June 3rd, 1838.Sir,If the interest I feel in your unhappiness gives me any claims upon your attention, you must allow me to make a few remarks on what I am sorry to hear is about to take place—the bringing Monsieur G. to a sort of trial respecting his unsuccessful treatment of your poor wife. I shall speak of it under two heads:first, that of your being wanting in humanity and generosity towards a young man coming into the world, and, secondly, that of the great probability of your being nonsuited, which will make you appear very ridiculous, as well as be the means of bringing forward many unpleasant and unusual circumstances, which would excessively shock the delicacy of the English.1. In Mr. Pitts last illness I expressed, as my opinion, that Sir Walter Farquhar did not understand the nature of his complaint, and begged him to call in other physicians. He replied, “Perhaps you are right, and such may be likewise my own opinion; but, if it is the will of God, I shall recover; and, if not, I shall be sorry that one of the last actions of my life should be that of injuring the character of a man who has acted to the best of his knowledge, and hitherto manifested the greatest interest about my health upon all occasions;”—therefore, nothing could be done with him: but Farquhar was himself persuaded to call in Doctor Bailey. Would it not be better to follow the example of that noble-minded man, than cast a slur upon the character of one who, unprepared for so difficult an accouchement, had neither sufficient self-confidence nor judgment to extricate himself in such a predicament? And all this will not recall Mrs. K—— again to the world.2. I enclose a paragraph from the papers last cometo hand, which, in addition to my knowledge of law, strengthens my opinion that you may very likely prove unsuccessful.[28]You will then have to reproach yourself for not having acted—I will not say with the missionaries—withChristiancharity, but with that feeling which ought to belong, and does belong, to many individuals, of whatever religion they may profess.Do not understand by this that I am making you any reproaches; for the state of irritation you are in proceeds from the frame of mind which this unfortunate circumstance has caused, and which it is the duty of all those who call themselves your friends or your well-wishers to point out to you, that you may avoid future remorse when you see things more calmly.H. L. Stanhope.
June 3rd, 1838.
Sir,
If the interest I feel in your unhappiness gives me any claims upon your attention, you must allow me to make a few remarks on what I am sorry to hear is about to take place—the bringing Monsieur G. to a sort of trial respecting his unsuccessful treatment of your poor wife. I shall speak of it under two heads:first, that of your being wanting in humanity and generosity towards a young man coming into the world, and, secondly, that of the great probability of your being nonsuited, which will make you appear very ridiculous, as well as be the means of bringing forward many unpleasant and unusual circumstances, which would excessively shock the delicacy of the English.
1. In Mr. Pitts last illness I expressed, as my opinion, that Sir Walter Farquhar did not understand the nature of his complaint, and begged him to call in other physicians. He replied, “Perhaps you are right, and such may be likewise my own opinion; but, if it is the will of God, I shall recover; and, if not, I shall be sorry that one of the last actions of my life should be that of injuring the character of a man who has acted to the best of his knowledge, and hitherto manifested the greatest interest about my health upon all occasions;”—therefore, nothing could be done with him: but Farquhar was himself persuaded to call in Doctor Bailey. Would it not be better to follow the example of that noble-minded man, than cast a slur upon the character of one who, unprepared for so difficult an accouchement, had neither sufficient self-confidence nor judgment to extricate himself in such a predicament? And all this will not recall Mrs. K—— again to the world.
2. I enclose a paragraph from the papers last cometo hand, which, in addition to my knowledge of law, strengthens my opinion that you may very likely prove unsuccessful.[28]You will then have to reproach yourself for not having acted—I will not say with the missionaries—withChristiancharity, but with that feeling which ought to belong, and does belong, to many individuals, of whatever religion they may profess.
Do not understand by this that I am making you any reproaches; for the state of irritation you are in proceeds from the frame of mind which this unfortunate circumstance has caused, and which it is the duty of all those who call themselves your friends or your well-wishers to point out to you, that you may avoid future remorse when you see things more calmly.
