
 were plotting, and important measures being adopted, and 
 yet a stranger, while overwhelmed with kindness and 
 hospitality, was groping in the dark. Perhaps this was 
 only natural, and the prudence and reticence which 
 characterised the leaders of the movement had been 
 taught by bitter experience ; but it stimulated one's 
 faculties all the more, and I regret that the most interest- 
 ing items of information which I ultimately obtained I am 
 not, even at this distance of time, at liberty to disclose. 
 The delicacy of the situation arose out of the relations 
 in which the Galician Poles, who were co-operating in 
 every possible way with those in Eussia, stood with
 
 POLISH INSURRECTION: WARSAW. 269 
 
 i 
 
 reference to Austria. It was of the utmost importance 
 that the measures undertaken in Cracow should be of 
 such a nature that the jealousy or suspicion of the 
 Austrian Government should not be aroused that 
 nothing, in fact, should be done which should induce 
 the Austrian Government to interpose greater difficul- 
 ties to the formation of bands and the transmission of 
 arms than those which already existed. Cracow was 
 essential as a base of operations ; the policy of Prussia had 
 increased the value of Galicia in this respect; and the 
 most serious blow which the movement could receive, it 
 was in the power of Austria to inflict. Every day almost 
 indicated some change in the policy of this latter Power. 
 At one moment the restrictions were relaxed, and there 
 seemed a tendency to give the greatest latitude to the 
 stipulations which exist between Eussia and Austria, in 
 favour of the movement ; at another the reins were unex- 
 pectedly tightened, and people who had been encouraged 
 into imprudence found themselves sufferers for their 
 temerity. It did not do to trust to appearances. Some- 
 times they seemed to doze at Vienna, but it was only to 
 wake up suddenly with a start. No doubt this sort of 
 spasmodic action on the part of the Austrian Government 
 was in a great measure forced upon it by the representa- 
 tions of M. de Balabine. The Russian Minister at Vienna 
 was better served by his agents at Cracow than Count 
 Eechberg, probably because he paid them better. Indeed, 
 the Austrian police in Galicia had a profitable time of it, 
 as in addition to their regular pay they were largely sub- 
 sidised in secret by the Eussian Government. Cracow 
 swarmed with spies in Eussian pay, and thus the Govern-
 
 270 EXPERIENCES DURING THE 
 
 nient at St Petersburg was kept far more accurately in- 
 formed of the proceedings of the insurgents who were in 
 Galicia than of those who were in Eussian Poland, inas- 
 much as it was always easy to find Germans who would 
 serve as spies not so easy to find Poles. It was necessary, 
 then, to make arrangements for the collecting and arming 
 of bands with all possible secrecy, and every description 
 of device was resorted to in order to elude the vigilance 
 of the Austrian Government and the observation of the 
 Eussian spies. In order to appreciate the difficulties inci- 
 dental to the equipment and despatch of a band under 
 these conditions, we must consider in detail the modus 
 operandi. First of all, inasmuch as the Eussians lined 
 the Galician frontier in considerable force at the time of 
 my visit to Cracow, it was necessary for any band which 
 crossed into the kingdom to be sufficiently numerous to be 
 able to repel the troops they might encounter on the other 
 side. Of course, just in proportion to the size of the band 
 did the difficulties increase. It was impossible to form 
 them in Cracow. All that the leader could know through 
 the recognised channel was, that a certain number of men 
 had enrolled themselves as his followers. Most of them, 
 perhaps, he had never seen. Some had obtained arms 
 from their own sources, others were directed to the quarter 
 from whence they could be in secret supplied. In the 
 middle of the night groups of young men might occasion- 
 ally be seen stealing out of Cracow in different directions, 
 and making their way to the frontier. As the country is 
 undulating and well wooded, the impossibility of the 
 Austrian patrols guarding its whole extent on a dark night 
 is manifest : besides, there can be no doubt that the patrols
 
 POLISH INSURRECTION: WARSAW. 271 
 
 would often look the other way when they suspected that 
 insurgents were crossing in the vicinity. At daybreak the 
 band would have arrived at the rendezvous perhaps a 
 wood a mile or two inside the frontier. Here they would 
 be joined by, the leader, who would look over the men and 
 material he found at his disposition, and examine their 
 nondescript arms. Two or three waggons loaded with am- 
 munition, which had been dragged along by-lanes and 
 passed the frontier in safety, would now be unloaded, and 
 their contents distributed. Sometimes all their munitions 
 of war would be intercepted, and the band, after having 
 crossed, would be obliged to return, and await a more 
 auspicious occasion ; but supposing the spot to be happily 
 chosen, and everything to have gone smoothly thus far, the 
 next object was to lie perdu as long as possible, and hidden 
 from Eussian observation. A day or two thus gained was 
 of infinite value. A messenger would go back to Cracow, 
 to report proceedings. More men, arms, and ammunition 
 would cross over next night, while the day would be 
 occupied by the leader in the endeavour to impart some 
 kind of discipline to the men, and in instructing them in 
 the use of their weapons. With a new raw band the leader 
 was unwise if he removed from his base of operations, 
 which was Cracow, a day sooner than he was obliged. But 
 he could not hope for a respite of more than three or four 
 days ; he then found himself called upon to exercise all his 
 ingenuity to avoid meeting the enemy, which is beginning 
 to close round him ; for the peasants, not well disposed in 
 these parts, are not long in conveying the news. However, 
 he has supplied himself with a few carts and horses, though, 
 as his men have no clothes except those they have on, and
 
 272 EXPERIENCES DURING THE 
 
 carry a great proportion of their ammunition, his necessity 
 for land-transport is not very great. If he could manage 
 to get away into the mountains of St Croix, or to bury 
 himself in some of the woods and morasses with which 
 the interior of the country abounds, he was comparatively 
 safe : if his band was not too large, he found no very great 
 difficulty in procuring supplies ; and if he was a prudent 
 leader, his whole object was to keep out of the way of 
 Kussians for weeks to come. As it was of the utmost im- 
 portance that he and his men should get to know and have 
 confidence in each other, and acquire some slight know- 
 ledge of the kind of work before them, at first he confined 
 himself to operations on a very small scale, and contented 
 himself rather with a trifling success, than with risking 
 the morale, of the band by attempting too ambitious an 
 enterprise. Such had been the experience of Jezioranski, 
 Lelewel, and other leaders. But the majority of the 
 bands which left Cracow were not so fortunate. Either 
 they were unable to convey their ammunition across the 
 frontier, or they were attacked so immediately after cross- 
 ing that they were not in a position to defend themselves, 
 and although behaving with great courage, were obliged 
 to fall back before disciplined troops. Sometimes on these 
 occasions they succeeded in burying their arms, more often 
 they fell into the hands of the Austrians, who made 
 prisoners of them as they retreated in confusion upon the 
 frontier. Such was the fate of a portion of Gregovicz's 
 band, which was attacked so close to Cracow that the fir- 
 ing could be heard in the town. Unfortunately, as I left 
 the same day, I was unable to go to the frontier to witness 
 the skirmish, which, however, though it resulted in the
 
 POLISH INSURRECTION : WARSAW. 273 
 
 dispersion of the band, was more serious in its results oi 
 killed and wounded to the Russians than to the Poles. A 
 large city naturally possesses greater facilities for the de- 
 spatch of a band than the country villages ; but, on the 
 other hand, the Eussian troops were generally collected 
 in greater numbers on the frontier in the neighbourhood 
 of Cracow than elsewhere. Bands were therefore often 
 formed at other points, but here greater circumspection 
 was required. The men were lodged in farm-houses, or 
 even camped in woods, for a night or two on the Galician 
 side. / 
 
 Iii spite, however, of every precaution and of 'the most 
 cunning devices, a great quantity of arms were constantly 
 being seized in transitu by the Austrian Government ; and 
 it was calculated that it was necessary to add a sovereign 
 to the price of every rifle or musket conveyed in safety 
 across the frontier, after all other expenses were paid, in 
 order to cover the loss sustained by those intercepted. It 
 is almost impossible to estimate rightly, unless one has 
 been upon the spot, the enormous disadvantages under 
 which the insurgents laboured in being deprived of any 
 safe base of operations. They were perpetually exchang- 
 ing the frying-pan for the fire. The position of an 
 Austrian Pole who took part in the movement was bad 
 enough, but that of the Eussian Pole was still worse. 
 The Austrian who had been fighting with the insurgents, 
 when desiring repose, could at least return to his home, 
 and hope to remain there unmolested; but the Eussian 
 no sooner found himself a refugee in Cracow, than he 
 had to scramble across the frontier into the kingdom for 
 safety. I have conversed with some who belonged to 
 
 S
 
 274 EXPERIENCES DURING THE 
 
 Langiewicz's army, and had succeeded in reaching 
 Cracow ; here they were lying hidden, afraid of being 
 arrested and thrown into prison, for the Austrian Gov- 
 ernment drew a broad distinction between their own and 
 Eussian subjects. The latter they were bound by the 
 convention to arrest, if not to give up. It is due to the 
 Austrians to say that they did not interpret this obliga- 
 tion too strictly ; but if a Eussian Pole would persist in 
 living in Cracow, he could not expect unlimited grace. 
 The consequence was, that his only plan was to put his 
 head back into the lion's jaws, and make the best of his 
 way to the nearest insurgent band in the kingdom with 
 the least possible delay. Unfortunately for the Poles, 
 although they have shown the greatest aptitude as con- 
 trabandistas, they do not seem to possess an equal instinct 
 for guerilla warfare. In this respect their habits are 
 French: they like fighting in masses, they glory in the 
 rules of regular warfare, and, with a strong military 
 instinct and unlimited courage, insist upon undertaking 
 operations upon a larger scale than the conditions under 
 which they are fighting will admit of. It was rare to 
 find a chief who could resist accessions to his band, 
 which at the very moment possessed neither discipline, 
 ammunition, nor food; rarer still to find a man who 
 would not sacrifice half his band for the glory of taking 
 a couple of cannon, which would be of no earthly use 
 to him after he had got them. The disastrous attack of 
 Miechow was perhaps one of the most painful illustra- 
 tions of this blundering style of warfare. The insurgents 
 could not be brought to understand that the great object 
 of guerilla warfare is to- be invisible that victories are
 
 POLISH INSURRECTION : WAESAW. 275 
 
 only one shade less disastrous than defeats, because you 
 cannot afford the men they cost that while discipline 
 was necessary to keep a band in order, drill is absolute 
 ruin to it, because the men will immediately fancy them- 
 selves soldiers that excess of courage is a positive 
 nuisance where you want to teach men the art of kill- 
 ing others without being killed themselves that large 
 bodies of human beings without guns are only food for 
 the artillery of the enemy ; whereas if the whole country 
 is kept alive with scattered guerillas, their artillery arm 
 is paralysed, for you give them nothing to fire at. 
 
 Thus there was an absence of ingenuity in their mode 
 of conducting their operations. The essence of partisan 
 warfare is ruse, but very little strategy was displayed; 
 while it is due to the insurgents to say that their 
 proceedings were always characterised by the utmost 
 humanity. They almost invariably, after depriving their 
 prisoners of arms, restored them to liberty ; and some of 
 the leaders even expressed horror at the idea, which very 
 naturally occurred to me, that they should follow our 
 example in the Crimea, and choose the Kussian Easter, 
 when the enemy would be engaged in celebrating that 
 feast, to make a general attack upon him. I received 
 abundant and convincing testimony that no such scruples 
 of humanity animated the Kussians, who committed atro- 
 cities which were not justified by the exigencies of the 
 situation, and who could not complain if the Poles were 
 driven to retaliative measures, as severe as those which 
 we inflicted upon the rebels during the Indian Mutiny. 
 
 Again, the desire for military distinction is a principle 
 so firmly rooted in the heart of every Pole that it some-
 
 276 EXPERIENCES DURING THE 
 
 times interferes with his love of country. Not only does 
 the leader despise the petty achievements to which a guer- 
 illa warfare should be confined, and from which he cannot 
 acquire renown; not only does he love to augment his 
 band even at the sacrifice of its efficiency, but he finds 
 it difficult to hear of the success of rivals without a cer- 
 tain degree of jealousy: his ambition is to be the com- 
 mander -in -chief of a Polish army; and although this 
 struggle had been the means of calling forth in many 
 instances a display of magnificent self-sacrifice, and 
 neither life nor liberty were considered where the inter- 
 ests of the country were concerned, there could be no 
 doubt that a danger existed of personal feelings being 
 excited among the leaders, which prejudiced the success 
 of the cause they all had at heart. 
 
 I crossed the Russian frontier at two points while at 
 Cracow, but upon neither occasion did I see any troops. 
 The nearest barrier was Michaelowice, and here there was 
 a mile or so between the Austrian and Russian guard- 
 houses. At the former was a patrol, and we were a good 
 deal cross-examined before we were allowed to pass it, 
 although promising to limit our explorations to a short 
 drive. A number of peasants' carts laden with country 
 produce was all we met, and my curiosity was consider- 
 ably excited as we approached the Russian barrier, as it 
 had been reported that the enemy was still there. How- 
 ever, beyond a dirty Jew leaning over the bar which 
 crossed the road, and a few mangy curs, the place was 
 deserted. Not a soul inhabited the handsome block of 
 building, the official character of which was denoted by 
 the Imperial eagle ; the windows were many of them
 
 POLISH INSURRECTION : WARSAW. 277 
 
 brukeii, aud all was silent and forlorn. Taking courage 
 from the desolate aspect of this post, we ventured on, and 
 found ourselves in the kingdom. The coachman now 
 began to think that we had gone far enough, but the 
 temptation was too great to turn back at once, and we 
 continued till we reached a hill from which we obtained 
 a good view of the surrounding country. Not a Cossack 
 was to be seen, scarcely a living creature ; still the silence 
 might be treacherous, so we turned back, to the immense 
 relief of our coachman, whose speed was considerably 
 accelerated until he found himself once more safe in 
 Galicia. Practically, travelling in this part of the king- 
 dom was impossible, except by railway, and then it was 
 uncertain. Every peasant had a right to stop any one 
 dressed respectably whom he might chance to meet, and 
 bring him up to the nearest Eussian post. One gentleman 
 whom I saw, and who was harmlessly proceeding to his farm, 
 was thus arrested, and he informed me that the Eussian 
 officer blamed his captors for having brought him in alive. 
 They were informed that they would be considered to 
 have rendered better service, if they would spare the 
 Eussians the responsibility and trouble of executing per- 
 sons. As my informant could under no pretext be con- 
 sidered an insurgent, he was allowed to go ; but so unsafe 
 were the streets of the small town in which he lived 
 during its occupation by Eussian troops, that he was 
 obliged to beg two Eussian officers to accompany him 
 across the road, as a protection from their own men. I 
 was prevented, from the utter disorganisation of the 
 Eussian army upon this frontier, from visiting Miechow, 
 then the headquarters of General Szachowsky, as, although
 
 278 EXPERIENCES DURING THE 
 
 I might have obtained a safe-conduct from this officer, it 
 was not considered by the Russians themselves a sufficient 
 protection. Even the wives of Russians employed in the 
 kingdom were removed from places likely to be occupied 
 by the Imperial troops. There is no doubt that this in- 
 subordination was due to an order issued by the Grand- 
 Duke Constantine at the commencement of the outbreak, 
 in which the men were enjoined not to place too much 
 confidence in their officers. It seems that the Govern- 
 ment had some reason to suspect the fidelity of the latter ; 
 certainly such an order was not likely to confirm it. The 
 result was, that in several instances officers have been 
 shot by men; and the account which Mr Bielski, in 
 whose veracity I have every confidence, gave me of the 
 attack upon his own country-house at Gibultow, vividly 
 illustrated the utter demoralisation of the Russian army. 
 
 It would appear that the proximity of Langiewicz's 
 camp induced four of the insurgents to pay him a visit, 
 the more especially as his own son, who had joined the 
 army of the Dictator, was of the number. Mr Bielski, 
 who had a wife and daughter, was naturally alarmed at 
 such dangerous visitors, and implored them not to prolong 
 their stay, as it was known that the Russian army was in 
 the neighbourhood : however, they lingered a little, and 
 were just preparing to start, when a number of Cossacks 
 and infantry were seen approaching from all sides. The 
 first impulse of Mr Bielski's guests was to jump upon 
 their horses and escape ; this, however, they found impos- 
 sible. A gentleman, unconnected with the insurgents, 
 who was a visitor in the house, managed to jump into 
 a bed and feign illness, the others endeavoured to hide
 
 POLISH INSURRECTION : WARSAW. 279 
 
 themselves in a ravine. Of these Mr Bielski's son alone 
 eluded the vigilance of the Eussians, who, having secured 
 his three companions as prisoners, now approached, in 
 order to ransack the house. Meantime the ladies had 
 taken refuge in the chapel, where they were praying, 
 while Mr Bielski went out to try and parley with the 
 officer. As, unfortunately, he had a boil on his face, and 
 a handkerchief stained with blood round it, he was mis- 
 taken at first for a wounded insurgent, and the officer 
 could with difficulty prevent the Cossacks from shooting 
 him. Seeing that his life was in danger, he hastily re- 
 treated, and the house was entered by two officers and 
 six men. Those outside clamoured furiously for the work 
 of destruction to begin, shouting Eutiac ! (pillage), Rezac I 
 (murder), Palic ! (burn) ; and for more than an hour did 
 the horrified inmates listen to these ominous cries, ex- 
 pecting every moment that the officers would cease to 
 have any control over the men. Meantime the house was 
 searched, the six Cossacks filling their pockets with every- 
 thing that appeared of any value, and utterly disregarding 
 the threats and injunctions of the officers. The gentleman 
 in bed was turned out, and every room ransacked, the 
 officers apologising for the painful task which was forced 
 upon them, and the impossibility of executing it in any 
 other way. Ultimately, but not until the officers had 
 threatened to shoot the men, one of whom replied that 
 his carbine also contained a ball, they were induced to 
 leave the house. As they were leaving, Mr Bielski, who 
 felt some gratitude to the officers for their endeavours to 
 mitigate the ferocity of the men, offered one of them 
 cigars. On their being declined, Mr Bielski said ironi-
 
 280 EXPERIENCES DURING THE 
 
 cally, " Why do you refuse them ? do you think they are 
 poisoned ? " On which the officer answered, " Had they 
 been poisoned, I would gladly have smoked one, and thus 
 relieved myself from any more of this hateful work." 
 
 A violent altercation next ensued between the officers 
 and the men outside, who refused to take charge of the 
 prisoners unless they were first allowed to plunder the 
 house. When at last the latter were removed into the 
 highroad, they found a certain Mr Finkenstein, who was 
 a British subject, and a lady in a cart, surrounded by 
 soldiers. What then transpired I had from the lips of 
 one of the prisoners, who declared that he heard an officer 
 give the order for their massacre. Mr Finkenstein, on 
 the other hand, assured me that the officer, who was en- 
 deavouring to protect him, presented a revolver at the men 
 who first attacked him : however that may be, the whole 
 party were attacked three of the Poles were killed on 
 the spot. My informant, after receiving thirteen wounds, 
 managed to shelter himself under Mr Finkenstein's wag- 
 gon, out of which Mr F. was dragged and left for dead, 
 with thirty-two wounds, the lady who was with him hav- 
 ing been stabbed in three places. 
 
 Another history, the details of which were of the most 
 harrowing description, was narrated to me by Mr Woyci- 
 achowski, whose son was murdered before his eyes, but 
 that has already appeared in print. Indeed, there was no 
 lack of evidence in Cracow confirmatory of the worst ac- 
 counts we read at the time in the public prints of the bar- 
 barity of the Russian soldiery. The hotels were crowded 
 with refugees, all of whom had some instances to relate ; 
 while the hospitals were filled to overflowing with young
 
 POLISH INSURRECTION : WARSAW. 281 
 
 men, not merely wounded in the ordinary course of fighting, 
 but often covered with wounds they received after having 
 been captured and disabled. Unfortunately, the length 
 of the interval which usually elapsed between the time 
 when the wounds were inflicted, and when they could be 
 attended to, caused them in a very undue proportion to 
 terminate fatally. Not a day passed without my being 
 attracted to the window by the mournful chant of a 
 funeral procession, winding its solemn way to the ceme- 
 tery outside the town, one portion of which was devoted 
 to the interment of those killed for the national cause. 
 Almost every evening I met in that gloomy society per- 
 sons who had some new tale of distress to recount, or the 
 loss of some near relative or friend to bewail. Still there 
 was no symptom of flinching ; those who were recovering 
 from their wounds were only yearning to be back to the 
 scene of action. The hardships they had undergone could 
 not deter them from seeking to rejoin their comrades who 
 were in the field; and the hotels swarmed with ardent 
 young men either just returned from camp for a moment's 
 respite, or just starting to take their share in the move- 
 ment. It was difficult to be an indifferent spectator of so 
 much misery and so much devotion. 
 
 The concentration of Eussian troops in the neighbour- 
 hood of Cracow, and the obstacles in the way of despatch- 
 ing bands from that city, had induced the insurgents to 
 commence operations upon other points of the frontier, so 
 I went to Lemberg to see what was going on in the eastern 
 part of Galicia, A ten hours' railway journey takes one 
 to this outpost of Austrian civilisation. The contrast be- 
 tween the provincial capital and the old city of Cracow is
 
 280 EXPERIENCES DURING THE 
 
 callriciently marked. Containing a population of nearly 
 *90,000 inhabitants, Lemberg possesses none of the grand 
 historic associations of Cracow, and can boast none of its 
 picturesque effect. The houses are large white palatial 
 structures, the shops gay and well furnished, the streets 
 broad, and the city generally modern-looking and hand- 
 some. In Cracow the whole world seemed to live in the 
 central square and the streets running into it. Everybody 
 knew everybody, and everybody was in the movement: 
 nothing else was thought of or talked of ; youths in un- 
 mistakable insurgent costume were swarming everywhere, 
 and the committees were in constant deliberation. In 
 Lemberg the streets were busy with people going about 
 their usual avocations. For all that a stranger could dis- 
 cover, there might have been no national movement in 
 existence: except the predominant black, there was 
 nothing to indicate Poland. It is true that its official 
 character obliges a number of Germans to live at Lemberg, 
 and that the large garrison may give a greater air of 
 animation to the scene; but one felt, on walking about 
 the streets, that one had got out of the movement. 
 Nevertheless there was something going on, and arrange- 
 ments were being made here as at Cracow to equip bands. 
 The weather was so bitterly cold during the period of 
 my visit to Lemberg, that the camp of Lelewel, which I 
 had intended visiting, and which was just upon the other 
 side of the frontier, in the Palatinate of Lublin, was dis- 
 solved. It was almost impossible to keep the field with 
 the driving snow and piercing wind, which seemed to 
 penetrate one's whole system. It should be remarked, 
 that the dispersion of a band by no means implied its
 
 POLISH INSURRECTION : WARSAW. 283 
 
 extinction. When either an overwhelming force, inclement 
 weather, or the absence of supplies or ammunition, rendered 
 it impossible for a band to keep the field, they buried or 
 concealed their arms; and, if in the neighbourhood of 
 Galicia, crossed the frontier, and rested themselves for a 
 while, or, if in the kingdom, scattered temporarily, but 
 only to reunite at a given rendezvous on a more con- 
 venient occasion. Thus at Easter numbers of insurgents 
 went home and spent the feast with their friends and 
 relations ; and just at the moment of my visit to Lemberg 
 there was a lull in affairs in consequence. After staying 
 a few days, I therefore decided upon going direct to 
 Warsaw, and proceeded to arrange my luggage, in antici- 
 pation of the ordeal to which I understood travellers were 
 subjected on entering Eussian Poland. I was reluctantly 
 compelled to refuse to be the bearer of sealed letters, as 
 of course the only safe means of communication between 
 Poles was by private entremise ; and they were so skilled 
 in concealing correspondence that the Eussians seldom 
 succeeded in intercepting the letters. I did not feel the 
 same confidence in being able to elude the vigilance of 
 the frontier officials, though, had I possessed my subse- 
 quent experience, I need not have been so prudent. The 
 force of circumstances had obliged the Poles, when they 
 wrote by post to each other, to convey their political in- 
 telligence in the shape of domestic details, so cunningly 
 worded that they possessed no meaning to any one not 
 initiated in the family affairs, and the ideas which they 
 can be made to represent. The number of deaths, funerals, 
 illnesses, and misfortunes, which occasionally overtook a 
 family, would appal a stranger who read the letter, and
 
 284 EXPERIENCES DURING THE 
 
 did not know that these domestic afflictions were only 
 fabricated to convey news of national disaster. 
 
 As the through trains from Cracow to Warsaw had 
 ceased to run, I was obliged to pass the night at the 
 miserable frontier station of Graniza, where a gaunt build- 
 ing, inhabited by a deaf old woman and a sulky barefooted 
 maid, did duty for a hotel, and where my evening meal 
 consisted of junks of ham and tea, and my bed of a very 
 narrow stretcher, with thickly - populated dirty sheets. 
 Only two other travellers were in the train, and they were 
 both insurgents, on their way from a camp to spend Easter 
 at home, as I afterwards discovered. None of us had any 
 difficulty with our passports, and my luggage was sub- 
 jected to a mere formal examination. My companions 
 dispensed with any such encumbrance, and walked about 
 the platform, on which a company of ill-favoured Eussian 
 soldiers were drawn up, with the utmost effrontery. 
 
 The fact that insurgents were reported to be hovering 
 about the line, that they had already interrupted the com- 
 munication upon several occasions, and that they had a 
 disagreeable habit of firing upon the trains as they passed 
 through the dense pine- woods, invested railway travelling 
 in Poland with a novel sort of interest. Only three days 
 had elapsed since the bridges destroyed by the insurgents 
 had been repaired, and we did not know that we might not 
 find some new interruption established. 
 
 At eight o'clock A.M. we collected on the platform. 
 When I say "we," I mean one company of Eussian 
 soldiers who were in permanent occupation of the station 
 one company who mounted the open fourth-class car- 
 riages, and were to be considered as our protectors an
 
 POLISH INSURRECTION : WARSAW. - $ ~ 
 
 officer with a revolver, and three soldiers, who got upon 
 the engine to see that the engineers and firemen did not 
 play tricks the two above-mentioned insurgents, who 
 were not deterred by the presence of the Eussian escort 
 from going to Warsaw to see their friends, and who had 
 only left their camp two days before and a small group 
 of Polish railway officials, who, I presume, had no more 
 idea than the Eussians of the real character of their pas- 
 sengers, otherwise they would have insisted upon asking 
 to see the tickets the insurgents had no money to pur- 
 chase ; for we will not do them the injustice of insinuating 
 any complicity with their penniless compatriots; though 
 the chief of a station on another line, I won't say where, 
 did inform me that he could take ninety guards and 
 employes off their duty at any moment, and make a band 
 of insurgents of them, only he thought they were more 
 useful passing insurgents up and down the line under the 
 noses of the Eussian troops. 
 
 "With a puff and a shriek we dashed off with our light 
 freight over the dreary flat country, across vast open plains 
 thickly dotted with habitations and with peasants tilling 
 the ground, through dark woods, across marshes, and over 
 trestle-bridges, till we got to a station where another com- 
 pany of grim, dirty, Mongol-looking soldiers were waiting 
 to receive us, and a few wild-looking Cossacks, with horses 
 fastened to trees close by, were lounging about ; while in 
 the fields, a few hundred yards off, pickets were posted: 
 for the insurgents like dashing suddenly upon isolated 
 stations where a company of men may be surprised ; then 
 they have been known to jump into the train and make it 
 take them up or down the line as their fancy may direct.
 
 286 EXPERIENCES DURING THE 
 
 They have played all sorts of pranks on the railways; 
 hence the strong guard, consisting of seldom less than a 
 hundred men, by which each train is accompanied. The 
 spruce officer, with spotless uniform and patent-leather 
 boots, looks rather but of place in these wild regions, and 
 in command of these wild, Tartar-looking men; and we 
 cannot wonder that sometimes they will not t obey his 
 orders, and that lady-passengers do not much like trusting 
 themselves along a line where there is more to be feared 
 from the troops who protect, than from the insurgents 
 who threaten it. The mayor of a small town sent the 
 following rather characteristic account of events which 
 transpired in his arrondissement : " At twelve o'clock on 
 such a day," he reported, " ' the destroyers of order ' (in- 
 surgents) arrived; they took so much flour, so much 
 brandy, so many pigs, &c., for all of wliich they paid, and 
 they then retired : and at four o'clock in the afternoon of 
 the same day, ' the preservers of order ' (Russians) arrived ; 
 they took so much flour, so much brandy, so many pigs, 
 &c., for which they did not pay; they then burned the 
 town to the ground and retired." 
 
