THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESENTED BY PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID THE CONVICT KING. " Write romances ! Why, this poor old convict, Jorgen Jorgenson, who has been resting in his nameless grave these twenty years, has lived one beside which the * story of Cambuscan bold/ the adventures of Gil Bias, or the doings of that prince of scoundrels, Mr. Barry Lyndon himself, dwindle into insignificance. All the raven-haired, hot-headed, supple-wristed soldiers of fortune that ever diced, drank, duelled, kissed, and escaladed their way through three volumes octavo, never had such an expe- rience. Think over his story, from his birth in Denmark to his death in Van Diemen's Land, and imagine from what he has told us how much more he has been compelled to leave unrelated." MARCUS CLARKE. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/convictkingbeingOOjrrich THE CONVICT KING. BEING THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF JORGEN JORGENSON Monarch of Iceland, Naval Captain, Revolutionist, British Diplomatic Agent, Author, Dramatist, Preacher, Political Prisoner, Gambler, Hospital Dispenser, Continental Traveller, Explorer, Editor, Expatriated Exile, AND Colonial Constable. RETOLD BY JAMES FRANCIS HOGAN, AUTHOR OF "The Irish in Australia," "The Australian in London," "The Lost Explorer," etc. [With reproductions of Five Original Drawings by Jorgen Jorgenson in the British Museum. 1 LONDON : WARD & DOWNEY 2, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN, 1891. PRINTED BY KELLY AKD CO. LIMITED, GATE STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS, AND KIKGSTON-ON-THAMES. ILLUSTRATIONS. 4- Jorge NSON in Captivity . . Precedes title-page A Floating Prison 24 Sir Joseph Banks, the Friend of Art and Letters .64 An Incident at an Iceland Ball ... 72 Jorgenson Free . . ., . . . 223 CONTENTS. PAGR Introduction ... . , , . 1 CHAPTER I. Birth in Copenhagen — Boyish Eecollections — Burning of a Royal Palace — Nautical Aspirations — Ap- • prentice on a Collier — The Story of a Desperate Piracy — A Lucky Escape — Fight with a French Man-of-war — Escape of the Enemy — Start for the South — Exploring in Australian Waters — A Colossal Wooden Anchor — A Vice-Regal Solomon — Anecdotes of an Eccentric Governor , . 40 CHAPTER II. Famine Prices in Sydney — A Superabundance of Copper — Foundation of Van Diemen*s Land — Hobart Then and Now — Destruction of the Emu — Sealing and Whaling — A Skirmish with the Maories — Two Months in Otaheite — Return to X CONTENTS. PAGE Copenhagen — Appointed Commander of a Danish War-vessel — Action off Flamborough Head — Sur- render to the " Sappho " — Liberated on Parole — In London — Embark on an Expedition to Iceland . 54 CHAPTER III. An Arbitrary Decree — No Trading with English Vessels — Arrest and Deposition of the Danish Governor of Iceland — Jorgenson becomes Monarch of the Island — The People accept the Revolution — Popular Reforms Initiated — A Tour of Iceland — A Rebellious Prefect Subdued — Voyage to England — A Burning Ship — Arrival in London — Arrested for Breaking Parole — Committed to Tothill-Fields Prison— Transferred to the Hulks — Liberated and Allowed to Reside in Reading — • Return to London — Enmeshed in the Wiles of the Gambler — Reflections on a Ruinous Vice — Un- pleasant Voyage in a British Gunboat — Life in a Naval Hospital 67 CHAPTER IV. Count Dillon — Contemplated Franco - American Seizure of Australia — Captain Baudin — Misfortunes of Captain Flinders — Tragic Fate of Dr. Bass — Horrors of the Quicksilver Mines — Story of a Shrewd Buccaneer — Humours of the Fleet CONTENTS. xi PAGE — Literary Labours in Prison — Despatched to the Continent — The Penniless Gambler — A Desperate Situation 82 CHAPTER V. Paris on the Morrow of Waterloo — Start for Warsaw — A Kindly Baroness — Patronised by a Prefect — Maddened by a Mayor — Fortune Smiles in Frank- fort — Literview with Goethe — Sans Souci — Marshal Blucher — Dresden and its Gamblers — Successful Appeal to Female Vanity— The Science of Extracting Information 97 CHAPTER YI. A Baffled Emigration Project — Three Years of London Gambling — A Saddening Sequel — In Newgate Prison — Appointed Hospital Assistant — Impressions and Experiences — Newgate, a Gigantic School of Vice — Indecent Rapidity of Trials — The Strange Story of a Bank of England Clerk . .114 CHAPTER VII. Midnight Scene in Newgate — A Condemned Criminal's Indifference to Death — Grim Story of an Executed Miser — Prisoners' Horror of Trans- portation — Lady Visitors — The Law Cheated by xii CO]S TENTS. PAGB Bribed Doctors — Anecdote of Lord Eldon — Released from Newgate — Again in the Grip of the Gambling Fiend — Betrayed by a False Friend — Sentenced to Death — Transported for Life . . 126 CHAPTER VIII. Life in the Hulks — Brutality of Officers — Hideous Demoralization — On Board Convict Ship " Wood- man " — Appointed to Hospital — A Queer Use for a Lamp — Epidemic of Brain Fever — An Amateur Doctor — A Surgeon in a Comical Situation — Arrival in Van Diemen's Land — An Amazing Transformation 140 CHAPTER IX. Landing at Hobart — Appointed Clerk in Government Service — Transferred to Yan Diemen's Land Company — Commissioned as Explorer — Amid Surging Streams — A Kangaroo Pilot — Dunn, the Notorious Bushranger — An Innocent Victim of the Blacks — A Perilous Retreat — Mistaken for Bushrangers — Enormous Sand Hills — Ships "Wrecked and Buried — Appalling Scene of Devas- tation — Stopped by Impenetrable Scrub — Fatal Attempt to cross a River — Foodless for Four Days — Devouring a Dog-fish 154 CONTENTS. CHAPTER X. PAGB Jealousy of the Blacks — Granted a Ticket-of-leave — An Extravagantly Pious Editor — Appointed Con- stable of Oatlands District — Reversed Ideas of Right and Wrong — Barbarous Bushrangers — A Man Roasted Alive — Breaking up a Robbers' Gang — Outrages by Blacks — A Settler's Hut Attacked — Shooting a Gigantic Chief— A Little Heroine — Two Years' Pursuit of the Hostile Blacks . .174 CHAPTER XI. A Conditional Pardon — Its Singular Effects — Diminished Recklessness and Greater Care of Life — Renewed Outrages by the Blacks — A Levy En Masse— A Whole Colony Takes the Field—" The Black War" — Two Ferocious Tribes Surrounded — How they Escaped Capture — The Military Movement a Failure — An Apostle of Peace Succeeds — ^The Beneficence of Exile — Lessons of a Chequered Career 189 APPENDIX A. JORGENSON'S PUBLISHED WORKS. " State of Christianity in Otaheite " — Sound Advice to Missionaries — "Travels through France and Germany " — Lengthy Critique in the Edinburgh XIV CONTENTS. PAGE Review — Social Life in Paris — Scenes in the Gambling Saloons — Euloginm on the Germans — " The Religion of Christ the Religion of Nature " — A Book Written in Newgate — It Occasions the Author's Transportation — Implicit Belief in the Bible — Rhapsodies and Reflections of an Amateur Theologian — Appreciative Notice in the Gentle- maifCs Magazine — ** Observations on the Funded System " — The Future of Tasmania — Ill-informed Downing Street Interference Deprecated . . 203 APPENDIX B. JORGENSON'S UNPUBLISHED REMAINS. " The Adventures of Thomas Walter " — Difficulties of Writing in Prison — English Luxury and Ex- travagance — *' The Kingdom of Shandaria " — Advantages of a Benevolent Despotism — " Historical Account of the Icelandic Revolution " — A Personal Vindication — " The Due D'Enghien," a Five-act Tragedy — " The Oxford Scholar," a Satirical Comedy — Voluminous Correspondence — Jorgenson as a Preacher— Selections from his Sermons in Newgate — Inaccessible Writings — Jorgenson's Psychological Study of Himself . . 