The Present Population Is Said To
Amount To Eighty Thousand Souls.
It is not without reason that Cadiz has been called a strong town:
the fortifications on the land side, which were partly the work of
the French during the sway of Napoleon, are perfectly admirable,
and seem impregnable:
Towards the sea it is defended as much by
nature as by art, water and sunken rocks being no contemptible
bulwarks. The defences of the town, however, except the landward
ones, afford melancholy proofs of Spanish apathy and neglect, even
when allowance is made for the present peculiarly unhappy
circumstances of the country. Scarcely a gun, except a few
dismounted ones, is to be seen on the fortifications, which are
rapidly falling to decay, so that this insulated stronghold is at
present almost at the mercy of any foreign nation which, upon any
pretence, or none at all, should seek to tear it from the grasp of
its present legitimate possessors, and convert it into a foreign
colony.
A few hours after my arrival, I waited upon Mr. B., the British
consul-general at Cadiz. His house, which is the corner one at the
entrance of the alameda, commands a noble prospect of the bay, and
is very large and magnificent. I had of course long been
acquainted with Mr. B. by reputation; I knew that for several years
he had filled, with advantage to his native country and with honour
to himself, the distinguished and highly responsible situation
which he holds in Spain. I knew, likewise, that he was a good and
pious Christian, and, moreover, the firm and enlightened friend of
the Bible Society. Of all this I was aware, but I had never yet
enjoyed the advantage of being personally acquainted with him. I
saw him now for the first time, and was much struck with his
appearance. He is a tall, athletic, finely built man, seemingly
about forty-five or fifty; there is much dignity in his
countenance, which is, however, softened by an expression of good
humour truly engaging. His manner is frank and affable in the
extreme. I am not going to enter into minute details of our
interview, which was to me a very interesting one. He knew already
the leading parts of my history since my arrival in Spain, and made
several comments upon it, which displayed his intimate knowledge of
the situation of the country as regards ecclesiastical matters, and
the state of opinion respecting religious innovation.
I was pleased to find that his ideas in many points accorded with
my own, and we were both decidedly of opinion that, notwithstanding
the great persecution and outcry which had lately been raised
against the Gospel, the battle was by no means lost, and that the
holy cause might yet triumph in Spain, if zeal united with
discretion and Christian humility were displayed by those called
upon to uphold it.
During the greater part of this and the following day, I was much
occupied at the custom-house, endeavouring to obtain the documents
necessary for the exportation of the Testaments. On the afternoon
of Saturday, I dined with Mr. B. and his family, an interesting
group, - his lady, his beautiful daughters, and his son, a fine
intelligent young man. Early the next morning, a steamer, the
Balear, was to quit Cadiz for Marseilles, touching on the way at
Algeciras, Gibraltar, and various other ports of Spain. I had
engaged my passage on board her as far as Gibraltar, having nothing
farther to detain me at Cadiz; my business with the custom-house
having been brought at last to a termination, though I believe I
should never have got through it but for the kind assistance of Mr.
B. I quitted this excellent man and my other charming friends at a
late hour with regret. I believe that I carried with me their very
best wishes; and, in whatever part of the world I, a poor wanderer
in the Gospel's cause, may chance to be, I shall not unfrequently
offer up sincere prayers for their happiness and well-being.
Before taking leave of Cadiz, I shall relate an anecdote of the
British consul, characteristic of him and the happy manner in which
he contrives to execute the most disagreeable duties of his
situation. I was in conversation with him in a parlour of his
house, when we were interrupted by the entrance of two very
unexpected visitors: they were the captain of a Liverpool merchant
vessel and one of the crew. The latter was a rough sailor, a
Welshman, who could only express himself in very imperfect English.
They looked unutterable dislike and defiance at each other. It
appeared that the latter had refused to work, and insisted on
leaving the ship, and his master had in consequence brought him
before the consul, in order that, if he persisted, the consequences
might be detailed to him, which would be the forfeiture of his
wages and clothes. This was done; but the fellow became more and
more dogged, refusing ever to tread the same deck again with his
captain, who, he said, had called him "Greek, lazy lubberly Greek,"
which he would not bear. The word Greek rankled in the sailor's
mind, and stung him to the very core. Mr. B., who seemed to be
perfectly acquainted with the character of Welshmen in general, who
are proverbially obstinate when opposition is offered to them, and
who saw at once that the dispute had arisen on foolish and trivial
grounds, now told the man, with a smile, that he would inform him
of a way by which he might gain the weather-gage of every one of
them, consul and captain and all, and secure his wages and clothes;
which was by merely going on board a brig of war of her Majesty,
which was then lying in the bay. The fellow said he was aware of
this, and intended to do so. His grim features, however, instantly
relaxed in some degree, and he looked more humanely upon his
captain.
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