Charles Philip Yorke, Fourth Earl of Hardwicke, Vice Admiral R.N. by Lady Biddulph of Ledbury

L >> Lady Biddulph of Ledbury >> Charles Philip Yorke, Fourth Earl of Hardwicke, Vice Admiral R.N.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18

'Dr. Father, Adieu!'

* * * * *

The letter from Vourla which follows is that promised to his father in
the preceding letter from Alexandria, and is strictly of an earlier date
as it takes up the story of his experiences in the later months of 1824.
The narrative requires no comment, as it speaks for itself, and the
description of Captain Yorke's visit to Lady Hester Stanhope at Djoun
will be read with interest. He attained the rank of Captain on June 6,
1825.

* * * * *

'... After a tedious passage from Larnica we anchored at Beirut, once
the capital of the Druses but conquered in the time of Daher Prince of
Acre by the Turks. The place is supposed to be the ancient Baal Berith.
Here we stay a week. Beirut is a curious town. The architecture is
substantial, perfectly different from any seen in other parts of Asia
until you arrive in Syria; quite Saracenic, arches in abundance and
curious tesselated pavements of coloured stones. But this is not
Turkish, though now in possession of the Turks, but the architecture of
its former inhabitants remains. I made short excursions into the country
with some English and Armenian missionaries who have resided some years
in the country, but except the beauties of nature little else remarkable
is to be seen. For the best information in a small compass of this part
of Syria Mr. Hope's "Anastasius" will give it. But within the compass of
a letter I cannot enter into very great detail unless I were to write it
on the spot and take more time and pains than my disposition inclines
to. As far as professional remarks go, I have as much as a boat and lead
line and bearings will give.

'Here I was in some distress, for the pilot, a Greek, that I got at
Rhodes declared he knew nothing of the coast, so I discharged him. A
Turk now undertook to pilot us to Seyden, though on our arrival there I
determined to have no more pilots, as they rather confused the
navigation, not being able to give positive information at any time.

'After leaving Beirut we next let go anchor at Saida (Sidon) once so
famed, and now a very tolerable Turkish town. Here no relic of antiquity
is visible except a large block of marble about a mile to southward of
the town with a Greek inscription (which _I_ did not see; Mandiel
gives a sufficient account of it, and my friends who visited it say it
appears to be in precisely the same state that he saw it in) with some
remains of a galley mole, which the Turks in their profound policy have
blocked up so that it is with difficulty that a small boat can get in.
Here my attention was greatly diverted from examining much of the town
and its contents by the circumstance of my dispatching a civil line
"with Captain Y's compts to Lady H. Stanhope" offering my services in
any way to take letters &c. to Malta or elsewhere that I might be going.
Lady Hester for some years has refused to see English people, therefore
I had not a hope that she would give me an interview; but to my
surprise, on the evening of my writing, her Armenian interpreter came on
board with a kind note by which I found that a horse and escort were at
Saida waiting to conduct me when I might please to Djoun her residence
in Libanus, about three hours from Saida. Accordingly on the following
morning, with Luca my Armenian interpreter whom I have mentioned in
company, we started for the residence of her ladyship. The ride,
uninteresting from any circumstance but that of actually being on Mount
Libanus, deserves no remark, sterile, and but little cultivated in this
part. Her residence is on an eminence about ten miles from the sea which
it overlooks; on the other side it does not look into the bosom of the
Valley of Bernica, yet it is high enough to enjoy the beautiful verdure
of the mountain rising on the opposite side, whose tops are the most
lofty of Libanus. The air is pure and the scenery bold. On a hill about
a mile to the southward of her habitation is a village which flourishes
in the sunshine of her favour and protection. Her house is a neat
building, a mixture of Oriental and English. From the entrance gate a
passage (on either side of which is a guard room and some apartments for
soldiers and servants) leads to a square yard, half way across which is
a terrace with three steps, round which terrace are the different
apartments of servants, interpreters, as also spare rooms for visitors.
On the left side of the terrace under a lattice work of wood woven with
rose and jessamine I was ushered, and shewn into a small apartment
furnished in the Eastern style. The chiboque and coffee were instantly
brought me by a French youth in the costume of a Mameluke, with
compliments from my lady begging I would refresh myself after my
fatigue. On my ablutions being finished I was sent for. Passing through
several passages I was shewn into a room rather dark with a curtain
drawn across, which being withdrawn I found myself in the presence of a
Bedouin Arab chief who soon turned out to be Lady Hester. She expressed
great joy at seeing the son of one of the most honest families in
England, so she was pleased to express herself. She received me as an
English lady of fashion would have done. I at once became delighted with
her, with her knowledge, and I must say her beauty, for she is still one
of the finest specimens of a woman I ever saw. She spoke much of Uncle
Charles; her conversation beyond any person's I ever met; she was in
fine spirits. Her dress, which well became her gigantic person, very
rich. I shall pass over our conversation which was full of liveliness,
of marvels and wonders, manners and customs of the people, plagues,
troubles, and famines &c. &c. I went back to the brig the following day
and returned in the afternoon to Djoun, taking with me Mr. Forrester, my
surgeon, who she requested I would allow to arrange her medicines which
were in confusion and disorder.