H. L. Stanhope.
Saturday, June 2.—I rode down to the duke’s tents, to see him. The army surgeon in attendance on the black had reconsidered the case, and given in an opinion to the government secretary that it was one of typhus fever, supervening on a syphilitic taint, and, in consequence, his highness’s quarantine had been shortened to a fortnight. One must have lived in Turkey to know how such things are conducted there.The conversation with the duke and his suite turned for a while on Prince Pückler Muskau.
Sunday, June 3.—A letter was written by Lady Hester to Lord Brougham. Whilst considering what she should say, previous to dictating it, she observed that she was sorry she did not write to him before; “for,” added she, “he loves to have something to talk about that will make a noise, and he will take it ill, when he was so civil to me formerly, if I seem to forget him. An Englishman, who was here, and who knew him, one day said to me—‘What do you think of Lord Brougham’s principles?’—‘Why,’ answered I, ‘I think they are like mine—none at all.’ How he stared, doctor, until I added, ‘He has peculiar ones made for himself, as I have.’”
To the Right Honourable Lord Brougham and Vaux.
Jôon, June 4th, 1838.My Lord,It is possible that, at times, your lordship may bear in mind the kindness with which you treated me, for the sake of those whom we mutually loved and admired, and the assistance you afforded me in my private concerns, about seventeen years ago: you will then, perhaps, not feel a little surprised that, having got myself into a strange predicament, I have been totally silent. It arose, my lord, from supposing youin ill health. Receiving no newspapers from England, and news from France being oftentimes much retarded, I often owe the chief of my political information to travellers; among whom was the Prince Pückler Muskau, who, having heard of my affair before he saw me, advised me immediately to write to your lordship. I gave him my reasons for not having done so, and from him I received the assurance that you were quite recovered, and again had resumed your public duties. I have since read your most beautiful speech on the slave-trade, and I congratulate the country on your reappearance in the House.Before this letter reaches you—for I have missed the last packet—your lordship will have probably heard of the manner in which her Majesty’s ministers have thought proper to treat me, with her sanction. I have always been the greatest of aristocrats; I was born so; yet no one is more tenacious of the rights of men in every class of life. I have written a very severe letter to the Queen, in which I have made her Majesty understand I am no longer an English subject: for I had sooner be the subject of a Hottentot chief than one to be commanded by a woman * * * * * * * * * guided by a man who possesses none of the qualities of his great patron, Mr. Fox, except histalens pour la débauche:—if he had, he would recollect that nobleman’s conduct to me after Mr. Pitt’s death.Although of a character violent to desperation, few persons, I believe, have given more examples of forbearance than I have done, both to those calling themselves my friends and to those who rank among my enemies, from these simple motives—either from my personal contempt of them or their opinion, or from the knowledge that they were acting upon a principle which they thought a meritorious one. But when a crowned head, or a minister, ventures to cast a slur upon my integrity (which I hope may vie with that which has ever distinguished my ancestors) without any inquiries into either facts or motives, and pretends to invest low venal people with any authority over me or my concerns, I shall repel the aggression with the energy it requires, and make every sacrifice which circumstances may call for: and, should starvation stare me in the face, it will not appal me. These are my fixed determinations, and this is the sovereign contempt I feel for * * * * * * and * * * * * *. As things must have already taken some turn, I will not request your lordship’s assistance: for I should not forgive myself for either causing you trouble or anxiety. I shall boldly follow my fate, as I always hitherto have done.These few lines, therefore, are only to be considered as a mark of personal respect towards your lordship, and as affording me an opportunity of expressing mycongratulations for the restoration of your health; which, however, I hope you will continue toménager, as you will want a great store of it in the bad times that are coming, and when the value of men of your extraordinary talents and exertions will be properly estimated.—I have the honour, my lord, to be, with great truth and esteem, yours,Hester Lucy Stanhope.
Jôon, June 4th, 1838.
