Narrative of a Voyage to Senegal in 1816 Part 13

We cannot here become the historians of the governor; we do not know whether his modesty will ever permit him to publish the memoirs of his life; but the public who know, or easily may know, that having been an apothecary in Bengal, a physician in Madagascar, a dealer in small wares, and land-surveyor in Java, a shopkeeper's clerk in the isle of France and Holland, an engineer in the camp of Batavia, commandant at Guadaloupe, chief of a bureau at Paris, he has succeeded after pa.s.sing through all these channels, in obtaining the orders of St. Louis, and the Legion of Honor, the rank of colonel, and the command of a colony; the public, we say, will reasonable conclude, that the governor is, without doubt, a universal man, and that it is very natural that so superior a genius should have set himself above many little weaknesses, which would have arrested his flight, and which are proper for none but weak minds, for good people who are made to creep on upon the common route, and to crawl on the ground.

[48] The giving up of the colony did not take place till six months after our shipwreck. It was not till the 25th of January, 1817, that we took possession of our settlements on the coast of Africa.

[49] What would our good Major have said if he had known that our Minister of the Marine, Mr. Dubouchage, had exposed himself in a far greater degree, to the embarra.s.sment of the species of shame, attributed to him here, by confiding seven or eight expeditions to officers who do no more honour to his choice and discernment, than the expedition to Senegal has done.

Besides the Medusa, which was conducted so directly upon the bank of Arguin, by the Viscount de Chaumareys, Knight of St. Louis, and of the Legion of Honour, and in the intervals of his campaigns, receiver of the _droits reunis_, at Bellac, in Upper Vienne, every body knows that the Golo, bound from Toulon to Pondichery, nearly perished on the coast, by the unskilfulness of the Captain, Chevalier Amblard, Knight of St. Louis, and the Legion of Honour, who, in order not to lose sight of maritime affairs, had become a salt merchant, near Toulon. Neither is the _debut_ of the Viscount de Cheffontaine forgotten, who, on quitting Rochefort, whence he was to sail to the Isle of Bourbon, put into Plymouth to repair his masts, which he had lost after being three or four days at sea. Who does not know that it would be in our power to mention more examples of this kind?

We spare the French reader these recollections, which are always painful; besides, what could our weak voice add to the eloquent expressions which resounded in the last session, in the chamber of deputies: when a member, the friend of his country and of glory, pointed out the errors of the Minister of the Marine, and raised his voice against those _shadows of officers_ whom favor elevated to the most important posts. He represented, with reason, how prejudicial it was to government, that the command of ships and colonies should be given as caprice dictates, and to gratify the pretentions of vain pride, while experienced officers were overlooked, or disdainfully repulsed, condemned to figure on the lists of the half-pay, of the _reforms_, and even before the time, which would have called them to a necessary, or at least legal repose. How burdensome to the State, are these _retraites_ which render useless, men whose zeal and talents ought to insure no other than their vessel, who wished but to spend their life there in uninterrupted service, who would have found there a tomb, the only one worthy of a French sailor, rather than suffer any thing contrary to duty and honour. Instead of that, we have seen t.i.tles take the reward of knowledge, repose of experience, and protection of merit. Men proud of thirty years of obscurity, make them figure on the lists, as pa.s.sed under imaginary colours, and this service of a novel description establishes for them the right of seniority. These men, decorated with ribbons of all colours, who counted very well the number of their ancestors, but of whom it would have been useless to ask an account of their studies, being called to superior commands, have not been able to shew anything but their orders, and their unskilfulness. They have done more: they have had the privilege of losing the vessels and the people of the State, without its being possible for the laws to reach them; and after all, how could a tribunal have condemned them? They might have replied to their judges, that they had not pa.s.sed their time in studying the regulations of the service, or the laws of the marine, and that, if they had failed, it was without knowledge or design. In fact, it would be difficult to suppose that they intended their own destruction; they have but too well proved that they knew how to provide for their own safety. And what reply could have been made to them, if they had confined their defence to these two points? We did not appoint ourselves; it is not we who are to blame.

[50] Just as we are going to send this sheet to the press, we learn from the newspapers, that this expedition has failed; that it was not able to proceed above fifty leagues into the interior, and that it returned to Sierra Leone, after having lost several officers, and among them Captain Campbell, who had taken the command after the death of Major Peddy. Thus the good fall and the Thersites live, and are often even honoured. Captain Campbell was one of our benefactors, may his manes be sensible to our regret, and may his family and country permit us to mingle with their just affliction, this weak tribute of respect, by which we endeavour as far as lies in our power to discharge the sacred debt of grat.i.tude!

Among the losses which this expedition has experienced, it is feared that we must reckon that of our excellent companion, the Naturalist k.u.mmer; nevertheless, as no positive information of his death has yet been received of his fate, his numerous friends, in the midst of their fears, still cherish some hopes: May they not be disappointed.