'In the evening she sent for me; she smoked the chiboque, her mind was
wrought to a high pitch of enthusiasm, she talked wildly and was much
distressed in mind, in short her intellects were much disordered and it
was very distressing.

'However, she arranged that I should next morning start for Deir-el-
Kamr, the capital of the Druses, with a letter to the Emir Bashire, the
prince of that nation. I perceive that, were I to begin a description, I
should waste much good paper without stating any thing that is new. The
Druses are a most extraordinary people; the Palace of the Emir superb,
the country richly cultivated by the greatest labour being all in ridges
on the sides of the mountains, but I shall refer you to Mr. Hope's
"Anastasius" for a good description and for all that is supposed, for
nothing is known of their religion. The Emir treated us with much
kindness and I stayed two days in his palace where we had apartments,
visited him in the forenoon after which he did not interfere with our
pleasure; excellent living, about fifty dishes served to about four
people for dinner.

'On a visit to the Emir was a son of the Pacha of Damascus, who offered
me to accompany him back to that city where, he said, I should reside in
the palace of his father and see all that was to be seen. Such an offer
almost tempted me to cut the _Alacrity_. I suppose a Christian
hardly ever had such an opportunity which he was obliged to lose. Lady
Hester said it was my djinn or star which got me into such favour. On
the third morning we breakfasted at Deir-el-Kamr, the town about one
mile distant from Petedeen the palace, and returned to Djoun arriving
late that night. She made me several presents, the most valuable of
which I sent home to your charge by _Euryalus_. She has written to
me once since.

'I wrote a letter to Lord Chatham about her as I know her family knew
little or nothing about her; in a manner I found myself called on.

'Much more could I write, but really just now my attention is so much
called off by continual calling from Capt. Hamilton, who sends for me on
every occasion, that this despatch will be curtailed, but I trust that
more particulars will come _viva voce_.

'Tyre was the next place where we anchored; no vessel of war with
English colours had visited this port in the memory of any inhabitant
living at the place, which to be sure is not many; it is little better
than the prophecy states it should be "a rock for fishers to dry their
nets upon." There are here some superb remains of antiquity, Alexander's
isthmus and Solomon's cisterns. Alexander's famous siege of this place
is too well known and it is quite out of my power to say anything new of
it, but his work will remain for ever; the isthmus he made to connect
the island on which Tyre stood with the mainland is perfect to this day
and has no appearance of being a work of art, but of nature. It is 200
fathoms wide in its narrowest part. The most ancient relic in the town
of Tyre is the east end of a Christian church which is mentioned by
Mandiel; this stands nearly as he left it. Tyre itself is a wretched
place; any little attempt that the people have lately made to improve
themselves has been thwarted by the Pacha of St. Jean d'Acre, who
squeezes them so for money that they never have a para in their pockets.
Filth, misery and starvation are the legacy of a Tyrian. The country
around is rich and superb, its produce might be enormous, but so it is
with all Syria that I have seen.