My Lord,
It is possible that, at times, your lordship may bear in mind the kindness with which you treated me, for the sake of those whom we mutually loved and admired, and the assistance you afforded me in my private concerns, about seventeen years ago: you will then, perhaps, not feel a little surprised that, having got myself into a strange predicament, I have been totally silent. It arose, my lord, from supposing youin ill health. Receiving no newspapers from England, and news from France being oftentimes much retarded, I often owe the chief of my political information to travellers; among whom was the Prince Pückler Muskau, who, having heard of my affair before he saw me, advised me immediately to write to your lordship. I gave him my reasons for not having done so, and from him I received the assurance that you were quite recovered, and again had resumed your public duties. I have since read your most beautiful speech on the slave-trade, and I congratulate the country on your reappearance in the House.
Before this letter reaches you—for I have missed the last packet—your lordship will have probably heard of the manner in which her Majesty’s ministers have thought proper to treat me, with her sanction. I have always been the greatest of aristocrats; I was born so; yet no one is more tenacious of the rights of men in every class of life. I have written a very severe letter to the Queen, in which I have made her Majesty understand I am no longer an English subject: for I had sooner be the subject of a Hottentot chief than one to be commanded by a woman * * * * * * * * * guided by a man who possesses none of the qualities of his great patron, Mr. Fox, except histalens pour la débauche:—if he had, he would recollect that nobleman’s conduct to me after Mr. Pitt’s death.
Although of a character violent to desperation, few persons, I believe, have given more examples of forbearance than I have done, both to those calling themselves my friends and to those who rank among my enemies, from these simple motives—either from my personal contempt of them or their opinion, or from the knowledge that they were acting upon a principle which they thought a meritorious one. But when a crowned head, or a minister, ventures to cast a slur upon my integrity (which I hope may vie with that which has ever distinguished my ancestors) without any inquiries into either facts or motives, and pretends to invest low venal people with any authority over me or my concerns, I shall repel the aggression with the energy it requires, and make every sacrifice which circumstances may call for: and, should starvation stare me in the face, it will not appal me. These are my fixed determinations, and this is the sovereign contempt I feel for * * * * * * and * * * * * *. As things must have already taken some turn, I will not request your lordship’s assistance: for I should not forgive myself for either causing you trouble or anxiety. I shall boldly follow my fate, as I always hitherto have done.
These few lines, therefore, are only to be considered as a mark of personal respect towards your lordship, and as affording me an opportunity of expressing mycongratulations for the restoration of your health; which, however, I hope you will continue toménager, as you will want a great store of it in the bad times that are coming, and when the value of men of your extraordinary talents and exertions will be properly estimated.—I have the honour, my lord, to be, with great truth and esteem, yours,
Hester Lucy Stanhope.
Monday, June 4.—A letter from the Pasha’s wife to Lady Hester took me down to Sayda to see the Pasha’s little daughter, an angelic child of about seven years of age, ill of a fever. The mother did not show herself; Madame Lapi, the lady of the Austrian referendary, and Madame Bertrand, a French lady, receiving me. The Pasha was absent at the camp in the Horàn. Sulyman Pasha, when appointed to the pashalik of Sayda, had found no house fit for a residence, and had caused a small, low palace to be built, which, if placed in the midst of a paddock, might have passed for a gentleman’s house of a thousand a year in England. In the three rooms I went through, to the one wherein the little girl was lying, there was, as is usual in Turkish houses, the utmost simplicity: but one thing struck me as indicative of the nationalityof the master of the house[29]—a large French looking-glass; for I believe a person would with difficulty have found another mirror on the walls of a saloon all through Syria, excepting in a Frank house. The child was but slightly indisposed, and it is possible that mere feminine curiosity had induced her mother to send for me, that she might get a look through some peep-hole to see whether she should like to consult me for some complaint of her own: for such are the indirect ways of proceeding common in harýms, and such things had happened to me before. The Pasha’s wife was originally a Greek slave, bought during the horrors of the Greek revolution, when Turkish soldiers sold their prisoners into bondage. She had pleased him, and he eventually made her his wife. Report spoke highly of her beauty and her conduct.