220 THE CONVICT KING. THE CONVICT KING. INTRODUCTION. Amongst the mass of. commonplace offenders against her laws whom England banished to Botany Bay and Van Diemen's I^and during the first half of the nineteenth century, were not a few remarkable characters of a superior type and with singular records ; and the most conspicuous member of this class, the " usurping despot of a little reign," the only monarch who has left London for the Antipodes in a convict-ship, was the extraordinary adventurer whose chequered career is described in detail in the following pages. The name of Jorgen Jorgenson (Jurgensen is the strictly correct spelling) is not wholly unfamiliar to the reading public, for he has his little niche in all the biographical dictionaries ; * * See Gates' Dictionary of General Biography, page 670 ; Haydn, Universal Judex of Blographi/, page 289; Maunder, Biographical Treasury, page 526; Ripley and Dana, American Cyrlopadia, vol. 9, page 685 ; Chambers' BncyclopceJia, Tol. 5, I 2 THE CONVICT KING. but these standard authorities abruptly dismiss him on his transportation to Van Diemen's Land, " where," they all agree in saying, " he is supposed to have died shortly afterwards." * But this gratuitous supposition is entirely erroneous. Jor- genson lived another active and adventurous career extending over twenty years at the Antipodes — he pushed himself to the front at both ends of the earth — and wrote his autobiography in the Van Diemen's Land Annual for 1835 and 1838. This unique record of a strange, a kaleidoscopic, a melo-dramatic life in real action I have thought page 739 ; and Charles Knight's EnglisJi Cyclopcedia, vol. 3, page 652. For articles on Jorgenson in periodical literature consult Household Words, vol. 14 ; Edinburgh Review, vol, 28 ; Eclectic Magazine, vol. 57 ; Colhurn's Magazine, vol. 126, and Gentleman's Magazine, vol. 97. Incidental references to Jorgenson and his career will be found in Sir W. J. Hooker's " Tour in Iceland ; " Sir G. MacKenzie's "Travels in Iceland," the Eev. S. Baring- Gould's "Icelandic Scenes and Sagas," West and Fenton's histories of Tasmania; Bonwick's "Last of the Tasmanians," Marcus Clarke's "History of Australia," and David Blair's "History of Australasia." * All the biographical dictionaries and the cyclopaedias erroneously state that Jorgenson was transported to New South Wales. For instance, Knight's English Cyclopcedia says: — "Our impression is that he died not long after his arrival in New South Wales, but a search for a mention of the fact has proved unsuccessful." The search was made in the wrong colony. It should have been instituted in Van Diemen's Land. THE CONVICT KING. 3 worthy of being rescued from oblivion, and it will substantially be found in the following pages. I say substantially, because I have not made a literal transcript. Jorgenson was a foreigner, and not- withstanding his long residence in English lands and the considerable amount of practice he had both in speaking and writing our language, he never acquired a facility in English composition. Nearly all his numerous works are written in a style that is both unfamiliar and unattractive to the ordinary reader. I have therefore rewritten his autobiography, retaining all its characteristic features, adhering strictly to the recorded facts, but presenting them in what I trust will be found to be a readable and consecutive narrative. The original, it must be confessed, is rugged, unequal and discursive, but the inherent interest attaching to the autobiography of a daring adventurer whose life was so crowded with incident in both hemispheres, is amply sufficient to atone for all superficial imperfections. Jorgenson's authoritative history is now submitted for the first time to English readers, to whom it has hitherto been wholly unknown, buried as it has been for half a century in the dusty leaves of a long-defunct Antipodean periodical. It has been touched by only 4 THE CONVICT KING. one hand during all that time. Some twenty years ago, my lamented friend, Marcus Clarke, the late eminent Australian novelist, discovered it in the course of his researches into the early convict life of the colonies, and made it the subject of an admirable essay in a Melbourne journal, the concluding para- graph of which I have quoted' as the motto of this book. Jorgenson's romantic and eventful career, the facts of which are attested by many independent and thoroughly trustworthy witnesses, is one of the most striking confirmations of the trite saying that truth is stranger than fiction. The most daring and unconventional of novelists would never dream of crowding into the life of a hero of the circulating libraries such a rapid succession of extraordinary adventures as actually befell this Anglo-Danish fortune-seeker in the nineteenth century. The apex of his adventurous career was reached when, through a combination of circum- stances that he had never anticipated, he found himself elevated to the position of an autocrat in Iceland, the sovereign of a little Arctic kingdom. Excessive modesty was never one of his charac- teristics, yet he touches but comparatively lightly THE CONVICT KING. 5 on this crowning episode in his autobiography, and therefore it may be well to supplement his narra- tive with some explanatory details of the Icelandic revolution from the recollections of trustworthy eye-witnesses. The most distinguished of these was the late Sir William Jackson Hooker, the eminent botanist and Director of the Eoyal Grardens at Kew. As a young man of twenty-four, en- thusiastic in the study of his favourite science, and ambitious of making some original contributions to the world's knowledge of the flora and the natural wonders of Iceland, Sir William sailed with Jorgenson to the Arctic seas, and was a disinterested spectator of the series of events that culminated in his companion's assuming the authority of king of that northern island. In his " Tour of Iceland," published by Messrs. Longmans and John Murray in two volumes, Sir William embodied a complete, a graphic, and a thoroughly impartial account of the whole singular transaction. By reason of its isolation and the severity of its climate, Iceland has at all times been under the necessity of drawing a large portion of its food supplies from the ports of its parent state, Den- mark. Therefore it was that, during the war 6 THE CONVICT KING. between Grreat Britain and Denmark in 1809, the unfortunate Icelanders were threatened with famine, owing to the suspension of the customary sup- plies. In this emergency, Mr. Phelps, a leading London merchant, saw an opportunity of combining philanthropy and profit. He resolved to come to the relief of the distressed Icelanders, and at the same time to do some good business for himself. Accord- ingly he freighted the Clarence at Liverpool with barley-meal, potatoes, salt, tobacco, sugar, coffee, etc., calculating on recei-ving in exchange a large and valuable quantity of Icelandic produce, particularly tallow. But, for the success of his enterprise, it was necessary that somebody acquainted with the Danish language, manners and customs, should go out with the ship to act as intermediary and facilitate trade. Jorgenson, who was then in London on parole as a prisoner of war, offered himself for this post and was accepted by Mr. Phelps. At this time Jorgenson was only in his twenty-eighth year, but he had already gone through a succession of stirring experiences in South Africa, Australia, Van Diemen's Land and the Pacific Islands. He had acquired a thorough knowledge of navigation in British ships, and when THE CONVICT KING. 7 he revisited his native Denmark after ten years' absence, he was called upon to obey a decree com- manding all Danes between the ages of eighteen and fifty to serve their country in the war against Great Britain. In pursuance of this decree, Jor- genson was appointed to the command of a privateer of twenty-eight guns, called the Admiral JuvZ, and off Flamborough Head he fell in with the British man-of-war Sappho, An action of forty-one minutes ensued and terminated in Jor- genson's defeat and the striking of his colours. He was landed at Yarmouth, taken to London, and liberated on parole. Such was his posi- tion when he started for Iceland as a represen- tative of Mr. Phelps, without going through the formality of asking the permission of the British Government. When the Clarence arrived at Iceland, such was the anti-English hostility of the ruling Danish powers, that she was at first refused permission to land any portion of her cargo, notwithstanding the dire straits to which many of the inhabitants were reduced. But the people soon insisted on the provisions being brought ashore, and the authorities were reluctantly compelled to acquiesce. Having 8 THE CONVICT KING. landed his cargo and left an officer in charge to regulate its sale, Jorgenson brought the Clarence back to England, and a second expedition was then planned by Mr. Phelps, who was now so interested in the venture that he resolved to proceed to Iceland himself. The Margaret o/ad Anne, a splendid ship carrying ten guns, was rapidly loaded, and sailed for Iceland with Mr. Phelps, Mr. (after- wards Sir William) Hooker, and Jorgenson on board. When they arrived, they found the au- thorities, in spite of the recent agreement, doing their utmost to prevent the people from entering into trade relations with the English, and scattering broadcast a proclamation threatening death to any Icelander who should so offend. As a result of this proclamation, although it was the season when strangers from the country districts crowded into the capital, Reikevig, for the purposes of barter, none of that class were now to be seen. Mr. Phelps paused for a few days to survey the situa- tion, and then, finding that the authorities were stubbornly resolved not to listen to reason, de- cisive measures were taken to end the deadlock. Count Tramp, the Danish governor, was seized on a Sundav afternoon and taken under an armed THE CONVICT KING. 9 escort on board the Margaret and Anne with not the slightest attempt at a rescue, or the least evidence of displeasure, on the part of a number of Icelanders who witnessed his arrest and deposi- tion. Jorgenson, who had played a leading part in this bloodless revolution, promptly entered into possession of Grovernment House, installed him- self as head of the state, and commenced his rocket-like career as a miniature Napoleon of the North.