'Solomon's cisterns, which are situated about three miles from Tyre to
the south east, are of an octagonal form built of gravel and cement that
form a solid stone. The elevation of the largest above the level is
twenty-seven feet on the south side, and eighteen on the north; a walk
round on the top eight feet wide, a step below twenty-one feet broad, a
stream leaves it turning four mills. There are two smaller ones turning
two mills at a small distance to the northward of the large one. Their
original shape appears to have been square, but now much disfigured. The
large one is thirty-three yards deep, the people believe it has no
bottom and that the water is brought there by genii. Where it comes from
no one knows, but it is always full. I think these cisterns originally
supplied Tyre with water; I traced the remains of an aqueduct from them
nearly to the walls but better than half way across the isthmus, so that
I think they are of a later date than the time of Solomon because the
aqueduct could not be built over the isthmus before the isthmus was
made. They are on the whole the most curious relics of antiquity I have
seen, they must at least be 2300 years old and they are in no way
injured, but the supply of water is constant even in the wannest
weather. The country for seven miles round is a perfect level: I think
the water must be brought by some underground drain from the mountains
in the distance to the eastward. The story is that Solomon among the
presents made to King Hiram for his assistance in building the Temple
built for him these cisterns, but they are not mentioned in the Bible,
and I think the story improbable for reasons before mentioned, and that
Solomon certainly had not such good artificers as King Hiram himself.

'By the bye there are considerable remains of the old port, a mote, by
the ruins of which you can easily trace its extent.

'Haipha and St. Jean d'Acre, Mt. Carmel and the river Kishon "that
ancient river" became next the objects of my amusement. I bivouacked one
night on the banks of the river at Mt. Tabor and Carmel in sight. At
this time an alteration in the weather took place, the gales of wind
began to blow here and the coast consequently became exceedingly
dangerous. I thought it prudent to quit it and arrived in Alexandria in
fourteen days after leaving Haifa, having had a contrary gale nearly the
whole time.

'During my stay in Egypt I was four days in Cairo, eight days on the
Nile, two days at Sakkara and one day at Gizeh. Salt lent me his house
and his boat with twenty men, and I saw all that was to be seen. Mehemet
Ali gave me a Turk to attend me and I play the traveller here for a few
days; time for description I have none. You will be sorry I have hurried
over the latter part of this despatch but I assure you it is
unavoidable. The vessel that takes our letters to Malta I expect will
put herself in quarantine every hour.

'I have returned to Malta, refitted, and am again up the Archipelago
with Captain Hamilton who has just joined company. We have been the last
forty-eight hours rather harassingly employed routing out a nest of
pirates which we have done nearly to a man. Our boats have been away all
night and the brig under way. My marines took the men under Lieut.
Weately, and my men took two Greek boats with nine men each on board one
of which was the Captain of the Pirates; the _Fury's_ boats took
the vessels and their prizes, eleven in number. There was no fighting.
Captain Lethaby in the _Vengeance_ and _Alacrity_ brought the
Bey of Rhodes to his senses the other day; the Consul had been insulted,
he would give no satisfaction, so we took the old way and began at him,
when he came to terms. One 18 lb. shot through his palace made him know
that we did not always bark and never bite. _Alacrity_ was near
enough the battery to receive a heavy fire of stones from the Turks
which, with a few muskets discharged at us, was all the return made by
the Turks before the thing was amicably arranged....

'Love to all; I wish Lady Elizabeth Stuart (de Rothesay) would write to
me, I do sincerely love that cousin of mine; Grantham's letter I will
answer next opportunity, I am delighted with it.

'Adieu,

'C. YORKE'

VOURLA, GULPH Of SMYRNA:

June 10, 1825.

CHAPTER V

A HOLIDAY IN NORTHERN REGIONS. 1828

My father appears to have had a long leave between the two commands, in
the _Alacrity_ (1826) and the _Alligator_ (1829), during which
commands he was employed in the Mediterranean, with a roving commission
--a free lance, in short--to put down piracy and watch the War of
Independence between the Greeks and the Turks. He never let the grass
grow under his feet, so off he started with his friend Walrond on a
roving tour through the greater part of Scandinavia, and his journals
contain a daily record, extending over nearly six months. He crossed the
Dovrefeld Range between Norway and Sweden (a journey seldom undertaken
to-day), and in 1828 the lack of travelling facilities was exceptional.

The energy and resource of my father's character and his great powers of
observation appear to great advantage in these journals, and there are
many facts which I shall endeavour to relate as far as possible in his
own graphic words.

He was greatly impressed by the kindness and hospitality he received
from all classes in both countries with the exception of one district
near Gottenborg, where he met with some outrageous conduct on the part
of a postmaster, who either thought he was robbed, or else fully
intended to rob his guest.

