While the Frenchmen keep sober, the American and English sailor would indulge in their favorite grog. In this respect, I see no difference between English and American. Over the can of grog, the English tar forgets all his hardships and his slavery—yes, slavery; for where is there a greater slavery among white men, than that of impressed Englishmen on board of one of their own men of war? The American, over his grog, seems equally happy, and equally forgetful of his harsh treatment. The Englishman, when his skin, is full of grog, glows with idolatry for his country, and his favorite lass; and so does the American: The former sings the victories of Bembow, How, Jervase and Nelson; while the latter sing the same songs, only substituting the names of Preble, Hull, Decatur and Bainbridge, Perry and Macdonough. Our men parodied all the English national songs.—"Rule Britannia, rule the waves," was "Rule Columbia," &c. "God save great George, our King," was sung by our boys, "God save great Madison;" for every thing like federalism was banished from our hearts and ears; whatever we were before, we were all staunch Madisonians in a foreign land. The two great and ruling passions among the British sailors and the American sailors, seemed, precisely the same, viz. love of their country, and love of the fair sex. These two subjects alone entered into all their songs, and seemed to be the only dear objects of their souls, when half drunk. On these two strings hang all our nation's glory; while, to my surprize, I found, or thought I found, that the love of money was that string which vibrated oftenest in a Frenchman's heart; but I may be mistaken; all the nation may not be gamblers.—Remember, politicians, philosophers, admirals, and generals, that Love and Patriotism are the two, and I almost said, the only two passions of that class of men, who are destined to carry your flag in triumph abound the terraqueous globe, by skillfully controlling the powers of the winds, and of vapor.
One word more, before I quit this national trait. The English naval muse, which I presume must be a Mermaid, half woman and half fish, has, by her simple and half the time, nonsensical songs, done more for the British flag than all her gunnery, or naval discipline and tactics. This inspiration of the tenth muse, with libations of grog, have actually made the English believe they were invincible on the ocean, and, what is still more extraordinary, the French and Spaniards were made to believe it also. This belief constituted a magical circle, that secured their ships from destruction, until two American youths, Isaac Hull, from Connecticut, and Oliver H. Perry, from Rhode Island, broke this spell by the thunder of their cannon, and annihilated the delusion. Is not this business of national songs a subject of some importance? Love and Patriotism, daring amplification, with here and there a dash of the supernatural, are all that is requisite in forming this national band of naval music. We all know that "Yankee Doodle," is the favorite national tune of America, although it commenced with the British officers and Tories, in derision, in the year 1775. When that animating tune is struck up in our Theatres, it electrifies the pit and the upper galleries. When our soldiers are marching to that tune, they "tread the air." "With that tune," said general M–, the same gallant officer, who took nine pieces of cannon from the British, planted on an eminence, at the battle of Bridgewater—"with that tune these fellows would follow me into hell, and pull the devil by the nose." For want of native compositions, we had sung British songs until we had imbibed their spirit, and the feelings and sentiments imbibed in our youth, are apt to stick to us through life. It is high time we had new songs put in our mouths.
Unless we attend to the effects of these early impressions, it is almost incredible, the number of false notions that we imbibe, and carry to our graves. A considerable party in the United States have sung Nelson's victories, until those victories seemed to be their own. Even on the day of the celebration of the Peace, the following Ode was sung in the hall of the University of Cambridge—a captain and a lieutenant of the navy being among the invited guests. It was written by the son of the keeper of the States Prison, in Massachusetts.
ODE, &c
Columbia and Britannia
Have ceased from Warfare wild;
No more in battle's rage they meet,
The parent and the child.
Each gallant nation now lament
The heroes who have died.
But the brave, on the wave,
Shall yet in friendship ride,
To bear Britannia's ancient name,
And swell Columbia's pride.
The flag-staff of Columbia
Shall be her mountain Pine;
Her Commerce on the foaming sea
Shall be her golden mine.
Her wealth from every nation borne,
Shall swell the ocean wide,
And the brave, on the wave, &c. &c.
