Had He Entered Upon His
Situation Of His Own Free Will, He Could Have Endured It; But To
Have Been Deceived, And, In Addition To That, Forced Into It,
Was Intolerable.
He made every effort to go home in our ship,
but his captain refused to part with him except in the way of
exchange, and that he could not effect.
If this account of the
whole matter, which we had from the boy, and which was confirmed
by all the crew, be correct, I cannot understand why Captain Arthur
should have refused to let him go, especially being a captain who
had the name, not only with that crew, but with all whom he had
ever commanded, of an unusually kind-hearted man.
The truth is, the unlimited power which merchant captains have, upon
long voyages on strange coasts, takes away a sense of responsibility,
and too often, even in men otherwise well-disposed, substitutes
a disregard for the rights and feelings of others. The lad was
sent on shore to join the gang at the hide-house; from whence,
I was afterwards rejoiced to hear, he effected his escape, and
went down to Callao in a small Spanish schooner; and from Callao,
he probably returned to England.
Soon after the arrival of the California, I spoke to Captain Arthur
about Hope; and as he had known him on the voyage before, and was
very fond of him, he immediately went to see him, gave him proper
medicines, and, under such care, he began rapidly to recover.
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