The Georgia journal. (Milledgeville, Ga.) 1809-1847, March 13, 1810, Image 1

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THE GEORGIA JOURNAL OL.I. MILLE 1)0EVILLE, TUESDAY, MARCH 13, IS 10. No. 20 published by r.katon grantland, (PRINTER TO TUB STATE,) ON JEF FERSON STREET, OPPOSITE THE NORTH EM) OK TUE STATE-HOUSE. TERMS THREE DOLLARS PER AN NUM, ONE HALF TO BE PAID IN AD VANCE ADVERTISEMENTS WILL BE THANK VU1.1.Y RECEIVED, AND PUBLISHED AT THE CUSTOMARY PRICES. BIOGRAPHY. Thus accommodated lie travelled eastward through Siberia (>000 miles to Yakut/, where he was kindly re ceived by Mr. Billings, whom he re membered on board Captain Cook’s ship, in the situation of the astrono mer’s servant, but to whom the em press had now entrusted her schemes of northern discovery. , From Yakut/ he proceeded to Oczakow, on the coast of the Kams- chatka sea, from whence he meant that arc requisite for an Egyptian means, men of sense in any succeed traveller. Forcibly imptessed by the objects which he saw, and naturally led to compare them with those which o- ther regions of the globe had present ed to his view, he describes with the energy of an original observer, and exhibits in his narrative the varied ef fects of similarity and contrast. But as the travellers who preceded him have obtained and transmitted to Eu- to have passed over to that pcninsu-jrnpe whatever knowledge, either an- la, and to have embarked on the eas- e'ent or modern, the Lower Egypt tern side in one of the Russian ves- affords, and as the examination of Mr. LEDYARD. The subject of this notice was a Native of Connecticut, and has abro-! se i s that trade to the western shores'that country was no part of the busi- thci now living on Long Island, the i0 f America j but finding thenaviga- same who attended Dewitt Clintonjt‘ lon was completely obstructed bv as his surgeon in the duel he foughtjthe ice, he returned again to Yakut/., with CoLSwartwout. We have seen ; n order to wait for the conclusion of tin J( urnal of Mr. Lcdyard’s voyage with Captain Cook, which was ex tremely interesting, and marked an extraordinary man—The character which he has drawn of the fcnj^Je sex, equally elegant and just, is suf ficient of itself, without the fame ol his enterprize and sufferings, to give immortality to his name.—Star. Mr. Lcdvard was an American by birth, and seemed from his youth to have felt an invincible desire to make himself acquainted with the unknown, or imperfectly-discovered regions of the globe. For several years he had lived with the Indians of America, had studied their manners, and had practised in their school the means of obtaining the protection, and ol re commending himself to the favour of savages. In the humble situation of a corporal of marines, to which he submitted rather than relinquish his pursuit, he had made with captain Cook, the vovage otthe world ; and feeling on his return an anxious de sire of penetrating from the north western coast of America, which the winter. Such was his situation, when, in consequence of suspicion, not hither to explained, or resentments for which no reason is assigned, he was seized, in the Empress’ name, by two Russian soldiers, who placed him in a sledge, & conveying him, in the depth of winter, through the desarts of the Northern Tartarv, left him at last on the frontiers of the Po lish dominions. As they parted they told him, that if he returned to Rus sia he would certainly lie hang ed ; but that if he chose to go back to England, they wished him a plea sant journey. In the midst of poverty—covered with rags—infested with the usual accompaniments of such cloathing— worn with centinued hardship—ex hausted by disease—without friends —without credit—unknown and full of misery, he found his wav to Kon- ningsberg. There in the hour of his utmost distress, he resolved once more to have recourse to his old be nefactor, and he luckily found a per son who was willing to take his draft ‘ for five guineas on the President of Cook had partly explored, to the eastern coast, with which he himself was perfectly familiar, he determin- ^ K^Xdetv" ed to traverse the vast continent from • / , the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean. ^ With th.s assistance lie arrived m ... r , c i England, and immediately waited on His first plan foT the purpose was Banks, who told him, that ot embarking m a vessel wluch^. histem that he believed was then preparing to sail on a vovage,. he could recommend him r o an ad- ness ivhich was given him in charge, his descriptions, generally speaking, would add hut little to the instructi on which other narratives convey. During his residence at Cairo he sent to the committee many remarks on the people of Africa. The views which they opened were interesting and instructive, but they derived their principal importance from the proofs which they afford of the ar dent spirit of enquiry, the unwearied attention, the