* Jorgenson's first proclamation was dated June 2^^ 1809, and its opening clause decreed the total abolition of Danish authority in Iceland from that day forth. All Danish officers and persons con- nected with Danish mercantile houses were strictly enjoined to remain within doors and hold no verbal or written communication with each other. Fire- arms, cutlasses, daggers, ammunition, and the keys of all public and private storehouses were ordered • Sigfrid Schulesen, a native Icelander, published in 1832 a brief history of the revolution, in which he alleged that the reason •why Jorgenson's usurpation was not resisted and promptly over- throM?n was that the guns of the usurper's vessel commanded the capital, Reikevig, which, being built of wood, could readily be set on fire and destroyed. In that case, the general destitution and the absence of shelter in such a severe and inhospitable climate would, he says, have been terrible to contemplate. 10 THE CONVICT KINO. to be delivered up at once. ** Should these orders be speedily executed," said the dictator, " it will save a great deal of unnecessary trouble and the effusion of blood. But on the contrary, should any person act in opposition to what is here directed, he shall immediately be arrested, brought before a military tribunal, and shot within two hours after the offence is committed." Finally the native Icelanders were assured that they had nothing to fear from the revolution, that they would be treated in the best possible manner, that nothing but the true welfare of their country was in view, and that " our proceedings are solely calculated to insure a peace and happiness little known to the inhabitants in later years." This was speedily followed by a second proclama- tion declaring Iceland free and independent, and constituting a representative body to legislate for the country. All public officers of Icelandic birth were promised a continuance of their salaries in full on taking the oath of fidelity in the execution of their respective functions. Under the new order of things Iceland would be at peace with all nations, and Great Britain would become its pro- tector. THE CONVICT KING. 11 Proclamation the third was couched in these truly regal terms : — " Eeikevig, June 29, 1809. *ench and Americans. As told to me by Count Dillon at our interview in London, the plan concerted between the French and the Americans was that each should provide two armed vessels to meet at a certain rendezvous, sail away in company and participate in the plunder obtained from the Australian colonies. From my long sojourn and intimacy with the English and the many kindnesses I had experienced from English gentlemen high in position and power, I did not feel disposed to keep silence on the subject of such a deep-laid plot against a remote dependency of the British Crown, to which by long residence I had in a certain measure become endeared. I lost no time, there- fore, in communicating what I had heard to a friend connected with the Colonial Office. But when an official of high station in that department was informed of it, he looked upon the scheme as so wild and so unlikely to be carried into effect at a time when the whole energies of Europe were drawn to a vortex in the life-and-death continental struggle, 90 THE CONVICT KING. that he totally disregarded my information, saying to my friend : — " There is no fear. The attempt is not worth their while, and even if they did make it and succeed, England would lose little or nothing. These colonies are not worth keeping, for they already cost us £100,000 a year." Nothing therefore was done by the British G-overnment to intercept the expedition and save Australia from foreign domination, but Providence interposed to avert that calamity. The two French ships under Count Dillon were overtaken by a violent storm and wrecked near Cadiz, and that put an end to the enterprise as far as France was con- cerned. Not so with the Americans, who, though bereft of the assistance of their allies, proceeded out to Australian waters, where they captured and burnt no less than seventeen of our whaling ships. This happened in the memorable year 1813, when, owing to the deficiency thus created in the London market, sperm oil rose to an enormous price. It is much to be regretted that the navigation, fisheries, and trade of these southern seas should have been so long overlooked by the authorities at home. The immense archipelago of the Pacific is inhabited by thousands of friendly-disposed people ready and THE CONVICT KING. 91 anxious to exchange their commodities for British manufactures. The benign influence of the Christian religion, which is rapidly spreading through the efiforts of our evangelistic missionaries, is doing much to raise these people in the scale of civilisa- tion, and, although the activity of the Americans is hourly taking advantage of our comparative supine- ness, nevertheless, the approach of the British flag is always hailed with superior satisfaction. The pearl fisheries are said to be more profitable and less hazardous than the pursuit of the sperm whale, and the sandalwood and beche-de-TneVy which are produced so abundantly on the northern coasts of Australia, are known to yield the Dutch, through the medium of the Malays, an immense revenue. Nothing surprised Captain Flinders more, when voyaging in these latitudes, than the immense fleets of Malay prows actively engaged in this traffic, which he encountered in the Gulf of Carpentaria on the north of Australia. My provoking propensity for gambling continued to assail me at this time, and, in defiance of my sober judgment and repeated losses, I persisted in it until my career as a gamester was summarily cut short by my being arrested for debt and committed 92 THE CONVICT KING. to the Fleet prison, where I was confined for two years. When the news of the capture and destruction of the British whaling vessels in the South Seas was sent home, I did not fail to write to the Colonial Minister, regretting that the informa- tion I had given of the project when it might have been nipped in the bud had been disregarded. This communication proved to have been very wisely conceived and was the means of procuring me friends of influence, whose kindness I long con- tinued to experience. I was now permitted to enjoy the Rules of the prison, and having been so fortunate as to reimburse my funds I was weak enough to launch forth again into the vortex of gambling. The passion was so overpowering that I exceeded the limits of the Rules in order to play at a notorious gaming table in the West-end of London. One day I had the misfortune, as I was entering the door of the gaming-house, to come full-butt upon the clerk of the prison, who, I felt certain, would inform against me. My resolution was immediately taken, for I had acquired some experience in the art of circumventing. I ran back as fast as I could and, entering the public coffee- room of the prison, made a noise as if by accident, THE CONVICT KING. 93 SO as to attract attention, looking at the clock at the same time and exclaiming the hour as if in surprise to find it was so late. It was a very important consideration for me, as a violator of the Eules could never after be entitled to enjoy that privilege or the benefit of the Insolvent Act, for which I was desirous of applying. However, I. did