To Britain's Faith and Prowess,
Shall distant nations bow,
The Cross upon her topmast head,
The Lion at her prow.
No haughty foe shall dare insult,
No Infidel deride;
For the brave, on the wave, &c. &c.
For now the kindred nations
Shall wage the fight no more;
No more in dreadful thunder dash
The billows to the shore:
Save when in firm alliance bound
Some common foe defied;
Then the brave, on the wave, &c. &c.
This captivity in a foreign land, has been to me a season of thoughtfulness. Sometimes I thought I was like a despised Jew, among the sons of the modern Babylon, which I might have sunk under, but for the first principles of a serious education; for I was born and educated in the state of Massachusetts, near an hundred miles from Boston. The subject of education has greatly occupied my mind, and I rejoiced that I was born in that part of the United States, where it is most attended to. It is an injury to our national character, that most of the books we read in early life, were written by Englishmen; as with their knowledge we imbibe their narrow prejudices. The present war, has, in a degree, corrected this evil; but time alone can effect all we wish.
A dispute arose between us and our commander, relative to the article of bread, which served to show Englishmen how tenacious we, Americans, are on what we consider to be our rights.
Whenever the contractor omitted to send us off soft bread, provided the weather did not forbid, the said contractor forfeited half a pound of bread to each man. The prisoners were not acquainted with this rule, until they were informed of it by the worthy captain Hutchinson; and they determined to enforce the regulation on the next act of delinquency of the contractor. This opportunity soon occurred. He omitted to send us off soft bread in fair weather; our commander, Mr. O. thereupon ordered us to be served with hard ship bread. This we declined accepting, and contended that the contractor was bound to send us off the soft bread, with an additional half pound, which he forfeited to us for his breach of punctuality. Now the contractor had again and again incurred this forfeiture, which went into Mr. O's pocket, instead of our stomachs, and this mal-practice we were resolved to correct. Our commander then swore from the teeth outwards, that if we refused his hard bread, we should have none; and we swore from the teeth, inwardly, that we would adhere to our first declaration, and maintain our rights. Finding us obstinate, he ordered us all to be driven into the pound by the marines, and the ladder drawn up. Some of the prisoners, rather imprudently, cast some reflections on Mr. O. and his family; in consequence of which, he ordered us all to be driven below, and the hatches closed upon us; and he represented to the commodore that the prisoners were in a state of mutiny. He was so alarmed that he sent the female part of his family on shore for safety, and requested a reinforcement of marines. At the same time we made a representation to the commodore, and stated our grievances, in our own way, and we demanded the extra half pound of soft bread, forfeited by the contractor. In all this business we were as fierce and as stubborn, and talked as big as a combination of collegians, to redress bad commons. We remained in this situation two days; one from each mess going on deck for a supply of water, was all the intercourse we had with our superiors. During all this time, we found we had got hold of the heaviest end of the timber. We found it very hard contending against increasing hunger, and should have been very glad of a few hard biscuit. Some began to grow slack in their resistance; and even the most obstinate allowed their ire to cool a little. To lay such an embargo on our own bowels was, be sure, a pretty tough piece of self-denial; for we found; in all our sufferings, that bread was, the staff of life. We were about taking the general opinion by a vote, whether it was best to eat hard biscuit, or starve? Just as we were about taking this important vote, in which, I suspect, we should have been unanimous, the commodore and Capt. Hutchinson came on board to inquire into the cause of the dispute; and this lucky, and well timed visit, saved our credit; and established the Yankee character for inflexibility, beyond all doubt or controversy. These two worthy gentlemen soon discovered that Mr. O. had made representations not altogether correct. They therefore ordered the hatches to be taken off, and proper bread to be served out, and so the dispute ended.
What added to our present satisfaction was, that Mr. my Lord Beasly was to allow us two pence half penny sterling per day, for coffee, tobacco, &c. We now, to use the sailor's own expressive phrase, looked up one or two points nearer the wind than ever.