 At every station there is the same smart officer and the 
 same company of soldiers ; two or three times between the 
 frontier and Warsaw the escort is changed, and as we pro- 
 ceed more passengers get in. Every soul, man or woman, 
 is in the movement, and talks about it freely ; they hand 
 photographs of celebrated insurgents about, and upon one 
 occasion the man whose likeness was being discussed was 
 sitting placidly opposite, and did not attempt to conceal 
 from his neighbours that he was the very individual whose 
 figure, bristling with revolvers, we were inspecting. There
 
 POLISH INSQERECTION : WARSAW. 287 
 
 can be no greater proof of the unanimity of the popular 
 sentiment than the mutual confidence which all classes 
 display in each other, and the freedom with which the 
 most compromising topics are discussed. When surrounded 
 by Russian soldiers, insurgents who were lounging about 
 the platforms were openly pointed out and introduced to 
 me. I felt the only coward of the party, and could scarcely 
 believe that all the rest of the people who were in the 
 secret were to be trusted. Upon one occasion, I saw the 
 insurgent whom we had recognised by his photograph, in 
 the most amicable and confidential conversation with the 
 Russian officer commanding the company, and was laughed 
 at for excessive caution when I expressed my surprise at 
 his imprudence. I afterwards learned that no fewer than 
 3000 insurgents on leave from their bands had arrived by 
 the three different railways which centre at Warsaw, to 
 spend Easter in that city, and that so inefficient were the 
 police, or rather so much implicated themselves in the 
 movement, that the Government could not lay hands on 
 any of them. One young man, who had been wounded in 
 an encounter with Russians, was actually lying ill of his 
 wound in Warsaw, and being attended for it under the 
 nose of the Russian authority. How, upon our arrival at 
 Warsaw, all those who had come with us managed to get 
 passports which should satisfy the authorities, was a mys- 
 tery ; but my friend of the photograph, who had never 
 from the beginning owned a ticket, was careering along 
 triumphantly in a cab, before I had extricated myself from 
 the police formalities. 
 
 Before the Government adopted the plan of sending 
 escorts with the train, it was stopped one day by the
 
 288 EXPERIENCES DURING THE 
 
 insurgents, about fifty of whom availed themselves of it. 
 As it approached the station, the engineer perceived that 
 the authorities had got some suspicion of its contents, and 
 that the platform was lined with troops. There was still 
 time to allow the occupants to creep out of the doors *on 
 the opposite side, and hide themselves in the luggage-van. 
 This operation was barely accomplished before the train 
 slowly entered the station. No suspicious passengers were 
 found in the carriages, and the officer was at a nonplus, 
 when it occurred to him to search the luggage-van. No 
 sooner did the engineer hear the order given than he 
 quickly attached the van to the engine, and, detaching the 
 rest of the train, steamed down to get water, taking the 
 luggage-van with him as if by mistake. After watering 
 the engine, he was obliged to come back to the station ; 
 and as they had been all the time in sight of the troops, 
 no opportunity had been afforded to the insurgents to 
 escape. Their situation was becoming critical as they re- 
 entered the station ; but, to the astonishment of every one, 
 the guard again re-attached the empty train, and off it 
 went at full speed. No sooner did the train arrive at a 
 turn which hid it from the station, than the van was 
 opened, the insurgents jumped out, and the train once 
 more entered the station amid a general volley of abuse, 
 the guard accusing the engineer of stupidity, the engineer 
 laying the fault on the guard, and all, secretly amused, 
 indulging, for the benefit of the Eussians, in the loudest 
 mutual recrimination. 
 
 Upon another occasion the line had been destroyed by 
 the insurgents, and a party of engineers were sent down 
 to repair it. In the clay they worked at the demolished
 
 POLISH INSURRECTION : WARSAW. 289 
 
 bridge, but in the nigbt they proceeded to another bridge 
 farther on, which they broke down, and next day pointed 
 out to the Eussians what they pretended had been a fresh 
 work of the insurgents. These latter naturally aimed, in 
 the first instance, at supplying themselves with funds; 
 and two or three young men called upon an official one 
 day to hand over the treasure-chest of a small town. As 
 they were too few in number to resort to force and make 
 a tumult, they were rather disconcerted at his refusal, and 
 were going away without it, when he called them back 
 and said, " I can't give you the box unless you present a 
 pistol at my head." This was done at once, and the box 
 handed over. The youths, being inexperienced, then 
 asked him for the keys, which he also refused. Here was 
 another puzzle ; and the good-natured official was actually 
 obliged to remark, "I shall certainly not give you the 
 keys, nor can you get the money unless indeed you break 
 open the lock." In this fashion did the Polish officials of 
 the Eussian Government serve their masters. 
 
 The air seemed heavy with suspicion when I at last got 
 away from the station, with the sort of feeling of having 
 escaped some danger, and of being still a very guilty per- 
 sonage. I imagined that everybody was narrowly ex- 
 amining me, and that all the waiters in the hotel were 
 spies. And when I drove along the wide streets, crowded 
 with foot-passengers in black, and met here and there 
 a patrol of Eussian infantry, or a few Cossacks with 
 ragged ponies and long lances, there was something in the 
 close proximity of these antagonistic forces which gave 
 me the same sort of sensation I once experienced in 
 America, when a gentleman informed me that the barrel 
 
 T
 
 290 EXPERIENCES DURING THE 
 
 upon which I was sitting smoking a cigar contained 
 gunpowder. 
 
 The two first essentials to the traveller's comfort in 
 Warsaw were, a lantern, and a permit to be out after ten 
 o'clock at night. After seven the streets presented a most 
 singular aspect ; everybody was compelled to carry a lan- 
 tern, and the town seemed inhabited by a population of 
 lively glow-worms. After ten o'clock all this disap- 
 peared ; here and there at long intervals a stray lantern 
 might be seen, but the bearer of it carried in his pocket 
 a permit to be in the streets at all. Very few Poles 
 carried these, as it implied too great a familiarity with the 
 Eussian authorities, and loyal Poles prided themselves 
 upon not having sufficient interest to obtain one. 
 
 With a pair of coloured trousers and a hat, however, 
 one might do a good deal without a permit, as no native 
 would be seen in either the one or the other. The wearer, 
 therefore, must expect black looks from the townspeople ; 
 but, en revanche, he was not so likely to be molested by 
 the police. Upon one or two occasions I was out late 
 without a permit, but escaped observation by getting into 
 the deep shadow when any one passed. I found several 
 people doing the same thing: they were apt to bolt to 
 some Dther corner on a new arrival, and it became quite 
 an interesting amusement to dodge about, not unlike the 
 game of " post," the usual forfeit being a night in prison. 
 The police, however, were not stricter than was necessary 
 to keep up appearances, as they were all in the move- 
 ment: one of them informed a friend of mine that the 
 muzzle of a rifle he was endeavouring to smuggle home 
 beneath his greatcoat was visible above the collar, and
 
 POLISH INSURRECTION : WARSAW. 291 
 
 he had better hide it before the patrol came, for the 
 patrol were disagreeably personal in their investigations, 
 particularly when they were not sufficiently educated to 
 read the permits. 
 
 In spite of all their endeavours, the united exertions 
 of the Grand-Duke Constantino, General Berg, and the 
 Marquis Wielopolski were incapable of suppressing the 
 Central Committee, or of preventing that occult body from 
 governing not only Warsaw, but Poland, just as it pleased. 
 It made use of the Government telegraph for the trans- 
 mission of its information, of the Government post-office 
 for the forwarding of its despatches, of the Government 
 machinery for the promulgation of its orders, of the Gov- 
 ernment clerks for the obtaining of official information, of 
 the Government police for carrying out its secret designs 
 in fact, of everybody in Poland, whether in Govern- 
 ment employ or not, except the Eussian army, the Mar- 
 quis Wielopolski, and the peasants of some districts. The 
 proclamations of the Central Committee were freely cir- 
 culated, and passports issued by it, which facilitated the 
 movements of the stranger anxious to visit their camps, 
 but involved his speedy execution if they were discovered 
 upon him by the Eussian soldiery. I therefore declined 
 burdening myself with so dangerous a document. At the 
 period of my visit, among other proclamations issued by 
 the Central Committee, was one warning the people 
 against spurious documents emanating from the Eussian 
 Government, but which purported to be promulgated by 
 the Central Committee, and to which a stamp in imitation 
 of the one used by that body was appended. The idea of 
 , the authorities in resorting to this ruse was characteristic ;
 
 292 EXPERIENCES DURING THE 
 
 
 
 but the stamp was badly imitated, and though for the 
 moment it created some little confusion, the public were 
 soon on their guard against similar forgeries. Another 
 notification announced the death of two persons who were 
 executed as spies in the streets of Warsaw by order of the 
 Central Committee ; the warrant for their execution was 
 found pinned upon their dead bodies. It is probable that 
 the police on duty at the time looked the other way. 
 
 Perhaps the most remarkable feature of the whole of 
 this movement was the continued existence of this Com- 
 mittee for more than a year, in spite of all the efforts of 
 the Government to suppress it. The authority it wielded 
 over the Poles was marvellous. Every order was exe- 
 cuted as soon as it was given, and it possessed the confi- 
 dence of the country so completely, that an order from it 
 at any moment would have suspended operations. Many 
 are the stories told of the mysterious working of this 
 secret council. Some asserted that it consisted really of 
 only one man, who was known only to two other men, who 
 in their turn were known to four others, and so on, each 
 set being bound not to reveal the particular link in the 
 chain with which they had to deal, so that the first man 
 would be unknown to the four. But these were the fables 
 with which wonder -loving gossips delighted to amuse 
 strangers. The fact is, that the members of the Central 
 were very well known to a great number of persons, and 
 that practically it was merely a sort of upper house to 
 the more active and intelligent spirits of Warsaw, who 
 discussed in private the measures to which the Central 
 Committee gave effect. Latterly the aristocratic element 
 predominated in its councils, and there was probably
 
 POLISH INSURRECTION I WARSAW. 293 
 
 scarcely a single individual on the Committee at the 
 close of the movement who was on it when it was com- 
 menced. This was not on account of any wide divergence 
 of opinion, although there was an essential difference 
 in the views of the two parties, so much as in the fact 
 of every original member having been either executed, 
 imprisoned, exiled, or obliged to join an insurgent band. 
 The odd thing was, that there was no difficulty whatever 
 in communicating with it. It lived nowhere, but was to 
 be found everywhere. A band of insurgents having occa- 
 sion to take some forage, &c., from a peasant, gave him an 
 order for payment on the Central Committee. He being 
 as ignorant of politics as most of his class, came into 
 Warsaw and asked the first person he met which was 
 the way to the Central Committee: people laughed and 
 passed on; at last he went to the Eussian police-office 
 and inquired there, ingenuously remarking that he had a 
 claim on it for some money. The police could give him 
 no assistance; but requested him, should he ever find 
 the Committee, to come back and tell them where it was. 
 So he wandered disconsolately on till he came to a group 
 of persons in one of the public squares, and asked one of 
 them if he could direct him to the Central Committee. 
 The gentleman he addressed took him at once up a by- 
 street and inquired his reason for wishing to find it, on 
 which the peasant pulled out his order for payment for 
 forage received by insurgents. The gentleman immedi- 
 ately took the order, pulled out his purse, paid the money, 
 and made the man put his mark in pencil to a formal 
 Central Committee receipt which he had in his pocket. 
 Half an hour later a body of police were crossing the
 
 294 EXPERIENCES DURING THE 
 
 square under the guidance of the ungrateful rustic, and 
 minutely examining the by-streets; but the group of 
 persons had vanished, and the gentleman who had repre- 
 sented the Central Committee upon the occasion was 
 nowhere to be seen. 
 
 A glacis, about half a mile wide, separates the city of 
 Warsaw from the citadel. It was filled to overflowing 
 with political prisoners, and every morning crowds of 
 women were to be seen clustered round the prison doors, 
 who had brought comforts to their relatives and friends, 
 with whom, by special favour, they were sometimes per- 
 mitted to communicate. In the event of a popular move- 
 ment in the city, the guns of the fort could lay it in ruins ; 
 but it would not offer any very formidable resistance to 
 the siege operations of a regular army. A barrier round 
 the town was guarded by Kussian sentries, and they ex- 
 amined minutely the passes of persons who might wish to 
 go into the country for a drive. This was, however, a 
 luxury very rarely indulged in by the inhabitants, partly 
 because a pass was not a very easy thing for a Pole to get, 
 and partly because the country, even close up to the city, 
 was by no means safe. The insurgents came to within two 
 ,or three miles of it, and Cossacks, not very scrupulous in 
 their treatment of harmless wayfarers, scoured the neigh- 
 bourhood. The insurgents themselves, however, found 
 very little difficulty in going in and out of the town as 
 they pleased. The sentries were all to be bought, and in 
 the night could easily be induced for a consideration to 
 look the other way while their enemies were passing to or 
 from their camps. Indeed, so ready were the Eussian 
 soldiers to provide themselves with the means of procuring
 
 POLISH INSURRECTION : WARSAW. 295 
 
 brandy, that they willingly sold their ammunition to the 
 insurgents, and were only prevented from selling their 
 arms as well, by the impossibility of accounting for the 
 absence of them to the military authorities. 
 
 General Berg was sent expressly from St Petersburg to 
 assist in the military administration of Poland, and arrived 
 in Warsaw about the same time as myself. He is reported 
 to have said, after his first week's experience of the diffi- 
 culties with which he had to contend, from the unanimity 
 amongst all classes of Poles, whether employed by the 
 Government or not, in favour of the movement, that there 
 was only one other man in Warsaw upon whom he could 
 depend besides himself, and that this was the Grand-Duke 
 Constantine. The remark was aimed specially at the 
 Marquis Wielopolski, the Civil Governor, between whom 
 and General Berg an intense jealousy existed, notwith- 
 standing the fact of both being included in an order from 
 St Petersburg, which commanded the inhabitants of War- 
 saw to take off their hats whenever they met either the 
 Grand-Duke, Berg, or Wielopolski. The poor " Marquis," 
 as he was called, par eoccelleiice, because he was the only 
 noble of that rank in Poland, enjoyed a most unenviable 
 distinction amongst both the Eussians and his own coun- 
 trymen, the Poles. The former distrusted him because he 
 was a Pole, and was engaged in the revolution of 1830-31 ; 
 the latter called him a traitor, and the author of all the 
 misery which had latterly fallen upon their unhappy 
 country. It was sufficient for the " Marquis " to propose 
 a measure to ensure the opposition of Berg; but as the 
 latter had also an opponent to his policy in the Grand- 
 Duke, Wielopolski had in the long-run been triumphant.
 
 296 EXPERIENCES DURING THE 
 
 However much it was to be regretted that the most 
 remarkable Pole which this century has produced, should 
 have placed himself in a false position with reference to 
 his country, we are bound to accord him a certain qualified 
 admiration. There was something grand in his impertur- 
 bable stubbornness, in his egregious self-sufficiency, and 
 in his indomitable courage. In his ponderous figure, 
 massive brow and chin, and shrewd eyes, there was an 
 individuality that imposed upon those who came under 
 his influence. His appearance reminded me at the same 
 time of Yeh and Cavour, and his character did not belie 
 his looks. It contained about equal proportions of the 
 Chinaman and the Italian ; with the pride and obstinacy 
 of the one he combined the finesse and intelligence of the 
 other. Stolid and reflective, he elaborated a policy repug- 
 nant to his country, and trusted to the strength of his 
 will and the inflexibility of his character to force it upon 
 the nation; but he overestimated his power, the nation 
 refused to bend, and Wielopolski, too proud to yield, 
 became the servant of Kussia. Phrenologically speaking, 
 the inordinate development of the organ of self-esteem has 
 neutralised all the grand qualities which might have made 
 him the saviour and the blessing of his country. The 
 scheme to which he sacrificed his own reputation and his 
 country's wellbeing, was a vast conception, and seems to 
 have been suggested by the Galician massacres in 1846. 
 Then it was that he addressed to Prince Metternich a 
 celebrated letter, which ended in an exordium to his 
 countrymen: "We must take a line. Instead of the 
 irregular and haphazard course we have been hitherto 
 pursuing, we must, by a bold stroke which may cause our
 
 POLISH INSURRECTION : WABSAW. 297 
 
 hearts to bleed, substitute for it a line of conduct which is 
 safe, and which is marked out for us by events." And 
 then he proposed to Poland to abdicate its pretensions as 
 a distinct nationality, and to put itself at the head of 
 Sclavonia. His idea was, in other words, that the superior 
 moral and intellectual resources of Poland should be di- 
 rected to the annexation of Eussia that the Poles, identi- 
 fying themselves with the aspirations and aims of the 
 Sclavonic nationalities, should, as their most civilised 
 representative, control the destinies of Eastern Europe. 
 " The nobility of Poland," he writes, " will surely prefer 
 to march with Eussia at the head of a Sclavonic civilisa- 
 tion, young, vigorous, and with a great future before it, 
 than to be dragged, jostled, despised, hated, and insulted 
 at the tail of a decrepit, intriguing, and presuming civili- 
 sation." But the Poles, however much they might hate 
 Germany, could not make common cause with Eussia 
 against it. They still clung to the traditions of their 
 former independence, and preferred rather to fight single- 
 handed against three enemies, than to identify themselves 
 with one in the hope of crushing the other two. Wielo- 
 polski was too enamoured of himself and his plan to 
 abandon it. If Poland declined to found Panslavonia, 
 Wielopolski would found it by himself ; and he went to 
 St Petersburg to ta-ke the preliminary steps. The first 
 was the subjugation of Poland by force, as argument had 
 proved of no avail ; and in order to carry this out thor- 
 oughly, he succeeded in getting named the governor of the 
 country. Of course he found himself placed in a position 
 of direct antagonism with the whole nation, and could 
 only rely on Eussian bayonets to give effect to his will.
 
 298 EXPERIENCES DUKING THE 
 
 This he never scrupled to do. He never hesitated to 
 trample on anything, so that he could keep his own head 
 erect. It became a struggle between the nation and the 
 man. We cannot but wonder whether there was not a 
 fiercer struggle going on within the man himself. Did he 
 never feel, now that he had laid the country he so un- 
 doubtedly loved, prostrate and bleeding at his feet, one 
 twinge of remorse ? Did he never think of the day when 
 he fought for the liberties he was now crushing, when he 
 was the ambassador to England of the same people, engaged 
 in the same struggle that they were now, and when he 
 pleaded for them so eloquently ? Did he never inwardly 
 curse that pride of his nature which so blinded and har- 
 dened him that he thought he could change the aspirations 
 of a nation, and did not shrink from massacring them when 
 he failed ? Unfortunately, Wielopolski had not been long 
 in Warsaw before his amour propre became involved in 
 another direction. He had assured the Emperor that he 
 understood the Poles, and could govern the country ; but 
 every day was proving the contrary, and the imminence 
 of an outbreak threatened altogether to destroy his credit 
 and his prestige. Then it was that he proposed the 
 Conscription Act in the dead of winter. No wonder his 
 countrymen called him traitor. And they were right. A 
 man who will not sacrifice his own pride to the good of 
 his country is a traitor not, perhaps, in the worst sense, 
 but in one equally fatal to the cause he ought, if necessary, 
 to die for. And Wielopolski would have died sooner than 
 give in ; so he clung to Warsaw, and drove about the 
 streets surrounded by a Russian escort to protect him 
 from the bullets of his countrymen.
 
 POLISH INSURRECTION I WARSAW. 299 
 
 Notwithstanding the rigorous measures adopted by the 
 Russian Government, and the stringency of the rules to 
 which everybody was obliged to conform in Warsaw, there 
 was an entire freedom in the expression of opinion. It is 
 only before a popular outbreak, when public feeling, seeth- 
 ing and fermenting, has not yet found a vent, that people 
 are afraid to speak. When the surface is still calm, any 
 solitary individual venturing to express an opinion is at 
 once seized, so that it is generally difficult beforehand to 
 predict a revolution. There is always a moment of lull, 
 and the police are doubly active, while the masses are 
 nerving themselves silently for the final effort. No sooner 
 is that made than the tongues of the most prudent are 
 loosened. In proportion as the prisons are filled, and 
 arrests increase, do men become reckless, until the Govern- 
 ment gives up in despair the attempt to control the free- 
 dom of speech. When one common sentiment animates a 
 whole population, and each individual is determined to 
 express it, imprisonment becomes impossible. Thus it 
 happened that treason and revolution, so far as Russia 
 was concerned, were openly talked in Warsaw ; spies were 
 of but little avail, because they would have been obliged 
 to report everybody in the town for the same offence. But 
 the office of a spy was not coveted ; even Jews were not 
 to be bribed. The police of the Central Committee was 
 so much more efficient than that of the Russian Govern- 
 ment, that sooner or later the doom of a spy was certain. 
 So far, then, as the liberty of discussing openly the situa- 
 tion was concerned, there was no difficulty. Every one 
 was glad to give a stranger the benefit of his patriotic 
 opinions. The Warsaw Society met at each other's houses ;
 
 300 EXPERIENCES DURING THE 
 
 triumphed over the news of victories gained by insurgents ; 
 mourned over defeats; anathematised Russia in general, 
 and Berg and Wielopolski in particular; canvassed the 
 probabilities of aid from without, and the expediency of 
 the policy to be adopted by the Central Committee. It 
 was strange to be in a room with thirty or forty persons, 
 all of whom were uttering sentiments which would have 
 infallibly consigned them to Siberia if they had been heard 
 by a Eussian ; and yet so thoroughly confident of eacli 
 other, that no man hesitated to say exactly what he 
 thought; and interesting to observe the phases of char- 
 acter as indicated by the nature of the views expressed 
 some so sanguine of the power of the internal forces at work 
 that they were comparatively indifferent to foreign inter- 
 vention ; others so earnestly anxious for an indication from 
 any Western Power of a disposition to take up their cause ; 
 some gloomy and despondent of the whole affair; some 
 alarmed at the strong infusion of the middle-class element, 
 to which the movement owed so much of its force; all 
 interested in hearing what impression a stranger had re- 
 ceived, and in discovering what he considered to be their 
 ultimate chances of success. 
 
 It was indeed difficult for a traveller to arrive, on such 
 short notice, at any definite conclusion ; but no one could 
 be long in the country without perceiving that one ingre- 
 dient most essential to a successful revolution was want- 
 ing. The leading spirit had not appeared the movement 
 had not yet found a living representative. For a moment, 
 persons looking on from abroad expected to find in Langie- 
 wicz a second Garibaldi, but Poland did not produce 
 either a Garibaldi or a Cavour. The Central Govern-
 
 POLISH INSURRECTION: WARSAW. 301 
 
 ment at Warsaw proved itself a most admirably contrived 
 machine for the management of internal affairs, but the 
 wisdom of its measures was not in proportion to the 
 adroitness which was exhibited in carrying out its organ- 
 isation. To make it effective it should have been the tool 
 of one man, and he a man of consummate genius. In 
 supreme moments, if the ship is to weather the storm, 
 it must be steered by one hand and one head ; and it does 
 not seem that there was any political leader of surpassing 
 ability, who, by means of the Central Committee, governed 
 the country. Hence the very composition of the National 
 Government underwent change, and there was not that 
 consistency and decision in its policy which would have 
 given confidence had it been under the guidance of one 
 man. 
 
 Hitherto my observations had been confined to the men 
 of council. I now wished, before leaving the country, to 
 see the men of action at work in the field.
 
 302 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 A VISIT TO AN INSURGENT CAMP. 
 
 SCARCELY a week had elapsed after my arrival at Warsaw, 
 before the opportunity which I had so long desired, and 
 had vainly attempted to find in Galicia, presented itself 
 of visiting a camp of insurgents. I therefore got my pass- 
 port vistd, as though I were going to leave the country 
 altogether, and went through the usual police formalities 
 which were necessary for that purpose; then I took a 
 ticket for Berlin, and bade adieu to Warsaw, without 
 exciting any suspicion. After travelling a few hours, we 
 arrived at a station, too small and lonely for the Eussians 
 to care to defend it with the usual company of soldiers. 
 My companion was a Polish gentleman, who did not take 
 so much trouble to disguise our destination as I could have 
 wished ; and there was probably scarcely a passenger that 
 saw us alight who did not guess where we were going. A 
 light open country cart, without springs, but plentifully 
 provided with straw, and drawn by a pair of spirited 
 young horses, jolted us first along a rough road, then 
 through a small town inhabited entirely by Jews, where 
 greasy-looking women inspected the heads of their progeny
 
 A VISIT TO AN INSURGENT CAMP. 303 
 
 in the sun, and their fathers, in long coats, long beards, 
 and long curled locks, smoked long pipes in all the luxury 
 of dolcc far nicnte ; for this was their Sabbath. Then we 
 dived into a pine-and-birch wood, dexterously threading 
 our way between the trees for there was no road and so 
 again out into the open, till we came to a most picturesque 
 old chateau, with " bridge, and moat, and donjon keep ; " 
 but prudence prevents my describing it so accurately as I 
 could wish, for fear of compromising my host. The camp 
 we had expected to find in the neighbourhood had moved, 
 so we determined to drive on and spend the night at a 
 country-house about fifteen miles distant. My host could, 
 indeed, not offer me very much hospitality, as he found 
 that, during his absence in Warsaw, nearly all his servants 
 had disappeared and joined the insurgents ; his cook was 
 at this moment exercising his culinary talents for the 
 benefit of a band; his groom, mounted on one of his 
 master's best horses, was perhaps chasing a Cossack, while 
 the footman might be leading a body of scythemen on to 
 glory. However, the coachman had remained, being an 
 elderly individual, with a wife and family. It was twi- 
 light ere we were en route, this time in a civilised landau, 
 which needed four strong well-bred horses to drag it along 
 the deep sandy roads. We kept a bright look-out for 
 Cossacks as the shades of evening closed in upon us ; but 
 latterly the insurgents had taken so much to night-work, 
 that the Cossacks preferred staying at home to incurring 
 the risk of meeting them, so that we felt pretty safe, and 
 arrived, without any other incident than one or two false 
 alarms, at our journey's end, just as the family were going 
 to bed. Their astonishment at the arrival of an English
 
 304 A VISIT TO AN INSURGENT CAMP. 
 
 traveller on so strange an errand soon gave place to the 
 rites of hospitality, and before going to bed the programme 
 for the following day was already arranged. My new host 
 was a small country gentleman, too devoted to his farm 
 and his country's cause to take refuge, like many of the 
 larger landed proprietors, in Warsaw. His wife was a 
 genuine specimen of a Polish woman, enthusiastically 
 patriotic, high-couraged, self-sacrificing, and energetic in 
 giving aid and encouragement to the insurgents. Though 
 living in the midst of a perpetual scene of guerilla war- 
 fare, and liable at any moment to be subjected to outrages 
 such as those which she believed had already been per- 
 petrated on her countrywomen by the Russian soldiery, she 
 showed no symptom of flinching or deserting her post. 
 Already, upon several occasions, at all hours of the day 
 and night, her house had been invaded by Cossacks, who 
 only abstained from massacre and pillage because no 
 evidence could be discovered of complicity with the 
 insurgents. Fortunately the house lay a little distance off 
 the highroad, and was therefore often passed unperceived 
 by the Eussian marauding parties: but the occupants 
 could never feel themselves safe ; and as every day brought 
 tidings of unsuspecting families falling victims to the 
 rapacity and lust of a disorganised soldiery, the chances of 
 this unprotected little mansion escaping seemed diminished. 
 It was, indeed, little better than a farmhouse, and consisted 
 of only one storey; but it was surrounded by a well- 
 stocked steading, and fields that bore evidence of a master's 
 eye and careful cultivation. In one direction, a long 
 unbroken line of dense pine forest shut out the horizon : 
 in the other, sandy undulating downs stretched away
 
 A VISIT TO AN INSURGENT CAMP. 305 
 
 indefinitely. The scenery would have been tame and 
 uninteresting, were it not that its wild desolate character 
 gave it a peculiar charm : this was heightened by the cir- 
 cumstances under which we saw it. A solitary horseman 
 appearing upon the distant landscape caused as much sen- 
 sation in the household as a suspicious-looking craft in the 
 West Indian seas would to a Spanish galleon in the days of 
 Kidd. There was a constant succession of emotions ; and 
 I thought my hostess must have been endowed, in the 
 first instance, with strong nerves, to have been able to 
 undergo the constant wear and tear to which she was 
 daily subjected. An ardent devotion to the cause, and 
 a plentiful indulgence in large, strong cigars, however, 
 sustained her through the various exciting events by which 
 her life was checkered. There can be little doubt that the 
 constant proximity of danger at last renders one callous 
 to it, and that by a providential arrangement the nervous 
 system becomes so accustomed to tension where it is 
 sufficiently protracted, that in the end it ceases to suffer 
 from it. I sat up till a late hour listening to " the sen- 
 sation anecdotes" which formed the staple of my host's 
 conversation stories of the robbery and pillage of neigh- 
 bouring houses by Eussians, of deeds of heroism performed 
 by individual insurgents, of skirmishes which had already 
 taken place, and of those which were daily anticipated of 
 friends who had been arrested, of others who had joined 
 bands, of others who were killed or wounded, of the 
 movements of the insurgents, of farms visited, of horses 
 taken, of peasants hung, of arms concealed of every 
 variety of incident with which such exciting times must 
 necessarily abound. It was long past midnight before I 
 
 U
 
 306 A VISIT TO AN INSURGENT CAMP. 
 
 sought the detached building which contained my bed- 
 room. As I crossed the lawn, the sound of a distant 
 chorus fell faintly upon my ear. I stopped to listen. It 
 was a bright calm moonlight night, and for a moment all 
 was profoundly silent ; then gradually the swelling strains 
 of the magnificent Polish national anthem broke the 
 stillness for a moment, and died away again in the extreme 
 distance. We had to listen intently to catch the notes ; 
 but it was evident that many voices joined in that mid- 
 night chant; and as the sounds grew fainter, we found 
 that they were not stationary. It was, in fact, a body of 
 mounted insurgents on a midnight raid; and as at the 
 moment the nearest Russian force was supposed to be at 
 least four miles off, they were beguiling the way by almost 
 the only song a Pole ever sung in those days the prayer 
 for the deliverance of his country. I thought, nevertheless, 
 that the proceeding, though most romantic in its effect, was 
 somewhat rash, and was confirmed in this impression by 
 the next sound which broke the nocturnal silence, and 
 which was nothing less than the sharp report of a rifle. 
 To a person not accustomed to them, it must be admitted 
 that these were somewhat disturbing influences under 
 which to court repose ; however, the day had been a long 
 and an eventful one, so exhausted nature soon triumphed 
 over every other sentiment, and I fell asleep while vainly 
 endeavouring to keep awake and listen for the report of 
 another shot. 
 