The accounts which inform us of this event, attribute the ill success of the expedition, to the obstacles opposed to it by the natives of the interior, but enter into no details. We learn from geographers, that up the Rio Grande there lives the warlike nation of the Souucsous, whom some call the _Fonllahs_ of Guinea. The name of their capital is Teembo. They are Mahometans, and make war on the idolatrous tribes who surround them, to sell their prisoners. A remarkable inst.i.tution, called the _Pouarh_, seems to have a great resemblance with the ancient _secret Tribunal_ of Germany.

The _Pouarh_ is composed of members who are not admitted among the initiated till they have undergone the most horrible probations. The a.s.sociation exercises the power of life and death; every body shuns him, whose head it has proscribed. It may be that it was by this species of government, which seems not to want power, that the English expedition was stopped.

[51] This remark on the conduct of one of our companions whom we had known, under more favourable circ.u.mstances, had cost us some pain in the first edition: therefore, we did not expressly name the person meant.

When we now name Mr. Griffon, we conceive ourselves to be fulfilling a duty, which his present sentiments impose on us.

A man of honor, especially, when in the state of weakness, and of mental and bodily infirmity to which we were reduced, might be misled for a moment; but when he repairs this involuntary error, with the generosity which dictated the following letter, we repeat it, there is no longer any crime in having thus erred, and it is justice, and a very pleasing duty for us to do homage to the frankness, to the loyalty of Mr. Griffon, and to congratulate ourselves, on having found again the heart of the companion of our misfortunes, such as we had known him, and with all his rights to our esteem.

The following is the letter which he has just written to Mr. Savigny, and which is a highly valuable proof of the truth of our accounts.

_Extract of a letter from Mr. Griffon to Mr. Savigny._

At present, Sir, I owe you a testimony of grat.i.tude for your attention in antic.i.p.ating me. I know, that in your eyes I could not merit so much generosity from you: it is n.o.ble to forget the ills that have been done us, and to do good to those who have sought to injure us: your conduct towards me is admirable; I confess, that, though my reclamations were just at the first, I have suffered myself to be carried too far by the first impulse of a weak and exalted imagination, which led me to decry my unhappy companion in misfortune, because I fancied, that the account which he had drawn up of our misfortunes might render us odious to all our relations and friends.[52] Such are the reasons which I alledged to you at Rochefort, and you must then have perceived, that I spoke to you with frankness, since I concealed nothing from you. I am not at present without repentance, for not having waited for better information, before I acted against one, whose firmness did not a little contribute to save our lives.

Bourgneuf, January 7, 1818. GRIFFON DUBELLAY.

[52] The same means were employed with Mr. Correard.

[53] I, the undersigned chief of the workmen under the command of Mr. Correard, engineer, geographer, one of the members of the commission appointed by his excellency the minister of the marine and the colonies, to examine Cape Verd and its environs, certify that, in the month of November, 1816, a memorial was presented me to sign, by order of the governor of Senegal; that, at this time, living in the hospital in the island of Goree, to be cured of an epidemic fever, which then raged on Cape Verd; it occasioned temporary fits of delirium; that consequently, this weakening of my moral faculties, and even the state of mental derangement, in which I was caused to sign this piece without reading it: it appears, that it tended, in part, to blame the conduct of Mr. Savigny on the raft, and for which I owe him, only commendations. It appears, also, according to what has been told me, that I have been made to certify, that the tow-rope broke and was not loosened; I declare, that my signature at the bottom of this memorial, having been surrept.i.tiously obtained, is null and void; in testimony whereof, I have delivered the present certificate to serve towards repelling any attack that might be made against Mr. Savigny, on the ground of this memorial.

Done at Paris, November 1, 1817. TOUCHE LAVILETTE.

[54] I, the undersigned, appointed to command the raft of the Medusa frigate, certify, that Mr. Savigny, the surgeon, who embarked in the said raft, has given on all occasions, in the unhappy situation in which we were placed, proofs of the greatest courage and coolness, and that on several occasions, his prudence was of the greatest service to us, in suggesting to us means to maintain good order, and discipline, of which we had so much need, and which it was so difficult for us to obtain.

(Signed) COUDIN.

[55] I, the undersigned, certify, that Mr. Savigny, by his courage and coolness, succeded in maintaining good order upon the raft, and that, his prudent arrangements saved the lives of the fifteen unfortunate persons, who were taken up by the _Argus _brig.

(Signed) NICOLAS FRANcOIS.

[56] I, the undersigned, certify, to all whom it may concern, that I have refused to sign a memorial drawn up by Mr.------, which was addressed to his excellency the minister of the marine, and tended to disapprove the conduct of Mr. Savigny on board the raft, as well as to refute some parts of the narrative of our shipwreck, inserted in the _Journal des Debats_, the 13th of September, 1816, besides, the events related in this memorial, appear to me so entirely false, and so contrary to all that we owe to Mr. Savigny, that it was impossible for me to pat my name to it.

(Signed) CORReARD

[57] The Board of Health certifies, that Mr. Jean Baptiste Henry Savigny, has been employed in the character of surgeon, from the 15th of April, 1811, to the 5th of May, 1817, and that in the course of his service, both by sea and land, he has given proofs of zeal, emulation, and good conduct.