That Mr. O. had been in the royal navy from his infancy, and now, at the age of forty five, ranks no higher than a lieutenant. He once commanded a sloop, and had the character of severity. He had an amiable wife and many children, who lived in the prison ship. Lieut. O. was not the wisest man in all England. He exercised his cunning, it was said, in making money out of his station; but he was under the immediate control of two honorable gentlemen, otherwise, it is probable, we should have felt more instances of his revenge than he dared, at all times, show.
CHAPTER VI
It is now the last day of February, 1814. The severity of an English winter, which is generally milder than the winters of New-England, is past; and we are as comfortable as can be expected on board a prison ship; we have a few cents a day to buy coffee, sugar or tobacco; add to these, we have the luxury of newspapers, which is a high gratification to the well known curiosity of a genuine Yankee, by which cant term we always mean a New-England man. We have been laughed at, by the British travellers, for our insatiable curiosity; but such should remember, that their great moralist, Johnson, tells us that curiosity is the thirst of the soul, and is a never-failing mark of a vigorous intellect. The Hottentot has no curiosity—the woolly African has no curiosity—the vacant minded Chinese has no curiosity—but the brightest sons of Old England and New, are remarkable for it; insomuch that they are often the dupes of it. How many thousand guineas a year are acquired by artful foreigners, in feeding this appetite of our relation, the renowned John Bull? and yet he is never satisfied; his mouth is open still, and so wide, very lately, that Bonaparte had like to have jumped into it, suit and all!!
We should have taken, perhaps, more satisfaction in the perusal of these newspapers, had they not been so excessively expensive. We took the Statesman, the Star, and Bell's Weekly Messenger; and some part of the time, the Whig. The expense of the Statesman was defrayed by the sale of green fish to the contractor. The Star was taken by the Frenchmen; the Whig and Bell's Weekly Messenger, by individuals. We paid twenty-eight shillings sterling per month, for the Statesman, which is twice the price of a newspaper in Boston, for a whole year. Besides it costs us sixteen shillings per month to get these papers conveyed on board. The reader will probably say, in the language of Dr. Franklin's allegory, that considering our destitute condition, "we paid dear for our whistle." These newspapers were smuggled, or pretended to be smuggled; our commander's pocket was not the lighter for New-England "quidnuncism." But every day afforded instances of meanness; scraping misery to the bone, for a few pence.
The United States is the region of all regions of the earth for newspapers. There are more newspapers printed in the United States, than in all the rest of the world besides. We do not mean a greater number of copies of the same title, but a greater number of different titles; insomuch, that invention is nearly exhausted to afford them new names. In England, newspapers pay a very high tax; in America, they are perfectly free, and their transport by the mails is nearly so; and this is because our government, that is to say, the people, consider newspapers one of the necessaries of a Yankee's life. In the definition of a New-England man, you should always insert that he is "a go to meeting animal, and a newspaper reading animal!" The sums which we poor prisoners paid for one English newspaper a year, would have paid the annual board of a man in the interior of our own plentiful country. I am firmly of opinion, however, that Boston has and will have reason to curse her federal newspapers. They, like, the "Courier" and "Times," of London have spread false principles, and scattered error amongst a people too violently prejudiced to read both sides of the question.
I thought that, at this time, we were as happy, or as free from misery, as at any time since our captivity. The pleasant season was advancing, the days growing longer, and the nights shorter, and our condition seemed improving, when a dreadful calamity broke out upon us; I mean the Small pox. There are no people on the face of the earth, who have such a dread of this distemper as the people of New-England. Their laws and their municipal regulations prove this. No person can remain in his own house with this disorder; but certain municipal officers take charge of him, and convey him to the small pox hospital, provided by the laws for the reception of such patients. If the disorder has progressed so far as to render it, in the opinion of physicians, dangerous to life to remove him, then the street, where he lives, is fenced up, and a guard placed so that no one can pass, and a red flag is hoisted on the house. These formidable precautions may have added to the dread of this loathsome disease.