 Breakfast is almost as substantial a meal in Poland as 
 it is in England, and the disturbed state of the country 
 did not prevent my hosts from loading the table with 
 most excellent fare. The master of the house was in a
 
 A VISIT TO AN INSURGENT CAMP. 307 
 
 condition to do full justice to it, for he had already made 
 a pilgrimage to the camp to prepare the way for my visit. 
 It was indeed necessary that the band should have some 
 information as to my object and intentions, for in spite of 
 the severe measures adopted by the insurgents, there are 
 spies in every form and under every guise, against whom 
 they are constantly on their guard ; and it was some time 
 after my arrival before even my hostess could divest her- 
 self of some suspicion as to my real character. It chanced 
 to be Sunday, and a number of peasants came on their 
 way to church to pay their respects to their master. They 
 were fine stalwart men, with long coats, big boots, round 
 caps trimmed with fur, and honest cheery faces, not by 
 any means devoid of intelligence. Their mode of saluta- 
 tion is to touch the ground at your feet with their caps. 
 They looked with considerable interest at the English 
 traveller who had come to this out-of-the-way spot to see 
 what was going on, Nor did my host neglect to take 
 advantage of the circumstance, and instance it as a proof 
 of the sympathy which England felt for the cause of Pol- 
 ish independence. I asked the most intelligent-looking 
 among them why he had not joined the insurgents ? He 
 answered, with a sly look at his master, "Because my 
 master has not. When my master does, I will." From 
 what I could gather, the peasants of this part of the 
 country were not indisposed towards the insurrection ; 
 but they had been too long accustomed to regard the 
 power of Bussia with an awe amounting almost to super- 
 stition, to venture, at the outset of the movement, to set 
 it at defiance. It was only natural that they should feel 
 no very keen interest in the success of a cause which
 
 308 A VISIT TO AN INSURGENT CAMP. 
 
 would produce no immediate material change in their 
 condition. It is not until a man becomes more or less 
 educated that he knows the difference between one form 
 of government and another; but whether the seat of 
 government be Petersburg or Warsaw, and whether the 
 head of it be a Eussian emperor or a Polish king, makes 
 very little difference to the rustic, who would be at the 
 tail of the same plough, driving along the same furrow, 
 whoever was the supreme authority. The only questions 
 which touch persons of this class are those connected 
 with religion or with' property. A peasant will be pro- 
 foundly indifferent whether he is under a responsible or 
 an irresponsible government ; but when it comes to mak- 
 ing the sign of the cross with three fingers or with two, 
 he enters keenly into the question at once. Thus in 
 Samogitia and other parts of Lithuania the peasants were 
 the prime movers of the insurrection, because they were 
 compelled to become members of the Russian Greek 
 Church, and to abandon the United Greek persuasion, to 
 which they originally belonged. As they were pagans 
 only three hundred years ago, they were the more tenacious 
 upon the point, and had taken advantage of the move- 
 ment in Poland to rise all through the provinces. Russia 
 had lately succeeded in exciting some of the Greek dis- 
 senting sects to attack the Roman Catholic proprietary, 
 and had inaugurated a system of jacquerie, which had 
 been productive of the most frightful results in Lithuania 
 and the provinces. That this policy of annihilation em- 
 anated from the highest sources, is proved by the follow- 
 ing paragraph contained in the instructions issued by the 
 Czar to General Mouravieff: "His Excellency should
 
 A VISIT TO AN INSURGENT CAMP. 309 
 
 take every opportunity of acquainting the peasants with 
 the paternal intentions of the Czar towards them, and of 
 demonstrating that the landowners are their enemies and 
 oppressors. If his Excellency considers it advisable, he 
 can also furnish arms to those among the peasants who 
 are attached to the Czar and to Eussia." In other words, 
 having demonstrated to the peasant who was his natural 
 enemy and oppressor, he was provided by a considerate 
 Government with the means of exterminating them from 
 off the face of the earth, and encouraged to do so by the 
 prospect of plunder which this process would ensure to him. 
 In the kingdom of Poland, where the tenure of land is 
 not the same, and the peasants are already proprietors of 
 the soil, the Government could not hold out the same 
 temptation to them to murder their masters. In fact, the 
 National Government had outbid the Czar in an attempt 
 to secure the goodwill of the peasantry ; for whereas the 
 latter had been obliged to pay into the Imperial treasury 
 a certain proportion of their profits, to be accumulated 
 into a sum for the redemption of the land which former- 
 ly belonged to the nobles, and out of which they were 
 to receive compensation, the National Government pro- 
 claimed that this obligation was no longer binding upon 
 the peasant, who would thus become a landowner without 
 ever having paid for his property. The struggle between 
 the Poles and the Eussian Government for the goodwill 
 of the rural population began with the Agricultural 
 Society, and there can be no doubt that the efforts of that 
 body, and the subsequent policy pursued by the National 
 Government, did much to conciliate this large and im- 
 portant section of the population.
 
 310 A VISIT TO AN INSURGENT CAMP. 
 
 For example, the hostility of the peasants to the nation- 
 al movement in the district I was now visiting had been 
 loudly insisted upon, by the few persons I had met who 
 were themselves indifferent to the cause of Polish inde- 
 pendence ; but we received practical evidence to the con- 
 trary when our arrangements for visiting the camp were 
 completed. As some friends from a neighbouring country- 
 house were expected to come and spend the day, we de- 
 layed in the hope of their joining, and finally started in 
 four light open country carts, each drawn by four horses, 
 for the recesses of the forest, which rose in a sombre mass 
 upon the distant margin of the cultivated plain. 
 
 It was not to be supposed that we could thus ostenta- 
 tiously depart without every servant in the house being 
 aware of our destination ; indeed there was a flutter and 
 excitement in their movements which plainly showed the 
 interest they felt in the expedition. The coachmen looked 
 eager and self-satisfied, and there was quite a group col- 
 lected to see us off. With the loud cracking of whips our 
 primitive cortege dashed off along the sandy roads. There 
 were no less than seven ladies of the party, looking brave 
 and animated, for the expedition was a novelty even to 
 them. Notwithstanding the constant proximity of in- 
 surgent camps for months past, upon no former occasion 
 had any of them ever ventured to visit one. Now their 
 eyes sparkled and their faces flushed, as they felt the risk 
 they were incurring, and calculated the chances of a safe 
 return. We passed through two populous villages, every 
 man and woman in which knew where we were going, and 
 .ran to see us pass ; and any of whom would have received 
 a large reward had they carried the intelligence to a Russian
 
 A VISIT TO AN INSURGENT CAMP. 31 1 
 
 force of six thousand men, quartered in a town not five 
 miles distent. Had they done so, and had we encountered 
 a party of Cossacks on our way back, the murder of every 
 member of the party was a moral certainty. 
 
 Even the men did not feel quite comfortable at the 
 possibility of such a contingency, and could only express 
 their belief in the loyalty and affection of the peasants. 
 "When it is remembered that these latter were invested 
 with the functions of police, and were actually liable to be 
 severely punished for not informing against us, it cannot 
 be said that the rural population, in a district where they 
 had the reputation of being most hostile, were so very 
 decidedly opposed to the movement. 
 
 At last we arrived at the outskirts of the wood, and came 
 to a farmhouse, where the proprietor, a sort of gentleman- 
 farmer, was waiting to be our guide. This man and his 
 wife, a large fearless woman, were practically the com- 
 missariat department of the neighbouring camp. He made 
 all the arrangements for the purchase and transmission of 
 supplies ; and while he had placed all his resources at the 
 disposal of the insurgents, and nearly ruined himself for 
 the cause, he was daily risking life and liberty by the 
 active and energetic assistance he afforded in giving in- 
 formation, conveying intelligence, and making himself 
 generally useful. In everything he was ably and coura- 
 geously seconded by his wife, who would not hesitate to 
 drive a cart of provisions into the wood by herself, and 
 was unremitting in motherly care and kindness to the 
 members of the band, many of whom were young enough 
 to need it, and whom she regarded with as much affec- 
 tion as if they were her own family. It was only
 
 312 A VISIT TO AN INSURGENT CAMP. 
 
 to be expected that they cordially reciprocated these 
 sentiments. 
 
 Half a mile from this farm we plunged into the woods. 
 The country here was thinly populated ; the last village 
 we passed was four or five miles distant, and we did not 
 meet a soul as we jogged along in our springless carts over 
 a road that was now a mere track. Suddenly a halt was 
 called from behind, and a panic spread down the line. 
 The women's faces blanched, but they said nothing ; the 
 one prominent thought was " Cossacks." We passed the 
 word along to the leading cart to stop, and waited breath- 
 lessly. We were now so deeply buried in the wood that 
 the last cart was not visible, for we had added to our pro- 
 cession by our guide and his wife in one vehicle, and by a 
 large cart full of provisions, which we were taking to the 
 band. The cause of our stoppage was quickly explained 
 we were waiting for a further accession to our party, 
 which appeared in the forms of an old gentleman and his 
 two sons, who were going to join the band as insurgents, 
 and who had stumbled on us while endeavouring to find 
 the way. After some little parley between them and our 
 guide, who wished apparently to be quite satisfied as to 
 their real character, he told them to fall in behind with 
 their cart, and we once more went on threading our way 
 between the trees, not a little relieved at finding the inter- 
 ruption to our progress did not arise from any more serious 
 cause. Suddenly, on emerging from a thicket, we came 
 upon a mounted picket, who halted us. It consisted of two 
 mere boys, neither of them twenty years old, each armed 
 with rifle, sword, and pistol, and on excellent horses. The 
 well-known face of our guide was a guarantee of our good
 
 A VISIT TO AN INSURGENT CAMP. 313 
 
 faith, but still we were not allowed to proceed till the band 
 was informed of our proximity, and one of them galloped 
 off with the news. We had not waited a quarter of an 
 hour before a dozen mounted men came dashing through 
 the woods towards us. They seemed scarcely able to 
 restrain their high-mettled horses, which were all in first- 
 rate condition, and would have been a credit to Eotten 
 Eow. With little flags waving from their lances, and 
 tricoloured ribbons fluttering from their square fur caps, 
 with long jack-boots and massive spurs, and broad belts 
 garnished with revolvers, and swords jingling from their 
 sides, they came on us as suddenly from the depths of the 
 woods as if they had been waiting in the side-scene of a 
 play to come upon the stage with due 6dat. The whole 
 effect was most theatrical ; but at the moment we felt its 
 thrilling reality, and some of the women burst into tears. 
 
 Under the guidance of these cavaliers we penetrated still 
 further into the gloomy recesses of the forest, until at last 
 the way became too intricate for the waggons, and we 
 walked to what, by a figure of speech, might be called the 
 camp, but which consisted merely of a number of horses 
 tethered to trees, and a number of men grouped round 
 them. There was not a sign of a tent, or even of a " lean- 
 to " of branches and leaves to shelter the men from the 
 weather. One waggon, loaded with bundles and greatcoats, 
 formed the impedimenta of the band, which was a very small 
 one, but was composed of veteran guerillas, if men who 
 had not been under a roof since the first day of the insur- 
 rection could be dignified by that title. The weather was 
 now so warm and bright that they scorned the idea of 
 sleeping under any kind of cover ; and so used were they
 
 314 A VISIT TO AN INSURGENT CAMP. 
 
 to the mode of life, that they ceased to feel its hardship. 
 Both men and horses seemed in first-rate condition : the 
 horses were the best which the estates of the neighbouring 
 proprietors could furnish ; the men were nearly all under 
 twenty-five ; the leader of the band, who was away on a 
 reconnaissance, being exactly that age. A few were the 
 sons of country gentlemen : one had been a railway official ; 
 two others employed in Government offices; many were 
 the sons of shopkeepers ; some students ; and others 
 domestic servants : but they all lived together on terms of 
 perfect friendship and equality, and seemed to enjoy the 
 wild adventurous life. One of them, who spoke French 
 admirably, told me that he was a student only nineteen 
 years of age ; he had left Warsaw on the famous 22d of 
 January, and had been in the woods ever since. He con- 
 sidered that three months of incessant skirmishing had 
 formed him into an experienced warrior. His arms con- 
 sisted of a bran-new Dean and Adams revolver, a very fair 
 carbine, and a sword. " I slept in a house the other night," 
 he said, "and felt almost stifled; and I shall be quite 
 sorry when the war is over, and puts an end to this free 
 life in the woods. I have not been a day ill except when 
 I received a trifling wound. We sing and sleep in the 
 daytime, and gallop about the country at night. I have, 
 moreover, already killed six Eussians, and expect to ex- 
 change my carbine for a new rifle, as I am getting such a 
 good shot that I am to be allowed one." When I con- 
 trasted the melancholy groups in the market-places of 
 Warsaw and Cracow with this jolly band of Eobin Hoods, 
 I did not doubt who had the best of it. These men, from 
 having been all their lives accustomed to a life of repression
 
 A VISIT TO AN INSURGENT CAMP. 315 
 
 and surveillance, revel in their newly-found freedom. To 
 be sure, they can only enjoy it under difficulties ; but the 
 ground they stand on is their own, and with fleet horses to 
 ride, and impenetrable woods to hide in, they run but 
 little risk except from their own rashness or negligence. 
 They change about from day to day ; if the weather is very 
 inclement, they appropriate barns, make leaf huts, or sleep 
 under the lee of hay-stacks; but generally they keep 
 moving at night, and in the daytime make roaring fires, 
 and comfort themselves with warmth and tobacco. They 
 live on the fat of the land, and are never at a loss for 
 supplies : this is the great advantage of a small band. The 
 chief had limited his number to forty, and upon no pretext 
 whatever would he add another to it, although he was 
 most urgently pressed to do so. 
 
 Generally the neighbouring gentlemen and farmers are 
 only too glad to furnish the little troop with provisions ; 
 but if they run short, they pay a nocturnal visit to a 
 proprietor, from whom they take as much forage as they 
 want, and with whom, Ion yr6 mat gr6, they regale them- 
 selves till the small hours, when each man, filling his 
 haversack with the good things of this life, and loading 
 his nag with fodder, trots back to his nest in the woods, 
 leaving with their late host an order on the National 
 Government to repay "Mr Soandsosky" for food fur- 
 nished to the band commanded by " Suchanonesky." 
 This order "Soandsosky" most carefully conceals, as, if 
 it is ever found among his papers, his property is inevi- 
 tably confiscated by the Eussian Government. On the 
 occasion of my visit, three of my companions were country 
 gentlemen of the neighbourhood, each of whom pulled out
 
 316 A VISIT TO AN INSURGENT CAMP. 
 
 his pocket-book and wrote an order for a supply of forage 
 and provisions, to be obeyed by the servants in the event 
 of " Suchanonesky " or any of his band visiting his house 
 during the absence of the master. Almost every day the 
 band changes its habitat, which, as they have nothing to 
 carry, is a very simple proceeding. As the wood in which 
 they live is about eighty miles long by twenty broad, and 
 as they know every nook and corner in it, there is not 
 much chance of their ever being caught by the numerous 
 Russian garrisons which are posted in the vicinity, and 
 which they amuse themselves by annoying at night. My 
 observation of this band proved to demonstration the 
 erroneous principle upon which the war had been con- 
 ducted by the insurgents in most parts of the country 
 hitherto. Instead of multiplying, to an indefinite ex- 
 tent, these small cavalry bands, they would collect great 
 masses of men together, of whom scythemen are the least 
 adapted to the style of warfare they wish to wage. In 
 a flat country of woods and plains, it is perfectly clear 
 that a weapon which can only be used by a man on 
 foot at close quarters, is about the worst which could 
 possibly be devised for undisciplined men to wield 
 against regular troops. It is true that a great- diffi- 
 culty has existed in procuring rifles; but it would have 
 been better to have fewer and smaller bands well armed, 
 than to waste unnecessarily the best blood in the country. 
 With a good horse and a good rifle a man is more or less 
 independent, and may act singly or in company as his 
 fancy dictates; but men on foot must act together, and 
 have no means of escape from Cossacks. In a country 
 so admirably adapted for cavalry, and where horses are
 
 A VISIT TO AN INSURGENT CAMP. 31 7 
 
 so abundant, it is surprising that more bands formed on 
 the principle of the one I was now visiting should not 
 have been formed : so far as I could learn, it was the 
 only one of the sort which existed. Many were the 
 feats of prowess which its members had performed singly. 
 Upon one occasion two of them had encountered five 
 Cossacks, who immediately gave chase. As the Cossacks 
 are mounted on ponies, the insurgents would have had 
 no difficulty in escaping; but this was not their object: 
 they reined in, and tempted their pursuers to discharge 
 their five carbines at them; then, before they could 
 reload, they wheeled round, and shot the whole five 
 with their revolvers. I found a good many of the band 
 spoke French, and our visit was quite an episode in the 
 routine of their daily life. They clustered round, showed 
 me their arms, and seemed delighted at the courage which 
 the women had displayed in visiting them, and in the 
 interest manifested by a foreigner in their proceedings. 
 Meanwhile the contents of the commissariat waggon we 
 had brought with us were spread upon the ground, and 
 the more hungry portion of the community began to dis- 
 cuss them; others, however, declared that our company 
 was so much more to their taste than food, that they 
 devoted themselves to us instead of to the cold beef and 
 large jars of pickled cucumbers which their less senti- 
 mental comrades were devouring. 
 
 When they had concluded their repast, they grouped 
 themselves in an open space among the tall trees, and 
 "the lofty aisles of the dim woods rang," as, inspired 
 with patriotic ardour, they burst out with the magnifi- 
 cent chant which so well conveys the mournful meaning
 
 318 A VISIT TO AN INSURGENT CAMP. 
 
 of the words of the national anthem " Boje cos Polske " 
 when all joined in the grand prayer to God which 
 forms the swelling chorus, and the men, with swords 
 drawn, uplifted their arms in supplication; then tears 
 streamed down the cheeks of the women as they sang, 
 for they remembered their sisters slain on their knees 
 in the churches at Warsaw for doing the same, and 
 bloody memories crowded on them, as, with voices 
 trembling from emotion, they besought, in solemn strains, 
 the mercy of the Most High. 
 
 The scene was so full of dramatic effect that I scarcely 
 believed in its reality till I remembered the existence of 
 six thousand Eussian soldiers in the immediate neighbour- 
 hood, who were thirsting for the blood of this little band 
 of men and women. There was something practical in 
 this consideration calculated to captivate a mind too 
 prosaic to be stirred by theatrical representations; for 
 I confess I find it generally more easy to delude myself 
 by believing in the sham of a reality than in the reality 
 of a sham. However, upon this occasion he must have 
 been a most uncompromising stoic who was not touched 
 and impressed. Those bronzed and weather - beaten 
 features, and those wet cheeks, told their own tale; and 
 as, with each succeeding verse, the enthusiasm of the 
 singers rose, and their countenances glowed with the 
 fervour of their emotion, and men who, tired with their 
 night-forays, were lying listlessly on the ground, unable 
 to restrain themselves, sprang to their feet and joined, 
 and every voice trembled and every pulse throbbed, I 
 felt that patriotism was a sentiment in which one could 
 believe not merely as an abstract principle, but as the
 
 A VISIT TO AN INSURGENT CAMP. 319 
 
 most absorbing passion which could stir the human 
 breast. I soon after had a proof of the devoted self- 
 sacrifice to which it gives rise. The old gentleman 
 who, with his two sons, had joined our cortege, stepped 
 forward when the anthem was finished, and in broken 
 accents consigned the young men to their country's 
 cause. "I devoutly hope," he said, "that it may please 
 God to spare at least one of my sous to my declining 
 years, but rather a thousand times that both should 
 perish than that either should venture to appear before 
 me while the battles of his country still remained to 
 be fought." Then with trembling hands he drew them 
 each to his breast, and, straining them in a last embrace, 
 turned abruptly away, and was no more seen till we re- 
 turned to the waggons. I no longer wondered that deeds 
 of heroism should be performed by men thus solemnly 
 consecrated to their country's cause. Usually before 
 leaving home they receive the benediction of their priest, 
 then the blessings and injunctions of parents; and now, 
 under the greenwood tree, the prayers and the tears of 
 women, and the hearty welcome of their new comrades, 
 conspired to impress them with the determination to do 
 or die. Under such circumstances, even if there were 
 the will, it would be difficult to shirk. With a keenly 
 imaginative people, it may be conceived how stimulating 
 to enterprise is the romantic character which attaches 
 to this mode of life, and the auspices under which they 
 adopt it. Many of them are accompanied by their wives 
 or by their fiancees to the camps some bands are led 
 by priests, who, with the emblem of their faith uplifted, 
 are ever to be found in the post of danger. With the
 
 320 A VISIT TO AN INSURGENT CAMP. 
 
 band I was now visiting, a young amazon in male attire 
 had done good service. She was reported pretty, an 
 excellent shot and horsewoman; but as she was absent 
 with the leader on a reconnaissance, I unfortunately 
 lost the opportunity of making her acquaintance. But 
 it is in homes, in hospitals, in prisons, and in hiding- 
 places, that the women of Poland have served the cause. 
 They stir up the ardour of the men round their own 
 firesides; they fan the martial ardour of their own 
 husbands, lovers, sons, or brothers; they watch over 
 beds where men unknown to them, except as wounded 
 in their country's cause, groan and die. All the tender- 
 ness of the women, combined with intense sympathy for 
 the cause, and an inextinguishable patriotism, stimu- 
 late them to acts of unwearying devotion and self-sac- 
 rifice. For hours do they stand in all weathers in the 
 prison-yards, waiting for permission to visit prisoners in 
 their cells, and to minister to them, like angels of mercy. 
 Wherever a patriot is in distress, hunted, or hiding, or 
 sick, women are the first to come to his rescue; their 
 ready wit and instinctive tact are invaluable ; and it may 
 safely be said that without their encouragement the move- 
 ment never would have begun, and without their devo- 
 tion and co-operation it could never have lasted as it did. 
 Who are the most courageous and intelligent spies ? 
 who are the surest messengers with important news ? 
 on whom do the National Government most surely rely 
 for many a delicate negotiation? whose fertile brains 
 devise new combinations for strong arms to carry out ? 
 the women of Poland. Therefore it is that they are 
 considered worthy of being flogged by the Eussian
 
 A VISIT TO AN INSURGENT CAMP. 321 
 
 authorities. Therefore it is that young girls of eighteen 
 have already been shot by the orders of Eussian officers, 
 and that they are imprisoned and exiled. They are 
 a power not to be despised, and certainly not to be 
 intimidated, now that, like tigresses robbed of their 
 whelps, they are pushed to the extremity of frenzy and 
 despair. 
 
 When I saw the ladies who had accompanied us to the 
 camp, each surrounded by a group of insurgents, eagerly 
 narrating their achievements, or asking for news of home, 
 and heard words of encouragement and approval drop 
 from pretty lips into the ears of men so seldom brought 
 into contact now with such a grateful and softening influ- 
 ence, I thought that these well-born women had not 
 incurred the risk in vain, and that long after our de- 
 parture the memory of our visit would remain a bright 
 speck in the hard lives of our entertainers. When at last 
 we thought it time to move, nearly the whole band accom- 
 panied us, not merely to the waggons, but they insisted 
 upon escorting us to the edge of the wood. Nothing but 
 a plain four miles broad then divided us from a Eussian 
 army ; so we thought they had pushed politeness to its 
 utmost limits consistent with prudence; and with many 
 warm hand- shakings and expressions of gratitude on their 
 part, and good wishes for their success on ours, we left 
 them drawn up in line, and looking after us for a 
 moment with longing eyes before they slowly wheeled 
 round and disappeared in the forest. 
 
 Our journey home was even more exciting than the 
 morning one had been. The chances of meeting Cossacks 
 were considerably increased ; and we had so much to 
 
 x
 
 A VISIT TO AN INSURGENT CAMP. 
 say about the band that our attention was a good deal 
 
 / 
 
 distracted. 
 
 On our arrival my host showed me where arms were 
 secreted in the establishment, in localities which had 
 hitherto defied the most minute examination by the Kus- 
 sian soldiery, who had already favoured him with sundry 
 nocturnal visits. This habit might have been attended 
 with results most inconvenient to the whole party, had we 
 been favoured with a domiciliary visit an hour or two 
 later. We were all seated at dinner, discussing the events 
 of the day, when suddenly the clattering of horses' hoofs 
 and the jingling of swords were heard outside the window, 
 as the dining-room was on the ground-floor. There was 
 an instant commotion, not immingled with alarm. Our 
 guilty consciences pictured ferocious Cossacks surrounding 
 the mansion, as they had already done in so many in- 
 stances ; and we felt that we had given them some excuse. 
 I fumbled in my pocket for my passport, to display in 
 case of necessity ; though, as I had already seen a man, 
 in the person of Mr Finkenstein, who received thirty- 
 three wounds after he had shown his British passport, and 
 had not been in an insurgent camp, I did not feel much 
 confidence in its protection. The cold touch of my re- 
 volver in the same pocket afforded me more satisfaction, 
 though the fact of a weapon of any kind being found upon 
 the person is considered proof presumptive that its pos- 
 sessor is an insurgent, and warrants his instant execution. 
 Some of us ran to the hall, and there, sure enough, were 
 three men bristling with arms ; but to our intense relief 
 they turned out to be the chief of the band we had visited 
 in the morning, accompanied by his two aides-de-camp.
 
 A VISIT TO AN INSURGENT CAMP. 323 
 
 On his return to the band, he was so much touched and 
 gratified by our visit, that he determined instantly to 
 repay it ; and although this was an honour so excessively 
 compromising that we could willingly have dispensed 
 with it, I was not sorry for the opportunity which it 
 afforded me of making the personal acquaintance of a 
 man of whom I only heard by reputation. After an 
 immense deal of kissing on both cheeks, the chief apol- 
 ogised for having taken, in the dead of night, four of his 
 best horses out of the stables of one of the gentlemen 
 present, who immediately jumped up and embraced him 
 again, saying, " My dear fellow, you're welcome to them 
 all ; the more robberies of that kind you make the 
 better." And then they all laughed at the same thing 
 having happened to a stingy and rather unpatriotic neigh- 
 bour, whose stables had been altogether cleared out ; for 
 the insurgents appropriate property very much according 
 to the sympathies of the owner. A selfish and unpopular 
 skinflint they denude unmercifully; but a hearty good- 
 natured patriot, who is doing all he can for the movement, 
 they let off as easily as they can. A good deal has been 
 said by persons, ignorant of the conditions under which 
 the struggle was conducted, of the apparent apathy of the 
 landed proprietary, who, except in very rare instances, 
 did not take the field themselves. This was not from any 
 indifference to the cause, but from the fact that the move- 
 ment depended upon the wealth of the country for its 
 resources ; and as the property of any one taking an 
 active share in hostilities would have been immediately 
 confiscated, the National Government would have been de- 
 prived of its revenue, and the bands have lost those facilities
 
 324 A VISIT TO AN INSURGENT CAMP. 
 
 for procuring supplies, concealing wounded, accumulating 
 arms, &c., which they enjoyed. Every country-house was 
 a harbour of refuge, and the proprietors who lived upon 
 them could be of far more use to the insurgents in a 
 variety of ways than if they merely helped to swell the 
 number of a band. As it was, half the fighting popula- 
 tion was unable to go into the woods for want of arms and 
 ammunition. There was no lack of volunteers quite the 
 contrary. The leader, who took his place next me at 
 dinner, when the excitement attendant upon his arrival 
 had subsided, informed me that he refused as many as 
 eight and ten applications every day of men anxious to 
 join his band, some of whom were experienced men, and 
 had been officers in other bands ; but that he had decided 
 upon not adding to his numbers, partly because he felt 
 that a larger body of men would be unwieldy, and partly 
 because he had neither the requisite arms nor ammunition. 
 " Though," he said, slyly, " I did a good stroke of business 
 to-day. I went down to the railway station, put on a 
 paletot, and took thirty carbines out of a train under 
 the eyes of a company of Russian soldiers, without their 
 suspecting what I was about." I asked him how much 
 ammunition he had got, and where he kept it. He said 
 that it was buried in different parts of the wood, and that 
 he had enough to last his present band three months. It 
 is only natural, where collisions are of daily occurrence, 
 with ever- varying results, that the composition of bands 
 should be constantly changing. When a body of insur- 
 gents are hard pressed, or rim out of ammunition, they 
 disband entirely, and each man looks about for a leader 
 that he likes, just as sailors choose their captains. Some
 
 A VISIT TO AN INSURGENT CAMP. 325 
 
 of the men I conversed with in the wood had been in half- 
 a-dozen bands, and had fought in every palatinate in the 
 kingdom. The united ages of the leader and his two 
 aides-de-camp did not amount to seventy years, and they 
 had all the confidence and buoyancy of youth. There was 
 evidently a refreshing novelty about sitting at a civilised 
 table, and they did ample justice to the good things with 
 which it was loaded; while they were apparently quite 
 unconscious of our regarding them with feelings in which 
 terror combined with a desire to make ourselves agreeable. 
 Our poor hostess sat and did the honours white with 
 anxiety. She would have infinitely preferred an open 
 barrel of gunpowder on the table to her three dangerous 
 guests, but no words escaped her lips except those which 
 were kind and hospitable. At any moment we might 
 expect a visit from Eussians, and then every soul would 
 have been slaughtered. There were already too many 
 precedents to render our fate doubtful ; but still we 
 laughed over our wine, and sipped our coffee, as if we 
 liked it; and indeed I was hearing so much that was 
 curious and interesting from the chief, that I should have 
 regretted anything that would have curtailed his visit. 
 He had been educated at the Polish Military College, 
 established by the Italian Government at Cuneo, and 
 which has since been abolished. He spoke, therefore, very 
 fair Italian and a little French, and was most intelligent 
 in his observations, and in the ideas he had formed as to 
 the mode of conducting the war. Some of them were 
 eminently original ; but they showed that he thought and 
 acted on a principle which he understood not a common 
 quality among Polish insurgent leaders. We discussed a
 
 326 A VISIT TO AN INSURGENT CAMP. 
 
 variety of stratagems and ruses which might be effec- 
 tively practised upon an unsuspicious enemy. The Bus- 
 sians have an intense dislike to nocturnal operations, in 
 which my young friend especially delighted ; and he 
 related with satisfaction the numerous plans he had de- 
 vised for keeping them awake. Not that he spoke with 
 any excitability or swagger : his tone was calm and 
 measured, his eye deep and thoughtful. He impressed 
 me at once as a man of great force and individuality of 
 character ; and I afterwards understood that he possessed 
 the most complete ascendancy over his band, especially 
 since he had shot one or two for breach of discipline. 
 