not suffer for my imprudence, and my friends at last came forward and furnished me with money to pay my debt. The reader will hardly believe, for I can scarcely believe it myself, that instead of doing so and getting myself liberated, the hold that the gaming table had upon me was so inveterate that I returned to it and lost every penny. I was now completely locked up in prison, and in order to divert my unpleasant reflections on my own folly and the more to reconcile myself to my fate, I went vigorously to work on the writing of a romantic episode in the history of Afghanistan, with the particulars of which I had be- come intimately acquainted. I also composed during my confinement a tragedy suggested by the cruel execution of the Due D'Enghein by order of Napoleon, an event which at that time was exciting considerable public sympathy. A statistical essay 94 THE CONVICT KINGr. on the Russian Empire was another work on which I employed myself at this period. I made several neatly-written copies of these compositions, and presented them to different noblemen and gentlemen of whom I had some knowledge, and who rewarded me very handsomely for my pains. I now began to seriously reflect and to entertain the cheering hope that I had attained sufficient firmness to withstand any further attacks of my inveterate vice. It was whilst thus congratulating myself on having thoroughly subdued the one enemy of my peace, prosperity and happiness, that I was visited one afternoon by a Government messenger, bearing a letter from a gentleman holding a high position in the Foreign Office requesting me to c^ll upon him. I did so, and our interview resulted in my being engaged on a diplomatic mission to the seat of war, the debt for which I was imprisoned was immediately dis- charged, I was provided with sufficient funds to enable me to proceed abroad, and was given per- mission when on the Continent to draw upon London for all reasonable expenses of travelling. It seems incredible, but it is literally true that, notwith- standing this unexpected stroke of good luck, in THE CONVICT KING. 95 spite of all my self-congratulations on having finally conquered the enemy, I surrendered myself once more to the demon of my life, and so desperate was I in my gambling pursuit — unfortunate as I almost invariably was — that I not only lost all the money that had been advanced to me for the purposes of my journey, but actually risked and forfeited the very clothes with which I had provided myself to go abroad. When I could no longer raise a shilling to throw away on the gaming-table and was totally destitute of the means of living in London, my remorse and vexation of spirit were indescribably bitter. Of course it was out of the question to apply again to my principals at the Foreign Office, who would naturally conclude that I had reached the Continent long before, and whom I would now be ashamed to meet. What I did in the emergency was to exchange the garb I was wearing with an old-clothes man in return for a sailor's jacket and trousers. Thus arrayed, I proceeded to Gravesend, where I represented myself to the master of a transport going over with stores as belonging to a vessel which had left me behind, and which I was desirous of rejoining at Antwerp. By this means I succeeded in getting to Ostend, where 96 THE CONVICT KING. I could replenish my empty purse by exercising the privilege granted me of drawing on London. But on producing my letter of credit, a new and startling difficulty unexpectedly arose, for my sailor's dress was so inconsistent with the appearance which my application led the bankers to expect, that I was looked upon as an impostor. I was in despair over this annoying and most embarrassing discomfiture, not knowing how in the world to overcome the difficulty when, by a lucky accident, I met an officer of the British Army to whom I was personally known, and who forthwith testified to my identity. CHAPTER V. Paris on the Morrow of Waterloo -Start for Warsaw— A Kindly Baroness— Pati'ouisel by a Pi-efe.*t— \tadclenecl by a Mayor- Fortune Smiles in Frankfort — Interview with Groethe— Sans Souci — Marshal Blueher— Dresden and its Gramblers — Suecess- ful Appeal to Fem lie Vanity — The Science of Extracting Infor- mation. I WAS now in a position to assume an appearance more respectable and more in harmony with the character of the duty I had undertaken. I proceeded to Grhent, and I had not been there three days when it became evident that Waterloo was the point at which the epoch-making blow that was to decide the fate of Europe, would be struck. I hastened on, and was a silent spectator of those memorable events that followed in rapid succession from the 16th to the 18th of June, 1815, and which culminated in the precipitate flight of Napoleon and the final overthrow of his once- mighty power. I will not attempt to describe the amazing panorama of the field of Waterloo. This 7 98 THE CONVICT KING. has already been done by many able pens. Keep- ing to my personal narrative, suffice it to say that I went with the fugitive stream to Paris, where 400,000 fighting men had soon collected after the catastrophe of Waterloo. The London Foreign Office gentleman who had engaged my services met me in Paris by appointment, and under his direc- tions I was engaged for some time in delicate diplomatic business that brought me into contact with several of the most celebrated men of that day. In particular, I had the pleasure of forming an acquaintance with a French Greneral, who was a great favourite of Napoleon, and is now a Marshal of France. My diplomatic work in Paris having been brought to a satisfactory close, mj' employer entered into a fresh engagement with me to proceed to Warsaw, from which I was to communicate with him. He replenished my pocket liberally as before, to defray my travelling expenses on the journey. But I could not quit the gay metropolis of France, with- out witnessing for once the science of the gaming- table as practised in its highest perfection. I went at first with no intention whatever of playiug, but simply as a spectator. Aias ! the temptation was THE CONVICT KING. 99 once more too strong for me. I hazarded a stake, and, I may say unfortunately, was at first a winner, for my luck soon turned and I continued to be a loser for several subsequent nights. My principal was in Paris all this time under the impression that I had started on my journey. On the last occasion in London, as the reader will remember, I retained my clothes when I had lost all my money, but in Paris I played so desperately that I had actually to sell my shirt to a sergeant for seven francs, in the cold month of December, and, buttoning up my coat, set out on foot on the north road at the east gate of Paris. Observing the strictest economy and putting up with every possible privation, I contrived to get as far as the little town of Joncherie, about 120 miles from Paris, where I was reduced to my last sou. But I had lived long enough to learn not to starve in a Christian country. Seeing the door of a little cabaret or ale-house standing open, I walked boldly in, and, although I had nothing in my pocket, I assumed the boldest face I could, and called for a good dinner, as if I had plenty of money. As I was enjoying my banquet, the mayor of the place, who happened to be a Bourbonist, called to see my 7* 100 THE CONVICT KING. passport. In taking it out of my pocket, I purposely pulled a letter along with it, which I dropped upon the floor in order that he might pick it up. '* Do you know the hand-writing on the back of that letter," I enquired. He replied in the negative. I then showed him that it was from the Duchess of Angouleme, a circumstance that I knew from the bias of his politics would serve to materially ingratiate me into his favour. I further told him that I was an Irishman going on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. " Then,'* said he, " you must not leave the village without seeing our excellent lady, the Baroness D'Este, who I am sure will be very glad to receive any person going on such a pious mis- sion." I waited on the Baroness, and had the good fortune to find that my poverty was rather a recommendation than otherwise. She readily paid all my expenses at the inn, and gave me besides several coins to take with me and deposit at the sacred shrine. Her reception of me was so kind that I remained ten days, and formed an acquaintance THE CONVICT KING. 101 with the