When this alarming distemper first appeared in the ship, the surgeon had all the prisoners mustered, to inquire of them who had had the small pox, and who the kine pock; or, as they call it in England, the cow pock. He vaccinated a number. But there were several instances of persons who said they were inoculated with the kine pock in America, who took the small pox the natural way at this time. I do not consider this as, in any degree diminishing the value of this important discovery and practice. Very few practitioners understand this business; and a great number of people in the United States have inoculated themselves, without knowing at what period to take the matter; and without knowing the true pustule from the spurious. Many of our prisoners absolutely refused to be vaccinated, although they believed in its efficacy of guarding them from small pox. I was greatly surprised at this, until I found that they felt no disposition to preserve their lives any longer. It seemed that their misery had so far lessened their attachment to life, that they were indifferent as to any method of preserving it. I was surprized to find this in some who I had considered as among the most cheerful. I was shocked to find among these a weight of woe I little expected. Several of them told me that life was a burthen; that pride of character kept them from whining, and forced a smile on their countenance, while their being penned up, like so many dirty hogs, had chilled their souls, and sunk them, at times, into despondency. Some said, that nothing but the hope of revenge kept them alive.
There are two extremes of the mind producing a disregard for life. The one is, the fever or delirium of battle, augmented and kept up by the cannon's roar, the sight of blood, and military music; here a man, being all soul, thinks nothing of his body. The other case is, where his body is debilitated, his spirit half extinguished, and his soul desponding, and his body paralized. Here existence is a burden, and the attachment to life next to nothing. It is here that death appears to open the gate of the prison. I found, to my surprize, that several of our countrymen were in this desponding state.
Some refused to be vaccinated, from a persuasion that the kine pock was no security against the small pox. When I endeavoured to convince several of them of their error, one asked me if a weak man could drive away a strong one; or a small evil drive away a great one? A man need not despair in making a certain class of people believe any thing but truth.
It is surprizing that when our countryman, Dr. Waterhouse, first introduced this new inoculation into America, in the year 1800, what an opposition the practice met with; and nothing but the most persevering and unwearied exertions, and public experiments, could overcome the reluctance, in numbers, to receive this great blessing. The same perversity of judgement was observable among individuals in this prison ship.
As the spring advanced, the men, contrary to my expectation, became more desponding, and the Typhus fever, or rather the jail fever, appeared among them. From four to six are taken down with it every day. We have about nine hundred men on board this ship; eight hundred of us wretched prisoners, and one hundred Englishmen. We are more crowded than is consistent with health or comfort. Our hammocks are slung one above another. It is warm and offensive in the middle of our habitation; and those who have hammocks near the ports, are unwilling to have them open in the night. All this impedes the needful circulation of fresh air. It is a little singular, that it is the robust and hearty that are seized with this fever, before those who are weak in body, and, apparently, desponding in mind.
As the appropriate hospital-ship is now crowded with sick, we are obliged to retain a number in the Crown Prince. The sick bay of this ship is now arranged like to an hospital ship; and the hospital allowance served out; and the chief surgeon visits us every week. Our committee, composed of the oldest and most respectable men amongst us, do every thing in their power to keep the ship and the prisoners clean. Men are appointed to inspect the prisoners' clothes and bedding; and even to punish those who refused, or were too indolent to wash themselves and their clothing; for there were some who were more like hogs than men; such is the effects of situations and circumstances. Our most influential men set the example of cleanliness; and endeavoured to instill into the minds of others the great importance of being free from all kinds of filth.
It is now the first day of April, 1814, and the small pox and typhus fever still prevail in the different ships, especially on board the ship called the Bahama. One hundred and sixty-one Americans were put on board her in the month of January. She had been used as a prison for Danish sailors, many of whom were sick of typhus fever. These Americans came, like the rest of us, from Halifax; being weary, fatigued, and half-starved, their dejected spirits and debilitated bodies, then aptly disposed to imbibe the contagion. Accordingly soon after they went on board, they were attacked with it. All the Danes are sent out of her; and her upper deck is converted into an hospital; and the surgeon has declared the ship to be infectious; and no one communicates with her but such as supply the ship and attend the sick.