persevering research, Ik the laborious, indefatigable, anxious zeal with which their author pursued the object of his mission. Already informed that his next dispatch would be dated from Sen- nar ; that letters of earnest recom mendation had been given him by the Aga; that the terms of his pas sage had been settled ; and that the day of his departure was appointed— the committee expected with impa tience the description of his journey. Great was therefore their concern, and severe their disappointment when letters .from Egypt announced to them the melancholy tidings of his death. A bilious complaint, the consequence of vexatious delays in the promised departure of the ca ravan, had induced him to try thcef- p fects of too powerful a dose of the acid of vitriol; and the sudden un easiness and burning pain which fol lowed the incautious draft, impelled him to seek relief from the violent action of the strongest tartar emetic. A continued discharge of blood dis ing epoch will not blush to follow me, xnd perfect thos’e discoveries I have only abilities to trace out roughly, or, x disposition to attempt. “ A Turkish sopha has no charms for me, if it had I could soon obtain me here. I could to-morrow tain- command of the best armament of Ismael Bev.—I should be sure of success, & its consequential honours. Believe n)e, a single “ Well-done” from your association has more worth in it to me, than all the trappings of the East; and what is still more pre cious is the pleasure I have in the jus tification of my own conduct at tile's tribunal of my own heart. To those who had never seen Mr. Ledyard, it may not, perhaps, be un interesting to know, that his person, though scarcely exceeding the middle size, was remarkably expressive of activity and strength ; and that his manners, though unpolished, were neither uncivil nor unpleasing. Lit tle attentive to difference of rank, he seemed to consider all men as his e- quals, and as such he respected them. His genius, though uncultivated and irregular, was original and compre hensive. Ardent in his wishes, yet calm in his deliberations ; daring in his purpose, but guarded in his mea sures ; impatient of conyoul, yet ca pable of strong endurance ; adventu rous beyond the conception of ordi nary nu n, yet wary and considerate ; and attentive to all precautions, In ippeared to be formed bv nature for atchicvments of hardihood and pe- will faithfully perform in its utmost extent, mV engagement to the So ciety ; and if I perish in the attempt, my honour will stiff be sale, for death cancels all bonds.” DOMESTIC of a commercial adventure, to "Ai coverec ^ ^ lc t * an ^ er °* his situation, America ; and with this view he ex pended in sea-stores, the greatest part of the money which his chief be nefactor, Sir Joseph Banks, (whose generous conduct the writer of this narrative hasoften heard him acknow ledge) had liberally supplied. But the scheme being frustrated by the rapacity of a custom-house officer, who had seized and detained the vessel for reasons which, on legal en quiry, proved to be frivolous, he de termined to travel over land to Kams- chatka, from whence to the Western Coast of America, the passage is ex tremely short. With no more than ten guines in his purse, which was nil tliat he had left, he crossed the British Channel to Ostend, and by the way of Denmark and the Sound, proceeded to the capital of Sweden, from which, as it M as winter, he at tempted to traverse the Gulph of Bothnia on the ice, in order to reach Kamschatka by the shortest way ; but finding, when he came to the , middle of the sea, that the water was not frozen, he returned to Stockholm, and, taking his course northward, walked into the Arctic Circle, and passing round the head of the Gulph, descended on its eastern side to Pctersburgh. There he was soon noticed as an extraordinary man. Without stock ings or shoes, and in too much pover ty to provide himself with either, lie received and accepted an invitation to dine with the Portuguese Ambassa floi-..—To this invitation it was pro bably ou’ing that he M as able to ob tain the sum of twenty guineas for a bill on Sir Joseph Banks, which he confessed he had no authority to draw, but which, in consideration of the business that he had undertaken, and of the progress that he had made, Sir Joseph, he believed. M ould not be unwilling to pay. To the Am bassador’s interest it might also bt owing that he obtained permission to accompany a detachment ol stores, which the Empress had ordered to be sent to Yakuts, for the use ol Mr. Billings, an Englishman, at that time in her service* ka Sound on the Western Coast of|r t,,,u ‘ as perilous as the one| j summoned to his aid the gene- # Sound, on the Goast o f whlch hc h d returned ; .nd- friendship of the Venetian Con- then commumcatedto him the w.sh-| su , and the ineffectual skill of the es of the Association fordiscovenngi^ approved physicians of Cairo, the inland