Tuesday, June 5.—Logmagi had been sent for to rate the maids, who had been caught scaling the garden-wall before sunrise and going down to the spring, where they were seen with some one. As they never were permitted to leave the house, or the inner court, this violation of her ladyship’s orders, so contrary to Eastern propriety, which allows not of a woman’s being out of doors in the company of men, called for some chastisement, more especially when coupled withsuspicious circumstances. One of these very maids had introduced herself the preceding night into a room, where she was forbidden to enter, and had been detected untying bundles of things and pieces of stuffs; so that it was apprehended there was a league with persons without to carry off stolen goods. Zezefôon was locked up, and sentenced to remain in durance until she learned to behave better.
Thursday, June 7.—A servant was despatched over-night with a letter and seven black doses, and directions how to take them, for the baron and six others of the suite, with a promise of eight more doses the next day for the duke and the rest.
This general drenching of fifteen travellers, which will make many persons laugh, was treated with the utmost seriousness by Lady Hester Stanhope. It was a rule with her, as has been said above, never to let any one pass through her hands without some potion or another; and truly it may be asserted that she has saved many from the fevers of the country by her sage foresight and precautions; but it was too comical when seven or eight at a time were to be physicked. To have heard Lady Hester and myself in conference, weighing the probabilities of under or over dosing the tall captain of the guards, the mild and delicately framed baron, and the royal stomach of his highness, would have been quite a comedy.
The servant had been ordered to arrive at midnight; the doses were to be administered at two in the morning; whilst I was to be down at the tents by noon to see if all had gone on properly. Accordingly, I mounted my horse after breakfast; but, being rather late, I did not get there until half-past two. What was my surprise, when the baron, advancing towards me, seized my hand. “Be not afraid,” said he; “we are out of quarantine, and have now no contagion about us. Upon the representation made, that our black Mameluke was lying ill of typhus fever only, the board of health at Beyrout has set us free. Let me take you to his royal highness, who now can receive you a little better than he has done.” I accordingly went with him behind the tombs, where we found the duke seated on a sofa in the open air, with his suite around him, and the place rolled and watered for coolness. He received me with great kindness and condescension, spoke in repeated terms of gratitude for Lady Hester’s attention to him, and said his first duty was to wait on her and thank her: he therefore charged me to let him know when she would permit him to pay his respects. Pipes and coffee were served; and, when I had time to look about me, I observed the manner in which they had bivouacked for some days past. Under the hedge, a few yards off, was an immense pile of burning live coals, onwhich the saucepans and boilers were placed, gipsy-fashion: in this differing from the manner of the country, where, when cooking in the open air is going on, temporary stoves are constructed with three or four square stones, which confine the ashes and make a draught. In the background I was surprised to see about half a dozen Italian tumblers, who were preparing for an exhibition of feats of leaping, &c. These were a troop, who had that very day arrived from Beyrout, and whom the prince had engaged to divert him. Soon after arrived the government secretary, the colonels of the different regiments in garrison, the Austrian referendary and his family, &c., to congratulate the duke on the termination of his confinement. The exhibition being over, I rose to take leave. The duke pressed me to stop and dine with him; but I pleaded my three hours’ ride back in the dark, and returned home.
Friday, June 8.—When I told Lady Hester that the duke was coming up, she sent the following letter to him:—
To His Royal Highness Maximilian Duke of Bavaria.