Cure, a good, unassuming country pastor, pDssessed of no small share of learning and general intelligence. With this very opportune aid I was able to continue my journey as far as Rheims. The politics of this ancient city, I found, were dia- metrically opposed to those of my last resting-place. The prefect was a zealous Bonapartist, and I contrived to secure an introduction, which I improved with such assiduity and success that he not only furnished me with a supply of money, but gave me a billet which entitled me to a certain sum per mile to defray my expenses on the road, besides the supply of a horse to carry me from station to station. At one of these villages the mayor, a blustering suspicious sort of man, after surveying me from head to foot, refused to renew my billet for the horse, saying I was a lazy fellow and able enough to walk. I was provoked and irritated by his taunting expressions and super- cilious behaviour, and, suddenly clenching my fist, I gave him a tolerably effective thump on the head. A loud outcry immediately ensued and the villagers came forth in crowds, armed with pitch- forks and other weapons, the sight of which 102 THE CONVICT KING. convinced me that I had better take to my heels forthwith. I managed to get as far as Metz, where a kind of low Dutch is spoken. On paying my respects to the mayor, I soon found by his abortive attempts to speak it, that he could not read French very well, the language in which my billet was written. A little ready presence of mind is necessary for most men to avoid being thrown back upon the world, and I have on almost all occasions, both in the old world and the new, found that a certain degree of modest assurance is a great help to a man in getting through life. So placing my billet in the mayor's hand, without giving him the slightest inkling of my belief in his inability to read it, I said, " You will see, sir, by that document, with what you are to supply me." He looked at it with a profound assumption of knowledge and authority, assented with the utmost gravity, and ordered that I should have everything I required. With the help thus afforded, I arrived at the frontier, where I had the satisfaction oi having my billet again renewed. After 22 days' easy travelling, I arrived at Frankfort. It was a very rainy day, and I entered the town miserably THE CONVICT KING. 103 drenched, and not knowing what to do. Seeing me roaming aimlessly about, and staring at the shops, a Jew came up, under the impression that I was one of his brethren from Poland, come to visit the ftiir, but when I related my story to him, he abruptly turned away and left me. Kecollecting the old proverb, which though it could hardly have been uttered by so honest a man as Solomon, struck me at the time as being tolerably correct, namely, *' that a man might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb," I entered a good inn, ordered a sumptuous meal, and went to bed. At breakfast the next morning I sent for the landlord and told him very frankly that I had no money, that he must wait a little, as I should have some in the course of the day. And, truth to tell, I had already, on so many occasions, been un- expectedly supplied with the means of sustenance and travel, that I flattered myself fortune would once more prove propitious before the day was over, in such a place as Frankfort. Walking through the town, my eye caught the name of Fraser, a celebrated mathematical instrument maker, and a Scotchman. On entering his shop I found that he had a chronometer of my father's making, 104 THE CO^"VICT KING. which served to introduce me. He was a most humane and amiable man, and gave me his best advice. He showed me the way to the house of Lord Clancarty, the British minister. I proceeded there, and sent in my name. My shabby attire attracted the unfavourable notice of the servants, who came and peeped at me in evident suspicion, as if they fancied I was an assassin meditating the murder of his lordship. I was in this uncomfort- able position, standing on the tip-toe of suspense, when a side-door opened, and a gentleman attached to the Foreign Office, whom I had the pleasure of knowing, came out and recognised me. This pro- vidential meeting led to a removal of all my pecuniary difficulties. On my departure from Frankfort, Mr. Fraser kindly gave me an introduction to the secretary of the Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt. On pre- senting it, I had the ijlessure of beirg intro- duced to His Highness, with whom I had some very interesting conversation regarding what I had seen in the Australian colonies, for the Duke was a learned and a scientific man. I spent some hours in looking over his museum, which comprised an immense collction of natural curiosities and fossil THE CONVICT KING. 1C5 remains. His gallery of paintings was certainly one of the finest in Europe. On taking my leave, His Highness made me a handsome present. Saxe-Weimar was my next stopping-place, and there 1 had the high honour of being introduced to the venerable Goethe. I met him in the library of the Duke, a magnificent collection of upwards of 200,000 volumes. Goethe was a member of the Privy Council, besides filling the office of librarian to the Duke, a situation, needless to say, far more congenial to his literary tastes and habits. Though growing old at this time, the illustrious dramatic poet, the Shakespeare of Germany, was as full of life and spirits as a young student. He wore the dress of a privy councillor — a blue coat with gold facings. In appearance Goethe was somewhat portly, rather tall, with hazel eyes, remarkably heavy eye-brows, and a dark complexion. My recruited funds enabled me to hire a carriage now, and travel with some degree of state to Berlin. There I visited, not only the British Minister, but my distinguished countrymen, Niebuhr and Bems- torf ; the former was at the head of the finance de- partment, and the .latter was minister for foreign affairs, and a man of great political tact. I remained 106 THE CONVICT KINO. in Berlin for seven or eight months, procrastinating from day to day my departure for Warsaw. For I had here the good or rather the bad fortune to gain a prize of 400 crowns in the Prussian lottery, in which a ticket could be bought for three English shillings. This incident revived the slumbering passion within me, and I gave myself up once more to every excess of gambling. I was more fortunate on this than on any former occasion in which I em- barked in play. My companions were strictly honourable, for the fraternity of sharpers is mostly confined to the hells, as they are aptly called, of London and Paris. But the propensity to play in Berlin, as well as in most other towns on the Continent, is very great indeed. The gamblers commence their whist in the coffee-houses in the middle of the day, and, votary to the syren as I was myself, I could not help reflecting what a large portion of the best period of their lives was thrown away in so useless, inane and unsatisfactory a pursuit. During my stay at Berlin I visited the celebrated residence of Frederic II., Sans Souci, near Potsdam, about twenty miles from Berlin. The building, though large, had a comfortable cottage appearance. THE CONVICT KING. 107 So general was the respect for the old King that, during all the bitter contests of the time, Napoleon ^ would not suffer the structure to be disturbed in the least particular. A sword was indeed once taken from the palace to Paris, but was subsequently restored. I spent some time looking over the library, and came upon a fine edition of Voltaire. The miller, his family, and the historic mill in the middle of the garden were still undisturbed. Frederic, being desirous of removing the mill from the garden, went one day to the miller (the father of the one I saw), with an intimation that he must sell it, and betake himself elsewhere. But the miller politely, but firmly, declined the royal re- quest. " What, Sir," exclaimed the King in a passion, " don't you know who I am, and that I could take it from you, if I liked, whether you will or no ? " " Yes, I dare say you would, please your majesty," replied the miller, " if there was no Supreme Court in Berlin to prevent you." Frederic instantaneously cooled down, and was so pleased with this manly, straightforward answer, that he contented himself with asking the man to permit him to repair the mill at his own expense, so that it might no longer remain an ugly eye-sore in the 