countries of Africa. Hc Mas decently interred in the Ledyard replied, that he had a - , ne ]ighfiourhood ofstich of the Ei iglish ways determined to traverse the con-1 haJ cn ded their days in the capital tinent of Africa, as soon as he had — explored the interior of North Ame rica ; and as Sir Joseph had offered him a letter of introduction, he came directly to the writer of these me moirs. Before I had learnt from the note the name and business of my vi sitor, I M’as struck m ith the manliness of his person, the breadth of bis chest, the openness of his counte nance, and the inquietude of his eye ; I spread the map of Africa before him, and tracing a line from Cairo to Sennar, and from thence westward in the latitude and supposed directi on of the Niger, I told him that was the route by which I was anxious that Africa might, if possible, be ex plored. He said he should think himself singularly fortunate to be en trusted with the adventure. I ask ed him when he would set out— “ To-morrow morning,” M r as his an swer. I told him I n as afraid that we should not be able, in so short a time, to prepare his instructions, and to procure for him the letters that were requisite, hut that if the com mittee should approve of his pro posal, all expedition should be used. To Mr. Ledyard was assigned, at of Egypt. The bilious complaint with which he was seized has been attributed to the frowardness of a childish im patience. Much more natural is the conjecture, that his unexpected de tension, week after week, and month after month, at Cairo, (a detention which consumed his finances, which therefore exposed to additional ha zard the success of his favourite en terprize, and which sonsequentlv tended to bring into question his ho nour to the Society) had troubled his spirit, had preyed upon his peace, and subjected him at last to-the dis ease that proved in its consequences the means of dragging him to his grave. Of his attachment to the Society, unci of his zeal for their service, the follou ing extracts from his letters are remarkably expressive : “ Money ! it is a vile slave !—I have at present an (economy of a more exalted kind to observe. I have the eves of some of the first men of the first kingdom on earth turned upon me. I am engaged by those verv men in the most important objects NEW-YORK. Fhe Legislature of this state met at Al : A iy on the 30th Jan. The Fe deralists have a majority of 13. File folloM’ing extracts from Go vernor Tompkins’ Speech will be read with interest. The nations of Europe have per- C’ ed, during the past year,in their sanguinary struggle with increased animosity. Whole districts of coun try have been desolated; kingdoms subjected, and hosts of innocent sub jects sacrificed. These occurrences present a mournful picture of the ra pacity and ambition of princes, whilst they afford a momentary lessort to the American people. The situation of the United States has been, in the mean time comparatively happy and enviable, for it has pleased the Great Disposer of events to ordain peace in our borders and to crown our year with goodness. The prosperity of the nation, hou’- evcT, has not been uninterrupted. Connected aS the United States are, by commercial intercourse, with o- ther nations, w'e could not avoid feel ing the shock of the contending pow ers. At an early period it was feared, that our commerce would experience material impediments from a Widely extended foreign war ; and more es- pec'aHv, as one of the great bellige rents controlled the destinies of the European continent, and the other possessed the means of domineering upon the ocean. But their professi ons of respect for the rights of others, and their avowed homage to the au thority of the law of nations, forbade us to anticipate those gigantic strides which have overleaped the settled principles of public law, M-htch con stitute the barriers between the ca price, the avarice or the tyranny of a belligerent, and the rights and inde pendence rtf a neutra'. It won! 1 be painful to (hvell upon every aggres- ing, tender, and humane ; that thevjsion, injustice, violence, and insult, are ever inclined to be gay & cheer- which we have witnessed and experi- ful, timorous and modest ; and thatlenced for several past years. The they do not hesitate, like men, to per-iinterdiction of neutral commerce form a generous action. Not haugh from a part or the whole of the terri- ty, not arrogant, not supercilious, tories of one belligerent by a decla* they are full ol courtesy and fond ofjration of blockade by the other, They who compare the extent of his pilgrimage through the vast re ions of Tartar)’, M’ith the scantiness ol his funds, will naturally ask h\ what means lie obtained subsistence on the road ? All that I have ever learned from him on the subject was, that his sufferings were excessive, ind that more than once he owed his life to the compassionate temper of the women. This last remark