He was honoured by interviews with King Charles John IV, better known as
Bernadotte, Napoleon's Field-Marshal and founder of the present royal
dynasty of Sweden, and it is worthy of note that as far back as 1828,
Norway was chafing under the Union with Sweden which was brought about
by the Treaty of Kiel in 1814 and has so lately been dissolved.

On the 10th of May 1828, Captain Yorke started from the Customs House
Wharf on the Thames, in a small steamer of 300 tons. Steam navigation
being then in its infancy the vessel was of great interest to the
traveller, who notes that she had 'two very fine engines of 40 horse
power!'

The passage to Hamburg took exactly fifty-five hours. It is curious in
the light of eighty years' commercial progress to read that 'The
commerce on the Elbe has no comparison with that of the Thames.' Then
follows a difficulty with the Customs officer, who, unaware of the
habits of British sportsmen, was horrified to find gunpowder among the
captain's baggage, a discovery which necessitated an appeal to the
British Consul and entailed a delay of several days.

Kiel was reached on 14th of May, and after exploring the pretty little
town the two friends took the Caledonian steam packet for Copenhagen.
This little steamer was built as a pleasure boat for James Watt, and had
run nine years making much money for her owner though a very 'bad boat.'

At Copenhagen Captain Yorke was much impressed by the royal palace of
Frederiksborg, with its chapel where are crowned the Kings of Denmark,
and its pane of glass on which Caroline Matilda [Footnote: Sister of
George III, Queen of Christian VII. She was entrapped into a confession
of criminality to save the life of her supposed lover Struensee, who was
afterwards beheaded. She was condemned to imprisonment for life in the
Castle of Zell, and died there aged twenty-four in 1775.] had scratched,
'O keep me innocent; make others great.' His professional interest was
kindled by the Trekroner Battery which he visited in a boat, and of
which he noticed both the strong and the weak points. He failed to get
into the dockyard, though here again he was careful to note the number
of ships of the line, frigates, and launches afloat; but the royal stud
of 700 horses and the riding school struck him most. On the 20th of May
our travellers reached Elsinore, and crossing over in an open boat to
the Swedish coast they landed at Helsingborg.

My father was a good sportsman, and fishing was his favourite sport. It
was combined with that love of scenery which was one of his
characteristics, and his first fly was thrown in a beautiful river at
Falkenborg, rented by two Englishmen who paid L300 a year for it. Here
he remarks that the Swedes 'are poor, honest, and exceedingly good
natured.'

'I believe,' he wrote, 'that much of the great civility we received
arose from our travelling as we did, without speaking or understanding
the language, with no servant and no carriage, taking the common
conveyances of the country. Our fare, chiefly fish, black bread, and
brandy. The country round Falkenborg is barren, with cultivated spots
here and there.

'After leaving Falkenborg we experienced a great change in the character
of the people. Kindness and honesty were changed for ill-looks and petty
extortions. On a bridge between Moruss and Asa, the woman who kept it
and our drivers charged a double toll, and drank the overplus in
schnapps before our faces! Our vehicle is changed from four wheels to
two, so we now travel in little wooden gigs and four horses, forming a
pretty cavalcade.

'We arrived at Gottenborg about 1 P.M., dined _table d'hote_ and
left at four. We passed along the banks of the Wener, a superb river.
The vessels that trade from Gottenborg to the Wener See pass up this
river. To pass the falls a canal is cut through the solid rock, with two
locks. I saw a vessel of 80 tons go through. Considerable saw mills are
erected here, the timber cut up, the lumber is just marked, launched
down and the owners look out for themselves.

'The Wener shows one of the finest works of art perhaps in the world! To
navigate this river at the falls it has been necessary to cut a canal
for one English mile at least through mountains of solid rock, and has
eight locks. The mountains are granite and basalt. There is a cut
through the rock also parallel with the river. This cut is useless, for
there is in it a fall of sixty feet perpendicular, so that what it was
made for it is difficult to conceive.'