108 THE CONVICT KING. middle of his pleasure-ground. To this proposal the miller, of course, cheerfully assented. His son, however, having a large family, was constrained to request William, the present King, to buy the mill, in order to provide means for his children. But the King very handsomely replied, that he could not think of buying the mill, as it was now identified with the history of Prussia, but he hoped the enclosed 6,000 crowns would serve the purpose equally well. Not far from Sans Souci stands a stupendous palace, built by Frederic IL, at an ex- pense of three millions sterling, but never occupied by any of the Eoyal family. When I went to pay it a visit, I found only one porter at the lodge, an old veteran. As I came up to make some inquiries about the building, he was pouring some clear liquid out of a bottle into a tumbler, which he swallowed at a draught. I ventured to remark that I would feel grateful for a glass of water also whereupon he suddenly assumed an expression of the utmost indignation. " That's not water," he cried, ** it's good corn-brandy. Water is only fit for dogs to drink." I must not omit to mention here the interviews I had at Berlin with the now celebrated traveller. THE CONVICT KING. 109 Prince Puckler Von Muskaw, then a Count. He had formerly been Minister Plenipotentiary to the (^ourt of St. James's from the Saxon King, but, by the dismemberment of Saxony, the province in which the Count's estate was situated became sub- ject to Prussia. He certainly possessed great abilities and courted notoriety, though rather eccen- tric in his ways of pursuing it. When I was at Berlin he made a balloon ascent, in company with a female aeronaut, to whom he made a present of 500 crowns. On another occasion he was so well pleased with the performance of an actress in the Berlin Theatre, which is one of the handsomest in Europe, that he presented her next day with a diamond necklace of great value. His entertain- ments to the King, Eoyal family and Ministers were always on the most splendid scale. His writings, though very sarcastic in parts, have served to expose many of the fashionable vagaries of the English. Amongst other gambling associates in Berlin, I had several times the satisfaction of playing with old Marshal Blucher, who was passionately fond of his pipe and a game at whist. I frequently visited the library of the old Marshal Prince Henry, uncle no THE CONVICT KING. to the present king, and had several conversations on the literature of the day with the librarian, the Eev. W. Beresford, one of those who were obliged to leave England when the famous Corresponding Society was broken up. At the lime of my visit, the King of Prussia did not reside in the Eoyal Palace of Berlin, but lived in a plain house in the city, so as to avoid the glare, the ceremony, and the expense of a large establishment. In the sleeping apartments of the young princesses, one of whom is now an Empress, I observed three little tent- bedsteads without curtains. I should have been more uneasy and even ashamed at dallying so long in Berlin without fulfilling the main object of my mission at Warsaw, had I not been so fortunate as to form an acquaint- ance with some Poles, from whom I collected much of the information that it was my duty to obtain. The facts and particulars thus acquired .1 embodied in a despatch to my principals. At last I tore my- self away from the allurements of the Prussian capital, and set out for Dresden in the month of November, 1816. The good fortune which had attended me in Berlin now deserted me, and I had not been in Dresden two days when I fell THE CONVICT KING. Ill among sharpers, and was completely fleeced. I was actually so senselessly imprudent as to sit down and lose £500 with a fellow whom I knew to be disrepu- table and not worth ten shillings. The abominable set in which I got mixed up at this place sD thoroughly ruined me that I began to lose my usual flow of spirits, which on all former occasions had supported me in my reverses. Seeing several hundred miles before me in the depth of winter, I gave up all idea of proceeding to Warsaw and re- solved to return to London. I was obliged to dis- pose of all my equipment, except the clothes I was wearing, for a few pounds to assist me on the road. I was afraid that my sharping acquaintances, if they suspected my intention, would take steps to detain me on account of some alleged debts which they pretended I owed, and I therefore considered it most expedient to get away without applying for a pass- port. But the want of this useful document subjected me to no small inconvenience and put my ingenuity very frequently to the rack. Being on foot, however, I was less suspected, and could often make my way into the towns of an evening, or out of them in the morning, by walking boldly and unconcernedly past the gate, as if I belonged to the 112 THE CONVICT KING. place or to the countrymen in the vicinity coming in with their farm produce. I recall one evening in particular when the man at th6 gate of a small fortified town peremptorily refused to let me pass unless I could produce my passport. I was fatigued and hungry after my long walk. My earnest entreaties and the noise of our altercation at last brought out the gatekeeper's wife to see what was the matter. Approaching her, I pulled out two silk handkerchiefs which I had in my pocket, and begged her to intercede on my behalf, for it would be my ruin to be shut out that night, as I was hourly expecting my cart with a load of smuggled goods, which would stand a great chance of being seized if I were not at hand to receive it, at the same time requesting her accept- ance of the best of the two handkerchiefs, and promising her some very advantageous bargains when the goods came up. The effect of this little invention soon operated in my favour. I was invited to supper at the gate-house, and was comfortably lodged there for the night. After a hearty break- fast in the morning, aifecting surprise that my cart had not yet come up, I said I would move on a few steps to look after it, and so proceeded on my journey. THE CONVICT KING. 113 Much as I had failed in examining and reforming the passions of my own heart, the various vicissitudes of my life had led me to regard minutely the workings of human nature in the breasts of others. For instance, considerable reluctance was often shown to disclose to me the different points of information which it was my duty from time to time to obtain. With some a certain amount of flattery and prudently applied commendation would succeed in drawing the cat out of the bag. Others would present themselves before me firmly resolved to reveal nothing. A different policy was of course necessary in the case of persons of such determined silence. " Pooh," I would say to a man of this tjpe, " you pretend to know all about this. Why, you know nothing at all about the matter. I know more about it myself than you do." Bristling up at once, he would perhaps clench his fist in my face, saying : " Don't I know anything about it, though ? " Then I would lead him on from one step to another, until at last I had extracted from him everything I wanted. 8 CHAPTER VI. A Baffled Emigration Project — ^Three Years of London Gambling — A Saddening Sequel— In Newgate Prison — Appointed Hospital Assistant — Impressions and Experiences — Newgate, a Gigantic School of \nce — Indecent Rapidity of Trials — The Strange Story of a Bank of England Clerk. On my return to London I had, notwithstanding all my shortcomings and discrepancies, the satisfaction to be well received by my principals of the Foreign Office, and to be handsomely rewarded for the duties I had performed. With the money thus acquired I had resolved to emigrate to Spanish America, which at that time offered a favourable field for persons of my adventurous disposition. Still deluded, how- ever, by the false hopes that the gaming-table so incessantly held out to me, I ventured a small stake in the expectation of adding to the little fund which I had collected to take with me. But once within the magic circle I was wholly unable to get out, and instead of carrying my emigration project into effect, I spent the next three years of my lifq THE CONVICT KING. 116 (from 1817 to 1820) in a continual whirl of misery and disappointment at the gaming-table. I look back upon this dark period of my chequered career with the deepest regret, and would, if I could, blot it out entirely from the