On the 5th of May I went to the Drawing-room, and on the 12th of May Richard arrived himself, and we did a great deal of visiting and a great deal of Society in the evening.
This year Richard established his "Divans." They were to be every other Sunday—only men. They were to drop in after dinner, or opera, or club. We were ready at half-past nine. We had mild refreshments, brandies and sodas, various drinks, smoking and talk, and he made me preside, but he would not allow me to invite other women; he said it would spoil the Divan character of the thing. Our first was on the 23rd of May.
This year, 1875, Richard took it into his head to make his fortune by producing a Bitter, the secret of which he had learnt in the East; it was to be put into a pretty bottle, and to have his picture on it. We took a great deal of trouble about it; it was to be called "Captain Burton's Tonic Bitters." It was compounded by a Swedish physician in 1565. He had been hospitably received in a Franciscan monastery, and having nothing to reward them with, before his death, he gave it as a token of gratitude to the Prior. It was extensively used by the monks as a restorative and nervous stimulant during three centuries, and the prescription was given to Richard by his Franciscan friend Padre Francesco. One tablespoonful was to be given in a glass of water or sherry, or diluted cognac. I have got the recipe now. Many people have made a fortune with less, but we were not knowing money-makers. It was supposed to digest and stimulate, and completely took away the consequences of drinking overnight. I am now starting it again with the same chemist with whom we intended to drive it in 1875.
One night in May (my book "Inner Life of Syria" had come out in the morning, and being my first independent publication I went to bed quite ill with fright and the agony of a novice, thinking that all the world now knew what I was thinking about everything)—it so happened that I had to go to a party that night whether I liked it or not, but when I saw a famous Editor standing at the top of the stairs I nearly turned round and bolted out of the house, till I saw a kindly smile breaking out all over his face, and his two hands extended to me, and heard warm congratulations on having written "such a book," which made me as happy as if somebody had just given me a fortune. This month Richard went to the Levée.
Backed by about thirty of his most influential friends and names that carry weight, I did all I could to get Richard made a K.C.B., but it fell through. Lord Clarendon had told me in 1869 that he thought me very unreasonable, and that if he had one to give away, there were many people that he would rather give it to than Richard. I told him I thought that no one had earned it half so well, and that it was awfully unkind; but this is the paper that I circulated through Sir Roderick Murchison in 1869, now in 1875, and again through another source in 1878. I was backed by any amount of influence each time. Also I got them to ask that he should either return to Damascus or be moved to Marocco or Cairo, Tunis or Teheran.
"June 24, 1869.
"Dear Sir Roderick Murchison,
"I have already spoken to you and personally petitioned that you should ask that my husband, Captain Burton, may be made a K.C.B. You desired that I should furnish you with reasons for making such a petition. I do this with pleasure, and they are as follows:—
"He has been in active service of one kind or another—in each distinguishing himself—for twenty-seven years. Any one of these services would have ensured most men some high reward, but he remains, at forty-eight years of age, a simple Consul in her Majesty's service, without so much as a decoration or an honour of any kind.
"It will be objected that a military K.C.B. cannot be made.
"To this I have to reply, that Captain Burton was nineteen years in the Bombay army—the first ten years in active service, serving five of those years in the Scinde Survey on Sir Charles Napier's staff. He joined his regiment when marching upon Mooltan to attack the Sikhs, and only returned home when compelled by a severe attack of ophthalmia—the result of mental and physical over-fatigue.
"In 1853 he published a system of bayonet exercise—which is actually the one adopted at present by the Horse Guards—which was acknowledged by an order on the Treasury for the sum of one shilling.
"In the Crimea he was Chief of the Staff to General Beatson, and was the chief organizer of the Irregular Cavalry, and at the moment of their disbanding had four thousand sabres in perfect training, ready to do anything and go anywhere.
"In 1861 he came under the reduction when the Indian army changed hands, and his whole nineteen years were swept out as if they had never been, without a vestige of pay or pension. For all this a K.C.B. would be a compensation.
"During the times he was not in active military service he was serving his country, humanity, science, and civilization in other ways, by opening up lands hitherto unknown, and trying to do good wherever he went.