It is with regret, that the Board of Health, sees an officer retire from the service, who is so distinguished by his talents as Mr. Savigny.

(Signed) CHASLON, TUFFET, ReJOU.

[58] _To His Excellency the British Amba.s.sador, at the Court of France._

My Lord,

A Frenchman who, after a shipwreck without parallel, has been fraternally a.s.sisted by foreigners whom national interests seemed calculated to estrange from him, is eager to give utterance to the sentiments of grat.i.tude with which he is filled.

This Frenchman, My Lord, is Alexander Correard, an engineer, an honorary member of the commission appointed to examine Cape Verd and its environs, one of the fifteen persons who escaped out of the hundred and fifty individuals shipwrecked, with the raft of the Medusa frigate, of whom only eleven are still living.

It is this want of my heart, which emboldens me to address Your Excellency, the worthy representative in my country of that of my generous benefactors, whose names will be ever memorable in the annals of humanity.

Yes, My Lord, it is a duty delightful to my heart, to declare, that the justest t.i.tle to the grat.i.tude of all the French has been acquired by Major Peddy, commanding the Expedition to the Interior of Africa, charged to continue the great undertaking of Mungo Park, by the obliging generosity which he shewed to the unfortunate men who escaped from the fatal raft, by bestowing on them linen, clothes, money and admitting them to his table, &c. These attentions were aided by Captain Campbell, the second in command, who never ceased to load me also with his benefits; in short, in imitation of them, all the English Officers, both those of the Expedition, as of the Royal African Regiment in garrison at St. Louis, vied with each other in relieving us, especially Captain Chemme, Lieutenant Hommera, Adjutant-Major Grey, Ensigns Beurthonne and Adams.

May Your Excellency receive with kindness, the sincere expression of grat.i.tude to the English nation, of a French private citizen who has been ruined by this dreadful disaster. Above all, may what he has experienced give his countrymen fresh reason to esteem these brave officers, at the same time that it is a proof of the wisdom of a government, which, among so many enlightened persons, has so well chosen, to finish an immense enterprise, co-operators, whose distinguished talents and social virtues, must ensure success, which promises such great advantages to the universe.

Relying on Your Excellency's generosity, Mr. Correard begs you to be pleased to transmit to him some information respecting his benefactors, and particularly the honorable Major Peddy, to whom he has vowed eternal attachment,

I have the honour to be, &c.

A. CORReARD.

Paris, March 5, 1817.

[59] The flute _La Caravane_, commanded by Mr. Le Normand de Kergrist, perished in the dreadful hurricane, which was experienced at Martinique and some other Islands, on the 21st and 22nd of October last.

Messrs. Fournier Lieutenant, Legrandais, and Lespert Midshipman, and Paulin Boatswain, have received the cross of the Legion of Honor for their conduct on this occasion.--Vide the _Moniteur_ of January 22.

[60] Paris, Sept. 8, 1817.

Sir.--The Memorials which you addressed on the tenth of June last, to the King and to His Royal Highness the Duke of Angouleme, have been referred to my apartment. I have examined the Memorials, as well as the letters which you have written on the same subject to my predecessors. If an opportunity should occur, in which I can serve you, I will readily embrace it.

Receive, Sir, the a.s.surance of my perfect consideration.

The Minister Secretary of State of the Marine and Colonies.

COUNT MOLe.

[61] A kind of crab found on the sea-coast; it is the _Cancer cursor_ of Linnaeus, and the same that is found on the sh.o.r.es of the Antilles.

[62] The Baobab or Adansoia of botanists, is placed in the cla.s.s Monadelphia polyandria, in the family of malvaceous plants, and has but one species. The first of these trees seen by Adanson, were twenty-seven feet in diameter, about eighty-three feet in circ.u.mference. Ray says they have been seen thirty feet in diameter, and Goldberry says he saw one of thirty-four feet. According to the calculations of Adanson, a tree, twenty-five feet in diameter, must have taken 3750 years to acquire these dimensions, which would allow a foot growth in 150 years, or an in inch in twelve years and a half; but an observation of Goldberry's would quite overturn this calculation. He, in fact, measured a Baobab thirty-six years after Adanson, and found its diameter increased by only eight lines. The growth is not therefore uniformly progressive, and must become slower at a certain period of the age of this tree, in a proportion which it is hardly possible to determine. Otherwise, if we admitted that it takes thirty-six years to increase in diameter only eight lines, it would require fifty-four years for an inch, and 648 for a foot, which would make 16,200 years for a tree twenty-four feet in diameter!

[63] These aigrettes or white herons, are found in large flocks in this part of Africa; they follow the cattle to feed on the insects with which they are infested.

[64] The blacks think that all the whites are very rich in their own country.

[65] This lizard was probably a turpinambis. This animal, which is not uncommon at Cape Verd, climbs up trees, frequents the marshy places, and is said to inflict severe wounds if it is not laid hold of with great precaution. The inhabitants of the _Mamelles_ a.s.sert that it devours young crocodiles. This species seems to be the same as that which frequents the banks of the Nile. It grows to the length of four feet and uses its tail in swimming.

THE END.