records of my existence. The final and pitiful result of these three years of un- bridled folly and disheartening dissipation was that, through the ingratitude and low cunning of a person who resided with me in Tottenham Court Road I was arrested one day on a charge of having pawned certain articles of furniture belonging to my land- lady. The case was tried at the Old Bailey, and I had the mortification to be sentenced to seven years' transportation. But instead of being sent out to the penal settlements in these colonies, I was placed under the surgeon of Newgate Prison, the late Dr. Box, as an assistant in the hospital. I con- tinued to hold this appointment for twenty months, until, in consequence uf the satisfaction I had given the doctor, and the favourable notice of the sheriffs, my case was more minutely examined, and on its appearing that the articles for the loss of which I had been sentenced had been actually pawned in the name of my fellow-lodger, and not in mine, I had the pleasure to obtain my pardon under the 8* 116 THE CONVICT KING. condition that I should quit the kingdom within a month from the day of my liberation. Some of my impressions and experiences during my stay in Newgate may be worth placing on record. There was a very proper regulation pro- viding that no female visitors should be allowed to enter the prison, save such as were married. One consequence of it, however, was that many single prisoners, in order to obtain interviews with their former female associates, declared themselves mar- ried, never thinking of the awkward consequences of such a confession to themselves after they were transported to a new country. For their declarations were of course recorded against them in the books of the gaol and transmitted in the lists sent along with them to the penal settlements of Australia and Van Diemen's Land. But the great majority of the prisoners in Newgate were persons awaiting their trials, and as no work was required of them, by reason of the idleness thus induced and the mixture of the different characters and shades of criminality, the place was literally a gigantic school of vice. Cards, though prohibited by the regulations, were smuggled in in spite of the keepers, and were con- tinually being played, in addition to other games THE CONVICT KINO. 117 of chance with which I had already become familiar- ised during my imprisonment at Tothill Fields. In my capacity of assistant to the surgeon, I was enabled to ascertain pretty intimately the characters and particulars of the cases of all who entered New- gate, and, although I have often heard people affirm the contrary, I can safely say that of all who were committed to prison during my time not one was an innocent person. Of course I speak of crimes and misdemeanours, not of those who were im- prisoned for the non-payment of fines. There were always several of this latter class under detention. Whilst I was in Newgate, a nobleman of high rank, now holding a prominent office in one of the colonies, suffered an imprisonment of twelve months and paid a fine of £5,000 to the Crown. Among the prisoners who particularly attracted my notice was the captain of a slave-ship, who had been captured whilst trafficking at Mada- gascar, in a vessel belonging to the Mauritius. He was tried for the off'ence in the Admiralty Court, and sentenced to 14 years' transportation. He had visited the court of Radama, the late king of Madagascar, and had made a series of interesting notes, which I assisted him in arranging and trans- 118 THE CONVICT KING. lating into English. They embodied many in- teresting particulars of that fine island. Amongst other facts it was stated that considerable traffic was carried on with the continent of Afiica by an ancient colony of about 4,000 Arabs, who were settled on the west coast of Madagascar. Many of the inhabitants were described as persons of considerable intelligence, and the reigning queen was said to encourage intercourse with the English — an enlightened policy that might gradually lead to the systematic development of the resources of Madagascar and to commercial relations with the Australian colonies, as well as with the Mauritius and Europe. The great, and I might almost add the indecent rapidity with which many of the trials at the Old Bailey were conducted, has been referred to by the able author of " The Schoolmaster in Newgate." At the same time it cannot be denied that many of the oldest and wiliest of the prisoners serve by their own conduct to accentuate the short average time occupied by each case in court. These men, who have perhaps been tried before for offences at this tribunal, are already well aware of the probable result, and know that if they give the Court much THE CONVICT KING. 119 trouble and prolong by an ineffectual defence the period of their trial, they will, in all probability, be prolonging also the period of their punishment. I well remember one day when five men were arraigned at the bar. The four who were most guilty, on being asked their plea by the Court, answered promptly, with much seeming contrition, " Guilty, my lord," and were let off with a few months' imprisonment, whilst the fifth, being sensible of his comparative innocence, pleaded " Not guilty," occupied the time of the Court with his defence for three-quarters-of- an-hour, and was sentenced to seven years' transport- ation. Money, which, until proved otherwise, it is reasonable to conclude has been honestly acquired, al^^ays, in a civilised community, draws a degree of respect which will induce even Courts of Justice to treat an accused party with every possible fairness and calm deliberation. A remark- able instance of this occurred whilst I was at Newgate, in the case of one of the principal clerks of the Transfer-office of the Bank of England. He was committed on a charge of having used the means which his confidential employment afforded him, to make away, either by embezzlement or 120 THE CONVICT KING. forgery, with a large amount of stock standing in the name of the late Sir Eobert Peel. The pre- sumptive evidence against him was very strong. When a suspicious discovery was made, he absented himself from the bank ; several brokers swore to his having ordered the stock to be sold out in eight different shares, and £4,000 of the money paid by the brokers were found in his possession. So sensible did he appear to be of his own guilt, and of the certainty of his fate if put upon his trial, that when he was apprehended, he attempted to escape from the bed-room in the third story of the house where the police officer, under whose charge he was, had locked him up for the night. He had made a rope of the sheets of his bed to let himself down, but he imprudently descended with his hands only, and not as the sailors do, holding on by the legs also, and thus slipping down steadily. From not attending to this precaution, the rope swayed alternately to and fro, and threw him against the window of the room beneath, in which his captor slept. This so alarmed him that he let go his hold and fell into the street, fracturing his jaw-bone, one of his hip-bones, and one of his arms. In this deplorable condition he was conveyed to THE CONVICT KING. 121 Newgate, and so desperate did his case appear that every precaution was taken lest he should do him- self some personal violence in order to avoid the ignominy of a public trial and execution. His amiable wife attended him with unwearied assiduity and affection, and as money was not wanting, a faint gleam of hope came in at last to brighten the great efforts that were being made for his defence. His family and connections were highly respectable His father had been a sheriff of London, and, at the imminent risk of his life, had prevented the rioters of Lord G-eorge Gordon's day from bursting into the large bullion-room of the Bank of England and carrying ofiF the gold. The sherifif thrust him&elf before the gates and, with the greatest difficulty, slipped the chain across the door, and eventually stayed the progress of the mob. Apart from the claims to consideration on his father's account, the prisoner had, until the present discovery, proved himself a most efficient servant of the Bank. But at that time a spirit of gambling in the public funds, only one degree less horrid than that of the hells to which I had been accustomed, pervaded many of the clerks of the Bank, and the prisoner had become particularly infected by it, so much so, 122 THE