"Baker and Grant have been rewarded for one expedition; Speke would have been had he lived; Livingstone will be when he returns; and Captain Burton only is left out in the cold. It is forgotten that he was the first to lead the way—that he, so to speak, opened the oyster, while Baker, Speke, and Grant appear to have taken the pearl; yet every news we get from Livingstone proves that Captain Burton's original theory was the right one, and that his Lake Tanganyika is the true head source of the Nile, for which all the others have been decorated. Again, it must be remembered that each of these men have made one expedition, and got a large reward, whilst Captain Burton has made several, most of which were at the risk of his life; for instance—
"1. Mecca and Medinah.
"2. Somali-land, East Africa (badly wounded, and lost all his effects). Speke second in command.
"3. The Lake Regions of Central Africa (Speke again second in command). The first attempt to discover the Sources of the Nile. Three years absent, twenty-one fevers, temporary paralysis, and total blindness.
"4. California and the Mormon Country.
"For eight years and a half Captain Burton has been in the Consular Service—
"Firstly.—On the West Coast of Africa, which he thoroughly explored, from Bathurst, on the Gambia, down to S. Paulo de Loanda, in Angola, and the Congo river, visiting the cannibal Fans, and discovering many unknown places.
"This included a dangerous mission of three months' visit to the King of Dahomè, where he was sent by the Foreign Office as Commissioner.
"Lastly.—Four years in Brazil, where he has been equally active and useful, both on the coast and the interior, having thoroughly explored his own province, which is larger than France; the Gold and Diamond Mines of Minas Geraes; canoed down the great river S. Francisco, fifteen hundred miles; visited the Argentine Republic, the river La Plata and Paraguay, for the purpose of reporting the state of the war to the Foreign Office; crossed the Andes, amongst the bad Indians, and visited all the Pacific Coast; and this during sick leave.
"It would be idle and useless to enumerate all that Captain Burton has done in these twenty-seven years, but still there is no need to pass over his thorough knowledge of twenty-five languages, and the fact that he has written almost thirty standard works.
"He is now transferred to Damascus, where his friendship with Mohammedans and knowledge of Arabic and Turkish will put him in intimate relations with Arab tribes.
"Inasmuch as certain designing persons, who are known to us, covet the Consulship to which he is appointed, and are not very scrupulous in their means of trying to bring about their wishes by making disagreeable complications for him, it would be a great help to Captain Burton to leave England with the prestige of having received some mark of approval from his country for his past services, and as Sir Samuel Baker is already knighted and made a C.B. for his one expedition, Captain Burton would like to have something higher for his many services, and in the shape of a military distinction for his past unacknowledged military services, that is, a K.C.B.
"I am sure you will consider that, having done almost more than any other six men living, this distinction is fairly earned, and you will, I am certain, as his old friend and one of his earliest patrons, endeavour to obtain it for him.
"I am, dear Sir Roderick, yours most truly,
"Isabel Burton.
"Hewlett's Hotel, 36, Manchester Street, W., London."
In 1878 I added—
"He explored all the unknown parts of Syria, Palestine, and the Holy Land. He saved the poor peasantry of his jurisdiction from the usurers; advanced the just claims of British subjects. He kept the peace when a massacre seemed imminent, and opposed the fanatical persecution directed against the Christians. Damascus was reduced to a Vice-Consulate, and Captain Burton was therefore recalled, and with 'leave' proceeded to explore Iceland.
"Fourthly.—On his return he found himself appointed to Trieste, where he has explored and described prehistoric ruins unknown to the world, and pronounced to be the most interesting on the continent of Europe. He has also added several new literary works to his writings, and other languages in addition to those before mentioned.
"Captain Burton deeply feels this want of appreciation of his services, for it is not only a neglect, it amounts to an imputation upon his career. He is now not only the first opener of the Lake Regions of Central Africa, but the senior African traveller in England. Most men who have done even average duty, military and civil, during thirty-two years, are acknowledged by some form of honour. To what, then, can the public at home and abroad attribute the cold shade thrown over exploits which are known and appreciated throughout Europe? The various geographical societies of the Continent have, it is true, made him an honorary Fellow. But the foreign Governments—for instance, the Italian, which bestowed gold medals and other honours upon Captain Speke and the Rev. Mr. Badger—cannot be expected to lead the way in honouring a man whose services are ignored by his own rulers. He hopes that he may be recommended to her Majesty and her Majesty's Government, for honours no less than those received by Sir Samuel Baker, and which would have been conferred upon the other heroic travellers had they lived to receive them. In one word, he asks to be made a K.C.B."
When the press unanimously took up the cause of his K.C.B.-ship, and complained that the Government did not give him his proper place in official life, he wrote the following:—