Jôon, June 8, 1838.Highness,I cannot sufficiently appreciate the honour you intend me in wishing to visit my hermitage: but permitme to impose these conditions on you—that you say not a word more, neither you nor the noblemen in your suite, of those trifling services which you have so graciously and benevolently accepted. Allow me also to acquaint your highness that, although I was in my time a woman of the world, for these last twenty years I have been nothing but a philosopher, who turns out of her road for nobody. When Alexander the Great visited Diogenes, he neither changed his dress nor moved his tub for him: pardon me, prince, if I imitate his example.There was a time when my house was passable: but now there are many rooms in ruins for want of repairs—especially a large pavilion in the garden, tumbling down from an earthquake; so that I could not lodge more than three or four persons at a time. What lodging I have for you is, first of all, a little garden on the east side of my residence, with a small saloon, and outside of the door two mustabys,[30]where two persons might sleep. Adjoining the saloon is a bed-room, and at the back of it a sleeping-room for two valets, with mattresses on the floor, according to thecustom of the country. The saloon has a trellis in front. Just out of the garden-gate is a little place to make coffee, or boil water for shaving; and opposite to it is another room for ordinary strangers, where two persons can sleep, and where Count Tattenbach was lodged. For the other servants there is room in one of the courtyards. As for my own divàn, it has been in a ruinous state for some years, and I inhabit at present a badly furnished little room.I beg your highness will consider the little garden, and the pavilion in it, which I have just mentioned, as your own, until the ship which you expect arrives. You can make your excursions in the mountain when you like. With you you can bring two or three of the gentlemen of your suite, and these can make room for others in their turn. Only, I hope that the baron and Count Gaiety, as I call him (for, according to what the doctor tells me, during all your misfortunes he has always preserved his cheerfulness), will not come both together, because I have got a great deal to say to each. Thus, then, I shall expect your royal highness on Saturday evening.I have the honour to salute you, prince, with the most perfect esteem and highest consideration, begging you to accept, with your known nobleness, the welcome of the dervise,H. L. Stanhope.
Jôon, June 8, 1838.
Highness,
I cannot sufficiently appreciate the honour you intend me in wishing to visit my hermitage: but permitme to impose these conditions on you—that you say not a word more, neither you nor the noblemen in your suite, of those trifling services which you have so graciously and benevolently accepted. Allow me also to acquaint your highness that, although I was in my time a woman of the world, for these last twenty years I have been nothing but a philosopher, who turns out of her road for nobody. When Alexander the Great visited Diogenes, he neither changed his dress nor moved his tub for him: pardon me, prince, if I imitate his example.
There was a time when my house was passable: but now there are many rooms in ruins for want of repairs—especially a large pavilion in the garden, tumbling down from an earthquake; so that I could not lodge more than three or four persons at a time. What lodging I have for you is, first of all, a little garden on the east side of my residence, with a small saloon, and outside of the door two mustabys,[30]where two persons might sleep. Adjoining the saloon is a bed-room, and at the back of it a sleeping-room for two valets, with mattresses on the floor, according to thecustom of the country. The saloon has a trellis in front. Just out of the garden-gate is a little place to make coffee, or boil water for shaving; and opposite to it is another room for ordinary strangers, where two persons can sleep, and where Count Tattenbach was lodged. For the other servants there is room in one of the courtyards. As for my own divàn, it has been in a ruinous state for some years, and I inhabit at present a badly furnished little room.
I beg your highness will consider the little garden, and the pavilion in it, which I have just mentioned, as your own, until the ship which you expect arrives. You can make your excursions in the mountain when you like. With you you can bring two or three of the gentlemen of your suite, and these can make room for others in their turn. Only, I hope that the baron and Count Gaiety, as I call him (for, according to what the doctor tells me, during all your misfortunes he has always preserved his cheerfulness), will not come both together, because I have got a great deal to say to each. Thus, then, I shall expect your royal highness on Saturday evening.
I have the honour to salute you, prince, with the most perfect esteem and highest consideration, begging you to accept, with your known nobleness, the welcome of the dervise,
H. L. Stanhope.
Saturday, June 9.—The morning came. Preparations for the reception of the duke had been going on all the day before. A lamb had been killed; beef had been sent for from Dayr el Kamar, the only place where it was sold; fruit and vegetables had come up from Sayda gardens, and Logmagi had sent fish; bills of fare had been made out for each meal by Lady Hester, as a guide to the cook; the silver spoons and forks had been given out; the servants had put on their best clothes, and all was bustle for the reception; for the duke’s liberality to all those who served him in any shape was very generally talked of, and this was an infallible spur to all the menials, who anticipated large vails. Mercenary wretches! whose God was abakshýsh, and whose torpor, as Lady Hester often said, only two things could overcome—money, and a good flogging.