i strongly confirmed by the following extract from his account of his Si berian tour I have always remarked, that wo men in all countries are civil, ohliu- society ; mere liable, in general, to err than man ; but in general, also more virtuous, and performing more good actions than he. To a woman, whether civilized or savage, I never iecorum and friendship, without re ceiving a decent and friendly answer. With man it has been otherwise. “ In wandering over the barren plains of inhospitable Denmark, through honest Sweden and frozen without actual investment by force, and uithout a capacity therefor ; the imposition of a tax or transit duty on neutral commerce in the ports of one power to legalize its transmission to addresed myself in the language of the adverse power; the violent arrest from our public and private vessels, of seamen, almost without regard to the place of their nativity ; the liabi lity of neutral property to se>'/.i’re and condemnation, by one party, in consequence of search by the other, Lapland, rude and churlish Finland, o r the ships transporting it, and the his own desire as an enterprise of that any private individual can he obvious peril and of difficult success, the task of traversing from East to West, in the latitude attributed to the Niger, the widest part of the continent of Africa. Mr. Ledvard took his departure from London the 30th of June, 1788, and after a journey of six-and-thirtv davs, seven of which M ere consumed at Paris, and two at Marseilles, ar rived in the city of Alexandria. His letters of reconmendation lo the British Consul secured him from the embarrasments which the want of inns would otherwise have occasion ed, and procured for him the neces sary instructions for assuming th dress, and adopting the manners engaged in : I have their approbation to acquire or to lose ; and their es teem also, which I prize beyond e- very thing except the independent idea of serving mankind. Should rashness or desparation carry me through, M-hatever fame the injudici ous might bestow, I should not ac cept of it; it is the good and great I look to; fame from them bestowed is altogether difft rent, and is closely allied to a “ Well done” from God : but rashness will not be likely to car ry me through any more than timid caution. To find the necessary me dium ofconduct, to vary and apply it o contingencies, is the ceconomy I al- lude to ; and if I succeed bv such unprincipled Russia, and the wide spread regions of the wandering Tar- r, it h isgry, dry, cold wet, or sick, the women have ever been friendly to me, and uniformly so ; and to add to this virtue (so worthy the appel lation of benevolence), these actions have been performed in so free and so kind a manner, that if I was dry I drank the sweetest draught; and if hungry, I ate the coarse morsel with a double relish.” But though the native benevolence lich even among savages distin -pushes and adorns the female r a- racter, might sometimes soften the severity of his sufferings, yet at o- thers he seems to have endured th, utmost pressure of distress. I am accustomed (said he in out last conversation—’twas on the morn ing of his departure for Africa) I am accustomed to hardships, I have known both hunger and nakedness to the utmost extremity of human .suffering. I have known what it is to hue food given me, as charit to a madman, and I have at time been obliged to shelter myself under the miseries of that character to a- void a heavier calamity. M v distres ses have been greater than I have e- ver owned or ever will own to ant- man. Such evils are terrible to bear but they never yet had power to turn me from my purpose. If I live, I total prohibition of neutral commerce with one belligerent by the other, without blockade of any description, are amongst the prominent usurpa tions which have sacrificed much of >ur property, enslaved many of our citizens, insulted our sovereignty, and almost proscribed neutral com merce from the ocean. Some neu tral vessels have been seized, robbed, lestroyed, or condemned, upon fri- olous and provoking pretext, not even justified by the arbitrary ru inous restrictions above mentioned; and one of our public armed ships has been insultingly attacked, several of her crew killed, and others taken forcibly away ; an act acknowledged by the nation, whose officer commit ted it, to be wholly unwarrantable, but which still remains unatoned. The constant evidences of a de sire on our part to maintain a strict and impartial neutrality—the earn- este and able appeals for redress by our rulers to the honor and justice ot the belligerents, and our continual remonstrances against their inces sant and unprovoked encroachments upon neutral commerce have all been disregarded or evaded. No revoca tion or material relaxation ot the of fensive decrees of France has been obtained. With Great Britain an ar rangement was effected in April last, which at the same time itevin-