Between Trolhatta and Gottenborg our travellers were detained four hours
on the road. The reason for this detention is fully explained in a
letter my father wrote to Sir Joseph Yorke a month or two later, from
which I make the following extract:

'While the servants were shifting our luggage at Gottenborg I went into
the house to get change for a three dollar Banco Note. On receiving the
change I found it was only two Dollar Rix Geld, a depreciated currency,
after which I offered, with a remonstrance, a two dollar 'Banco' note.
The woman took it, and was then possessed of five dollar Banco, for
which I could get no further exchange than the two Rix Geld before
mentioned, neither would she return my money. I took the first
opportunity of snatching it from her, first the two dollar note and then
the three, and pushing the small change lying on the table towards her,
walked out of the house. Having managed to pay the horses we wished to
proceed but the driver refused to go, under the plea that I had taken
three dollars from the woman of the house, and they would not move till
I returned it. Neither threats nor entreaties prevailed, and we remained
about two hours till the Postmaster arrived in person. I appealed to
him, it was useless, and I saw no alternative but to offer him the three
dollars, making him understand as well as I could, that he being
Postmaster was responsible, and that I should acquaint the authorities
at Gottenborg of his conduct in taking from me three dollars which
neither belonged to him nor the woman of the house. He looked at the
note and threw it on the table, then left the inn, and in a minute
returned with a pair of screw irons to which was attached a chain,
himself and another laid hold of me, and attempted to force my hands
into them.

'By this time we had all come out of the house. I struck right and left
and effectually released myself. We were set on by the seven or eight
men standing by, and though successful in repelling their attack, seeing
my servant badly wounded and that iron instruments were beginning to be
used, I thought it better to suffer myself to be secured, which was done
by screwing my hands into the irons and making me fast by padlocking the
chain to a part of the room. In this situation I remained for about half
an hour, the Postmaster preparing to accompany us, which he did taking
me with him in his car as a prisoner. On a remonstrance from Walrond on
the tightness of the screws from which I suffered dreadfully, he took
off the irons before getting into the car, but he was armed.

'On arriving at Lilla Edet, we were taken before a magistrate, showed
our passports and were dismissed, after refusing to compromise the
affair for five dollars. This is the story and a very strange one it is.
The King has ordered a process to be begun against the men. I can make
no comment upon it. The reason for such treatment it is impossible to
conceive.'

But on arriving at Gottenborg, I find my father called on the Governor,
and found him justly very indignant, and he declared the Postmaster
should go to prison for three years with hard labour, exclaiming at the
same time, '_Nous ne sommes pas des Barbares, monsieur._'

Changing vessels of passage twice, my father arrived at Christiania.

'Xtiania fiord is deep and the town is situated at the head of it. Part
of the passage of the fiord is very narrow among the small islands, and
the water very deep. Though Christiania is but a poor town compared with
other northern towns, yet its environs may boast of more beauty than
perhaps any capital in the universe.'

My father finds the politeness of the inhabitants expensive, and says,
'in walking the streets of northern towns, you can wear out a good hat
in three days.'

In return they received the greatest civility from two fellow-passengers
who took them to call on Count Plater, the Stadt-Holder or Governor of
Xtiania, who was an admiral in their navy and spoke excellent English;
also on Count Rosen.

'Went to see the Storthing in the morning. Strangers were admitted to
the Gallery on requesting a ticket from the Police!'

My father writes:

'The origin of this Constitution, (now such a thorn in the side of the
King,) was in the reign of the Danish Prince Christian, who himself
assembled a body of the people to consult on the affairs of State at the
moment previous to Norway and Sweden falling under the power of France.
The body thus met, constituted themselves into a perpetual assembly for
the government of the country, and by their prudence and independence,
it is now permanently established (1828) and never were a people more
attached to their constitution.' Dining with Count Plater the Viceroy
of Norway, at 3 P.M., he met forty people, all the Ministers of State
and great officers in full dress with their 'orders' on; also three
peasant Labour Candidates in the costume of their country, being Members
of the Storthing. He also met Count Videll, a 'most fascinating person'
who, being asked as to the purchase of a carriage, replied politely, 'I
will give you one'; and he sent it, saying, 'It is nothing, I have
plenty.' The valley of the Drammen he beheld from the mountain of their
descent, 'charm and awe' by turns are the sensations of the travellers,
and this led them on to Kongsberg, at one time famous for its silver
mines, but the mines not being worked and the timber trade also
decreasing, the population went with it and was then only 4000. The
travellers went down the only silver mine then worked, in the dress of a
miner, walked through a horizontal gallery a mile long till they came to
the shaft, and descended two storeys but could not proceed, the fire
being just lit below.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18