 The glance of his eye was enough to make an aide- de- 
 camp jump, and I was rather amused to see it ; for he was 
 descanting at the time on the democratic constitution of 
 his band. " I am only the leader in the field ; we are all 
 really upon an equality. Only some one must direct, 
 otherwise we dislike all distinctions of rank." A Garibal- 
 dian shirt corresponded to all these opinions ; a brace of 
 revolvers, jack-boots, spurs, braided trousers, a handker- 
 chief loosely knotted round his neck, and a coquettish 
 square Polish cap on a beautifully shaped head, completed 
 a very picturesque attire ; and although there was nothing 
 foppish about his dress, it was evident that he had rum- 
 maged the one waggon containing the clothing of the band 
 before he presented himself to the ladies. But he became 
 as timid as a girl, notwithstanding, when any of them 
 spoke to him ; and he made a complete conquest of one 
 enthusiastic young lady principally, I think, by blushing 
 and looking down whenever she addressed him. Hand- 
 some, dashing, brave, and gentle, with eyes that flashed
 
 A VISIT TO AN INSURGENT CAMP. 327 
 
 now and then with subdued fire, a tender voice, and only 
 twenty-five, no wonder he was irresistible, and all the 
 more so from seeming utterly unconscious of his personal 
 attractions. His aides-de-camp, neither of whom were 
 troubled with bashfulness, and one of whom was attired 
 in all the elegancies of the camp, had not a chance with 
 their quiet leader. They laughed and chatted, while he 
 rarely smiled ; but when he spoke all listened, and what 
 he said was always worth listening to. His whole soul 
 was absorbed in his occupation ; the admiring glances of 
 women, and the complimentary phrases of the men, were 
 alike unheeded. He made me describe how Indians fight, 
 how Caffres fight, how Chinamen fight; we discussed 
 guerilla warfare under every phase as practised in dif- 
 ferent countries, and I saw he was making mental memo- 
 randa for future use. He assured me that he felt that, 
 if any mishap befell either himself or his band, it would 
 be their own fault. With fleet horses, and an extensive 
 forest to hide in, he could defy the whole Eussian army ; 
 and, in his opinion, the whole insurgent forces should be 
 mounted and equipped upon the principle he had adopted. 
 In each district there might be ten or twelve such bands, 
 under the control of a general-in-chief, but each acting 
 independently, except when some combined operation ren- 
 dered union necessary. All the insurgent bands were of 
 course under the direct control of the National Govern- 
 ment, which appointed the local, civil, and military autho- 
 rities throughout the country. They reported officially 
 upon the strength of the bands, the nature of the opera- 
 tions which are to be undertaken, and the extent of war 
 material available. The leader was at liberty to act
 
 328 A VISIT TO AN INSURGENT CAMP. 
 
 according as circumstances might direct, but he only hold 
 his position at the pleasure of the National Government. 
 My informant told me that he had great difficulty in 
 getting permission from Warsaw to carry out the forma- 
 tion of his band on his own system: that in the first 
 instance they had pressed upon him the leadership of a 
 band of two hundred men, half of whom were Kossinieri ; 
 but that he had refused to take any command except as 
 organised by himself. Upon every occasion where serious 
 disaster had befallen the national arms, it was to be traced 
 to the same cause, the massing together of too many un- 
 disciplined men. 
 
 It was late before we brought our interesting discussion 
 to a close, and my hostess heaved a sigh of relief as her 
 guests rose to take their departure. Embracing each 
 other as men only do where there is small chance of their 
 ever meeting again, all the gentlemen present bade adieu 
 to the three insurgents, whose fiery steeds seemed impa- 
 tient for the midnight gallop which was to take their 
 masters to roost among the trees. I could not help con- 
 gratulating myself upon the prospect of a comfortable bed. 
 It seemed cruel to turn out of a luxurious country-house 
 and go to sleep in a wood without even the covering of a 
 tent; and yet I doubt whether any of the three would 
 have changed their mode of life for any that could have 
 been suggested to them. We all grouped round the door 
 to wave our farewells as they dashed off into the darkness, 
 the women heaping blessings upon their heads, and offering 
 up prayers for their safety. 
 
 Next morning, as I crossed the yard to breakfast, I saw 
 a poor woman sitting crying in the porch. I inquired of
 
 A VISIT TO AN INSUKGENT CAMP. 329 
 
 my host, who was cross-questioning her, what her distress 
 arose from. She said that about midnight three insurgents 
 had come to the door of her cottage and woke herself and 
 her husband ; that he had got out of bed, when he was 
 immediately seized, carried off between them to the edge 
 of the wood, and then and there hung. And she added, 
 weeping bitterly, " I know he must have done something 
 very wrong to deserve it, or they never would have 
 hung him." I was rather shocked at this piece of retri- 
 butive justice, so promptly executed by my three young 
 friends of the night before. It appeared that, on their 
 way back to camp after dining with us, they received un- 
 doubted information that the proceedings of the day had 
 been reported to the Russians by this peasant, who was 
 in the employ of my host, and had long been mistrusted 
 by him ; and as the execution of spies is an essential 
 condition to the safety of every one connected with the 
 movement, the disagreeable necessity of hanging them is 
 forced upon the insurgents against their inclination. In 
 fact, the story was not likely to make my host feel very 
 comfortable. True, the man was hung, and could not 
 give evidence against him ; but we had done a good many 
 compromising things during the last twenty-four hours, 
 known to numbers of people, and it was not reassuring to 
 feel that the Russians had been made aware of them. I 
 began to think it quite time for the carriage to appear 
 which was to carry me away from a locality where I had 
 been treated with such unbounded confidence and hospi- 
 tality, but which was getting rather too warm to be 
 pleasant. It seemed ungrateful to get all one could out 
 of people, and then to desert them ; but they said I
 
 330 A VISIT TO AN INSUKGENT CAMP. 
 
 had seen everything, and that it would be folly to 
 stay longer in the country "unless, indeed," said one 
 gentleman, " you would like to take your chances with 
 me, and drive into Lithuania in my carriage, visiting camps 
 en route." The proposal was tempting ; but I hardly 
 think it was really expected that I should accept it, the 
 more especially as he never drove into Lithuania at all, 
 but went peaceably back to his wife in Warsaw. So I 
 contented myself with a twenty-mile drive in his com- 
 pany, parting from my late host with many cordial expres- 
 sions of goodwill and mutual kind wishes. 
 
 On arriving at the country mansion of my next host, 
 the first intelligence which greeted us was another case of 
 hanging. It seemed that his footman had been campaign- 
 ing for a week with the insurgents, and had returned 
 home for a rest, preparatory to starting off afresh. One 
 of the farm-labourers, who bore him a grudge, informed 
 the Eussians in the neighbourhood of the circumstance, 
 and he was made prisoner in the night by a patrol, and 
 walked off to be executed. A few members of the band 
 we had visited in the wood, reconnoitring close by at the 
 time, on hearing of this, at once retaliated on the informer, 
 who was at the moment swinging from the branch of a 
 tree in a wood close by. 
 
 Incidents of this tragical nature were constantly hap- 
 pening. My host deeply lamented the loss of his domestic 
 servant, but did not the least seem to regret the fate which 
 had overtaken the peasant, " who," he said, " richly merited 
 it." The insurgents had also taken the opportunity of ab- 
 stracting two of his best horses, at which he only laughed. 
 We now debated the possibility of witnessing a skirmish,
 
 A VISIT TO AN INSURGENT CAMP. 331 
 
 reported to be going on in the neighbourhood between a 
 band of 700 insurgents, of whom 200 were peasants, and 
 the Eussian troops. When we reached the railway, we 
 found a train full of the latter hastening to the scene of 
 action. But on approaching it ourselves matters did not 
 look propitious : inquisitive Poles, not wanting in daring, 
 had found the vicinity of the fighting too dangerous for 
 spectators to remain. There was no alternative between 
 taking an active part with the insurgents and keeping out 
 of the way altogether. Every Russian soldier we saw 
 looked at us with suspicion. The platform of the station 
 at which they alighted to march down to the fighting was 
 crowded with scowling, ill -favoured -looking men, who 
 only wanted an excuse to be let loose on society ; and the 
 whole country within a radius of five miles of the scene 
 of action was deserted. Moreover, the Russians were be- 
 tween us and the insurgents, and anybody travelling 
 towards the latter would be almost certainly arrested ; so 
 we contented ourselves with picking up scraps of news. 
 My friend determined to remain in the little country 
 town to hear the result before returning to Warsaw ; but 
 as every stranger in it was suspected, and the whole 
 neighbourhood had become more or less informed of my 
 proceedings, the notoriety might prove inconvenient, as an 
 Englishman was naturally an object of curiosity : so, as I 
 was near the frontier at any rate, I thought the wiser 
 course would be to cross it while it was yet time, and make 
 my final exit from Poland. Every guard and conductor 
 on the line knew where I had been, and was over- 
 whelmingly civil in consequence : a ticket was considered 
 a superfluity, the examination of luggage a solemn sham.
 
 332 A VISIT TO AN INSURGENT CAMP. 
 
 My passport might have been a piece of waste paper. 
 Had I not been to a camp ? was I not a well-wisher to 
 Poland ? was not that passport and railway-ticket enough ? 
 And to avoid a shower of benedictions, and the most pro- 
 fuse expressions of gratitude for having ever taken the 
 trouble to come to their country, I left it a wiser and a 
 sadder man than when I had crossed the frontier from 
 Galicia, scarce a fortnight before.
 
 333 
 
 CHAPTER XVL 
 
 TWENTY-FOUR HOURS IN VOLIIYNIA. 
 
 FOR the six months which followed my visit to Poland 
 during the insurrection, I watched its progress with a 
 keen and unflagging interest. I heard that one friend, 
 with whom I had been most intimate, had been arrested 
 and placed au secret in a cell, where all access was denied 
 to him ; that the daring young leader of the band I had 
 visited, after performing many feats of valour, which were 
 chronicled in some of the papers, had been captured and 
 shot by a file of Russian soldiery ; that the chief of the 
 band of 700, who were successful in the fight I did not 
 see, had been accused by his men of treachery, and was 
 in confinement by the orders of the National Government, 
 no one knew where, and was to be tried by court-martial, 
 no one knew when ; that the venerable archbishop who 
 had discussed with me in Warsaw the prospect of the 
 insurrection in broken and despondent tones, had been 
 exiled to Siberia ; that women whom I had met were in 
 prison ; and that the list of men whose acquaintance I had 
 made or whose names were familiar to me, who had been 
 shot, was daily increasing, but that, in spite of all this,
 
 334 TWENTY-FOUR HOURS IN VOLHYNIA. 
 
 the Poles were still sanguine of intervention in their favour 
 on the part either of France or of England, or of both 
 jointly. The only intervention they craved was protec- 
 tion for the introduction of arms and the munitions of 
 war, either by the Baltic or across the Austrian frontier. 
 For the resistance which they had offered to the Eussian 
 troops for nearly a year, armed only with scythes, and 
 with rifles smuggled into the country, had convinced them 
 that they only needed artillery, and a sufficient supply of 
 ammunition, to achieve their own freedom. Meantime 
 the efforts of the insurgents had latterly been directed 
 mainly towards spreading the flame of revolt into Euth- 
 enia, and the various rumours I heard of the condition of 
 that part of Eussia induced me in the autumn of the same 
 year to make a trip in that direction. 
 
 My travelling companion upon this occasion was the 
 Hon. Evelyn Ashley. Our intention was to traverse the 
 Eussian province of Volhynia as far as Kamienetz Podol- 
 sky, as the accounts which were published with reference 
 to the condition of that part of the country were the most 
 conflicting, the Poles maintaining that the elements of 
 insurrection existed abundantly, and only required en- 
 couragement to blaze forth; the Eussians, on the other 
 hand, declaring that the province was profoundly tranquil, 
 and that, with the exception of a few landed proprietors, 
 the loyalty of the population was to be thoroughly 
 counted upon. That the Poles were sincere in believing 
 in the possibility of spreading the revolt into this part of 
 the Eussian dominions, is sufficiently demonstrated by the 
 fact that they organised a large band under Wysocki for 
 the purpose of invading it; while the disaster which
 
 TWENTY-FOUR HOURS IN VOLHYNTA. 335 
 
 overwhelmed the expedition at its ' outset strengthened 
 the public conviction in favour of the correctness of the 
 Eussian statements on the subject. In this latter case, 
 however, it would scarcely seem that the internal condi- 
 tion of the province warranted the extreme measures 
 resorted to by the Eussians to maintain a tranquillity 
 which, according to their own assertions, was not in 
 danger ; and I was anxious to judge for myself whether 
 the charges of cruelty brought against the Eussian admini- 
 stration were true, so far as they applied to Volhynia, 
 and to what extent the population sympathised in the 
 national movement. As the scene of our projected ex- 
 pedition was beyond railways, or even the appliances of 
 posting in civilised countries, it became necessary to 
 invest in a carriage at Lemberg; and we employed two 
 mornings in investigating the mysterious workings of the 
 Jewish mind in the matter of bargain and sale. It was 
 only after two days of patient, and I may say conscien- 
 tious, intrigue, and after having explored the recesses of 
 almost every coach-house in Lemberg, that we ultimately 
 purchased, for the sum of 9, an excellent roomy convey- 
 ance, with C springs and strong axles, in which we jour- 
 neyed for more than a month traversing upwards of a 
 thousand miles, and never once having to do more than 
 tighten the screws. The Jew who ultimately effected this 
 bargain for us received a tenth of the sum as his commis- 
 sion. It took us a night to post from Lemberg to Brody, 
 a Jew-inhabited town, containing the usual square, with 
 arcades all round, and arcades forming a market-place in 
 the centre, where only this one class of the population 
 buzz and swarm, and almost forcibly drag you into odor-
 
 336 TWENTY-FOUR HOURS IN VOLHYNIA. 
 
 iferous corners to buy things you don't want ; and where 
 the women, with greasy plaits of false hair, which last 
 them a lifetime, twined round their heads, try to persuade 
 you, with soft glances, to leave some of your riches on 
 their counter. As we were both ignorant of Eussian, we 
 had procured a servant at Lemberg, a snub-nosed indi- 
 vidual, who gave a somewhat indistinct account of his 
 former life, was vague as to his nationality, and incoherent 
 in his general conversation. However, we were obliged 
 to close with him at the last moment for want of a better ; 
 and with this questionable addition to our party we 
 started about ten o'clock one fine autumn morning for the 
 Eussian frontier; four little rats of ponies dragged us 
 painfully across the sandy plain, which extends eastward, 
 and which near the frontier is covered with a dense pine 
 forest. Here the deep sand forces us to walk, and our 
 coachman explains to us that in these extensive woods 
 the ill-fated expedition of Wysocki collected prior to their 
 attack upon Eadziviloff. Emerging from their dark re- 
 cesses, we debouch upon a plain which was the scene of 
 the disaster. But first we are detained at the Austrian 
 frontier, and go through the necessary passport formali- 
 ties ; a mile beyond it is the first Eussian picket, where 
 an ill-looking Mongol is keeping guard over a sentry-box 
 made of the boughs of trees : in the distance a group of 
 Cossacks, with long lances and shaggy ponies, are strug- 
 gling over the plain towards the town of Eadziviloff, now 
 visible in the distance. In crossing this piece of country 
 the Poles suffered severely from the Eussian artillery, 
 but they were not finally checked, as we were, at the 
 barrier. This is placed on a narrow strip of land which
 
 TWENTY-FOUR HOURS IN VOLHYNIA. 337 
 
 divides a marshy pond from a reedy lake a dismal 
 swamp extending indefinitely round the position, and ren- 
 dering it in every respect one most undesirable to attack, 
 and easy to defend. 
 
 We were detained for some time outside the high gate 
 which, flanked by stiff palisades and guarded by a couple 
 of sentries, barred our further progress ; and if we could 
 only have foreseen the annoyance to which we were to be 
 exposed upon the other side, we should not have been so 
 anxious to pass through. However, we waited patiently, 
 until, at the expiration of an hour, we received permission 
 to drive on, when the gates were instantly closed behind 
 us, and we found ourselves impounded in an enclosure, 
 the exit from which was also a guarded gate, while there 
 was just room on the causeway for a custom-house and 
 guard-room. We were instantly surrounded by half-a- 
 dozen officials, and our luggage was soon ranged in the 
 verandah for inspection, and became a centre of attraction 
 for other wayfarers, impounded like ourselves, waiting for 
 their passports, and who were glad of the distraction 
 which the examination of our effects afforded. These 
 were, for the most part, Jews or peasants the former 
 especially swarmed here as elsewhere. Meanwhile the 
 carriage was being minutely examined, the pockets and 
 lining were carefully inspected, and then the attention of 
 the authorities was concentrated upon ourselves. Just as 
 the operation was beginning, however, our feelings received 
 a sudden shock by the announcement that our servant 
 was found to be a compromised person, if not an actual 
 insurgent that his name was down in the police records, 
 that he was a Eussian subject, and that we should, in all 
 
 Y
 
 338 TWENTY-FOUR HOURS IN VOLHYNIA. 
 
 probability, be deprived of his services, after having en- 
 joyed them only a few hours. In vain did he protest that 
 they must have mistaken him for somebody else ; his for- 
 bidding countenance seemed to give the lie to his asser- 
 tions; and we felt that his connection with us threw a 
 serious doubt over the respectability of his masters. All 
 this time our clothes were being taken out of our port- 
 manteaus, and, after being separately examined, thrown in 
 a pile in the yard. The shirts were carefully shaken out, 
 the lining of the coats was felt ; a piece of old newspaper, 
 in which boots had been wrapped up, was laid on one 
 side for further inspection ; a very harmless map of the 
 country, a ' Bradshaw's Eailway Guide,' a French novel, 
 and half a sheet of note-paper, which was written over, 
 and which I had accidentally left in my blotting-book, 
 were all placed together as objects of suspicion. Still we 
 were sanguine as to the ultimate result, when suddenly a 
 breast-pin which I had bought some months previously, 
 on account of its antique form, at Cracow was seized 
 upon triumphantly. I could not deny that the device 
 was a Polish eagle ; and when I offered to present it to 
 the inspector as a proof of the little value I placed upon 
 it, he shrank back with horror. From this moment the 
 chain of evidence against us was complete : a rebel servant, 
 a map, a breast-pin, and a ' Bradshaw.' Our treacherous 
 intentions were indeed made so clear by these last three 
 articles that the servant was no longer necessary, and the 
 head official frankly told us that it was all a mistake, and 
 that he was not known to them at all. It was evident 
 that they had begun with securing something fatal against 
 us, in case they should fail in seizing anything really
 
 TWENTY-FOUR HOURS IN VOLHYNIA. 339 
 
 dangerous ; but having got the breast-pin, it was no longer 
 necessary to assert that we had an insurgent for a domestic. 
 Our fate was already sealed; still our ordeal was not 
 ended. Leaving our raiment piled outside, we were now 
 each ushered separately into a small room, and, accom- 
 panied by an inspector and a searcher, were submitted to 
 a close personal examination. Every pocket was turned 
 out, our arms and legs carefully felt, strange hands dex- 
 terously explored hidden recesses under our waistcoats 
 and between our shoulders ; but the only objects found in 
 my pocket were a metallic note-book, and a note contain- 
 ing a few simple lines of introduction to a gentleman in 
 Volhynia who had never taken part in the movement, and 
 was then residing at large on his property. With these 
 trophies added to the list, the inspector took his final 
 leave, and we returned to sit in our carriage and await 
 the result. The process above described had already 
 lasted three hours, and time wore on without any prospect 
 of release. Our only amusement was watching the in- 
 spection of fresh passengers, as others had watched us. 
 We saw sacks of produce prodded with iron rods, and an 
 admonitory prod given to the owner as a finish ; we saw 
 one male stripped after another, for the common herd were 
 not treated as we were to a private room, but made to 
 undress unceremoniously in the road ; and we saw females 
 subjected to examination in public not, indeed, to the 
 extent of undressing, but of a personal inspection too 
 minute to be pleasant, while every article of their wear- 
 ing apparel was shaken out as ours had been for the 
 benefit of the bystanders. And we saw Jews kicked and 
 cuffed more heartily than usually falls even to their lot ;
 
 340 TWENTY-FOUR HOURS IN VOLHYNIA. 
 
 but they drive a thriving traffic on these frontiers in 
 times too trying for any other merchant; and if they 
 receive abundance of kicks, they make halfpence to an 
 extent which fully compensates them, and thus reverse 
 the old proverb. But even these scenes after a time be- 
 come monotonous, and the feeling of indignation they 
 occasionally roused was not calculated to allay our grow- 
 ing impatience. We had arrived at the frontier at mid- 
 day, and had now been just eight hours confined to our 
 carriage. We could hear nothing as to our fate; the 
 evening was rapidly closing in ; it was twelve hours since 
 we had eaten a light breakfast ; and what with hunger, 
 vexation, and uncertainty, the stock of philosophy which 
 had supported us through the trials of the day was begin- 
 ning to be exhausted. Then we were objects of derision, 
 curiosity, or compassion to the crowd, according to the 
 temperament of the individuals who composed it. The 
 soldiers grinned at us in evident amusement at our pre- 
 dicament, until we came to hate them separately and 
 collectively. I can even now recall to my recollection the 
 repulsive lineaments of their respective Tartar physiogno- 
 mies. The employes looked at us with curiosity, wonder- 
 ing what on earth induced two Englishmen to place them- 
 selves voluntarily in their clutches, a sentiment in which I 
 began equally to share : the Christian passengers felt for 
 us probably as much compassion as we did for them; 
 while the Jews vainly strove to hit upon some device by 
 which we might be turned to pecuniary account. 
 
 At last came a message from the general commanding 
 in chief, to the effect that he would be glad to see us. 
 The long-closed portals opened wide to let us through, and
 
 TWENTY-FOUR HOURS IN VOLHYNIA. 341 
 
 we found ourselves in the broad muddy streets of the 
 straggling Eussian town. Upon reaching the General's 
 residence, we were given to understand by an aide-de- 
 camp that the eight hours' delay had been caused by a 
 deliberation on the part of General Kreuter as to whether, 
 considering our evidently dangerous character, he could 
 permit us to enter the country, and that he had reluc- 
 tantly been compelled to decide against our admission. 
 As this seemed scarcely warranted by the objects found 
 in our luggage, we asked permission to see his Excellency, 
 who shortly afterwards appeared himself, and informed us 
 that the only concession he could make in our favour was 
 to send us to Kief, the seat of government, to which city 
 the breast-pin, the piece of old newspaper, the ' Bradshaw,' 
 the sheet of note-paper, the map, the French novel, and 
 the metallic note-book would be safely forwarded, and 
 there delivered to us, if in the opinion of General Annen- 
 koff, the Governor, we deserved to have them back. "We 
 now began to suspect the real cause of the delay. It was 
 evident that General Kreuter and General Annenkoff had 
 been in hot telegraphic communication on our account, 
 and that the result was the alternative now presented to 
 us, of proceeding to Kief or returning to Austria. As 
 Kief was distant about four days' journey in exactly the 
 opposite direction to that in which we wished to go, we 
 declined the opportunity afforded to us of seeing this part 
 of Eussia, and requested to know exactly the reason of 
 our not being allowed to go to Kamienetz. Even the 
 General could hardly venture to find in the confiscated 
 articles alone a sufficient cause for our prohibition, so he 
 added to it a paternal solicitude for our safety. The
 
 342 TWENTY-FOUR HOURS IN VOLHYNIA. 
 
 country, he said, was in such a disturbed condition that 
 he could not answer for our safety. As at this time the 
 St Petersburg journals were insisting that Volhynia \vas 
 profoundly tranquil, we were rather surprised to find the 
 assertions of the Poles to the contrary thus strongly cor- 
 roborated by so good an authority at the same time, we 
 expressed our willingness to incur the risk. It did in- 
 deed seem curious, if, as was assumed, we were dangerous 
 Polish emissaries, that our safety should be a matter of 
 much concern to the Eussians ; while it was evident that 
 in that character the only thing we had to fear was from 
 their own soldiery, who, if they murdered two unarmed 
 travellers, would fully justify the reports which were 
 current of their cruelty. However, we did not think it 
 expedient to submit these arguments ; probably the order, 
 and not the logic, had been transmitted by telegraph, and 
 both we and the General had to obey it : indeed, we had 
 no reason to complain of the latter, who had treated us 
 with much civility, and most likely exceeded his instruc- 
 tions when he good-naturedly gave us permission to pass 
 the night in the village. It was now late, and we were 
 famishing: as usual, we had recourse to a Jew in our 
 extremity, who possessed a miserable cottage, which he 
 called an inn, and where at least we found tough meat and 
 dirty mattresses. Our Brody driver, who had been in a 
 state of revolt all day, was soothed by a large gratuity ; 
 and the wretched nags which had shared our misery were 
 at last detached from the carriage in which they had spent 
 twelve hours without food. Finally, under the benign 
 influence of a Eussian somovar and tobacco, we consoled 
 ourselves for the fatigues and disappointments of the day.
 
 TWENTY-FOUR HOURS IN VOLHYNIA. 343 
 
 We employed our first hour of the following morning in 
 strolling about the village. There was not much to be 
 seen low houses in ragged gardens, or rather waste plots 
 of ground, detached from each other and separated by 
 walls from the streets, which are overshadowed by avenues 
 of trees, and in winter are knee-deep in mud, that is ex- 
 changed for dust in summer. The principal element in 
 the population seemed to be military ; soldiers were loiter- 
 ing in every direction, as it was rumoured that another 
 expedition was destined to cross the frontier in the neigh- 
 bourhood; troops were massed here in large quantities, 
 and all the necessary dispositions made to give the insur- 
 gents a warm reception. I afterwards heard that an at- 
 tempt was subsequently made to cross the frontier higher 
 up, which had resulted in failure. The streets of Eadzivilofl 
 had been the scene of bloody fighting a few weeks prior 
 to our visit, in consequence of the ill-judged attempts on 
 the part of Wysocki and the leaders of the expedition to take 
 possession of the town. Not warned by the fatal disaster 
 of Miechow, which cost the lives of so many brave men, 
 the Poles seemed to think that the capture of a town was 
 a profitable military operation. As the Eussians were 
 nearly always superior in numbers, they only needed the 
 advantageous position afforded by the streets of a town to 
 render the chances of their assailants hopeless ; and it did 
 not require a military eye to see that Eadziviloff might 
 be successfully defended against a much larger force than 
 the Poles could possibly bring against it. On our return 
 to our humble abode, we found a Polish gentleman who 
 had arrived for the purpose of paying his contribution in- 
 to the coffers of the Eussian Government, for the suppres-
 
 344 TWENTY-FOUR HOURS IN VOLHYNIA. 
 
 sion of the rebellion in which he sympathised. He was 
 afraid to be seen speaking to us ; indeed, we had already 
 found, on the previous evening, that we were spurned by 
 one or two of the " respectable " inhabitants ; but this poor 
 man would have been only too glad to pour out his woes 
 to us had he dared, for he soon saw that we were to be 
 trusted ; but he hurried away after giving vent to a curse 
 and a groan, saying he had already lingered in our com- 
 pany too long. 
 
