I Must Not Tell You His Family Name; My Mention Of
His Title Can Do Him No Harm, For It Is I, And I Only, Who Have
Conferred It, In Consideration Of The Military And Diplomatic
Services Performed Under My Own Eyes.
The General as well as I was bound for Smyrna, and we agreed to
sail together in an Ionian brigantine.
We did not charter the
vessel, but we made our arrangement with the captain upon such
terms that we could be put ashore upon any part of the coast that
we might choose. We sailed, and day after day the vessel lay
dawdling on the sea with calms and feeble breezes for her portion.
I myself was well repaid for the painful restlessness which such
weather occasions, because I gained from my companion a little of
that vast fund of interesting knowledge with which he was stored,
knowledge a thousand times the more highly to be prized since it
was not of the sort that is to be gathered from books, but only
from the lips of those who have acted a part in the world.
When after nine days of sailing, or trying to sail, we found
ourselves still hanging by the mainland to the north of the isle of
Cyprus, we determined to disembark at Satalieh, and to go on thence
by land. A light breeze favoured our purpose, and it was with
great delight that we neared the fragrant land, and saw our anchor
go down in the bay of Satalieh, within two or three hundred yards
of the shore.
The town of Satalieh {48} is the chief place of the Pashalic in
which it is situate, and its citadel is the residence of the Pasha.
We had scarcely dropped our anchor when a boat from the shore came
alongside with officers on board, who announced that the strictest
orders had been received for maintaining a quarantine of three
weeks against all vessels coming from Syria, and directed
accordingly that no one from the vessel should disembark. In reply
we sent a message to the Pasha, setting forth the rank and titles
of the General, and requiring permission to go ashore. After a
while the boat came again alongside, and the officers declaring
that the orders received from Constantinople were imperative and
unexceptional, formally enjoined us in the name of the Pasha to
abstain from any attempt to land.
I had been hitherto much less impatient of our slow voyage than my
gallant friend, but this opposition made the smooth sea seem to me
like a prison, from which I must and would break out. I had an
unbounded faith in the feebleness of Asiatic potentates, and I
proposed that we should set the Pasha at defiance. The General had
been worked up to a state of most painful agitation by the idea of
being driven from the shore which smiled so pleasantly before his
eyes, and he adopted my suggestion with rapture.
We determined to land.
To approach the sweet shore after a tedious voyage, and then to be
suddenly and unexpectedly prohibited from landing - this is so
maddening to the temper, that no one who had ever experienced the
trial would say that even the most violent impatience of such
restraint is wholly inexcusable. I am not going to pretend,
however, that the course which we chose to adopt on the occasion
can be perfectly justified. The impropriety of a traveller's
setting at naught the regulations of a foreign State is clear
enough, and the bad taste of compassing such a purpose by mere
gasconading is still more glaringly plain. I knew perfectly well
that if the Pasha understood his duty, and had energy enough to
perform it, he would order out a file of soldiers the moment we
landed, and cause us both to be shot upon the beach, without
allowing more contact than might be absolutely necessary for the
purpose of making us stand fire; but I also firmly believed that
the Pasha would not see the befitting line of conduct nearly so
well as I did, and that even if he did know his duty, he would
hardly succeed in finding resolution enough to perform it.
We ordered the boat to be got in readiness, and the officers on
shore seeing these preparations, gathered together a number of
guards, who assembled upon the sands. We saw that great excitement
prevailed, and that messengers were continually going to and fro
between the shore and the citadel. Our captain, out of compliment
to his Excellency, had provided the vessel with a Russian war-flag,
which he had hoisted alternately with the Union Jack, and we agreed
that we would attempt our disembarkation under this, the Russian
standard! I was glad when we came to that resolution, for I should
have been sorry to engage the honoured flag of England in such an
affair as that which we were undertaking. The Russian ensign was
therefore committed to one of the sailors, who took his station at
the stern of the boat. We gave particular instructions to the
captain of the brigantine, and when all was ready, the General and
I, with our respective servants, got into the boat, and were slowly
rowed towards the shore. The guards gathered together at the point
for which we were making, but when they saw that our boat went on
without altering her course, THEY CEASED TO STAND VERY STILL; none
of them ran away, or even shrank back, but they looked as if THE
PACK WERE BEING SHUFFLED, every man seeming desirous to change
places with his neighbour. They were still at their post, however,
when our oars went in, and the bow of our boat ran up - well up upon
the beach.
The General was lame by an honourable wound received at Borodino,
and could not without some assistance get out of the boat; I,
therefore, landed the first. My instructions to the captain were
attended to with the most perfect accuracy, for scarcely had my
foot indented the sand when the four six-pounders of the brigantine
quite gravely rolled out their brute thunder.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 82 of 87
Words from 83255 to 84284
of 89094