I waited on Lady Hester early. She told me she had passed a very bad night, that she was in a burning fever, and felt so ill it would be impossible to receive the duke. Her looks were pale, her skin parched and dry, her breathing short, and she complained of an increased pain in her side, which had entirely deprived her of rest. I felt her pulse, and encouraged her to hope that it was not so bad. “Doctor,” replied she, “it is nothing: it is when the thunder is in the air that you should feel it; my pulse beats then like twobullets, and if, at that moment, I were to meet a thousand men opposed to me, I should brave them all: but, when the storm is over, my pulse falls into its natural state, and all is quiet again. Anybody but you would say now I must be bled; and, whether you approve it or not, bled I shall be: so be so good as to raise no difficulties, and you must set off immediately to Dayr Mkhallas, with an apology to his highness; for I have neither breath nor strength enough to undergo the exertion of conversation, and put him off you must.”
I set off to the monastery, and found the duke surrounded by a numerous company. Nothing could equal his regret at Lady Hester’s indisposition. Lady Hester’s state requiring my immediate return, I hastened back. The bleeding did her good. About five in the afternoon, the duke and his party were seen passing on the high-road on their way back to Sayda. His object in leaving the seaside had been to see Lady Hester, and, disappointed in that, he returned immediately. Eventually, this contrariety proved fortunate for him. He had hardly reached his tents, when the English steamboat arrived; his passage had been agreed for, and the duke and his suite, but too happy to quit a country where he had met with so many vexations, and had been exposed to so much danger, were on board in half an hour after her arrival. Thesick negro and four slaves, who had been purchased in Egypt, were left behind, under the care of Signor Lapi, with orders likewise to that gentleman that no expense or care should be spared to forward Wellington’s recovery.
FOOTNOTES:[24]In all cities in Turkey, trades of the same kind are always in the same street in a cluster. Thus, the saddlers are in one street, the druggists or grocers in another, the shoemakers in another: and it is customary to say, when directing to a place in a town—“Close to the goldsmiths’ bazar, beyond thecorn market, before you come to the Blacksmiths’ Street,” &c.[25]What the traveller related to me had almost slipped my memory; but having since met with it in an Arabic book, I here translate it.[26]The Mahometans, imbued with the persuasion that whatever is the will of the Almighty must come to pass, and that resignation to his decrees is their duty, never refuse assistance to persons afflicted with contagious maladies. Hence may be seen that marked difference in their conduct and that of Christians during the prevalence of the plague; the former attending on the sick bed of their relatives, the latter flying from them and leaving them to die through neglect.[27]Thus, while writing out these memorandums in August, 1839, I learn that the plague has re-appeared at Jerusalem, Jaffa, and at other places, where, in 1838, a few cases announced its presence. We shall see whether a quarantine establishment will save Syria: I think it will not. The Turkish authorities, when left to themselves, invariably resist the introduction of all quarantine regulations; or, at least, they did so in the beginning of this century: it is only when the preponderance of European influence, backed by orders from their own government, compels submission, that they unwillingly adopt them. But Mahomet Ali and Ibrahim Pasha, when spoken of, are not to be considered as Mahometans. Imbued with Machiavelian principles, gathered from their intercourse with Europeans, they were not slow to see that, in fit hands, a quarantine establishment has little more to do with health than it has with the growth of the sugar-cane, or any extraneous employment. A Lazaretto, as conducted in Piedmont or France, is no more nor less than a fiscal measure and a legalized panoptikon. It is, first of all, subsidiary to the Customs, and next, a most efficient mode for staying travellers, crews of ships, and all manner of moving things entering on a territory, then and there to be enabled in cool despotism to examine letters, pry into men’s business, learn their opinions, destination, &c., and, finally, to tax them in their money and substance, in the most undisguised and complete manner yet invented by designing rulers. Quarantine ought never to exist in a free country, neither ought passports. A town properly built, ventilated, and cleansed, will not foster contagion, and passports do not facilitate the detection of offenders. The plague still visits the Levant, and Pichegru remained undiscovered in France for two years, in spite of all the passports and all the police of Buonaparte, his mortal enemy.[28]This was the report of a suit in one of the county courts of assize, wherein, under somewhat similar circumstances, a surgeon was acquitted.[29]It will be recollected that Sulyman Pasha was originally a French corporal in Buonaparte’s army.[30]A mustaby is an estrade, or raised stone bench, in shape what a shop-counter would be against a wall, made at the doors of houses in the East for people to sit cross-legged on to enjoy the fresh air, or sometimes at the doors of rooms for servants to sleep on as sentries to those within.