 We were by this time more anxious to leave Eussia than 
 we had been to enter it ; indeed, in the course of several 
 visits to that country, I have invariably found this to be 
 the case. The only inconvenience is, that instead of being 
 glad to get rid of one, the officials make as many difficul- 
 ties in letting you out as they do in letting you in. We 
 had given up our passports on the previous morning, and 
 had never seen them since, and of course we could not 
 leave the country until they had been returned to us. So 
 we found ourselves again sitting disconsolately in our car- 
 riage between the wooden gates. The real object of this 
 detention was to extort a heavy bribe, without which, we 
 were assured, we should never get our passports : indeed, 
 one of the minor employes, taking compassion upon us, in- 
 formed us in an undertone that if we wished to get our 
 passports back we must make it worth the Director's while 
 to give them up. If our informant expected a fee for this 
 piece of intelligence, he was disappointed ; and the rapid 
 transition from silkiness to sulkiness which his manner 
 underwent when he found we were obdurate, warranted 
 the suspicion. If we were to be treated to twenty-four 
 hours of worry in Kussia, we determined not to pay for
 
 TWENTY-FOUfl HOURS IN VOLHYNIA. 345 
 
 the luxury as well. The only melancholy satisfaction re- 
 maining to us was the reflection that we had caused a 
 great deal of trouble to everybody, and been a source of 
 profit to no one. So we sat obstinately in our carriage, 
 and the crowd of the day before stared and laughed and 
 wondered. It was a mystery to the whole world of Ead- 
 ziviloff, employes included, that we should be too dangerous 
 to be admitted into the country, and yet not dangerous 
 enough to be imprisoned. It did not seem that the mid- 
 dle course of turning people back had ever yet been 
 adopted at Radziviloff, and the speculations of the night 
 before as to our character and purpose reached a much 
 higher pitch in the morning. At last our patience was 
 exhausted, and before either the guard or the officials sus- 
 pected our design, we jumped out of the carriage, ran back 
 through the wicket which led into the town, and hurried 
 straight to the General's house, with the view of laying 
 our complaints before him. Just as we reached the gate, 
 the shout of a breathless official reached our ears ; the 
 sulky had again become the silky one. " Our passports 
 were ready ; " " what a hurry we were in ! " " the Director 
 was waiting to offer us every facility," &c. We found on 
 our return that our rush towards the General's had pro- 
 duced quite a magical effect ; there was empressement every- 
 where. One man handed us our passports, covered with 
 Eussian writing, another presented me with my breast-pin 
 and letter of introduction, together with the metallic note- 
 book. The map had been altogether confiscated, and for- 
 warded to Kief as a glaring evidence of the deep-laid plot 
 in which we had been implicated. As this map had been 
 bought by my friend at Artaria's in Vienna, and chosen
 
 346 TWENTY-FOUR HOURS IN VOLHYNIA. 
 
 expressly because it was devoid of every political charac- 
 ter, we may hope that the official mind of Kief was long 
 intently absorbed in the futile attempt to discover the hid- 
 den significance which it might contain. But the most 
 singular instance of aberration of intellect on the part of 
 frontier functionaries which ever came under my notice, 
 was to be found in the importance which they attached to 
 the ' Bradshaw,' the French novel, and the piece of dirty 
 old newspaper : these were carefully made into a packet, 
 and intrusted to the charge of a mounted Cossack, who 
 was to accompany us to the Austrian frontier. On no 
 account would they trust these dangerous books in the 
 carriage with us. "We even offered to leave ' Bradshaw ' 
 behind us as a token of our friendship, on condition that 
 they would read it ; but, seeing that we had determined 
 not to corrupt them with money, they became incorrupt- 
 ible when it came to taking a literary present, and con- 
 scientiously insisted upon returning us that valuable work. 
 Thus, after having spent exactly twenty-four hours in 
 Volhynia, the greater part of the time between two gates, 
 we bade a final farewell to the provinces of Eussian Po- 
 land, and careered over the plain towards Brody, preceded 
 always by a ferocious -looking Cossack carrying ' Brad- 
 shaw.' On arriving at the Austrian frontier, he presented 
 it to us with great form and ceremony, as if he was restor- 
 ing us our swords, of which, after an unsuccessful combat 
 with an honourable enemy, we had been temporarily de- 
 prived; while we, once more armed with our Railway 
 Guide, bade him a reckless and defiant adieu, and hugged 
 to our grateful bosoms that true evidence of an enlight- 
 ened country in an advanced state of civilisation. In the
 
 TWENTY-FOUR HOURS IN VOLHYNIA. 34Y 
 
 meantime we had a month's journey with post-horses to 
 look forward to, before we were again likely to hear the 
 familiar scream of the locomotive. 
 
 I think it likely that the real cause of our arrest on this 
 occasion was the result of an episode which had occurred to 
 me in Cracow in the spring. I received a peremptory sum- 
 mons one morning to present myself at the police office, and 
 my heart throbbed with the beating of a guilty conscience, 
 for to oblige a lady I had so far compromised myself as to 
 be the means of secretly conveying a note to a prisoner to 
 whom she was attached ; but how could I have been in- 
 human enough to resist the pleading voice of so charming 
 a creature ? Now I thought it just possible that this cor- 
 respondence might have been discovered, and that, instead 
 of conveying the expression of a tender sentiment, it 
 might have had some deep political significance. Patriotic 
 young Polish ladies were capable of anything in their 
 country's cause at that time. So with inward trembling, 
 but with an outwardly defiant attitude, I appeared before 
 the Herr Inspector. I was relieved to find that he was 
 a feeble-looking old man, with large goggle spectacles. 
 After solemnly considering me from head to foot, he 
 opened a large book, and with solemn impressiveness asked 
 me where I was born. 
 
 " Am Cap der guter Hoffnung," I answered flippantly. 
 The idea of any one having been born at the Cape of Good 
 Hope was so amazing, that he ejaculated, Herr Ye ? and 
 took off his spectacles in his astonishment, on which a 
 bright idea suddenly flashed upon me, for it was evi- 
 dent that my interrogator was an impressionable and 
 somewhat simple person. After my nationality had
 
 348 TWENTY-FOUR HOURS IN VOLHYNIA. 
 
 been established, he questioned me as to whether I was 
 married. 
 
 " Vier" I promptly replied, holding up four fingers. 
 
 " Is one alive now ? " he asked. 
 
 " Oh, they are all alive." 
 
 " Impossible," he said ; " nobody is allowed more than 
 one wife at a time." 
 
 " Oh, pardon me, Mohammedans are allowed four, and 
 I am a Mohammedan naturally ; being born at the Cape of 
 Good Hope, you know I must be ; " and I went off at score 
 in abominable German in an attempt to explain to him 
 the merits of the Moslem faith. He was evidently rapidly 
 coming to the conclusion that I was mad, which was the 
 one I was anxious he should arrive at. 
 
 " What are you doing here ? " he interrupted impa- 
 tiently. " We have reason to think you are meddling 
 with politics." 
 
 " Eeason to think ! " I exclaimed, " why, I am the heart 
 and soul of the movement; there would have been no 
 Polish insurrection but for me." I then went on in a 
 rambling manner to discourse upon my own importance, 
 during which I observed him writing. 
 
 " What are you writing ? " I inquired. 
 
 " I am saying that you came to Cracow to see the 
 antiquities." 
 
 To this I vehemently objected, adhering strongly to my 
 political motives; but he would not listen, and benevo- 
 lently waved me out of the room as a hopeless and harm 
 less lunatic. 
 
 I left the day after for Warsaw; but as the Eussian 
 and Austrian police were in close relations, it is not im-
 
 TWENTY-FOUR HOURS IN VOLHYNIA. 349 
 
 possible tli at this incident, taken in conjunction with my 
 visit to the insurgent band, may both have come to the 
 knowledge of the Eussian police, and that my name was 
 inscribed in their books as being not so harmless as the 
 Cracow inspector had imagined. 
 
 It is a long day's journey from Brody to Tarnopol ; the 
 road first ascends a range of wooded hills, on the summit 
 of which stands the old castle of Podhorsce, commanding 
 a magnificent view, and full of old armour and relics of 
 the middle ages. Then, winding down through romantic 
 glens, it debouches on the undulating corn-country which 
 extends in uniform monotony all the way to the Black 
 Sea. There is nothing, in a picturesque point of view, to 
 interest the traveller as he journeys over these boundless 
 steppes ; but he will be struck with amazement at their 
 vast cereal resources, which the railway, since completed, 
 has done so much to develop. Tarnopol is a dull dirty 
 town, with a large central square, and a population of 
 about 20,000 inhabitants ; of which 8000 are Poles, 2000 
 foreigners, and the rest Jews. It was only interesting in 
 a political point of view, from the fact that a large ex- 
 pedition was supposed to be collecting in the neighbour- 
 hood for the purpose of crossing the Russian frontier, 
 distant about twenty miles. As, however, this rumour 
 was in everybody's mouth, and even the waiter of the 
 hotel gave us confidential information on the subject, we 
 did not think that a project, if it really existed, which was 
 already so public, was ever likely to be put into execu- 
 tion ; and, in fact, we have never afterwards heard of the 
 operations of any band from this quarter. It is possible 
 that, had we tried, we should have been more fortunate in
 
 350 TWENTY-FOUR HOURS IN VOLHYNIA. 
 
 an attempt to penetrate into Volhynia from this point; 
 but we were satisfied with the experiences I have already 
 recounted, and contented ourselves with obtaining infor- 
 mation with reference to the state of the province from 
 Poles who had just left it, or who owned property in it. 
 It would seem that the danger to which, probably, General 
 Kreuter alluded, and which we had to fear in travelling 
 through the country, consisted in the chance of meeting 
 with armed bands of peasants, invested by the Kussian 
 Government with the functions of police, which they exer- 
 cised much to the benefit of their own pockets and the 
 detriment of peaceable wayfarers. While all the landed 
 proprietary of the province are Poles, the peasantry are 
 for the most part Euthenian, who had no sympathy with 
 the movement ; and who, although by no means attached 
 to the Kussian Government, had been easily bribed by the 
 latter, by the prospect of plunder, to side with it. It is 
 only due to the peasantry to say that in many instances 
 they had resisted every temptation, and remained faithful 
 to their masters. One of our motives for visiting the 
 country just at this period was a desire to be present at 
 some of the sales of sequestrated property, which were 
 taking place daily. These sales were expressly arranged 
 for the benefit of the peasantry. One of my friends, for 
 instance, who was a Galician as well as a Volhynian pro- 
 prietor, was called upon to pay to the Eussian Government 
 a sum equal to 8000 for the suppression of the rebellion. 
 As he had carefully abstained from taking part in the 
 movement, the amount of this tax in itself was sufficiently 
 onerous ; but lest he should be in a condition to procure 
 that sum at short notice, he was only allowed three days to
 
 TWENTY-FOUR HOURS IN VOLHYNIA. 351 
 
 raise it ; and as he was not resident in Volhynia, it was 
 manifestly impossible for him to make the necessary 
 arrangements. In default of prompt payment, the live 
 stock of the proprietor was put up to auction among the 
 peasants, who were thus enabled to purchase their masters' 
 horses at a shilling a-piece ; and merino sheep have been 
 known to sell for as little as three-halfpence each. In 
 other words, the peasantry receive a present of their 
 masters' stock, while he is deprived of the means of get- 
 ting in his crop or working his land, and is still obliged 
 to pay the difference between the trifling amount which 
 his property has realised, and the sum originally demanded 
 by the Government. "We heard, however, that the peas- 
 antry were becoming unmanageable and independent in 
 their bearing towards the Government which has thus 
 spoiled them, and complained of being obliged to pay to 
 the Government the tax properly due to the proprietor, 
 in compensation for the land which was originally his, 
 and had by a recent arrangement been transferred to the 
 peasant. Having paid only a nominal sum for their cattle, 
 they now wanted to get the land for nothing as well ; and 
 it was some consolation to the proprietor, who had been 
 robbed of both, to see the thieves fall out. The position 
 of a country gentleman in these provinces was in fact 
 becoming intolerable : not allowed to leave the country, 
 he was constantly subjected to the suspicion of the 
 Government while he remained in it, and too often found 
 himself at last an unwilling occupant of a dismal cell, or 
 one of a melancholy cortege on its way to Siberia. Those 
 who were fortunate enough to procure passports at the 
 commencement of the movement fled the country ; those
 
 352 TWENTY-FOUR HOURS IN VOLHYNIA. 
 
 who were left, were in most instances arrested, so that 
 scarcely a property remained tenanted. Any who had 
 been discreet or lucky enough to be left at liberty had 
 been called upon, on the one hand by the Eussian, and 
 on the other by the Polish National Government, to pay 
 heavy contributions. In both instances the payment was 
 compulsory, while the constant presence of armed bands 
 of disorderly peasants, or of Cossacks, rendered daily life 
 unsafe. One gentleman, who had been most fortunately 
 circumstanced throughout in comparison with many of his 
 compatriots, assured me that the movement had already 
 been a clear loss to him of 25,000; and that, in the 
 event of its lasting through another year, he would be 
 a sufferer to a still greater amount. 
 
 From Tarnopol we posted through to Jassy, travelling 
 only by day, and enabled by our method of locomotion to 
 come into closer contact with the population which in- 
 habits the comparatively little known districts of the 
 Bukovine and Moldavia that we traversed, than is possible 
 now that one is whirled by railway, with no other variety 
 than a different station and stationmaster. This con- 
 sideration was very forcibly impressed upon my mind 
 five years ago, when I again had occasion to visit Brody, 
 this time as the emissary of the Mansion House Com- 
 mittee, for the purpose of distributing relief to some 
 15,000 distressed Eussian refugee Jews, who had taken 
 refuge there in a starving condition, and when my expe- 
 riences, had I time to narrate them here, were as painful 
 as they were novel and interesting. I then made the 
 journey from Brody to Jassy by rail; and so intensely 
 wrought up were the expectations of the much-suffering
 
 TWENTY-FOUR HOUES IN VOLHYNIA. 353 
 
 race, who form the largest proportion of the population 
 of this part of Europe, that at every station they were 
 assembled in crowds with petitions to be transported to 
 Palestine, the conviction apparently having taken pos- 
 session of their minds that the time appointed for their 
 return to the land of their ancestors had arrived, and that 
 I was to be their Moses on the occasion. 
 
 The nineteen years which elapsed between my two 
 visits to Jassy had worked a great change in this latter 
 town, which on the first occasion still retained many of 
 its Eastern characteristics, and was, in comparison to what 
 it is now, in a condition of relative barbarism. From a 
 mere tourist point of view, it was, however, far more in- 
 teresting ; and during our stay in it for a week, we had 
 abundant opportunity of testing its peculiar social char- 
 acteristics and attractions. One night at the opera, in the 
 box of a friend, much to our surprise, we met a nun, a 
 very charming person, to whom we were introduced, and 
 who explained that she was on three weeks' leave from 
 her convent, which was situated in a valley of the Car- 
 pathian mountains. She further explained that it was 
 the custom in Moldavia for nuns to invite their gentlemen 
 friends to pay them visits in their nunneries. She hoped 
 we would accept her invitation to pay Agapia, which was 
 the name of her nunnery, a visit, and spend there as many 
 days as we liked. She only regretted her own unavoid- 
 able absence. There was a refreshing novelty about such 
 an invitation which it was quite impossible to resist. We 
 were assured by those who knew all about it, that we 
 should find the scenery most attractive, the hospitality 
 unbounded, and that on the way we should have an oppor- 
 
 Z
 
 354 TWENTY-FOUR HOURS IN VOLHYNIA. 
 
 tunity of visiting a most interesting monastery called 
 Nyamptz, while some kind friends offered us letters of 
 introduction to another convent, by name Veratica ; and 
 so it came about that, instead of looking for bands of 
 Polish insurgents in the Ruthenian provinces of Russia, 
 we found ourselves bound on a tour of visits to Greek 
 monasteries and convents in the wild Moldavian valleys 
 of the Carpathian Mountains. We soon made our pre- 
 parations to post to Nyaniptz, two of our Jassy friends 
 kindly volunteering to accompany us to that monastery, 
 and do the honours of the establishment.
 
 355 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 A VISIT TO THE CONVENTS OF MOLDAVIA. 
 
 IT was ten o'clock at night before we had bidden our last 
 adieux and galloped out of Jassy. I say galloped ad- 
 visedly, for we were in two light open carriages and four, 
 and Moldavian postilions have no notion of letting the 
 grass grow under their wheels. Indeed, it is to be re- 
 gretted it does not, for one would be spared the dust. It 
 does not, however, produce the slightest effect upon the 
 picturesque-looking ruffian who, riding one horse, does 
 nothing but yell and crack his whip over the other three ; 
 and whose chief object seems to be, not only to make as 
 much dust as possible himself, but to keep well in the 
 cloud caused by the carriage ahead. Anyhow, it is ex- 
 hilarating to whisk through the crisp night air, venire a 
 terre, even though one is half choked. When day broke, 
 Jassy was sixty miles off. We had been dreamily con- 
 scious of having changed horses occasionally, and of 
 having undergone violent jolting, and now we felt the 
 need of something warm. A Moldavian post-house is 
 generally a thatched hut, the inside of which consists of a 
 large fireplace, big enough to dine in as well as to cook
 
 356 A VISIT TO THE CONVENTS OP MOLDAVIA. 
 
 one's dinner ; and at this early hour the family was lying 
 about asleep promiscuously. However, they gave us hot 
 water and milk, and wondered intensely at such singular 
 specimens of humanity as we seemed to them. Then we 
 descended into the pretty valley of the Moldava, and, 
 crossing that stream, entered the town of Nyamptz just 
 as a heavy shower of rain came down to turn the dust 
 into mud all over our bodies. Nyamptz is prettily 
 situated at the foot of the lowest spurs of the Carpathians, 
 on the river of the same name. Our intended visit had 
 been notified to the sub- prefect from Jassy, and we found 
 that worthy waiting, in the most obsequious attitude, for 
 our arrival. The whole town was in a fever of excite- 
 ment at the unwonted event of a visit from distinguished 
 strangers, and any one who was in an official position 
 cringed and crawled about us after the manner of Nea- 
 politan impiegnati, in the hope that we might possess 
 influence and use it to their advantage. Nothing would 
 induce them to leave us alone. Not only would they 
 stand over us while at breakfast, but insisted upon accom- 
 panying us to the convents, attended by a mounted escort. 
 The standard of intelligence of these gentry may be 
 judged of by the answer which the chief official gave 
 when we asked him what o'clock it was? With the 
 utmost nalvetd he informed us, that the only people who 
 knew the time were the Jews; and as it was a Jew's 
 holiday, and they were all in their houses, it was not 
 possible for him to let us know what the hour was. 
 He was extremely proud of two schools, however one 
 containing one hundred boys, and the other sixty girls 
 of which this town of 8000 inhabitants could boast;
 
 A VISIT TO THE CONVENTS OF MOLDAVIA. 357 
 
 but his statistical knowledge in other respects was 
 limited. 
 
 The whole population turned out to see the cortege as 
 we drove away. Half-a-dozen imposing horsemen, in a 
 sort of janissary uniform, and with immense swagger, led 
 the way ; then followed sundry carriages and carts full of 
 officials, and then ourselves, with postilions very highly 
 decorated for the occasion. We might have been Gari- 
 baldi, so humbly did the people bow before us, and 
 with such gracious dignity did we return their salutes. 
 Whether they supposed we had come to annex them, or 
 whether they were simply overawed by the majesty of our 
 appearance, must for ever remain a mystery ; certain it is, 
 we acted royalty all the way down the long street, and 
 bowed ourselves into the ford of the river, and away into 
 the happy valley beyond, at the head of which the mon- 
 astery of Nyamptz is situated. Here we had nothing to 
 do but revel in the glorious scenery, doubly refreshing 
 after the monotony to which for some weeks past we had 
 been doomed. Swelling hills, rising into blue mountains 
 in the distance, but near us covered with oak and maple 
 woods, bright with the fiery tints of autumn ; green 
 meadows and fields of melons and Indian corn; cottages 
 half concealed by orchards, from which smoke curled 
 languidly in the humid air, for the rain had ceased, and 
 left a fresh soft feeling, delightful after long days of 
 blazing sun; a precipice rising abruptly from the river- 
 bed, and the crumbling ruins of the once extensive Castle 
 of Nyamptz perched on its dizzy edge, these were sights 
 that made our drive along the grassy track up the valley 
 a perfect luxury ; and when at last it narrowed, and we
 
 358 A VISIT TO THE CONVENTS OF MOLDAVIA. 
 
 dived into a wood, and came out of a green glade upon 
 a massive straggling pile of white buildings, with tin 
 cupolas glittering in a sudden gleam of sunshine, we 
 thought that these Nyamptz monks had not denied them- 
 selves the most exhaustless of all pleasurable emotions 
 the enjoyment of nature under its fairest aspect. Five 
 members of the committee of direction were standing 
 upon the verandah of the superior's house as we drove up, 
 and, in the absence of that dignitary, the dean, a man 
 with meek brown eyes, a gentle smile, and an auburn 
 beard, did the honours. Service was going on, so we were 
 delayed till it was over, and regaled with the invariable 
 preserve and water, which is the first form of Moldavian 
 hospitality. Whether the sweetmeats are an excuse for 
 the water, or the water for the sweetmeats, or botli for the 
 cigarettes which immediately follow, is a subject open to 
 discussion; but when conversation is apt to flag from 
 ignorance of the language on both sides, sweetmeats and 
 water create a diversion, and rolling cigarettes and making 
 profuse apologies for wanting a light, help to make the 
 visit go off. As none of our hosts could speak anything 
 but Moldavian, we were dependent entirely upon one of 
 our companions from Jassy to interpret, and the whole 
 committee seemed to think it necessary to sit in solemn 
 silence, and inspect us while the dean answered our 
 questions. At last the superior, a heavy, unamiable- 
 looking man, with an iron-grey beard, appeared, and 
 listened while our letter of introduction was read aloud 
 to him, his own literary acquirements being of the most 
 meagre description ; then we ate more jam together, and 
 he led the way to show us over the establishment. Scarcely
 
 A VISIT TO THE CONVENTS OF MOLDAVIA. 359 
 
 three months had elapsed since a large part of the building 
 had been burnt down ; the consequence was, that a great 
 deal of carpentering and rebuilding was going on in all 
 directions. Unfortunately the library had been destroyed, 
 and, besides the books, much of the picturesque effect of 
 the monastery had been lost. In the centre of the principal 
 courtyard stands the church, untouched by the fire, and 
 upwards of four hundred years old. We went up a narrow 
 stair, heavy with the fumes of incense, where a large 
 collection of jewellery and ornaments, the gifts of devoted 
 women, were displayed before us. Enormous Bibles covered 
 with jewels, and ponderous with gold and silver decorations, 
 were pulled out, and the quaint MS. and illuminated 
 parchments turned over for our inspection. The oldest 
 Bible was one in Bulgarian MS., dating from the middle of 
 the fifteenth century. Then we were taken to another 
 smaller church, and there, with great form and ceremony, 
 our cicerones exhibited their principal curiosity, a priest's 
 robe worked by the hands of the Empress Catharine her- 
 self, and presented to the monastery. There were until 
 quite lately nine hundred monks in the monastery of 
 Nyamptz ; but the intrigues of a much-abused priest, called 
 Vernouf, caused a secession of more than two hundred, 
 who have joined the affiliated monasteries. The merits of 
 this quarrel were too complicated for me to understand ; 
 moreover, I had no opportunity of hearing Vernouf's side 
 of it. The result has been a deplorable split. Nyamptz. 
 itself, as the parent monastery, contains the largest number 
 of monks. At the time of my visit there were four hundred 
 and seventy in residence, but a good many get leave and 
 take a turn in the world by way of a change. There arc
 
 360 A VISIT TO THE CONVENTS OF MOLDAVIA. 
 
 six smaller monasteries affiliated to Nyamptz, containing 
 between them seven hundred and sixty monks. They are 
 all situated in neighbouring valleys. Surrounding the 
 main building are grouped about three hundred little 
 separate cottages, called, by a figure of speech, cells, but 
 really charming little abodes, covered with honeysuckle 
 and jasmine, and surrounded by flowers or vegetables, 
 according to the aesthetic or material tendencies of the 
 owner. Almost every monk has thus his own little abode, 
 with a neat wooden palisading round it, high enough to 
 prevent curious eyes from prying, and enclosing a good 
 garden ; besides which, he can cultivate the neighbouring 
 land to any extent he likes. This village of scattered 
 cottages, with neat lanes leading between them, adds 
 indescribably to the charm of the scene. We inspected 
 the hospital, which was very clean and admirably kept ; 
 also a madhouse, which contained sixty patients, chiefly 
 epileptic. Then they showed us the lock-up for refractory 
 monks, four of whom were at that moment expiating their 
 sins on bread and water. By a new law no monk is 
 allowed to take the vows till he is fifty; formerly there 
 was no such restriction, and several of the monks at 
 Nyamptz were young men. We were informed that there 
 were upwards of a hundred who were more than a hundred 
 years of age, and I certainly observed some very patriarchal 
 specimens. The revenues of Nyamptz amounted nominally 
 to a sum equal to about 20,000 a-year. Prince Couza 
 had, however, appropriated the greater portion of this sum, 
 and made an allowance to each monk of three piastres a- 
 day, and two hundred and fifty ducats a-year for his 
 clothes. With this arrangement they seemed perfectly
 
 A VISIT TO THE CONVENTS OF MOLDAVIA. 361 
 
 satisfied. To account for what appears an anomaly, it 
 would be necessary to enter upon the question of the 
 dedicated convents, which, however, is too dry and com- 
 plicated to discuss here. 
 
 We had not time to linger long at the monastery of 
 Nyamptz, though we were hospitably pressed by the 
 superior to stay there for as many days as we chose. 
 Among the monks who had done the honours was a fair- 
 haired intelligent man of about forty, who had passed many 
 years of his life in wandering over the world. He had 
 made a pilgrimage to Mount Sinai, and visited the Greek 
 monasteries in Turkey and the East generally. Then, ob- 
 taining a dispensation of two years for the benefit of his 
 health, he travelled through Europe, and, doffing the long 
 serge robe which he wore now as a monk, and which 
 became him as a pilgrim, had visited, as a layman, most of 
 the capitals of Europe ; had fldn6d upon the boulevards 
 in Paris ; had sat upon iron chairs in Eotten Eow ; and 
 had even pushed his explorations as far as Cremorne. 
 The consequence was that he was a thorough man of the 
 world. He spoke French perfectly; was extremely tol- 
 erant in his religious opinions, and enlightened in his 
 political and theological views. There were few subjects 
 he could not converse upon, and I was never tired of 
 listening to the singular experiences of his adventurous 
 life. When, therefore, the superior attached him to us as 
 guide, philosopher, and friend, during our monastic and 
 conventual tour, we were well satisfied with so agreeable 
 and intelligent a companion, and put him bodkin in our 
 open carriage with pleasure. We got rid of our officious 
 friends from Nyamptz here, and, furnished with eight
 
 362 A VISIT TO THE CONVENTS OF MOLDAVIA. 
 
 horses by the monastery, we spun in our light carriage 
 over grassy glades or along the beds of mountain-torrents 
 with equal indifference. The wild post-boys never looked 
 to see whether we were jolting about on our seats, like 
 peas on a frying-pan little recked they how our springs 
 liked it away we went, now through fiery-leaved oak 
 woods, now along dark valleys, where dense pine forests 
 gave warning of a higher elevation, deeper and farther 
 into the wild Carpathians, till, as the shades of evening 
 were drawing in, we took the steep pitch of hill at a 
 gallop, on the top of which is situated the monastery of 
 Seku, and dashed through the old archway into a court- 
 yard, where a group of monks gazed open-mouthed at the 
 unexpected apparition. Since leaving Nyamptz we had 
 not met a soul, and we felt that Seku, buried in its narrow 
 valley, with only a rough track to the monastery, and no 
 road beyond, with high pine-clad hills all round, and only 
 one outlet to the world, was indeed a retreat so secluded, 
 that we deserved some credit for having found it. 
 
