Part 41 (1/2)

For some time, no information which could be relied upon reached this country, relative to the progress of the expedition, although some sinister reports were afloat relative to the fatal termination of it.

At length, however, all suspense was extinguished by the arrival of an individual belonging to the expedition, who gave the following account of the melancholy manner in which Richard Lander met his death, and which was subsequently corroborated by Mr. Moore, a medical gentleman attached to the expedition, and who was himself an eyewitness of the whole murderous scene. The particulars of the mournful event of Lander's death are thus given:

”Richard Lander and his a.s.sociates entered the Bra.s.s River, and began ascending it in excellent spirits. With them were two or three negro musicians, who, when the labours of the day were over, cheered their countrymen with their instruments, at the sound of which they danced and sang in company, while the few Englishmen be longing to the party, amused themselves with angling on the banks of the stream, in which, though not very expert, they were tolerably successful. In this pleasing manner, stemming a strong current by day, and resting from their toil at night, Richard Lander and his little band, totally unapprehensive of danger, and unprepared to overcome or meet it, proceeded slowly up the Niger. At some distance from its mouth, and on his way thither, they met King Jacket, a relative of King Boy, and one of the heartless and sullen chiefs, who rule over a large tract of marshy country on the banks of the Bra.s.s River. This individual was hailed by our travellers, and a present of tobacco and rum was offered to him, he accepted it with a murmur of dissatisfaction, and his eyes sparkled with malignity, as he said in his own language, 'White man will never reach Eboe this time.' This sentence was immediately interpreted to Lander by a native of the country, a boy, who afterwards bled to death from a wound in the knee, but Lander made light of the matter, and attributed Jacket's prophecy, for so it proved, to the petulance and malice of his disposition. Soon, however, he discovered his error, but it was too late to correct it, or evade the danger which threatened him. On ascending as far inland as sixty or seventy miles, the English approached an island, and their progress in the larger canoe was effectually obstructed by the shallowness of the stream. Amongst the trees and underwood that grew on this island, and on both banks of the river in its vicinity, large ambuscades of the natives had previously been formed, and shortly after the princ.i.p.al canoe had grounded, its unfortunate crew, busily employed to heave it into deep water, were saluted with irregular but heavy and continued discharges of musketry. So great was Lander's confidence in the sincerity and good will of the natives, that he could not at first believe that the destructive fire, by which he was literally surrounded, was any thing more than a mode of salutation they had adopted in honour of his arrival. But the Kroomen who had leaped into the boat, and who fell wounded by his side, soon convinced him of his mistake, and plainly discovered to him the fearful nature of the peril into which he had fallen so unexpectedly, and the difficulty he would experience in extricating himself from it. Encouraging his comrades with his voice and gestures, Lander prepared to defend himself to the last, and a loud and simultaneous shout from his little party a.s.sured him that they shared his feelings, and would follow his example. Meanwhile, several of the savages having come out of their concealment, were brought down by the shots of the English, but Lander whilst stopping to pick up a cartridge from the bottom of the canoe, was struck near the hip by a musket ball. The shock made him stagger, but he did not fall, and he continued cheering on his men. Soon finding, however, his ammunition expended, himself seriously wounded, the courage of his Kroomen beginning to droop, and the firing of his a.s.sailants, instead of diminis.h.i.+ng become more general than ever, he resolved to attempt getting into the smaller canoe, afloat at a short distance, as the only remaining chance of preserving a single life. For this purpose, abandoning their property, the survivors threw themselves into the stream, and with much difficulty, for the strength of the current was incredibly strong, most of them succeeded in accomplis.h.i.+ng their object. No sooner was this observed by the men in ambush, than they started up and rushed out with wild and hideous yells; canoes that had been hidden behind the luxuriant foliage which overhung the river, were in an instant pushed out into the middle of the stream, and pursued the fugitives with surprising velocity; whilst numbers of people, with savage antics and furious gesticulations, ran and danced along the beach, uttering loud and startling cries. The Kroomen maintained on this occasion, the good reputation which their countrymen have deservedly acquired; their lives depended on their energy and skill, and they impelled their slender bark through the water with unrivalled swiftness. The pursuit was kept up for four hours, and poor Lander, without ammunition or any defensive weapon whatever, was exposed to the straggling fire, as well as the insulting mockery of his pursuers. One incident, which occurred in the flight, deserves to be recorded. A white man named T----, completely overpowered by his fears, refused to fire on the savages, who were within a paddle's length of him, but stood up in the canoe, with a loaded musket in his hand, beseeching them by his gestures to take him prisoner, rather than deprive him of his life. While in the act of making this dastardly appeal, a musket ball from the enemy entered his mouth, and killed him on the spot. The others behaved with the greatest coolness and intrepidity. The fugitives gained on their pursuers, and when they found the chase discontinued altogether, Lander stood up for the last time in the canoe, and being seconded by his remaining a.s.sociates, he waved his hat, and gave a last cheer in sight of his adversaries. He then became sick and faint from loss of blood, and sank back exhausted in the arms of those who were nearest to him. Rallying shortly afterwards, the nature of his wound was communicated to him by Mr. Moore, a young surgeon from England, who had accompanied him up the river, and whose conduct throughout this disastrous affray was most admirable. The ball could not be extracted, and Lander felt convinced his career would soon be terminated. When the state of excitement to which his feelings had been wrought, gave place to the languor which generally succeeds powerful excitement of any kind, the invalid's wound pained him exceedingly, and for several hours afterwards, he endured with calmness the most intense suffering. From that time he could neither sit up, nor turn on his couch, nor hold a pen, but while he was proceeding down the river in a manner so melancholy, and so very different from the mode in which he was ascending it only the day before, he could not help indulging in various reflections, and he talked much of his wife and children, his friends, his distant home, and his blighted expectations. It was a period of darkness, and distress, and sorrow to him, but his natural cheerfulness soon regained its ascendancy over his mind, and freely forgiving all his enemies, he resigned himself into the hands of his Maker, and derived considerable benefit from the consolations of religion. He arrived with his surviving companions at Fernando Po on the 25th January. It was there found that the ball had entered his hip, and worked its way down to the thick of the thigh. He died on the 2nd February. His clothes and papers were all lost.