FOOTNOTES:
[24]In all cities in Turkey, trades of the same kind are always in the same street in a cluster. Thus, the saddlers are in one street, the druggists or grocers in another, the shoemakers in another: and it is customary to say, when directing to a place in a town—“Close to the goldsmiths’ bazar, beyond thecorn market, before you come to the Blacksmiths’ Street,” &c.
[25]What the traveller related to me had almost slipped my memory; but having since met with it in an Arabic book, I here translate it.
[26]The Mahometans, imbued with the persuasion that whatever is the will of the Almighty must come to pass, and that resignation to his decrees is their duty, never refuse assistance to persons afflicted with contagious maladies. Hence may be seen that marked difference in their conduct and that of Christians during the prevalence of the plague; the former attending on the sick bed of their relatives, the latter flying from them and leaving them to die through neglect.
[27]Thus, while writing out these memorandums in August, 1839, I learn that the plague has re-appeared at Jerusalem, Jaffa, and at other places, where, in 1838, a few cases announced its presence. We shall see whether a quarantine establishment will save Syria: I think it will not. The Turkish authorities, when left to themselves, invariably resist the introduction of all quarantine regulations; or, at least, they did so in the beginning of this century: it is only when the preponderance of European influence, backed by orders from their own government, compels submission, that they unwillingly adopt them. But Mahomet Ali and Ibrahim Pasha, when spoken of, are not to be considered as Mahometans. Imbued with Machiavelian principles, gathered from their intercourse with Europeans, they were not slow to see that, in fit hands, a quarantine establishment has little more to do with health than it has with the growth of the sugar-cane, or any extraneous employment. A Lazaretto, as conducted in Piedmont or France, is no more nor less than a fiscal measure and a legalized panoptikon. It is, first of all, subsidiary to the Customs, and next, a most efficient mode for staying travellers, crews of ships, and all manner of moving things entering on a territory, then and there to be enabled in cool despotism to examine letters, pry into men’s business, learn their opinions, destination, &c., and, finally, to tax them in their money and substance, in the most undisguised and complete manner yet invented by designing rulers. Quarantine ought never to exist in a free country, neither ought passports. A town properly built, ventilated, and cleansed, will not foster contagion, and passports do not facilitate the detection of offenders. The plague still visits the Levant, and Pichegru remained undiscovered in France for two years, in spite of all the passports and all the police of Buonaparte, his mortal enemy.
[28]This was the report of a suit in one of the county courts of assize, wherein, under somewhat similar circumstances, a surgeon was acquitted.
[29]It will be recollected that Sulyman Pasha was originally a French corporal in Buonaparte’s army.
[30]A mustaby is an estrade, or raised stone bench, in shape what a shop-counter would be against a wall, made at the doors of houses in the East for people to sit cross-legged on to enjoy the fresh air, or sometimes at the doors of rooms for servants to sleep on as sentries to those within.