 Seku is one of the affiliated monasteries, and only con- 
 tains 250 monks ; unlike Nyamptz, the monks do not live 
 in cottages apart, except in a few instances. A large 
 courtyard, enclosed by a double-storeyed range of build- 
 ings with two galleries, and the dormitory doors opening 
 on to them, furnish accommodation to the monks ; and in 
 the centre, as usual, surmounted with tin cupolas, and 
 highly ornamented within, is the church. The great curi- 
 osity here was a magnificent piece of gold embroidery 
 presented by the foundress of the monastery 250 years 
 ago; besides were many quaint old MSS. on vellum, 
 gorgeously bound, and the usual collection of jewels and
 
 A VISIT TO THE CONVENTS OF MOLDAVIA. 363 
 
 altar ornaments, all stored away in old presses, and each 
 produced in due form for our inspection a crowd of 
 admiring monks examining us the while more narrowly 
 than we examined their ecclesiastical treasures. To me 
 the romantic situation of this monastery, the utter silence 
 of the scene, as darkness fell upon the sombre hillsides, 
 and only the distant murmur of the mountain torrent 
 broke the stillness, was more impressive than the wealth 
 of "the foundation." It recalled to my mind a similar 
 scene in the remote valleys of the Province of Kiang-su 
 in China, where I had been the guest of Buddhist monks ; 
 nor to the uninitiated in the externals of their respective 
 theologies was there any difference to be seen between my 
 former hosts and those I was now visiting. The same 
 courtyards and sacred edifices in the middle, heavy with 
 the perfume of incense; the same presses stored with 
 ornaments ; richly decorated altars and monster candles ; 
 above all, the same lazy groups . of long-robed brothers, 
 who chose the most out-of-the-way corner of the world 
 they could find to live in and do nothing. Inasmuch as 
 many of the Moldavian monks cannot read, and none of 
 them, with one or two exceptions, know any other language 
 than Moldavian, they have not even the excuse of study 
 to justify their life of utter sloth. "With the Buddhist, it 
 is more or less conducive to that state of " Nirvana," which 
 it is the object of his ambition in this life and the next to 
 attain. But the Greek monk attains it in spite of himself. 
 To all intents and purposes he is as much buried, and as 
 utterly useless to the world at large shut up in this valley, 
 as if he were actually under the sod. NOT can one dis- 
 cover any palpable difference between religions which pro-
 
 364 A VISIT TO THE CONVENTS OF MOLDAVIA. 
 
 duce such exactly similar results. It is true that the 
 Greek monks appear to wash more than the Buddhist, and 
 never cut their hair, instead of shaving their heads ; other- 
 wise the cut of the robe is exactly the same, only in China 
 it is either yellow or lavender, here it is a reddish brown. 
 The service in a Buddhist place of worship is intoned in 
 the same key as here, nor do the priests seem to attend 
 more to what they are saying among the Greeks than 
 among the Buddhists ; but it is performed more constantly 
 among the latter, and of course the divinities invoked go 
 under other names. To the ignorant and impartial spec- 
 tator these are the only observable points of distinction 
 between the two establishments. 
 
 Altogether we were not captivated by anything we saw 
 at Seku except its position, and resisted the invitation of 
 the monks to pass the night there. A bright full moon 
 tempted us to drive on to Agapia, and for two hours we 
 tore along at the usual. pace, regardless of no roads, and 
 the uncertain light which, even when they existed, made 
 them difficult to find. At last, like a fairy scene, the 
 convent of Agapia burst upon our delighted gaze. Never, 
 during a long and varied course of travel, have I felt more 
 thoroughly rewarded for undertaking a journey, than I 
 did when this novel and unexpected picture was presented 
 to me. The glittering spires and cupolas of the churches 
 seemed to rise like monuments of burnished silver out of 
 the dark pine- woods. Hundreds of little cottages, in close 
 proximity to each other, clung to the hillside, the white 
 walls gleaming out amid the foliage ; the convent itself, a 
 massive irregular pile of building, with its great archway 
 facing us, and looming large in the moonlight, was lighted
 
 A VISIT TO THE CONVENTS OF MOLDAVIA. 365 
 
 up at every window; and dark female figures fluttered 
 along balconies, as the bells on our horses gave warning 
 of onr approach. Our visit had been already notified by 
 the metropolitan, so the whole place was on the gui vive ; 
 at all cottage windows white faces, half shrouded in the 
 nun's hood, peered curiously out till we felt guilty of 
 the perturbation and excitement which our unusual visit 
 was Likely to cause among the fair devotees, who were 
 supposed to have retired from the world expressly to avoid 
 such disturbing influences. Our postilions, who belonged 
 to Nyamptz, knew the right door at which to draw up 
 inside the court, and here, grouped at the foot of the 
 staircase, were five or six elderly nuns waiting to receive 
 us. Our travelled monk presented us, and, after kissing 
 the hand of each, we ascended by an outside staircase to 
 the wooden corridors which ran all round the interior of 
 the court, and upon which opened the rooms set apart for 
 our accommodation. Both in the monasteries and convents 
 the stranger has the right to claim three days' hospitality ; 
 so in all the establishments there are regular guests' rooms, 
 and not unfrequently the natives of the country take 
 advantage of the privilege to spend months in making a 
 tour of visits, staying in each until even the good nature 
 of the monks or nuns is exhausted. There was therefore 
 nothing unusual in the fact of our visit ; the interest lay 
 in the circumstance of our being foreigners and English- 
 men. Few of the nuns had ever seen specimens of a race 
 of which they had heard a great deal; and even the 
 middle-aged ladies who were now waiting upon us, exam- 
 ined us as narrowly as good breeding would permit. It 
 was useless to explain that our object in visiting these
 
 366 A VISIT TO THE CONVENTS OF MOLDAVIA. 
 
 secluded valleys was sheer curiosity. They were firmly 
 persuaded that we were Commissioners sent by England 
 to make inquiries into the confiscation of ecclesiastical 
 property by Prince Couza, which was at that time agitating 
 the whole country, and causing great dissension among 
 the protecting Powers. As we naturally wished to under- 
 stand the question for its own sake, our incessant queries, 
 and the interest we showed in it, only confirmed their 
 suspicions and increased their respect. Indeed, we found 
 our greatness inconvenient upon several occasions, though 
 it was not without its advantages. In the first place, the 
 most elaborate arrangements had been made for our recep- 
 tion. The table in the large dining-room groaned under 
 an extensive assortment of the good things of this life. 
 Everything was scrupulously clean, and the dinner, for 
 which our long drive had prepared us, admirably well 
 cooked. All round the room were broad soft divans, and 
 in the next room, in which we were to sleep, luxurious 
 beds with fine linen had been made up. There was an air 
 of abundance and comfort truly refreshing, and the gentle 
 attendants who waited upon us, anticipating every wish, 
 and sparing themselves no pains or trouble to please us, 
 imparted to their hospitality a charm all its own. While 
 we were doing ample justice to the viands they had pre- 
 pared for us, they sat in a row on the opposite divan, 
 applauding our appetites, and conversing with us by means 
 of our friend the travelled monk and one of the gentlemen 
 who had accompanied us from Jassy. We discovered 
 that they were the committee of direction for the affairs 
 of the convent, and we were promised an interview with 
 the lady superior on the following day. They were all
 
 A VISIT TO THE CONVENTS OF MOLDAVIA. 367 
 
 members of the best families of Moldavia, and had been 
 dedicated to the conventual life from their earliest child- 
 hood, whether they liked it or not. At the age of five 
 they had been put to school in the convent, and when 
 they reached eighteen had been compelled to take the 
 veil; so that, except when they obtained leave for a 
 month or two to go and see their friends, they had never 
 known any other existence than that which we now saw 
 them leading had never had any other excitement than 
 that caused by the admission of a new sister, the arrival 
 of relatives or travellers, a dissension among themselves, 
 or a metropolitan visitation. To them the lovely valley 
 at the head of which the convent was situated, had been 
 the whole world from their earliest infancy. If they were 
 not so strict as those nuns who retire to convents because 
 they are disgusted with the world, it was because they 
 scarcely knew what the world meant. They were all still 
 artless children, happy, pleased, and natural ; there were 
 no downcast eyes or gloomy penitential expression. They 
 were as delighted to see us as children would be with a 
 new toy, and we had not been an hour in their company 
 before we felt thoroughly at home. Unfortunately there 
 was only one of them who could talk a little French ; and 
 another, but she was not a lady director, who spoke 
 German. Presently appeared the last of the committee, 
 whom we had not yet seen a beautiful woman, in the 
 prime of womanhood, with the softest eyes, the sweetest 
 smile, the gentlest and at the same time most distinguished 
 manner a border of pale yellow round her hood, which 
 was coquettishly arranged, and a slight expansion in the 
 skirt' of her reddish-brown serge robe, indicated a tendency
 
 368 A VISIT TO THE CONVENTS OP MOLDAVIA. 
 
 towards a cap and crinoline, and accounted for the slight 
 delay in her arrival. After we had satisfied the cravings 
 of nature, they took us out to the upper balconies to look 
 over the convent by moonlight. If the scene had seemed 
 unreal when we first came upon it, the magic panorama 
 upon which we now gazed was still more enchanting. All 
 round us dark woods at our feet, and half concealed in 
 their recesses, three hundred and fifty little separate 
 cottages, each with its balcony, its shingle roof, its white 
 walls, and its overhanging foliage. Now all the lights 
 were extinguished, and the most profound stillness reigned 
 not even the barking of a dog was to be heard. Except 
 ourselves, there was not a man within two hours' walk of 
 where four hundred women were sleeping among the trees 
 of their own quiet valley. The moon was at the full, and 
 poured floods of light into every nook and corner into 
 the courtyard, with its quaint, old, carved wooden 
 balconies into the long narrow windows of the church, 
 throwing silver rays into its gloomy recesses doubtless 
 falling softly upon the face of many a sleeping nun, as it 
 did upon the river that gleamed and shimmered in its 
 light under the black shadow of the steep mountain-side. 
 
 Though the day had been a long and tiring one, and it 
 was now late, we lingered long upon these balconies, 
 walking all round them, and finding, as each corner that 
 we turned disclosed a new picture, fresh inducement to 
 remain. The nuns, amused at our enthusiasm, asked us if 
 we could continue to enjoy the view until it was time for 
 the midnight service ; and on our professing our readiness 
 to remain up in spite of our heavy eyelids, they most con- 
 siderately promised to have prayers half an hour earlier
 
 A VISIT TO THE CONVENTS OF MOLDAVIA. 369 
 
 for our especial benefit ; so at half -past eleven the absolute 
 stillness was suddenly broken. First an old nun with a 
 lantern flitted like a black spectre from door to door, and 
 chanted the reveille at each in a voice loud and harsh 
 enough to wake the soundest sleeper. She looked like an 
 old witch hobbling silently and rapidly on her rounds, 
 and bursting out periodically with the same nasal refrain, 
 holding her lamp the while high above her head. As we 
 were watching the operations of this old creature, we were 
 startled by a sound resembling the taps of a very powerful 
 and rather musical woodpecker. First shrill and sharp, 
 rising to a high key, then with a dull and muffled sound, 
 tap, tap, tap, came from the quadrangle below us ; then a 
 rattle so quick that I imagined it must be somebody 
 playing on a wooden drum. The cadence was wild, but 
 not irregular ; and the effect of the roll dying away until 
 it was scarcely audible, and then breaking out at its full 
 strength, was most peculiar. Watching and wondering, 
 the mystery was solved by the appearance of a stately 
 nun stepping out from the dark shadows of the church, 
 and bearing upon her shoulders what seemed in the un- 
 certain light a long white plank. This she poised in a 
 peculiar way, and with a short stick tapped a tune upon 
 it. On the following morning I examined the apparatus, 
 and found the board about twelve feet long, extremely 
 thin and light, and pierced from the centre towards the 
 extremities with a series of holes gradually increasing in 
 size, so that it was really a musical plank, and, in the 
 hands of an experienced player, could be made to convey 
 the idea of a tune; but the chief feature of the perfor- 
 mance was the tremendous noise it made. What between 
 
 2 A
 
 370 A VISIT TO THE CONVENTS OF MOLDAVIA. 
 
 the old woman screaming her waking chant, and two nuns 
 walking about the court tapping musical planks, there was 
 no fear of any sleeping sister remaining unaware that her 
 prayer-time had arrived; and, sure enough, a very few 
 minutes elapsed before, from all corners, they came trip- 
 ping, or rather gliding, like dark ghosts, to the church-door. 
 They must sleep in their dress, or else have acquired the 
 art of making a toilet as rapid as that of an under- 
 graduate late for chapel, so speedily did they obey the 
 summons. It was now time for us to follow. The old 
 woman and the plank were still, and the swelling tones 
 of a sacred chant warned us that the service had com- 
 menced. Modestly, and with downcast eyes, did we pass 
 between two motionless rows of fair worshippers, until 
 we reached the place of honour among the elder sisters. 
 Here, in a little carpeted niche, we stood meekly the 
 only men and listened to the women's voices repeating 
 in high monotonous key the perpetual refrain. By degrees 
 we acquired courage, and were rewarded for our boldness 
 in looking up by detecting stolen glances shot at us from 
 every quarter. The principal performer of the service was 
 a lovely girl, apparently of eighteen or nineteen, who was 
 standing in a group of young sisters when we came in, 
 and whose turn it seemed to be to officiate, for she slipped 
 out of her corner and donned over her hood a sort of 
 surplice, then advancing to the desk in the middle of the 
 church, she opened the massive ornamented volume before 
 her, and went off at score. I could not have imagined 
 that those ruby lips could have moved with such extra- 
 ordinary rapidity, that the exquisitely chiselled nose should 
 prove an organ for conveying the shrillest and most un-
 
 A VISIT TO THE CONVENTS OF MOLDAVIA. 371 
 
 pleasant sounds at a pace which was quite electrifying. 
 Whenever the moment for a response came, the chorus 
 "cut in" with something "Gospodin," as if the whole 
 thing was being done for a wager. She never paused nor 
 flagged in her harsh nasal rattle of Moldavian prayer, 
 worked up now and then to a shrill invocation, and varied 
 with prostrations, the extinction and lighting of candles, 
 and full choruses. An hour seemed to pass, nevertheless, 
 like a few moments. There was something fascinating 
 in watching these fair devotees managing all their own 
 matters without male interference ; and I could conceive 
 from the scene before me what that might be so well 
 imagined by Tennyson. Those 
 
 " Prudes for proctors, dowagers for deans, 
 And sweet girl-graduates in their golden hair," 
 
 only needed to be transported to a wild Carpathian valley 
 to realise the poetic fancy. 
 
 I should remark, however, that there is one priest in 
 Agapia who officiates at Mass, and who is a married man. 
 Notwithstanding the rumour which had got abroad that 
 we were to be present, there was a smaller congregation 
 than I expected ; but I was assured that some of the nuns 
 were performing service in another church, and the rest 
 saying their prayers at home. This last I take to be the 
 most common practice; for on subsequent occasions, on 
 dropping incidentally in for service, I have found no 
 audience at all; the officiating nuns make up a little 
 congregation in themselves, as there must be a certain 
 number for the church and a certain number to read in 
 turn. It was one o'clock in the morning before I sought
 
 372 A VISIT TO THE CONVENTS OF MOLDAVIA. 
 
 ray divan bed, after one of the most novel and interesting 
 day's experiences I ever remember to have passed. Noth- 
 ing but downright fatigue would have enabled me to sleep 
 with so many quaint sights and sounds dancing before my 
 eyes and ringing in my ears ; but our time was short, and 
 there was much to be seen, so we slept as fast as possible, 
 and were up in time for matins at six o'clock. Here we 
 saw a number of new nuns, with some of whom we made 
 acquaintance; but the absence of any common language 
 was a terrible drawback to our intercourse. Never hav- 
 ing received an education to fit them for society, they 
 knew no language but Moldavian ; and though we applied 
 ourselves to the acquirement of that tongue under their 
 tuition with the utmost diligence, our time was too short 
 to make progress. 
 
 After matins, we paid a visit to the lady superior, a 
 dear old lady, who gave us sweetmeats and cigarettes, and 
 kissed our foreheads when we were presented and when 
 we took leave. She was very anxious that we should 
 prolong our stay for as many weeks as we liked, and was 
 quite hurt when we told her how hurried our visit must 
 necessarily be. Anxious to carry away a memento of the 
 place, we prevailed upon her to give us an old-fashioned 
 daguerreotype of the convent, which was fading rapidly, 
 and which we promised to have photographed in England 
 and send her back. Most unfortunately, some weeks 
 afterwards, the portmanteau containing it was cut off the 
 back of our carriage by thieves in the night, and we 
 proved, to our regret, unavoidably faithless. 
 
 We now went on a round of visits, and were delighted 
 with the charming little cottages, each in its own garden,
 
 A VISIT TO THE CONVENTS OF MOLDAVIA. 373 
 
 and containing one or two fair occupants, sometimes a 
 young girl quite by herself. The rich ones are waited 
 upon by the needy sisters, but at Veratica, which we 
 afterwards visited, there was a much greater profusion of 
 wealth than here. Some of our friends proposed a picnic for 
 the afternoon, and we started off, a merry party of eight or 
 ten, on foot for a romantic rock in the woods, from the 
 summit of which a magnificent view was obtained of the 
 valley and convent. After a regular scramble, we were 
 rewarded for our exertions by finding that our kind hosts 
 had sent on a hamper with sundry delicacies that hot 
 coffee was prepared, and a brisk fire ready for the emer- 
 gencies of our repast. 
 
 So we chatted and refreshed, and were smoking tran- 
 quilly, when, to my astonishment, I observed some of 
 the ladies engaged in dragging dead branches to the base 
 of a lofty pine-tree, and piling them round it. On in- 
 quiring the reason of this proceeding, they informed us 
 that it was great fun burning a pine-tree, and assured us, 
 if we had never seen it, that we should enjoy the spectacle. 
 We suggested the possibility of the whole forest catching 
 fire ; but they said they had chosen an isolated tree, and 
 that even if it did run along the hillside, what would 
 that matter pine-trees were cheap in the Carpathians. 
 So we heaped up branches round the old forest giant, and 
 doomed him to a splendid but lingering death. Then we 
 threw blazing logs into the dry mass, and the flame 
 leaped crackling up to the highest branches. Our fair 
 companions clapped their hands with delight as the fire 
 roared and darted out angry forks of flame with each 
 fresh gust of wind, and a spiral column of dense smoke
 
 374 A VISIT TO THE CONVENTS OF MOLDAVIA. 
 
 burst in jets from the top, and, spreading like a pall over 
 the grave of the dying patriarch, gave notice far and wide 
 of the sacrilege which was being perpetrated. 
 
 The term employed in addressing our companions was 
 always Mika (mother) ; and there was something quaint, 
 considering the age of some of them, in bestowing the 
 appellation. Nevertheless, it was pleasant to be called 
 " Son," even by a girl of nineteen, and gave one the im- 
 pression of having inspired an affectionate interest. From 
 our present elevated position the convent appeared to great 
 advantage. Instead of the gaunt solitary building usual 
 on such occasions, the large collection of little cottages, 
 prettily distributed and divided by the neatest of fences, 
 clustered round the convent like chickens round a hen. 
 Instead of a barred doorway with a " grille," and a stern 
 " janitress," the fair occupants were free to roam about the 
 valley where they pleased and with whom they pleased. 
 Instead of lugubrious countenances and an air of general 
 mortification in dress and manner, there were laughing 
 merry faces, and numerous innovations upon strict con- 
 ventual costume, of which the most serious was crinoline. 
 Only a few weeks before our visit, the metropolitan had 
 made a tour of inspection, and confiscated every " cage " he 
 could lay his hands on. Still there was abundant evidence 
 that some had escaped the sweeping measure. Where 
 were there ever such " cells " as the lovely little boudoirs- 
 to be found in some of these cottages ? Alas ! the palmy 
 days of the convents have gone by. Before long there will 
 be a railway-station within two hours' drive of Agapia; 
 and a recent order has been passed prohibiting any 
 religiously minded young person from being compelled by
 
 A VISIT TO THE CONVENTS OF MOLDAVIA. 375 
 
 her parents to take the veil until she is forty-five. This 
 is practically putting an end to the system of convents 
 altogether as old maids don't exist in the Principalities 
 happy land ! and widows are extremely rare. The 
 only chance of catching a nun is to get her quite young, 
 when she is a trouble to her family; now they can no 
 longer be turned into religieuses as of old ; and as in- 
 fanticide is not in vogue in these parts, as in China, their 
 prospects are extremely questionable. Under the old 
 system, what between having plenty of visitors from Jassy 
 during the summer, and getting leave to spend a little of 
 the season in the gay capital themselves in winter, they 
 make life pass pleasantly enough. I have more than once 
 met in society at Jassy " recluses " from these establish- 
 ments, only to be distinguished by their hoods, as they 
 wear silk and crinoline when they are on leave, and doff 
 the hood if they go to the theatre or any evening en- 
 tertainments. If fact, they hold much the same position 
 in society that the Chanoinesses used to do in France 
 except that in their case, unlike these latter, matrimony is 
 of course impossible. Perhaps that is no great drawback, 
 seeing that they enjoy all the freedom of married women, 
 without any of the cares and responsibilities. 
 
 As the most touching memento we could take from 
 Agapia, we obtained from the nuns enough of the serge 
 they weave and wear themselves to make us a shooting- 
 suit apiece, and then with heavy hearts swallowed our 
 last meal under the same anxious superintendence as 
 ever, and awaited the summons to our vehicles. Although 
 our visit had not been long, we had made many friends, 
 who all assembled to bid us adieu. The form of parting
 
 376 A VISIT TO THE CONVENTS OF MOLDAVIA. 
 
 salutation is touching, and when extended along a row of 
 nuns, produces a singular effect. We reverently kissed 
 their hands, and they bent over and kissed our heads. It 
 is easy to conceive how strong was the temptation to 
 linger before this one, to hurry past another how difficult 
 to collect one's ideas in the confusion of such a moment, 
 for a strict sense of propriety prevented any outward mani- 
 festation of partiality. Persons who have never known 
 before what it is to have a great many pairs of lips, some 
 fresh and ruddy, others old and wrinkled, pressed in rapid 
 succession upon their foreheads, will be conscious of a sen- 
 sation of numbness in the scalp at last, arising probably 
 from a conflict of emotions ; nor, if the head be bald as 
 mine was, will it be possible to prevent its becoming red. 
 But why dwell upon such harrowing details ? We found 
 the goodwill of our fair entertainers extended itself to our 
 equipages. Each carriage was furnished with nine horses 
 belonging to the convent, and three gipsy postilions of 
 wild and uncouth aspect and somewhat ragged attire. 
 Then with loud cries and sharp whip-crackings we dashed 
 out of the convent-yard, and all the bells burst forth with 
 a merry peal, and we frantically waved our hats as we 
 passed by well-known balconies and under the windows of 
 the charming cottage where the dear old lady superior 
 stood kissing her hand to us in final adieu. Our gipsy 
 riders and their ragged team did not allow us much time 
 to collect our scattered faculties. They evidently were 
 impressed with a great idea of our importance, and thought 
 that exactly in proportion as we were great ought our 
 movements to be rapid; so we flew down the beds of 
 mountain torrents, between lofty wooded hills, and finally
 
 A VISIT TO THE CONVENTS OF MOLDAVIA. 377 
 
 emerged from the mountains on to the undulating rich 
 country, which stretched away to the plains we had 
 originally traversed. 
 
 We were bound to Veratica, another convent not so 
 prettily situated, but even more celebrated than the last 
 On the way we passed several villages and a good deal ol 
 land, producing Indian corn, melons, and grain, and to- 
 wards evening reached our destination a larger collection 
 of cottages than at Agapia, only placed not in a cut de sac, 
 but on the slope of a hill commanding an extensive pros- 
 pect over the lowlands of Moldavia, and altogether com- 
 paratively in the world. A village almost at the gates 
 of the convent dispelled the delusion of complete isolation, 
 and of seclusion so striking as at Agapia ; and when the 
 atmosphere was clear, even the town of Nyamptz was 
 visible in the far distance, to remind us of the busy haunts 
 of men. Here there was no conventual building at all as 
 at Agapia, where a certain small proportion of nuns lived 
 in the convent, properly so called. All the nuns of Ver- 
 atica lived in their own cottages, of which there were up- 
 wards of four hundred. It is true that some of them were 
 ranged in the form of a square, in the centre of which was 
 a church, and which was entered under an archway ; but 
 the general aspect of the place reminded me of some of 
 the mission establishments I had seen in India. There 
 were no less than four churches in Veratica for the benefit 
 of six hundred resident nuns, who never seemed to me to 
 attend them ; and there was a school for girls, presided 
 over by the prettiest woman in the convent. There was 
 every indication of greater wealth and luxe here than at 
 the establishment we had just left ; and we were put up,
 
 378 A VISIT TO THE CONVENTS OF MOLDAVIA. 
 
 not in any suite of apartments destined to strangers, but 
 by one of the .principal nuns, to whom we had a letter of 
 introduction, and who in the kindest way gave up half her 
 house to us. Nor would it have been possible to conceive 
 anything more perfect and artistic than the taste with 
 which her little abode was arranged. Half-a-dozen really 
 good pictures, picked up in Italy by some one who knew 
 what he was about, and others from Paris, a piano, a hand- 
 some Turkey carpet, heavy curtains of silk brocade, spring 
 couches and arm-chairs richly covered, some valuable 
 little bits of old China, a goodly sprinkling of small 
 Parisian looking-glasses in ornamented frames, composed 
 the furniture of the two " cells " to which my friend and 
 I were doomed. These opened out upon a balcony in 
 front, overlooking a flower-garden and the convent square ; 
 and here we used to sit and smoke cigarettes, for the 
 fragrant weed is much in vogue among the recluses, and 
 their tobacco was always unexceptionable. Our first duty 
 was to call upon the lady superior, who received us as 
 kindly as her sister at Agapia. She told us that she 
 had entered the convent at the age of thirteen she was 
 now seventy ; and except an occasional trip to Jassy, had 
 passed the whole of her existence in religious exercises. 
 She, as well as several of the committee of direction, were 
 keen politicians, and discussed with eagerness and a great 
 deal of knowledge of affairs, the intrigues of Prince Couza 
 and the abuses of his government. Nor were they at all 
 sparing in the epithets they applied to the chief of the 
 State. As many of the ladies at Veratica were nearly 
 connected with families who have wielded absolute power 
 in one or other principality, they were entitled to speak
 
 A VISIT TO THE CONVENTS OF MOLDAVIA. 379 
 
 with a certain amount of bitterness ; and as they maintained 
 a hot correspondence with their 'relations, some of whom 
 are the wealthiest and most powerful bayards, their in- 
 formation was generally pretty accurate. The brother of 
 my hostess held a very high official position ; she herself 
 was very wealthy ; and besides her delightful little house, 
 she had a carriage-and-pair, a lady's-maid who was not a nun, 
 and dressed in the last Parisian fashion ; a very excellent 
 cook, as I have good reason to remember ; and most at- 
 tentive servants. Altogether it was quite clear that be- 
 tween Veratica and Agapia there was as great a difference 
 as between Trinity College and Emmanuel, or Christchurch 
 and Wadham. There was no doubt which was the most 
 aristocratic, the most wealthy, and the most mundane of 
 the two. Still I looked back with regret to the unsophis- 
 ticated atmosphere of "the happy valley" of Agapia. 
 How easy it is to be hypercritical on these occasions ! 
 How romantic and overwhelming in its novelty should 
 we have found Veratica had we paid it our first visit ! now 
 there was something flat and vapid about it. There was 
 not quite enough of the odour of sanctity in the air to suit 
 our refined tastes. We felt as if we had almost got back 
 to the world, and were sorely tempted to plunge into the 
 wild valleys of the Bistritz, where convents nestle in un- 
 explored recesses, approached by rock-cut steps overhung 
 by glaciers, and where the occupants would really ap- 
 preciate the visits of a stranger; where one may shoot 
 chamois or catch trout, hunt bears or go picnics, sketch 
 lovely scenery or learn Moldavian under pleasant auspices, 
 scramble over mountain-passes," and generally find on the 
 other side an ecclesiastical bed not yet confiscated by
 
 380 A VISIT TO THE CONVENTS OF MOLDAVIA. 
 
 Prince Couza; where the monks are all really "good 
 fellows," and only too glad to put you up, and forward 
 your views, whatever they may be, to the best of their abil- 
 ity ; where letters can't reach you, and the cares of this life 
 cannot penetrate ; where comfort is combined with economy, 
 and the only way of gliding back to the world is down 
 the river on a raft. 
 
 Valley of Bistritz ! if an inexorable fate and the 
 approach of winter compelled me once to turn my back 
 upon you, may the day yet come when I may take another 
 siesta under the conventual shadow, and awake from a 
 dream as pleasant as this last.
 
 381 
 
 CHAPTEE XVIII. 
 
 THE WAR IN SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN : THE BATTLE OF 
 MISSUNDE. 
 
 FROM Jassy we posted on to Bucharest, and after spending 
 a few days at the City of Pleasure, and making acquaint- 
 ance with Prince Couza, an adventurer whose corrupt rule 
 was not long after brought to an end by a coup d'ttat, we 
 crossed the Carpathians into Transylvania at Cronstadt, 
 then drove on to Hermanstadt, and went on a sporting 
 trip into the mountains. On our return, we presented the 
 carriage which had served us so faithfully all the way 
 from Lemberg to the landlord of our hotel, and took train 
 to Pesth. Here Mr Ashley left me to return home, and I 
 visited some old Hungarian friends, and so worked my way 
 into Silesia. It was while staying at Primkenau, the coun- 
 try-seat of the late Duke of Augustenberg, that the news 
 arrived of the death of the King of Denmark. This event 
 let loose upon Europe the Schleswig-Holstein question, with 
 all its complications, and called Prince Frederick, the eldest 
 son of my host, from his retirement into a position of pro- 
 minence ; for, in the opinion of the best German jurists, he 
 now, in consequence of his father's abdication of his rights,
 
 382 THE WAR IN SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN : 
 
 became the lawful heir to the duchies. The question was 
 one which, under the circumstances, I was naturally in- 
 duced to study, and in regard to which I could only come 
 to one conclusion. As confessedly it was one which the 
 British statesmen of the day considered beyond their com- 
 prehension, and as the British public never even tried to 
 understand it, it was no wonder that our policy was mis- 
 taken throughout. When a question has more than two 
 sides, the popular intelligence fails to grasp it. As most 
 questions of foreign policy have generally three at least, 
 and sometimes more, and as Ministers are compelled to 
 adopt the popular view, if they wish to retain office, the 
 foreign policy of England is usually characterised by a 
 charming simplicity, not always conducive to the highest 
 interests of the country. Fortunately on this occasion Min- 
 isters were saved, by the exercise of an authority higher 
 than their own, from plunging the country into a futile and 
 disastrous war. It is not necessary here, however, to recur 
 to the political aspects of the question, which were ably 
 and conclusively dealt with at the time in a pamphlet by 
 Mr Morier (now Sir Eobert Morier, our Ambassador at St 
 Petersburg), and by Mr Kinglake in the House of Com- 
 mons, while I contributed my quota in the public press. 
 