”Various conjectures have been urged as to the probable cause of this cold-blooded and heartless attack on Lander and his party. Some persons imagine that the natives had been stimulated to the perpetration of this disgraceful deed by the Portuguese and South American slave dealers, who have considerable influence in the country, and whose interests would unquestionably decline by the introduction into the interior of British subjects and British manufactures. It is, however, generally supposed that the hostility of the natives may be in some degree traced to the shameful and scandalous conduct of some of the Liverpool merchants, who had used their private influence to poison the minds of the natives by attributing particular motives to the travellers, which were at variance with the interests of the country, and subversive of the authority of the chiefs. Nor is this scarcely a matter of doubt, when we peruse the following extract from a letter addressed by John Lander to the editor of the Literary Gazette.

”I cannot close this letter, without apprising you of a fact, which will appear incredible to you. Can you believe me when I a.s.sert, on the most unquestionable authority, that there are merchants here (the letter was dated from Liverpool) so heartless and inhuman as to instruct the masters of their vessels who trade to the African coast _to refuse any a.s.sistance to the expedition of which it may stand in need; to reject all letters that may be sent from the parties connected with it, and, in fine, to hold no communication whatever with the steamers or the brig_, does it not startle you, that jealousy and selfishness can go so far? Believe me, I blush at the reflection of a crime so hideous and un-English like as this?” In a postscript, John Lander says, ”The fact of the merchants'

instructions to the masters of their vessels may be safely depended on. Nothing can be more true. They have gone even farther than I have ventured to hint. _They have taken measures to prejudice the minds of the natives against the expedition_.”

Thus is human life, thus are the interests of science sacrificed on the shrine of a sordid love of gain and pelf. It is true that the merit of the fitting out of the expedition belongs to the enterprising spirit and the liberality of a few Liverpool merchants, but greatly indeed is that merit eclipsed, in a general point of view, when it is considered, that in the same town could be found a set of individuals, who, for the purpose of enabling them to carry on an illegal and infamous traffic, could be the instruments of circ.u.mventing the life of an individual, who was n.o.bly employed in the extension of geographical science, and who was perhaps actually laying the foundation of the civilization of the countries through which he might pa.s.s, and extending the commercial relations of his country. An indelible stain will it be upon the merchants of Liverpool, who could so far forget that they were Englishmen, as to make a horde of barbarous savages their instruments for the destruction of an expedition by which the general interests of the human race might be promoted, our commercial relations extended, and ultimately, the blessings of Christianity diffused over the dark and unenlightened children of Africa.

As a palliative to the statement of John Lander, and as some relief to the dark picture which we have just exhibited, it must be confessed, that when the circ.u.mstances are taken into consideration, which have already been detailed, when Lander first visited the Eboe country, his conduct was not exactly regulated by prudence or policy, in proceeding towards a country, not in the simple guise and unostentatious manner of the solitary traveller, but attended by a force sufficient to excite the fears and jealousy of the native chiefs, and to instil into their suspicious minds the belief, that the travellers, whom they had formerly seen in their country, had returned, equipped with the means of subjugating the country, and reducing the chiefs themselves, perhaps to a state of slavery. The very vessels in which they presented themselves, were sufficient to strike terror and alarm into the minds of the superst.i.tious natives.