While "sick and imprisoned," Mr. Beasly "visited us not"; but sent his clerk, a Mr. Williams, to supply the most needy with clothes; and instead of applying to the committee, who could have informed him correctly who most needed them, he adopted the mode most liable to lead to deception and injustice. This Mr. B. seems, from the beginning, to have considered his countrymen as a set of cheating, lying, swindling rascals; and a mutual contempt has existed between them. We wish all our officers and agents would bear in mind this fact, that complacency begets complacency; and contempt begets contempt.
We, Americans, have seen and severely felt the highly pernicious and demoralizing tendency of gambling; and we have been long wishing to break up the practice; and our selectmen, or committee, were determined to effect it. We accordingly took a vote, agreeably to the custom of our country, and it was found to be the will of the majority to prohibit the practice of it. We began with the roulette table, or as our men called them, "wheels of fortune." After no small opposition from the French officers, we succeeded in putting them down; but we could not succeed so easily against the billiard tables. It was contended by many that it was an exercise, and a trial of skill; and if confined to a halfpenny, or one cent a game, it could not be dangerous to the morals, or property of the community. On this a warm and long dispute arose, in defining gambling. The playing of billiards for a cent a game, was contended to be a muscular exercise, and not gambling; whereas cards were denounced, as a studied, sedentary contrivance, for the artful to draw money from the pockets of the artless.
The owners of "the wheels of fortune" were, perhaps, envied. They made money, and lived better than the rest; and the same remark was made of the owners of the billiard tables. In the course of debate they were tauntingly called the privileged order, and rising from one degree of odious epithet to another, I could not help laughing, on hearing one angry orator pronounce this scheme of screwing money out of the pockets of the artless, and then laughing at their poverty and distress, to be down right Federalism. Now it should be known that a Federalist and Federalism, are the most odious ideas that can be raised up in the minds of every American prisoner in this river. A law was, therefore, proposed, to fine any American prisoner, who should call another a Federalist.
This state of contention continued five or six days; when, I am sorry to say it, the gambling party increased rather than lessened. At length two of the party ventured to recommence gambling—one of them was immediately sent for by the committee, who ordered him to be confined in the black hole. This lit up a blaze the committee little contemplated. The whole body of the commons cried out against this summary and arbitrary proceeding. This was pronounced to be such an alarming attack on the liberty of the prisoners, that every freeman in the prison ship was called upon to rise up and resist the daring encroachment on the birthright of an American. A strong party was at once formed in favor of the man who was imprisoned without a trial. On this occasion the names of Hamden, Sidney, and Wilks, were echoed from all quarters of our prison. The liberty of the citizen, and false imprisonment were discanted on in a loud and moving manner. Some talked of a writ of habeas corpus, but others knew not what it meant; but all agreed that it was unconstitutional to confine a man in prison without trial. One man had the imprudence to say that they would have French fashions among them, of imprisoning and hanging a man, and trying him afterwards. This roused the ire of some of the officers of that nation, who declared in a rage, that it was not the fashion in France to hang a man and try him afterwards. They all agreed, however, that it was an illegal act to confine the man without trial; and that this was a precedent dangerous to the liberties of the prisoner, and that they ought to protest against it. This was a curious scene to the surgeon, and some other pretty sensible English officers; one of whom observed to another, in my hearing, these Americans are certainly the most singular set of men I ever met with. The man who had been confined, was allowed to come from his confinement, and speak for himself. He had "the gift of the gab," and a species of forcible eloquence that some of our lawyers might envy. He would have distinguished himself in any of our town meetings; and with cultivation, might have shown in history. He, however, committed that very common fault among our popular orators,—he talked too much. The President of the Committee was not much of a speaker; but he was a man of sense and prudence. Cool as he was, he was thrown a little off his guard by an intemperate phrase of the culprit; who in the ardor of his defence, accused the President of being a Federalist; and this turned the current of favor against the unguarded orator, and he was from all sides, hissed. When quiet was restored, the President took advantage of the current just turned in his favor, and said, "Fellow Prisoners! I