Hitherto every step of my journey has been marked by occurrences so unexpected, and accidents so extraordinary, that I should feel some repugnance to relate them, lest my veracity should be called in question, were they not attested by so many living persons of respectability, and by written documents, of authority on record. Were one to consider them merely as the offspring of fiction, they would perhaps have interest enough to catch the attention; but, viewing them as facts, they borrow, from their number and rapid succession, as well as from their singularity, so much of the complexion of imaginary adventure, that the combination cannot, I think, fail to interest your mind as well as your feelings.
Arrived at Nagapatnam, within a short run of Madras, it is natural for you to suppose that adventure was at an end, and that fortune, fatigued by the incessant exertion of her caprice, might have left me to proceed the short residue of my way without further molestation. It fell out otherwise: she had marked me as her game, and resolved to worry me to the last moment[moment]; for, as we approached Madras, we were chased by a French frigate, and taken near Fort St. George.
This appeared to me the greatest misfortune I had yet met with, and likely to be the most fatal in its consequences. In order to explain this, I must recur to certain circumstances, which, though I was informed of them since my release from Hydernagur, I did not relate to you, because they were no way connected with my narrative till now.
Monsieur Suffrein, the French Admiral, having a number of British prisoners in his possession, whom he found it extremely inconvenient to support, made a proposal for an exchange——which, from some failure in the conveyance, or ambiguity in the terms of the correspondence, was neglected.
The motives or accidents which gave rise to this neglect have never been completely developed; and perhaps the Admiral himself, Sir Edward Hughes, and Lord Macartney, were the only persons who knew the bottom of that transaction. In such cases, however, the ignorance of fact is generally supplied by conjecture; and men have presumed to censure unequivocally on the mere hypothetical suggestions of their own imaginations. Candour, however, in such a case, where it could not speak with certainty, would speak with caution. An Historian, particularly, should steer clear of party rancour, and not suffer the prejudice or malignity which misled himself, to go down to and mislead posterity. Where positive proof is wanting, if we are obliged to decide, we must judge by analogy and inference; and in the case now before us, we have little but the characters of the persons concerned to guide us in our decision.
Of the horrid catastrophe which succeeded the neglect of exchanging prisoners, it is hardly possible that any one but Monsieur Suffrein himself could have had a conception. To suppose, that, under such an impression, our leading men would have hesitated to prevent it, would be to suppose their intellects weak, and their hearts corrupt and inhuman. I fancy it will be difficult to fasten on Lord Macartney either the one or the other; for he was wise and humane: those whom the disappointment of unreasonable expectations, or the malevolence of party, have induced to suspect his Lordship’s heart, have been forced by his conduct to revere his talents; and the breath of calumny has never touched the humanity of Sir Edward Hughes. Whatever their motives, therefore, may have been——reason, conscience, and candour, must acquit them of the consequences. It should be recollected, too, that Monsieur Suffrein’s character was a very probable security, in the mind of men of sense and honour, against any act of horrid inhumanity: his conduct as an Officer had made a new æra in the Naval History of France: his talents and courage might be compared, without disadvantage, to those of the best of our British Admirals; and he had exhibited marks of uncommon generosity to those whom the chance of war had thrown into his hands. It would therefore have been something more than prescience to have presupposed what actually happened; and I declare most solemnly, that the inference I draw from the whole information I have had on the subject is, that, calamitous though the event was, it attaches no positive guilt on any of the parties concerned. The fact is plainly this: The French Admiral having no place on the coast where he could secure his prisoners, and grieving, as he himself subsequently wrote to Mr. Hastings, to see the unhappy men, who had been six or seven months at sea, dying of the scurvy, delivered over the prisoners, to the number of above three hundred, to Hyder. Their fate afterwards was such as it would harrow up your soul to hear related.
Take the whole of the circumstances into one glance, and see what my feelings must have been on finding myself once more a prisoner. Hyder Alli, who was, when compared with the worst Despots of the European World, a monster, must yet be considered, when put in comparison with his successor Tippoo, mild and merciful. Hyder, from policy and hypocrisy, shewed some lenity to the prisoners who fell into his hands. Instances are known where British captives have broke through the crowd that surrounded him into his presence for protection——when he has hypocritically feigned anger, threatened the persons who had treated them ill; reprobated severity, and sent them off satisfied for the present. Tippoo, on the contrary, was so perfectly savage, that cruelty seemed to be, not only the internal habit of his soul, but the guide of all his actions, the moving principle of his policy, the rule of his public conduct, and the source of his private gratification. Like the tyger which, Buffon tells us, kills the whole flock before he begins to feed, every appetite of his yielded to the more urgent calls of barbarity; and while one drop of blood remained unspilled, one agony uninflicted, one tear unshed, the natural appetites of Tippoo stood suspended, and the luxuries of life courted his enjoyment in vain. Like the hyena which Thompson calls the fellest of the fell, the fury of his nature was neither to be controuled by resistance, nor assuaged by blandishments. Aloof from the general order of the workings of Providence, he stands a single instance, in which the Omnipotent has presented a glowing living picture, ALL SHADE: not one ray breaks in, to relieve the gloomy aspect of the piece; but, distinct from the whole human race, of him alone it may be said, that he never yet disclosed, even for a moment, one spark of virtue.
From barbarity so inflexible to those taken in the ordinary chance of war, what could I expect if I fell again into his hands——I who had been the instrument of one of his chief Governors’ defection——who had, by my negociations, contributed to deprive him of a Province, and, what perhaps might have had greater weight with him, robbed him of the gratification of a long harboured revenge, by putting his enemy Hyat Sahib under the protection of the Company? Diabolical vengeance never perhaps met with a subject of such sublime enjoyment, as the torturing of me would have been to this monster. Couple this, then, my Frederick, with the fears of Suffrein’s doing by me as he had already done by the other English prisoners——and guess what my terror and consternation must have been at falling into the hands of the French!
Having struck our colours to the French frigate, the Captain ordered us to follow her, and steered to the Northward. We obeyed him for some time: at length night fell; and, a fresh and favourable breeze fortunately aiding the attempt, we put about, ran for Madras, and luckily dropt anchor safely in the Roads. In the escapes I had hitherto had, there was always some disagreeable circumstance to alloy the pleasure arising from them——In this instance, my joy was pure and unqualified; and I looked forward with a reasonable hope that the worst was all over.
Here I found Lord Macartney Governor, struggling to support the credit of the Company, and directing their affairs through such embarrassments and difficulties as made the most wise and temperate despair of success. So arduous an undertaking as the Government of Madras then was, has rarely occurred; and a more successful final accomplishment is not to be instanced. In the incessant conflicts to which he was exposed, he maintained his post with inflexible firmness and unabated energy of mind——and, in the most trying circumstances, discharged his important duty with zeal, integrity and wisdom. The strict discharge of the duty he owed to his Country, raised clamours against him among an interested few in India; but the united applauses of all parties, on his return to England, stamped currency on his fame, and has broken the shafts of detraction.