 It was at Gotha, under the auspices of the present Duke 
 of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, who was the first to recognise Duke 
 Frederick as having succeeded to the duchies, that a 
 decision was arrived at in regard to the policy to be pur- 
 sued ; and here were gathered many eminent patriots, who 
 met in conclave an assemblage which I was very glad to 
 have an opportunity of joining. 
 
 It was as the result of these deliberations that upon the
 
 THE BATTLE OF MISSUNDE. 383 
 
 last day but one of the year 1 863 three strangers might 
 have been observed by the inhabitants of Harburg em- 
 barking on board a little river steamer lying at the wharf 
 with her steam up. But the inhabitants of Harburg ob- 
 served nothing, for they are a phlegmatic commercial race, 
 who do not trouble themselves with the concerns of other 
 people ; and although there was something unusual in 
 these gentlemen taking a trip down the Elbe in a steamer 
 chartered expressly for themselves in mid-winter, no 
 curious questions were asked as to who they were, or 
 where they were going. They were a very quiet, unpre- 
 tending trio, with no display of luggage or attendants; 
 and the captain of the steamer understood them to be 
 public functionaries, employed in making an official tour 
 of investigation upon the river. So he steamed unsus- 
 piciously down to Gluckstadt through a stream already 
 cumbered with blocks of ice; and his passengers went 
 ashore in a little boat, and were met on the pier by one or 
 two gentlemen who apparently had received notice of their 
 intended arrival, and were there to meet them. Up to this 
 moment the little town of Gluckstadt had been as quiet and 
 indifferent to the approach of the steamer, as Harburg had 
 been to its departure. It is true that the inhabitants had 
 scarcely recovered the breath expended in cheering the 
 entry of German troops upon the departure of the Danes, 
 and shouting the Schleswig-Holstein anthem; but they 
 knew no reason why they should regard the gentlemen 
 walking along the pier with any unusual interest. Sud- 
 denly a sort of electric shock seemed to thrill through the 
 town ; people began frantically to run towards the market- 
 place ; the three gentlemen found themselves surrounded
 
 384 THE WAR IN SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN : 
 
 by an enthusiastic and excited multitude, who could 
 scarcely realise the fact that he whom they maintained 
 to be their lawful sovereign had come to claim his own, 
 and had been compelled, in order to avoid the traps laid for 
 him by his enemies, thus to steal into the country. No 
 one could visit Holstein at such a moment without catch- 
 ing the infection. Who can stand by and watch unmoved 
 the progress of a game when the stake played for is a 
 crown ? Who can live in an atmosphere of shouting and 
 cheering and wild excitement, and remain indifferent to 
 the popular emotion ? How is it possible to see a whole 
 nation testifying its unanimous desire for some one thing 
 upon which they have set their affections, and not join in 
 " wishing they may get it " ? It may be bad for them, or 
 they may have no right to it ; but when nearly a million 
 of wills are all turned in the same direction, there is gen- 
 erally a good deal to be said in their favour. Whole 
 nations are not unanimous without some cause. And 
 although we may not always trust the wisdom of popular 
 movements, and generally disapprove of the means they 
 employ to achieve their ends, they deserve to be respected 
 when they represent the aspirations of every class of 
 society. 
 
 When I arrived at Kiel, the day after the Duke of 
 Augustenburg had made his triumphant entry into the 
 town, the Holsteiners were still giving vent to the redun- 
 dancy of their enthusiasm. They had been passing from 
 one phase of patriotic excitement to another. First of all, 
 the sullen departure of the Danish garrisons put them in 
 good spirits, and they chuckled inwardly as they watched 
 the retiring regiments. Then almost before the last Dan-
 
 THE BATTLE OF MISSUNDE. 385 
 
 ish soldier had disappeared, from every window fluttered the 
 national banner. The whole town instantaneously broke 
 out into rejoicing. The shops were shut, and the popula- 
 tion gave themselves up with one consent to singing, upon 
 all possible occasions and without intermission, "Schleswig- 
 Holstein meer umschlungen." The Saxon and Hanoverian 
 troops were welcomed as deliverers, and overwhelmed with 
 civilities. Every Danish emblem disappeared; the word 
 Kongliche was taken down from all the public buildings, 
 and, with a levity characteristic of all popular emotion, 
 the people of Kiel thought that their cause was won, that 
 their anxieties were at an end, and that nothing more re- 
 mained but for Duke Frederick to come and take posses- 
 sion of his own ; so that when that Prince did unexpect- 
 edly make his appearance, the town went off into a new 
 series of demonstrations ; and as I entered it at eight 
 o'clock in the evening, I found the streets illuminated 
 by a torchlight procession. Five hundred waving torches 
 cast a lurid glare upon the snow-clad houses and whitened 
 streets ; and when they all collected in front of the Bahn- 
 hoffs Hotel, at which the Duke had taken up his abode, 
 and broke out into enthusiastic cheers, and bands played, 
 and banners fluttered, and a venerable citizen, with a voice 
 trembling from emotion, in a few touching words wel- 
 comed back to his own capital the Prince who had been 
 in exile from it for fourteen years, it was difficult to 
 deny the genuineness of the popular sentiment, or to re- 
 main an indifferent spectator to this development of it. 
 The Duke, standing at a window, addressed the crowd, 
 which, with eager upturned faces, were gazing upon and 
 listening to him for the first time. To judge by the cheers 
 
 2 B
 
 386 THE WAR IN SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN : 
 
 at the conclusion of his speech, they were satisfied with 
 their inspection, and dispersed, not to go to bed, but to 
 parade the streets and lanes. It was the last night of the 
 year, and there seemed something hopeful in the auspices 
 under which 1864 was being ushered in. I adjourned, 
 with a number of excited citizens, to a club or harmonia, 
 as it was called; and here, under the influence of beer, 
 and in an atmosphere of smoke, patriotic speeches were 
 made, toasts proposed, and the old year satisfactorily dis- 
 posed of. Little did the worthy citizens of Kiel then 
 imagine that before many weeks were over all would be 
 changed ; that they would be taking down instead of put- 
 ting up flags, ceasing to apostrophise " Schleswig-Holstein 
 sea-embraced," and meeting in the harmonia not to con- 
 gratulate but to condole with each other to drink no 
 longer to the health of Saxon and of Hanoverian, but 
 confusion to the Austrian and the Prussian. However, 
 they did right not to anticipate misfortunes. They took 
 advantage of the bright sun to make what little hay they 
 could, and every demonstration that could be imagined 
 was made. Twenty-four fair maids of Kiel, dressed in 
 white, with tricolor ribbons, came and tendered their hom- 
 age to the Duke on behalf of the sex generally. A grand 
 patriotic representation was given at the theatre, with a 
 tableau emblematical of the inseparable union of Schleswig 
 with Holstein ; while deputations succeeded each other in 
 unvaried succession, not merely from all parts of Hol- 
 stein, but from Schleswig as well. One of the most inter- 
 esting of these consisted of a procession of four hundred 
 yeomen and small country proprietors, who rode into the 
 town, and formed with military precision before the hotel,
 
 THE BATTLE OF MISSUNDE. 387 
 
 It was impossible to look upon these sturdy agriculturists, 
 and not see in them the type of the British farmer. 
 Schleswig-Holstein is indeed the cradle of the Anglo- 
 Saxon race; their oldest national songs were preserved, 
 not in their own country, but in ours ; and our chronicler, 
 the Venerable Bede, furnishes the most authentic tradi- 
 tions of their early history. The language of the Frisen 
 and the Angeln is full of words which are to be found, 
 not in German, but in English ; and both the rural and 
 maritime populations of these provinces bear the strongest 
 resemblance to our own. 
 
 It was exactly a month before the Austrian and Prus- 
 sian armies crossed the Eider, that I found myself per- 
 forming that historical operation at Eendsburg. Contrary 
 to my expectation, I crossed it without opposition. It is 
 true that, inasmuch as the Eider was frozen over from one 
 end to the other, a solitary invader might enter Schleswig 
 in spite of the whole Danish army ; and so probably they 
 made a merit of necessity, and pretended not to care who 
 entered and who left the province. Considering the 
 critical state of the relations of Denmark with Germany 
 at the moment, I was much struck with the enlightened 
 and civilised treatment which the traveller met with on 
 both sides. Although pontoon - trains were rumbling 
 through the streets of Rendsburg, and engineers were 
 taking the preliminary steps to erecting batteries which 
 should command the Kronewerke, and the town was full 
 of Saxon and Hanoverian troops, and every outward indi- 
 cation was in favour of a speedy outbreak of hostilities, 
 not the slightest suspicion attached to those who crossed
 
 388 THE WAR IN SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN : 
 
 or recrossed the frontiers. A drawbridge not twenty 
 yards long separated the German from the Danish sentry ; 
 every time they paced it they almost met .in the centre. 
 At one end of the bridge floated the German, at the other 
 the Danish, flag. Groups of Danish soldiers inspected 
 groups of German soldiers, at twenty yards apart, as prize- 
 fighters do before the fight begins ; and the peaceable 
 inhabitants of the town came to look at the combatants 
 eyeing each other. One seemed to be standing on a vol- 
 cano with a very thin crust indeed. Observing people 
 pass both sentries unchallenged, I followed the example, 
 and in two minutes found myself in Schleswig. Soldiers, 
 with the little red-and-white cockade of Denmark in their 
 caps, were far more occupied, it seemed to me, in making 
 preparations to resist the expected attack than their op- 
 ponents were in carrying out their aggressive works. 
 
 Two strong lines of palisades, loop-holed for musketry, 
 flanked the bridge ; and an erection of some description, 
 the nature of which I could not exactly discover, was in 
 progress on a commanding position. The Kronewerke is 
 the Ute de pont on the Schleswig side of the bridge which 
 crosses the Eider ; there were a few buildings used for 
 barracks near it, and in a semicircular form surrounding 
 it was the district claimed by Holstein, and which con- 
 tained six villages, in most of which, at the moment of niy 
 visit, Danish troops were billeted. It was then reported 
 to be the intention of General Hake, commanding the 
 Federal army of execution, to summon the Danish General 
 to evacuate the position ; and the Danish General having 
 announced his determination not to comply with this 
 summons, a conflict was considered imminent. It did not
 
 THE BATTLE OP MlSSUNDE. 389 
 
 ultimately take place, because the Federals were not in 
 sufficient force, and the Saxon General did not wish to 
 summon either the Prussian or Austrian contingents to 
 his assistance. The jealousy which then existed between 
 the Federals and the armies of the two great German 
 Powers, might have been exasperated with immense ad- 
 vantage to the Danes at this early stage of the war. 
 
 It was never properly understood in this country that 
 both the Federal-German army and the Danish army had 
 a common enemy which they hated more even than they 
 hated each other, and this was the Prussian army. They 
 both had the same policy in one respect, and this was to 
 keep their quarrel to themselves, and not allow the two 
 Great Powers to interfere with overpowering force, and 
 settle the matter off-hand in their own sense. It is most 
 probable that, had Prussia and Austria never meddled in 
 the affair, the Germans and Danes would have fought out 
 the matter with pretty equal chances of success ; but the 
 moment these two absolute Governments were permitted 
 to take the affair in hand and settle it according to treaty, 
 they obtained the control of the situation, and the power of 
 abusing to an unlimited extent the confidence reposed in 
 them. 
 
 After an unmolested exploration of the Kronewerke, I 
 returned to Holstein by way of the railway bridge. Here, 
 too, German and Danish sentries were keeping amicable 
 guard, and on each side the river expanded into a sort of 
 lagoon, covered with ice, on which boys were skating ; and 
 firmly frozen-in were the small craft which represented 
 the maritime commerce of Rendsburg. Although trains 
 were running regularly at this time from Rendsburg to
 
 390 THE WAR IN SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN I 
 
 Schleswig, I preferred making the journey in an open 
 waggon, partly for the sake of seeing the country, and 
 partly for the convenience of being able to choose my own 
 hour of starting. Eumbling once more over the draw- 
 bridge, we soon found ourselves beyond the limits of the 
 six villages, and traversed a hard frozen road, over which 
 our well-roughed horses made good progress. The fields 
 on each side were covered with a thin coating of snow, 
 and divided with hedges as in England. Farmhouses 
 were few and far between, and villages, or more properly 
 hamlets, very rare. In the first one through which we 
 passed we observed a battery of field-artillery ; but soldiers 
 were not moving along the line, and there did not seem 
 any intention to reinforce the troops then occupying the 
 Kronewerke. According to the usual habit of the country, 
 we stopped at a half-way house, after an hour and a half's 
 drive, for a glass of schuaps and a bait, and then, once 
 more facing the bleak cutting wind, we trundled merrily 
 along, by the light of a rising moon, into Schleswig. On 
 the way we passed the railway junction of Kloster Krug, 
 the scene of rather a sharp combat, a month later, between 
 the Danes and the Austrians ; then winding between the 
 low hills crowned with the batteries of the Daunevirke, 
 we entered the long town of Schleswig, and found its 
 single street encumbered with troops, and its not very 
 spacious hotels crowded with officers. We were upwards 
 of an hour vainly trying to persuade inhospitable hotel- 
 keepers to take us in. Being all German in sympathy, 
 they were in no very amiable mood at finding themselves 
 obliged to provide accommodation for their enemies ; and 
 it was only after much persuasion that my German com-
 
 THE BATTLE OF MISSUNDE. 391 
 
 panion induced a stanch patriot to turn his two daughters 
 out of their bedroom, and place the accommodation at our 
 disposal. This mark of friendship and confidence warmed 
 our hearts to our host, and he and a waiter with strong 
 political feelings entertained us with an account of their 
 grievances till a late hour. Considering that the room in 
 which we dined was crowded with Danish officers, and 
 that our political conversation was by no means carried on 
 in a subdued tone, I was struck with the proof which this 
 episode afforded of the leniency of the Danish rule. As 
 compared with the tyranny of despotic governments, the 
 administration of these provinces by Denmark contrasted 
 most favourably ; but unfortunately there is no amount of 
 political liberty which will satisfy the sentiment of national 
 independence, which is in most instances unreasonable ; 
 for it may be safely laid down as an axiom, that people 
 would rather govern themselves badly than let other people 
 govern them well. However, I do not mean to imply by 
 this that Holstein, as a sovereign German duchy separated 
 from Denmark, would not be governed upon liberal and 
 enlightened principles, nor can it be said that the rule of 
 Denmark has been altogether unexceptionable. No doubt 
 many serious grievances have existed: still at such a 
 moment of political agitation, the freedom of speech and of 
 action permitted to a population avowedly hostile was 
 remarkable. 
 
 We were roused at an early hour the following morning 
 by strains of martial music, and looking out of the window 
 we observed regiments forming in the open space in front 
 of the hotel, and the street already crowded with a train 
 of artillery and ammunition waggons. Every outward in-
 
 392 THE WAR IN SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN : 
 
 dication betokened the confident anticipation of the speedy 
 outbreak of hostilities ; and the contrast with the German 
 preparations which were going on at Eendsburg was very 
 remarkable. There, it is true, things looked warlike, but 
 it was in a sleepy, uncertain sort of way : here everything 
 was activity and bustle. The men looked bright and 
 cheery, the officers seemed in high spirits at the prospect 
 of a fight. The laurels of their former campaign were 
 still unwithered ; and they believed they would reap a 
 fresh supply whenever the attack from Germany should 
 come. They little thought then that the overwhelming 
 armies of the two great German Powers would be em- 
 ployed to crush them, and rightly judged that, so long 
 as they only had the Federal troops to deal with, their 
 chances of success were not unequal. Finding a battery 
 of artillery bound apparently upon a military promenade, 
 my friend and I followed it upon speculation, passing the 
 old castle of Gottorp, a huge ugly building, like a factory, 
 prettily situated. "We found ourselves winding along some 
 narrow country lanes, and afraid that the officer in com- 
 mand of the battery might* imagine we were spies, we kept 
 at a respectable distance, scrambling across ploughed fields 
 and over deep-rutted country roads, until the glitter of 
 bayonets in another direction revealed to us the objects of 
 the promenade. On striking a highroad we found troops 
 moving in large masses into the batteries of the Danne- 
 virke, which crowned the hills we had been ascending. 
 Although we were the only civilians, no notice was taken 
 of us, and we were allowed to explore at leisure this cele- 
 brated fortification. As I walked along the covered-ways 
 which connected together the nineteen or twenty separate
 
 THE BATTLE OF MISSUNDE. 393 
 
 forts, each bristling with cannon and surrounded by ditches 
 and chevaux de frises, I thought I saw in prospective the 
 grave of many of the brave men who were now drawn up 
 within its lines in all the display of a grand military 
 review ; but even then the inadequacy of the force was 
 apparent to the most unskilled in military matters. The 
 defences of the Dannevirke consisted of no less than three 
 different ramparts, one four miles long, one two miles long, 
 and one fourteen miles long. When in addition to this 
 twenty miles of earthwork is added, the position of Fred- 
 erickstadt and the whole line of the Schlei, it is difficult 
 to comprehend why the Danes should ever have seriously 
 thought of making a stand against an overwhelming force, 
 with the troops at their disposal. That a hundred thousand 
 men could make the position impregnable is scarcely to be 
 doubted ; and from the earliest times this line of defence 
 has been regarded by the Danes as their natural military 
 frontier. Traditions as far back as the tenth century exist 
 to prove that, even at that remote period, the military 
 instinct of the people had led them to execute a line of 
 defence which the most advanced stage of civilisation 
 should adopt, and render celebrated in the future history 
 of the country. The subsequent evacuation of the Danne- 
 virke divested it, however, of that interest which, before 
 the war began, it possessed in the eyes of those who con- 
 sidered that the tide of German invasion would meet here 
 its first check. 
 
 I cannot say that, standing on the crisp snow which 
 covered the heights of the Dannevirke, and looking on the 
 proud array of men drawn up behind its mtrenchrnents, I 
 anticipated that in less than two months they would be
 
 394 THE WAR IN SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN : 
 
 struggling for bare life in Jutland. I have seldom seen 
 an army which looked more business-like and full of fight ; 
 nor, it must be admitted, did they afterwards show them- 
 selves wanting in any of the finer qualities of a soldier. 
 Numbers alone drove them to their last intrenchments, 
 and the want of numbers alone compelled them to evac- 
 uate the strong position they were now holding. In a 
 plain on the extreme right were drawn up the cavalry, 
 and behind the batteries upon the heights were massed 
 the artillery and infantry. About mid-day the King, sur- 
 rounded by his staff, and accompanied by the Crown- 
 Prince and the unfortunate General de Meza, who after- 
 wards had reason to regret that he ever had any connec- 
 tion with the Dannevirke, rode along the line; but 
 previous to his arrival, a general order, in the patriotic 
 sense, was read by the colonels to each- regiment formed 
 into square. Then the King himself passed them in 
 review, and addressed to each division a few stirring 
 words, which were received with cheers and every ap- 
 pearance of enthusiasm. It was an interesting and ex- 
 citing spectacle, not so much on account of the display 
 itself, as from the political significance which attached 
 to it. It was a hard day's work scrambling over the 
 stiff half-frozen ground from one battery to another, along 
 the ridges of hills for miles ; but we were repaid as well 
 by the good fortune which had led us so opportunely to 
 the spot, as by the lovely view over the town of Schleswig, 
 the broad frozen Schlei, and the wood-crowned hills in 
 rear : and when at last we reached the town hungry and 
 tired, we were more than consoled by our day's work, 
 and gained much interesting information from a young
 
 THE BATTLE OF MISSUNDE. 395 
 
 Danish officer, whose sanguine anticipations of the result 
 of the impending hostilities have certainly not been 
 realised. The trains continued to run between Schleswig 
 and Eendsburg exactly as if those two towns were not 
 occupied by hostile armies ; and there was no hindrance 
 to my walking straight out of the Dannevirke down to 
 the booking-office, and being within an hour in the office 
 of General Hake at Eendsburg narrating my experiences, 
 if so it had pleased me. However, the liberality and un- 
 suspiciousness of the Danes were so great, it would have 
 been most unworthy to abuse it; and I went back to 
 Holstein in a reticent frame of mind, with a higher 
 opinion of the Danish army, and of their powers of re- 
 sistance, than I had before, and with a stronger convic- 
 tion of the inevitable certainty of a speedy outbreak of 
 hostilities 
 
 As, at this crisis in the Dano-German question, Euro- 
 pean diplomacy had taken the complication fairly in hand, 
 and was disporting itself recklessly in its meshes, a resi- 
 dence in Kiel lost a good deal of the piquancy which the 
 popular enthusiasm, and the uncertainty of political events, 
 had imparted to it on the occasion of my first arrival. I 
 got tired of skating out to sea, down the magnificent har- 
 bour of Kiel, over miles of unsurpassed ice ; of listening 
 to canards, which proved oftener false than true ; and of 
 getting up in my leisure hours the genealogical tree of the 
 House of Oldenburg. But while Holstein was hushed in 
 the calm which preceded the storm, the Prussian Prime 
 Minister, Count Bismarck, was arranging some very lively 
 combinations indeed at Berlin. The operations of so skilled 
 an artist could not be other than a profitable study, so I
 
 396 THE WAR IN SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN : 
 
 repaired to that extremely dull and pedantic city, and 
 watched with interest the progress of that diplomacy which 
 resulted in the precipitate and unexpected crossing of the 
 Eider. The general impression which prevailed in Berlin 
 just before that event took place was, that it could not 
 possibly come off until the middle of February. Indeed, 
 a review of the army was fixed for the 2d, and announced 
 as publicly as possible, in order that the Danes might be 
 thrown off their guard, and the crossing effected on the 
 1st with less chance of opposition. The fact was, that 
 Berlin had been worked up to a martial furor; the mili- 
 tary element, which is largely preponderating and highly 
 influential, was burning for distinction. It had found its 
 only development, for many years past, in the tightness 
 of the uniform which, in the mind of the Prussian officer, 
 at once elevates him into a cherub, or some such superior 
 order of being though it did seem unnatural that, being 
 already provided with wings, he should wish to add spurs. 
 The fact is, that except in the last Holstein war, when 
 they were beaten by the Danes, the Prussians had seen 
 no fighting, and it would have cost even Bismarck his 
 place had he attempted to stem the torrent of military 
 ardour which his policy had excited, which carried away 
 society, and which sent even the stalwart Prime Minister 
 whirling down the flood rather faster than he originally 
 intended. 
 
 As I found everybody of distinction going to Holstein, 
 and as I had good reason to believe that the public was 
 purposely left in error with reference to the crossing of 
 the Eider, I started off once more to the scene of action, 
 and arrived in Kiel on the night of the 31st of January.
 
 THE BATTLE OF MISSUNDE. 397 
 
 The news brought in by the waiter, with coffee, was that 
 a sanguinary battle had taken place at 5 A.M., and that 
 the Danish army was routed and retreating. This ulti- 
 mately dwindled down to two shots exchanged and a Dane 
 slightly wounded. But the important fact remained the 
 Eider had been crossed, and the right thing to do was 
 clearly to cross it also. So thought a knot of friends 
 collected in the street, which, although the hour was 
 early, was already full of gossiping groups; so, after 
 swallowing a hasty breakfast, I found myself, with four 
 eager patriots and Mr Hardinan, the ' Times ' corre- 
 spondent, seated in an open cart of the country, provided 
 with three cross benches, rattling over the hard frozen 
 road as rapidly as a pair of stout nags could drag us. 
 
 In an hour we had reached the Eider, which here 
 presented the appearance of a canal rather than of a river, 
 and is spanned by a drawbridge to allow the passage of 
 boats. The bridge-keeper, who had been accused of spying 
 for the Danes, was already in custody, and his family, 
 grouped around the door of their abode, watched the 
 invading battalions crossing the narrow bridge. Since 
 seven o'clock in the morning, when the leading regiments 
 crossed without resistance, one incessant stream of troops 
 had been pouring into Schleswig, and we arrived just in 
 time to hear the triumphant cheers of the rear-guard as 
 they passed out of one duchy into the other. Soon we 
 overtook the artillery, and our pace was reduced to a walk. 
 The roads were like ice, and the unroughed artillery and 
 cavalry horses slipped about terribly; but every face 
 beamed with animation, and it was easy to perceive in the 
 ruddy youthful countenances of the men, full of hope and
 
 398 THE WAR IN SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN : 
 
 eagerness, that they were new to the work. Here were 
 no rugged, furrowed visages, such as betoken a veteran 
 army. The serious business of war was to these men as 
 yet a holiday pastime : laughter and songs rang in the 
 clear frosty air, and our unpretending waggon, with its six 
 " civil " occupants, was the subject of an incessant volley 
 of chaff as we squeezed our way to the front. There was 
 a goodly sprinkling of Kielers on foot, making their way 
 to see the fun ; students of the college, with little red caps, 
 trudged along with newspaper correspondents and amateur 
 spectators. The boom of distant cannon sent a thrill down 
 the line as it broke in upon the merriment, and a cart 
 conveying a sick dragoon to the rear gave matters a serious 
 look, for we supposed him to be wounded. Everybody 
 was eager to push on, and a little after mid-day we entered 
 the half-way village of Gettorf. Here the population was 
 in a condition of frantic enthusiasm ; the tap-room of the 
 village inn was filled with a noisy multitude of soldiers 
 and country people fraternising, drinking, and singing 
 " Schleswig-Holstein meer umschlungen." Flags were 
 waving, and Duke Frederick had been already proclaimed 
 amid the applause of the populace. Taking advantage of 
 a halt in the line, we pushed on through scenery less tame 
 than that through which we had already passed ; the 
 country became more undulating, and at one point the 
 road passed through a thick wood, and over a hill which 
 would have afforded a defensible position. Probably the 
 movement on the part of the Prussians had been too 
 sudden to admit of the Danes profiting by it : the firing 
 had long since ceased ; indeed, we had only heard one or 
 two shots ; but now we met two carriages driving in all
 
 THE BATTLE OF MISSUNDE. 399 
 
 haste towards Kiel. These contained the Austrian and 
 Prussian Ministers on their way from Copenhagen. We 
 were also informed that the firing we had heard proceeded, 
 in the first instance, from two Danish war-steamers, which 
 had thus greeted the leading columns of the Prussian army 
 as they debouched from the wood on to the shores of the 
 bay. Except slightly wounding a horse, they did no 
 damage ; and on the artillery coming up and opening fire, 
 the wooden ships were compelled to get under way ; and 
 when we came upon the scene of action they were no more 
 visible. The artillery which had been so recently engaged 
 were in position on a range of hills overlooking the har- 
 bour, and two or three round-shot were embedded by the 
 side of the road which ran along their base. We had now 
 passed the whole of the column which had originally 
 impeded our progress, and drove into Eckernfiorde in 
 style. As only quite the leading regiments had entered, 
 and were still billeting themselves, we were fortunate 
 enough to find accommodation, but not repose. The town 
 presented a scene of confusion and excitement perfectly 
 bewildering ; the whole population seemed bent upon 
 forcing the Prussian soldiers to share their patriotic emo- 
 tion. They embraced them, drank with them, sang with 
 them, cheered them, and paraded the streets with them. 
 The population of the town is only about 6000 ; but they 
 made noise enough for ten times that number. Flags 
 were being hung out in every direction ; provident patriots 
 had brought some from Kiel; stripes of red, white, and 
 blue were being hastily patched together, and fluttered 
 from every house-top, except from the mansion imme- 
 diately opposite the hotel, which was inhabited by a
 
 400 THE WAR IN SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN : 
 
 medical man with Danish sympathies because, as I 
 understood, his practice had been chiefly among Danish 
 employes. However that may be, it spoke well both for 
 Danes and Germans that he should at such a moment 
 have the courage to stand alone. He could not, however, 
 prevent a number of pretty daughters looking out upon, 
 and taking a lively interest in, the animated scene below. 
 For just in front of the hotel popular demonstrations kept 
 going off like fireworks : every now and then a stern officer 
 dashed through the crowd on special service, and scorned 
 to notice the political excitement around him. Probably 
 he had very vague ideas on the subject, and knew as little 
 of the Schleswig-Holstein question as the British public 
 or the officers of the Austrian army, who " wondered how 
 it was that, being in an enemy's country, the people should 
 all be so civil." Presently a great crowd gathered at the 
 hotel door, and forming into a sort of procession, went off 
 to the market-place singing the national anthem. I fol- 
 lowed it, and was chiefly struck by the stern rebukes 
 which respectable citizens administered to any member 
 of the crowd disposed to be too boisterous, and the sub- 
 missive way in which the more rowdy element received 
 reproof. Still nothing could prevent the triumph of 
 dragging Prussian soldiers along to assist in proclaiming 
 Duke Frederick ; for these simple people seemed to think 
 that Bismarck might be touched by this exhibition of 
 sympathy on the part of the Prussian army. 
 