perceive that I have committed an error in confining this man without a previous trial, and I am sorry for it. At the time, I thought I was doing right; but I now see that I was wrong." He then proposed to have the accused regularly tried, before the full committee, which he hoped would prove themselves the real representatives of the community, collected in course of events within the planks of an enemy's prison ship. He exhorted the committee not to be influenced by party, prejudice, or local attachment, but to act justly and independently. The accused was allowed to speak for himself. He was not an old Jack Tar, but the son of a respectable New England yeoman, with a clear head, and not destitute of learning, nor was he ignorant of the law. He defended himself with real ability, and the spirit of Emmet spoke with him. Among other things, he said—"What have I done to bring down upon me the resentment of the committee, and the vengeance of its President? In attempting to establish the rights of this little community, I have suffered the ignominy of a close confinement, by the order of my own countrymen. While we are suffering oppression, degradation and insult, from the external enemy, shall we redouble our misery, by wrongfully oppressing one another? I thought it my duty to exert myself in favor of an equality of rights among us. I could not bear to hear the domineering language, and see the overbearing conduct of the purse proud among us; of a set of cunning, tricking, slight-of-hand men, who were constantly stripping the unwary and artless American, of the small sums he had acquired, not by gaming, but by labor and good behaviour. I was an enemy to all this; but I was a friend to the freedom of judgment, and the freedom of action, provided it did not injure the whole. If after what has been experienced, our countrymen will gamble with certain Frenchmen, above the rank of common seamen, let them do it, and endure the consequences. It is wrong to attempt to abridge the liberty of amusement, if that amusement does not harm, or endanger the comfort of the whole." The man was acquitted, and escorted to his birth in triumph.
It is surprising what trifling things will influence a crowd! A few minutes previous to this man's bold harrangue, every one, almost, was against him; but as soon as he tickled their ears with a flourishing speech, where much more ability was shewn than was expected, instantly they clap their hands, admire his talents, applaud his sentiments, and think directly contrary to what they did five minutes before. From this incident have I been seriously impressed with the dangerous effects of eloquence. Here this man made "the worse appear the better reason." But how many instances have we of the same effect in the Grecian, Roman, English and French history!
This trial, and this specimen of oratory, convinced me that Liberty is the parent of eloquence. I have noticed a striking difference between our men and those of England, with all their loud talk of English freedom. When an American speaks to an officer set over him, he utters all that he has to say in a ready and fearless manner; but when these Englishmen come on board of us to bring vegetables, or any thing else to dispose of, they stand with their caps off, scratching their heads, through awe and embarrassment; and every other word is, "Yes, your Honor," or, "Will your Honor have this, or your Honor have that;" and "your Honor knows best;" and all such mean and slavish language. It is remarkable that you never hear this sort of language, and see this servile manner, in the common savages of our wilderness. It belongs only to the common people, and I am told, to the shop-keepers of England, and to our negroes. Necessity first inspires the poor with awe for the rich, and by and by it grows into a principle.
A day or two after these transactions we resumed the consideration of the practice of gambling, and we turned the tables against the billiard players; and they were taken down by an almost unanimous consent; whatever some individuals thought or wished, the general opinion was so strong that they dare not express it. The authority of the committee and the authority of the President, were established more firmly than ever.
While writing down these occurrences, I have thought that we might here see the great characters and the important doings of the Grecian, Roman and American Republics, in a very small compass. Here we saw the struggles of vice and virtue, wisdom and folly, and the desire of distinction, and the ambition of taking the lead, and the little workings of emulation, amid rags and tatters. As often as I moaned over wearied moments of captivity, I do not think the time entirely lost to me. I learnt a great deal. I saw close to them the first workings of those springs which set republics, kingdoms, empires, and armies in motion; the winds and tides, without which, the great ocean of human life would stagnate, and all within its vast bounds would perish—until now, I saw the human heart covered over by pride, encrusted by avarice or cloaked round by hypocrisy; I now saw it exposed, naked and bare, to the inspection of each man's neighbour.