They knew not by what character to describe them; to their ignorant and untutored understandings, they appeared to be impelled by some power of witchcraft, for which they could not in the least account; to behold a large vessel impelled even against the stream with no inconsiderable velocity, and no power manifested by which that speed could be obtained, set their minds a wondering, and obtained for Lander the character of the devil. As the devil, therefore, had arrived in their country, it became an act of the most imperious duty to force him to abandon it, by any means which could suggest themselves, and no one certainly could be more effectual than to put themselves in ambuscade, and take the first opportunity of killing him at once. It must also be taken into consideration, that the report of the destruction of the town and the murder of some of the natives by the crew of the Alburkha, had spread itself all along the banks of the river, and had spread consternation and alarm amongst the natives, who apprehended that the same fate might befal themselves. Another opinion was entertained, that the Bra.s.s people, perceiving that their lucrative carrying trade between the coast and the inland countries would be annihilated, if they suffered the English to trade with the natives of the interior in their own vessels, formed a coalition with the people of Bonny, whose interests would likewise be affected by the new order of things, and that these men, aided by the savage inhabitants of the country residing in the vicinity of the spot, where the ruthless and cowardly a.s.sault was made, met together and resolved on the destruction of the unoffending Englishmen.

From what cause soever it originated, this much is certain, that the attack had been premeditated, that the arrangements of the a.s.sa.s.sins had been made in a methodical and skilful manner, and that Bra.s.s and Bonny canoes were engaged in the a.s.sault. Those who have had the best means of knowing the character and disposition of the Bra.s.s people, and their neighbours of Bonny, whose treacherous manoeuvering can only be equalled by their insatiable rapacity, consider the last as by far the most probable hypothesis, and believe that King Boy, notwithstanding his affectation of sympathy for the sufferers, and his apparent distress on beholding his friend and benefactor mortally wounded, was nevertheless at the bottom of the plot, and had exerted his influence to bring that plot to maturity, in conjunction with the malignant wretch, who foretold the eventful catastrophe. Boy having with alacrity joined the party on all former occasions, when they ascended the river, and having obstinately refused to accompany them on this, strengthens the supposition that he was well aware of the formidable danger, which awaited them, but in which it is plain he had no ambition to partic.i.p.ate.

The fate of Lander, on whom the eyes of all England were directed as the individual most likely to extend the benefits of civilization to the benighted Africans, and to open fresh sources of wealth to his enterprising countrymen, excited in all b.r.e.a.s.t.s the most unfeigned regret; to the honour of the inhabitants of Truro, the native place of the Landers, it must be recorded that the intelligence of the premature death of Richard Lander, no sooner reached that town, than a meeting of his fellow townsmen took place, which was held at the council hall, at which Humphry w.i.l.l.yams, Esquire, presided. After expressing their extreme regret, the a.s.sembly resolved:

”To express its sincere sympathy with the sorrowing family, and its sense of the loss which science, commerce, and civilization had sustained by the death of this enterprising traveller. Further that the sum of 84 having been raised for the purpose of presenting pieces of plate to Messrs. Richard and John Lander, and the altered circ.u.mstances of the case having induced the survivor generously to decline any partic.i.p.ation in the fund so raised, and to request that the same might be appropriated to some other memorial of the respect and esteem of his native town, for his lamented brother; it was their opinion that if an adequate amount be obtained, a column should be erected in their native town, to commemorate the intrepidity of the two brothers, and that an appeal be made to the county to co-operate in their object.”

About ten days after, a second meeting took place, when the following address was printed, and unanimously adopted:

TO THE INHABITANTS OF CORNWALL.

”The lamentable fate of the African traveller, Richard Lander, calls for some marked expression of public sympathy and respect, and more especially does it behove Cornishmen to show their esteem and sorrow for their adventurous countryman. Whether to testify this natural sentiment, or to declare our admiration at the energy of mind, which raised the departed and his enterprising brother from humble station to such enviable pre-eminence, or to evince that deep interest, which every philanthropist and Christian must feel, in all that concerns the civilization of Africa, we are a.s.sured there can be but one opinion as to the propriety of raising some lasting memorial of the travellers. The effects likely to result from their discoveries, followed up by such indomitable resolution as characterized Richard Lander, may be inferred from the melancholy circ.u.mstance that this courageous man has in all probability fallen a victim to the suspicion of those concerned in the atrocious slave trade. But the grand object has been accomplished, though great the cost: the path now opened for mercantile enterprise, will make plain the way, for civilization, freedom, and religion. PARK, DENHAM, RITCHIE, CLAPPERTON and LANDER, have led the forlorn hope, against the seemingly impregnable fastnesses of African barbarism, and though each has perished, the cause of humanity has been advanced. At once, therefore, to celebrate the progress of discovery, and to record individual merit, it is proposed to erect a Column in some conspicuous part of Truro, the birth place of the Landers, which, while it commemorates the fate of one brother, will render a just tribute to both, and to this end it is intended to apply the amount already obtained for a testimonial of respect of another description, which sum, however, being inadequate, the committee appeals to the liberality of the county, confident that contributions will be immediately forthcoming to render the memorial worthy of the occasion.”