 The town-hall of Eckernfi orde is a queer, ramshackle old 
 place, with a broad flight of stone steps leading up to it ; 
 and on this the Corporation took its stand ; while a band 
 played vigorously, and people shouted themselves hoarse,
 
 THE BATTLE OF MISSTTNDE. 401 
 
 until the order for silence was given, and a burly burgher 
 addressed his fellow-citizens in a stentorian voice, con- 
 gratulating them upon the recovery of their ancient 
 liberties, complimenting the Prussian army upon having 
 taken the matter so decidedly in hand, expressing his 
 sense of the obligation they were under to them for ren- 
 dering possible the proclamation of Duke Frederick, whose 
 name was coupled with many endearing epithets, and was 
 received with most enthusiastic applause. " Finally," said 
 the speaker, " we have still in the town a rascally Danish 
 Burgomaster, who must be instantly requested to leave ; 
 but of course the people will not think of meddling my 
 colleagues and myself are men enough for the task of 
 ejecting him ! " The band then struck up a sacred anthem, 
 and every head was bared, while all joined in the well- 
 known words of the hymn, " God our strong tower." 
 After which the mob betook themselves again to parading 
 the streets and singing ; whilst, curious to see the result 
 of the Burgomaster episode, I inquired where might be 
 the residence of that worthy; and, having found it, lingered 
 in a promiscuous manner at a neighbouring corner. I 
 found a good many other persons similarly occupied ; and 
 in a few minutes the late orator and his friends entered 
 the silent mansion, from which, of course, no popular flag 
 was waving, and which was conspicuous by its gloomy 
 aspect. I don't exactly know what there was to expect. 
 I am half afraid I had thought a stand-up fight possible 
 at the top of the steps. At all events, I felt rather 
 ashamed of the idle curiosity which tempted me to wait 
 for a report of the interview. It was satisfactory to those 
 interested, as the Burgomaster promised to vacate the 
 
 2c
 
 402 THE WAR IN SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN : 
 
 premises at 10 P.M. ; meantime some citizens were left 
 with him to take over the records. This man had con- 
 trived, apart from being a Dane, to make himself extremely 
 'unpopular in the province, and many were the stories 
 current of his cruelty and injustice. As, however, I am 
 not aware how far they are to be relied upon, and as 
 whatever may have been his misdeeds he has suffered for 
 them, it will be unnecessary here to repeat them. At a 
 later period of the evening, when I passed the house, I 
 saw two sentries at the door, so that he had applied for 
 protection, fearing some popular ebullition of feeling ; but 
 the alarm was groundless. Even the Danes must render 
 justice to the people of both the duchies for the moderation 
 they displayed in the moments of their triumph. A very 
 primitive description of illumination, consisting simply of 
 candles in all the windows, closed the day's proceedings ; 
 but all night singing went on, and once the town was 
 thrown into a state of excitement by the report of the 
 return of the Danish men-of-war in the darkness, for the 
 purpose of bombarding it. 
 
 As it was understood that the army was to continue its 
 march on the following morning, and that the Danes were 
 to be attacked in a position called Kochendorf, distant 
 only a few miles from the town, we secured a light trap, 
 and, with a pair of wretched-looking nags, started at an 
 early hour in rear of the army. The weather was still 
 cold, but raw and foggy, and the roads as slippery as ever, 
 so that our progress was slow. We were somewhat puz- 
 zled, after getting past one division, to meet some batteries 
 which had received the order to countermarch, and none 
 of the officers whom we asked seemed to know the reason.
 
 THE BATTLE OF MISSUNDE. 403 
 
 It turned out afterwards that Kochendorf was evacuated, 
 and that Prince Frederick Charles, afterwards known as 
 the Red Prince, rather than return to Eckernfiorde re, 
 infecta, had determined to attack Missunde. This necessi- 
 tated another disposition of troops, and we shortly after 
 came upon the vanguard at some cross-roads near the 
 village of Kossel, and were brought to a halt. Think- 
 ing we should be more independent without it, we left 
 our waggon at this point, and, when the order was given 
 to advance, accompanied the head of the column on foot. 
 Passing through the village, the inhabitants of which 
 were all excitedly collected to witness from afar the 
 coming engagement, I ascended a hill, on which stood a 
 picturesque church, and from the churchyard, filled with 
 spectators, was just able to distinguish with my glass the 
 indistinct forms of the Danish skirmishers. Unfortunately 
 the mist lay so heavy over the landscape that the fortifica- 
 tions of Missunde itself were not visible ; and after leaving 
 the churchyard, we felt very much as though we were 
 groping our way in the dark as we approached the enemy's 
 position. Soon a shot from the Danish batteries enlight- 
 ened us as to their exact whereabouts, and our artillery 
 was brought up into position, extending itself in the form 
 of a semicircle along the crest of the hill. Fortunately 
 the frost had hardened the surface of the ploughed land 
 across which the guns were to be dragged. The fields 
 were divided by mud-banks surmounted by hedges, and 
 pioneers were actively employed cutting gaps through 
 them. These banks afforded very comfortable shelter for 
 amateurs ; but the firing was not hot enough to drive one 
 behind them for long. I afterwards understood that no
 
 404 THE WAR IN SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN : 
 
 fewer than seventy-four pieces of ordnance were engaged 
 in the bombardment ; but I only counted six batteries, 
 and the fire was not kept up with much spirit. In fact, 
 the fog seemed to exercise a depressing influence upon all 
 concerned : our extremities were very cold ; but there was 
 not even excitement enough to make one forget one's " poor 
 feet." The unhappy Danes did not the least know where 
 the infantry was massed, and could only judge what to 
 Cre at by the flashes of our heavy guns. The flashes of 
 theirs alone revealed the position of Missunde, and the 
 consequence was that comparatively little damage was 
 done on either side. The enemy's fire was necessarily 
 feeble, as they had but few guns in position; but the 
 sound of shot and shell was evidently new to the young 
 soldiers who composed the Prussian army, and who paid 
 the tribute of respect to a whistling shell common to 
 novices. Once I perceived, advancing dimly through the 
 fog, the line of Danish skirmishers, and thought that some 
 life was about to be infused into the monotonous artillery- 
 combat, which had lasted for about two hours ; but they 
 halted two fields distant, and retreated in 'good order, 
 having apparently made themselves acquainted with our 
 position. On the extreme right, picturesquely situated by 
 the side of a small frozen meer, stood a mill; and we 
 determined to explore in that direction, as the fire had 
 slackened on the left. Making a short cut across the ice, 
 which in one or two places had been split with round-shot, 
 we found a regiment of cavalry galloping in hot haste 
 along a narrow lane towards the enemy, and two regi- 
 ments drawn up in a field, apparently waiting the order 
 for an attack. The Danes had got the range pretty well,
 
 THE BATTLE OP MISSUNDE. 405 
 
 and their riflemen were keeping up a well-sustained fire. 
 Though we could not make out the direction from which 
 they came, so thick was the fog, their hissing little mes- 
 sengers went flying about like invisible grasshoppers; 
 and wounded men went scrambling to the rear, or got 
 their comrades to carry them there in their greatcoats ; for 
 no stretchers had come up, and ambulances were nowhere 
 to be seen in fact, nothing could have been worse than 
 the arrangements for the wounded. Now and then one 
 went to the rear attended by quite an unnecessary quan- 
 tity of comrades; but, on the whole, the men behaved 
 quite as well as could 'have been expected of raw troops; 
 and when at last the order came to advance on the in- 
 trenchments, they skirmished up with alacrity to within 
 three hundred yards of the enemy, losing in so doing a 
 good many men. The object of the move was to cover the 
 retreat of the artillery. It had never from the first been 
 intended to storm Missunde. As the result proved, this, 
 as well as every other fortification on the line, would 
 inevitably have to be evacuated ; and it would have been 
 difficult to have suggested a more useless afternoon's 
 amusement than was provided for the Prussian army on 
 the 2d of February 1864. The men with whom I conversed, 
 as we toiled back towards the village, seemed rather mys- 
 tified, as well they might be, with the whole operation. 
 We had neither achieved a success, nor been repulsed, nor 
 done anything except stand to be fired at throughout the 
 greater part of a raw misty afternoon. And now, the fact 
 that our shells had set fire to some houses in Missunde, 
 which were blazing luridly through the fog, was a poor 
 triumph. Fighting on these terms was not such good fun
 
 406 THE WAR IN SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN : 
 
 i 
 
 after all. Though it had not been attended with much 
 danger for the official list only gave 40 killed, and 180 
 wounded we had been the only spectators at all near tht 
 front, and we found a cloud of German newspaper corre 
 spondents and citizens of Kiel in the village eager for sen- 
 sation intelligence, which, under the circumstances, it wa& 
 difficult to provide. However, a great deal of sanguinary 
 hand-to-hand fighting, which never took place, was re 
 ported, with many graphic details, to have occurred in the 
 trenches. The Prussian army was supposed to have cov- 
 ered itself with glory, though, even at this moment of anti- 
 Danish excitement, the anti-Prussian feeling was so strong 
 among the Holsteiners, that there were many present who 
 would have chuckled over any decided reverse which could 
 have happened to the Prussian army. 
 
 The little village of Kosel did not promise well for a 
 night's accommodation ; the road back to Eckernfiorde 
 would be impassable for some hours, and it was getting 
 late enough to make us feel nervous at the prospect of a 
 good deal of scrambling and discomfort before we should 
 discover quarters. Fortunately we found our trap with 
 the two rosinantes, and were sitting speculating in what 
 direction to go, when we saw a road leading towards the 
 enemy's position free of all encumbrance. Along this we 
 determined to proceed, in hopes of finding a village un- 
 occupied by troops. There was so much confusion that 
 no one thought of preventing our taking a line which led 
 us straight to the enemy ; and in five minutes we had left 
 the din and bustle of the retreating army behind us. 
 There was something startling in the sudden change to 
 solitude ; and in about half an hour we began to wonder
 
 THE BATTLE OF MISSUNDE. 407 
 
 how far we might be from the nearest Danes. A clean 
 little village, a charming old-fashioned roadside inn, and 
 a group of peasants collected round the porch, was a wel- 
 come sight. They raised their hands in astonishment at 
 our appearance, and in deprecation of our venturing any 
 further. The Danes, they said, were not above a quarter 
 of an hour distant, and we had better stay at the inn for 
 the night. The driver, who, like a true patriot, had a 
 cockade in his hat, was recommended to dispense with 
 that little addition, and he became altogether very piano 
 at the unpleasant neighbourhood in which he found him- 
 self. If any of the villagers had been spies, we might 
 easily have been made prisoners, had that been worth 
 anybody's while; but, so far from this being the case, 
 the rustics seemed to take courage. We were the first 
 " Germans " they had seen. Their faces beamed with joy 
 at the proof which our presence afforded of the reality of 
 a speedy deliverance from their present masters ; and, to 
 my great regret, they began to sing, in subdued voices it 
 is true, that eternal " Schleswig-Holstein meer umschlun- 
 gen," with the air of which by this time I had become 
 disagreeably familiar. The empressement of our host and 
 hostess, the alacrity of a neatly-dressed, sprightly Hebe, 
 who lingered in the room a great deal more than was 
 actually necessary, to gossip with us about the Danes, 
 and to hear our news about the battle, made us congratu- 
 late ourselves upon our good fortune. While those with 
 the army were lodging in barns, we had a most luxurious 
 inn all to ourselves. And when, after the fatigues of the 
 day, we had discussed an admirably cooked dinner, and 
 drew round the fire, with the usual accompaniments to the
 
 408 THE WAR IN SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN : 
 
 digestive process, we thought that there were worse places 
 in the world than Fleckeby, and that it was decidedly 
 pleasanter to be in front of an advancing army than in 
 rear. The line, it must be admitted, is rather a delicate 
 one to hit: for armies in this relative position to each 
 other are constantly performing the process known as 
 " feeling each other " ; and if they " feel you " between 
 them, the results are not satisfactory. However, there is 
 an excitement in being ahead of everything, which, added 
 to the extra comfort, makes the alternative, even though 
 the risk be added, the most agreeable. We had a long 
 discussion, before "turning in," upon our plans for the 
 morrow, the question being whether it was better to 
 return to the Prussian army, on the chance of another 
 attack on Missunde, and the crossing of the Schlei, or 
 whether we should not make an exploration towards the 
 Austrian headquarters, on the chance of an attack upon 
 the Dannevirke coming off. We were about an hour's 
 drive from the Dannevirke in our present position ; and 
 although our host gave us very precise information as to 
 the whereabouts of the Danes, one was never sure of 
 escaping reconnoitring parties. There is no doubt that, 
 as amateurs, we should have been much better treated in 
 the Danish than in the Prussian army, so that it would 
 have been rather good policy to have " fallen " into the 
 hands of the enemy, had it not involved a return to 
 England by way of Copenhagen, an operation for which 
 I could not afford the time. All our plans were frus- 
 trated next morning by the change in the weather. The 
 mists of the day before were succeeded by hurricanes of 
 wind, with a violent beating rain, that made campaigning
 
 THE BATTLE OF MISSDNDE. 409 
 
 a most unpleasant occupation. Another attack on Mis- 
 sunde or the crossing of the Schlei was clearly out of the 
 question, so we decided in favour of the left wing. While 
 we were standing watching disconsolately the storm- 
 gusts succeeding each other, the familiar uniform of the 
 Austrian army suddenly turned a corner of the road, and 
 an officer in command of a picket rushed up the steps of 
 our cheery hostel to find warmth and food. Although, 
 when he gave his orders to the sergeant, his mouth was 
 full of beef-steak, I understood the Italian in which they 
 were conveyed; and he started when, after having al- 
 lowed him to enter into details, I made a remark in the 
 same language. He had not calculated upon this in a 
 remote corner of Schleswig, and evidently at once s'et 
 me down as a spy. It was in vain to attempt afterwards 
 to extract a word of information from him. He would 
 neither say where he had come from, where he was going 
 to, which roads were safe, which occupied by the enemy. 
 The more questions I asked, the more suspicious naturally 
 did he become, and he declined at last even to condole with 
 me on the state of the weather. Getting impatient of 
 inaction, we determined on being storm-stayed no longer ; 
 and being assured by our host that the Austrian head- 
 quarters were at a village called Lottorf, we ordered our 
 driver to take us there. For more than an hour we fol- 
 lowed lanes and cross-roads without meeting a soul : at 
 last I became sceptical about the direction, and we stopped 
 at a hamlet, and were informed that we had passed the 
 turning to Lottorf some time since; that no troops had 
 appeared in the immediate neighbourhood, but that firing 
 had been heard. As whenever hostile armies are at all
 
 410 THE WAR IN SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN : 
 
 near each other, firing is always being heard by the 
 country people, whether there is any or not, we did not 
 believe this latter part of the story, and decided, as we 
 had passed Lottorf, not to go back there, but to push 
 on and trust to Providence. It afterwards turned out 
 that, had we gone to Lottorf, we should have gone straight 
 into the Danish lines, as the enemy was holding the 
 position in force. However, in blissful ignorance of this 
 narrow escape, we kept on, still wondering where any 
 army was. We were in the very middle of the position, 
 and could not see a uniform of any kind. It was not until 
 we reached the village of Breckendorf that we observed 
 some Austrian vedettes on the hill-tops, and saw men 
 creeping about in the fields reconnoitring. Still we could 
 not believe in the proximity of the Danes, unless, indeed, 
 we had come through them without knowing it. "We said 
 as much to the Austrian officer in command, who replied 
 that he did not know what had become of the enemy, and 
 that he was going to call in his scouts. If we could only 
 have suspected that we had actually been passing over 
 ground which in another hour was to be one of the most 
 hotly contested fields of the war, we should have looked at 
 it with greater interest. If we had left Fleckeby an hour 
 or two later, we should have tumbled into the middle of the 
 battle of Ober Selk ; as it was, the villainous weather and 
 the absence of any sign of the enemy induced us to push 
 on to headquarters, in the hope of getting some good 
 information. The difficulty was to find out where head- 
 quarters were. Every officer we asked told us a different 
 place : some thought we were spies, others did not know 
 themselves, or pretended they did not ; so we found our-
 
 THE BATTLE OF MISSUNDE. 411 
 
 selves approaching Kendsburg, simply because there was 
 no other place to go to. 
 
 The country through which we had passed since leaving 
 Fleckeby was not devoid of a rugged beauty, and, from 
 its diversified character, formed a pleasing contrast to 
 other parts of Holstein. The hills, though not high, were 
 in places scarped, and granite boulders lay strewn at their 
 base ; while here and there we observed tumuli, which 
 had all the appearance of having been artificially con- 
 structed. However, we had neither time nor inclination 
 for geological observation. From a military point of view, 
 the country was admirably adapted for skirmishing, and 
 the battle, which took place at mid-day, was a sort of 
 running fight over the hills, the Danes slowly retreating 
 upon the Dannevirke, some five or six miles distant, 
 standing on the hill-tops, and pouring down upon the 
 advancing Austrians destructive volleys of musketry. 
 They disputed effectively one position after another all 
 through the afternoon, the Austrians only achieving their 
 day's success at the price of thirty officers and upwards 
 of 500 men killed and wounded. It was in a narrow lane 
 that we met the division of Gondecourt, on whom this 
 loss was inflicted, marching unconsciously to their fate. 
 We had as little idea as they seemed to have of the 
 bloody work awaiting them ; and as regiment after regi- 
 ment passed, and the officers inquired of us how far it 
 was to their night-quarters, neither they nor we suspected 
 the long sleep on the hillside that was in store for many 
 of them. At the head of the column rode Gondecourt 
 himself, and splashing through the deep mire after him 
 came regiments of Galicians, Hungarians, and Styrians, the
 
 412 THE WAR IN SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN : 
 
 latter with sprigs of pine in their caps. We were obliged 
 to draw up for nearly an hour to let the long train of 
 artillery and transport go by, and as we watched the 
 various nationalities pass, we could not help being struck 
 with the strange political inconsistency which enabled 
 the oppressors to use the oppressed to fight against op- 
 pression. It was a curious feature of the Schleswig- 
 Holstein question, that it should have reversed all our 
 positions; and that while the Prussians and Austrians 
 apparently found themselves contending for the cause 
 of nationality, we should so vehemently have expressed 
 our sympathies against it. 
 
 Having only the day before been present with the 
 Prussian army, I had a good opportunity of comparing 
 it with the Austrian troops who were now marching past. 
 The difference was sufficiently marked. The youthful, 
 light-hearted Prussian seemed to go into action as a new 
 experience, but did not inspire much confidence in his 
 steadiness; the Austrian, on the other hand, worn and 
 rugged, often brutalised in expression, plodded on like a 
 machine. The Prussian looked intelligent enough to 
 understand the Schleswig-Holstein question : the Aus- 
 trian looked as if brandy and tobacco constituted the 
 sum total of his ideas ; but he was every inch a " profes- 
 sional," the others looked like amateurs. Nevertheless, 
 two years afterwards, the amateurs gave the professionals 
 a bad time of it. How it was we did not hear the firing 
 which took place a short time after we had passed the 
 column, we could not make out, so close to it must we 
 have been. However, we pushed on to Rendsburg, more 
 for the purpose of dining than anything else ; and after-
 
 THE BATTLE OF MISSUNDE. 413 
 
 wards having received definite information as to the lo- 
 cality of the headquarters, we started once more along 
 by-lanes, which brought us out ultimately on the pretty 
 undulating shores of the "Wittensee, a very considerable 
 lake. By this time it was getting dark, but we were far 
 from the end of our fatigues. Following the somewhat 
 vague directions of a jovial innkeeper, we finally, more 
 by good luck than good management, discovered the re- 
 mote hamlet of Damendorf, where General Von Wrangel 
 had fixed his headquarters ; but he and his staff, having 
 heard the firing, were witnessing the battle which we had 
 missed, and came back late with the news. As there was 
 no corner in which to lay our heads, we had nothing for 
 it but to push on to Eckernfiorde. Here, again, every 
 table was occupied, to say nothing of the beds. Our 
 horses were incapable of moving another yard, but we 
 determined to struggle on to Kiel, and about midnight 
 were once more en route with fresh nags. Our bad luck 
 this night pursued us ; for we met a train of no less than 
 1500 waggons, conveying stores to the army, and spent 
 the whole night scraping past them, at the constant risk 
 of finding an unexpected bed in a ditch. It was 4 A.M. 
 before I was once more ensconced in a snug bed, after 
 twenty hours spent in an open waggon the greater 
 number of them in storms of rain or sleet. 
 
 As we received positive information at Kiel that the 
 grand attack on the Dannevirke was to take place on the 
 following day, we made another night-journey by carriage 
 to Eendsburg, reaching that town at three in the morning, 
 and leaving it again shortly after daybreak in a pitiless 
 snow-storm. We followed the highroad to Schlcswig, the
 
 414 THE WAR IN SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN I 
 
 same which I had traversed more than a month before ; 
 but which, as we soon found to our cost, was no longer 
 free to the traveller. To the Prussian guards which pro- 
 tected the rear of the army was assigned the duty of 
 making war upon Germany, while the front was con- 
 quering the Danes. Not even officers of the Federal 
 army in uniform were allowed by these jealous guards- 
 men to penetrate their lines, and every civilian was 
 regarded either as a Danish spy, or, what was still more 
 odious, a member of the National Verein. We were the 
 first of a series who were subsequently expelled from the 
 neighbourhood of military operations for our political 
 opinions. Not that the intelligent colonel who refused 
 to allow us to pass had the least idea what our sentiments 
 were ; but all Englishmen are, in the eyes of the Yunker, 
 revolutionary, and a danger not merely to society, but 
 even to the' discipline of an army. The Prussian officer, 
 as a rule which, like every other, has brilliant exceptions 
 prides himself upon being a soldier and nothing else. 
 He generally succeeds to admiration in this limited am- 
 bition, so far as his bearing to the rest of the world is 
 concerned ; but the fact to some extent accounts for the 
 unpopularity of the class generally. One may affect 
 military precision without allowing it to degenerate into 
 rudeness, and maintain the dignity of one's profession 
 without showing contempt for all who do not belong to 
 it, all which reflections were suggested to me by the 
 extremely uncivil treatment I received, first from a 
 colonel, and then from a general, simply because I asked 
 to be allowed to go, as I had done two days before, to 
 headquarters. The elements combining with the colonels
 
 THE BATTLE OF MISSUNDE. 415 
 
 to make any connection with the fortunes of the Prussian 
 army most disagreeable, I determined to quit the scene 
 of operations ; and, as it turned out afterwards, I missed 
 nothing, for the night I left Schleswig the Dannevirke 
 was evacuated, and I should have been detained some 
 time longer had I waited to see the subsequent operations 
 in Jutland. I therefore lost no time in making the best 
 of my way home.
 
 416 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE MORAL OF IT ALL. 
 
 ONE result of the erratic and somewhat turbulent life I 
 had been leading, described in the foregoing pages, was 
 to place me in communication with sources of political 
 information of altogether exceptional value. The mis- 
 fortune was that it was of so confidential a character that 
 it was difficult to use it to advantage in any organ of the 
 public press of which one had not absolute control. For 
 instance, a conference was at that time sitting in London 
 on the Schleswig-Holstein question, consisting of pleni- 
 potentiaries of all the European Powers who had been 
 parties to the Treaty of London, the proceedings at which 
 were kept absolutely secret; yet a few days after each 
 meeting, I received from abroad an accurate report of 
 everything that had transpired at it and this, I hasten 
 to say, through no one connected with our own Foreign 
 Office. I felt bursting with all sorts of valuable know- 
 ledge, with no means of imparting it in a manner which 
 suited me, when one day, at a little dinner at which Sir 
 Algernon Borthwick, Mr Evelyn Ashley, and the late Mr 
 James Stewart Wortley were present, when the denseness
 
 THE MORAL OF IT ALL. 417 
 
 of the British public in matters of foreign policy was 
 being discussed, it was suggested that a little paper 
 should be started by way of a skit, in which the most 
 outrageous canards should be given as serious, and serious 
 news should be disguised in a most grotesque form. In 
 fact, we wanted to see to what extent society could be 
 mystified. Sir A. Borthwick kindly undertook to print 
 the absurd little sheet, which appeared a week or two 
 after under the name of ' The Owl,' and which, I think, 
 was the only instance of a paper on record which paid 
 all its expenses which, if I remember right, amounted 
 to 15 by the sale of its first number. When it was 
 found that it was likely to be profitable, we arranged 
 that the proceeds should be applied to our common 
 entertainment ; and while we intrigued politicians by the 
 accuracy of our information, we excited the curiosity of 
 society to the highest pitch, not merely by maintaining 
 our anonymity, but by the evidences which our spasmodic 
 little publication afforded that we were thoroughly be- 
 hind the scenes. "With the close of the season, 'The 
 Owl ' retired to roost for the time, and I made a trip into 
 Italy to watch the progress of events in the Peninsula. 
 In the following year a general election took place, and I 
 entered Parliament. 
 
 Most people are, I suppose, more or less conscious of 
 leading a sort of double life an outside one and an inside 
 one. The more I raced about the world, and took as 
 active a part as I could in its dramatic performances, the 
 more profoundly did the conviction force itself upon me, 
 that if it was indeed a stage, and all the men and women 
 only players, there must be a real life somewhere. And 
 
 2D
 
 418 THE MORAL OF IT ALL. 
 
 I was always groping after it in a blind dumb sort of way 
 not likely, certainly, to find it in battle-fields or ball- 
 rooms, but yet the reflection was more likely to force itself 
 upon me when I was among murderers or butterflies than 
 at any other time. Now that I found myself among poli- 
 ticians, I think it forced itself upon me more strongly than 
 ever. Here was a stage, indeed, on which I had proposed 
 to myself to play a serious part. It was for this I had 
 applied myself to the study of European politics, for this 
 I had supplied myself with valuable sources of informa- 
 tion. I had learnt my part, but when it came to acting, 
 it seemed to dwindle into most minute proportions. It is 
 true that just at this juncture the British legislature was 
 far more occupied with the cattle-plague than with foreign 
 affairs, and that the disinfecting of railway trucks was re- 
 garded as a subject of absorbing interest, second only in 
 importance to the Reform Bill which followed. The 
 House of Commons does not yet seem to have learnt the 
 lesson that voters are like playing cards. The more you 
 shuffle them the dirtier they get. When it became clear 
 to me that in order to succeed, party must be put before 
 country, and self before everything, and that success could 
 only be purchased at the price of convictions, which were 
 expected to change with those of the leader of the party 
 these, as it happened, were of an extremely fluctuating 
 character, and were never to be relied upon from one session 
 to another my thirst to find something that was not a 
 sham or a contradiction in terms increased. The world, 
 with its bloody wars, its political intrigues, its social evils, its 
 religious cant, its financial frauds, and its glaring anomalies, 
 assumed in my eyes more and more the aspect of a gigantic
 
 THE MORAL OF IT ALL. 419 
 
 lunatic asylum. And the question occurred to ine whether 
 there might not be latent forces in nature, by the appli- 
 cation of which this profound moral malady might be 
 reached. To the existence of such forces we have the 
 testimony of the ages. It was by the invocation of 
 these that Christ founded the religion of which the pop- 
 ular theology has become a travesty, and it appeared to 
 me that it could only be by a reinvocation of these same 
 forces a belief in which seemed rapidly dying out that a 
 restoration of that religion to its pristine purity could be 
 hoped for. 
 
 I had long been interested in a class of psychic phe- 
 nomena which, under the names of magnetism, hypnotism, 
 and spiritualism, have since been forcing themselves upon 
 public attention, and had even been conscious of these 
 phenomena in my own experiences, and of the existence 
 of forces in my own organism which science was utterly 
 unable to account for, and therefore turned its back upon, 
 and relegated to the domain of the unknowable. Into 
 this region miscalled mystic I determined to try and 
 penetrate. Looking back upon the period of my life 
 described in the foregoing pages, it appeared to me dis- 
 tinctly a most insane period. I therefore decided upon 
 retiring from public life and the confused turmoil of a 
 mad world, into a seclusion where, under the most fa- 
 vourable conditions I could find, I could prosecute my 
 researches into the more hidden laws which govern human 
 action and control events. For more than twenty years I 
 have devoted myself to this pursuit; and though from 
 time to time I have been suddenly forced from retirement 
 into some of the most stirring scenes which have agitated
 
 420 THE MORAL OF IT ALL. 
 
 Europe, the reasons which compelled me to participate in 
 them were closely connected with the investigation in 
 which I was engaged, the nature of which is so absorb- 
 ing, and its results so encouraging, that it would not be 
 possible for me now to abandon it, or to relinquish the 
 hope which it has inspired, that a new moral future is 
 dawning upon the human race one certainly of which 
 it stands much in need. As, however, this latter convic- 
 tion has not yet forced itself upon a majority of my fellow- 
 men, who continue to think the world is a very good world 
 as it is, and that the invention of new machines and ex- 
 plosives for the destruction of their fellow-men is a per- 
 fectly sane and even laudable pursuit, I will refrain from 
 entering further for the present upon such an unpopular 
 theme. Perhaps the day may come, though it cannot be 
 for many years, when I may take up the thread of my 
 life where I have dropped it here, and narrate some 
 episodes which have occurred since, which I venture to 
 hope that the public of that day will be more ready to 
 appreciate than those to whom, with the warmest feelings 
 of attachment and compassion, I respectfully dedicate these 
 pages. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS.
 
 31673
 
 ,.^.5!i THERN REGIONAL LIBRARY 
 
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