On this point I was immovable. He then offered to furnish me with a Portuguese guard of soldiers, and pledged his honour, as a soldier, that they should protect me from all insult, if I would re-embark the Marines. I accepted His Excellency’s offer, and he pledged his word that they would be at my house before sunset, again repeating his application, that the Marines would leave my house at once. At last it was arranged, that the Portuguese guard were to arrive about five o’clock in the afternoon, and that the English guard would leave the house at the same time. At the appointed hour, a boat was in waiting from the brig-of-war, but no Portuguese guard made their appearance; consequently, the English guard remained in my house that night. Seeing that I was determined on this point, the next morning the Portuguese guard made their appearance, and the English guard returned to the brig. Two of the Marines, who had volunteered to do duty, as servants in the house, were retained, and with them Hilliard and myself, we were prepared for any treachery on the part of our convict guard.
Rockets were supplied from the brig to be fired off at night, in the event of an attack on the Consulate; and I awaited the reply of the Governor-general to my communications. The first intimation of their having told was—the Portuguese lady, who had been prevailed upon by Mr. Duncan, to allow her slaves to wash our linen, declining to accommodate us for the future. I had pointed out a fact, notorious to every one, that this lady’s father, Major Olliveira, Governor of Inhambane, was carrying on the slave-trade, as successfully as his predecessor, the Buccaneer Leotti; and, because I had done so, I was, according to Portuguese justice, to go without clean linen.
Dr. Huson, R.N., from the brig, attended on Rosa day and night, with the most unremitting attention, and his efforts in saving her life were crowned with success.
The Marines insisted upon washing everything they could lay their hands upon; but my poor sick wife and her weak maid had again to have recourse to the washing-tub—there was no help for it—no one in Mozambique would wash for the Consul’s family.
The brig-of-war had now been lying in the harbour about a month; the slave-dealers had learned from those who were in daily and hourly communication with them the signal which I had arranged should be made, in case of a night attack on the Consulate; and to feel our pulse they had made a false alarm, which caused the boats of the brig, manned and armed, to present themselves before my house at one o’clock in the morning, which resulted in nothing.
A court-martial was at last summoned to try Leotti and the Moor, who commanded the “Zambesi,” on the occasion of her communicating with the “Minnetonka,” and these worthies were of course acquitted, being simply tried for disobedience of orders—not one word in the charge relative to the “Minnetonka.” In order that this mockery of justice should be made known in the proper quarter, I asked for a copy of the sentence of the court in both cases, and in consequence my house was attacked the same evening. During the time the house was mobbed, and before the lazy Portuguese guard would turn out, my wife was wounded by a stone thrown through our bedroom window, which broke a pane of glass, some of which lodged in her hand. This stoning lasted until the guard fired three times on those thus engaged; and finding that our gallant protectors, enraged at having to turn out, were determined to do mischief, the mob withdrew. The next day the Governor-general made a great fuss, and furnished me with another guard to patrol around the house. Two officers were sent over to inquire into the affair; and, although I led them over the house, and showed them the damage done by the stoning—the broken windows and damaged exterior of the house—a report was sent to Portugal that no attack was made on my house. Being prepared for this, I caused the Portuguese corporal to make to me a statement in writing; likewise the two marines, and also Charles Hilliard, whose blood was up that night, when he saw my wife, his gentle nurse, bleeding from the effects of her wounds. It is satisfactory to know that the British Government was not imposed upon; for, when a high authority in this country read to me the Portuguese report, without waiting for any remark from me, he at once pronounced it an “infernal lie”—very plain and very true.
From the late attack, when protected by the presence of a Portuguese guard in my house, and that of a British ship of war in the harbour, it became apparent to what extent the slave-dealers intended to carry their animosity. To demand satisfaction from the Governor-general for these insults would have only lowered him still more, where it was the Anti-Slavery policy clearly to support him and strengthen him against the slave-dealers. Numbers of the men and officers on board of the brig were on the sick list from the effects of the climate, and the medical officer was urging upon the Commander the necessity of proceeding to sea immediately, when I would have been wholly unprotected, and when the Governor-general distinctly stated to me that he would not be answerable for any consequences which might ensue, affirming that he was totally unable to protect me against the slave-trade party, and that I would be doing a service to the interest of both my own country and also that of Portugal by representing his utter inability to protect the consul of any nation professing anti-slavery principles, until his hands were strengthened by the Imperial Government of Portugal.
Taking all the circumstances into consideration, after mature deliberation, it was decided, in consultation with the senior naval officer, that the best course was to retire to Mauritius, or even England, until such time as arrangements were made between England and Portugal for the reception of a British consul, in honour and safety, to Mozambique. This decision was made known to His Excellency, which he looked upon as the wiser course, to prevent more serious results than had already arisen; and, on the 18th of May, I embarked on board H.M.S. “Lyra,” which had lately joined her consort from the Cape, with my fellow-sufferers.
The next day we proceeded to sea, and soon lost sight of the city of Mozambique.