CONVICT KING. that in one single speculation he lost a large stim which he rej^laced by transferring the funds belong- ing to Sir Eobert Peel to a feigned person named William Penn, purposing, like most others who abandon themselves to a similar delinquency, to return them to the Bank when the expected stroke of good fortune would place it in his power to do so. Notwithstanding his claims to merciful considera- tion, the Bank was resolved not to show the smallest leniency, but, for the sake of a necessary example, to prosecute the case to the utmost. But the result proved what a lottery is law, or rather how much its chances may be affected by the skilful intervention of the god Plutus. The case was so clear against the prisoner that the only object first aimed at was to gain time by getting the trial postponed until next sessions. My sympathies were of course deeply stirred, and I should not be complying with the dictates of truth, which, I trust the reader is sensible, govern the whole of this history, if I did not candidly acknowledge that I wished for the acquittal of the prisoner. So far as my oppor- tunities extended, 1 threw no obstacle in the way of his obtaining it. As a matter of fact, he had re- THE CONVICT KING. 123 covered from the wounds and fractures received in his fall from the window, but I connived at his still remaining in bed, although when asked by the officer if he had sufficiently recovered to be able to stand his trial, I readily replied, " To be sure he is, as able as I am." Nothing further was accordingly said until the morning appointed for the trial, when he was ordered into Court, but the Judge and the Counsel for the Bank were not a little surprised when they saw him carried in on a litter and bandaged all round, as if still suffering from his half-healed fractures. The scheme succeeded, and the Court immediately ordered him back to give him time to recover by next sessions. Time having been thus gained, no stone was left unturned, which money could by any possibility move, to get up a plausible defence. The solicitor for the Bank, in order to elucidate the alleged transfer of the stock to a person named William Penn, employed one of the most efficient Bow Street officers to ferret that individual out, if such a person actually existed. This of course, came to the knowledge of the prisoner's friends, who took care to throw, as if by accident, a little clue in the officer's way, by which he might trace the missing 124 THE CONVICT KING. man. The landlady of an inn, who had of course received a consideration for her pains, solemnly declared that a person answering the description of Penn had suddenly left her house, where he had been residing, when he heard of the arrest of the prisoner. This formed the first of the links of a chain which had been concerted to enable the Bow Street officer to trace the fictitious Penn to a sea- port town, where other persons were prepared to prove that such a man had embarked at the time on board a ship bound for America. The two principal witnesses against the prisoner were the subordinate clerks in the office in which he was employed. When the first was called upon and had sworn to the handwriting, the prisoner's counsel, aware of the fact that he was an atheist, which had not transpired before, cross-examined him on the point with such success that his evidence was rejected. The other witness also failed the prosecution because he could not remember seeing the prisoner's handwriting in the transfer-book until after his apprehension, and such was the influence of money on this occasion that the very leaf on which the transfer had appeared was not to be found when wanted, having been torn THE CONVICT KING. 125 out of the book. The consequence of all this was, that the witnesses for the Bank were completely baffled, everything was accounted for and cleared up to the satisfaction of the Court, and, after a ten hours' trial, the prisoner was acquitted on all the indictments. CHAPTEK VII. Midnight Scene in Newgate — A Condemned Criminal's Indifference to Death — Grim Story of an Executed Miser — Prisoners' Horror of Transportation — Lady Visitors — The Law Cheated liy Bribed Doctors— Anecdote of Lord Eldon — Released from Newgate — Again in the Grip of the Gambling Fiend — Betrayed by A False Frien? — Sentenced to Death — Transported for Life. Persons in the situation of the prisoner I have just described are of course very differently aifected on entering Newgate as compared with the great mass of criminals who pass through its sullen portals every year. When the sensibilities of the heart are drawn forth by the early culture of the mind, and by the endearing excitements which social and refined intercourse produces, the loss of character entailed by a reverse of fortune or the ignominy of a public condemnation, to say nothing of the stings of conscience, is far more severely felt than it could possibly be by one who had never tasted the pleasures of society, whose education had been mainly acquired in the schools of vice, and whose life had THE CONVICT KING. 127 been spent in the dissipations of idleness. It has often been said that the uncertainty of the law, and the mist that still envelops the fate of the criminal even when condemned, are great encouragements to delinquency. Even in capital offences the chances of escape are so many. But this, I conceive, is only half the evil effect of the uncertainty or gambling, as it may well be called, of the law. For by the same rule on which the criminal calculates the chances of escape, he frames his mind at the same time to the alternative of the last punishment. Common-sense tells us that this is only the simple process of cause and effect, operating on the material of human nature. Let the law be as lenient as you please, the more lenient perhaps the better, but let its punishments in all cases of conviction be certain and inevitable. As long as the world lasts or until the millennium begins, crime and all its train of misery will exist, but the light of reason and religion may doubtless do much to arrest its progress. The direct effect of the present system is to sear up and destroy the best faculties of human nature. Cal- lousness and recklessness are its immediate con- sequences. A criminal named M — , who among others had ]28 THE CONVICT KING. been condemned to die, was placed under my charge in the hospital, owing to some trifling complaint with which he said he was afflicted. Had I been so inclined, I might have had him sent out of the hospital by showing how slight his illness was. But under the painful circumstances, knowing that he might be informed of the day of his doom at any moment, I was unwilling to be harsh, and permitted him to enjoy the comparative comforts that the hospital afforded. He had fallen fast asleep one evening when the Sheriff arrived to announce to hiin the awful news that he was to be hanged next Monday morning. The poor creature raised himself in the bed, and, thinking I verily believe more of the respect that was due to the Sheriff than of his own dreadful situation, touched a little tuft of hair that stuck out on his brow from underneath his nightcap, and, bending his head, merely replied — " Very well, gentlemen." Then lying down again and drawing the blankets over his shoulder, he was asleep and actually snoring in five minutes. Some allege that a sincere repentance and a happy frame of mind would under the circumstances bring about such marked indifference to the near approach of an ignominious death. My impression is that in this THE CONVICT KINO. 129 particular case there was a total absence of all feeling save that which arose, as with the insensible brutes, from the simple cravings of nature. Occasionally however I have seen the sway of a ruling passion so strong as to be paramount even in the last hour, and to swallow up every other feeling. About the same time that the above incident occurred, a greedy old man suffered the last penalty of the law, and although his wife was in the most destitute condition, and came frequently to the prison begging him to afford her a small relief, he would not give her a single sixpence. Knowing full well he would die in a few days, he actually went to the gallows and was hanged with nine sovereigns in his trousers pocket while his wife was in this starving condition. Mr. Gribbon Wakefield, speaking of his prison experiences, has declared that the prisoners, both in and out of Newgate, are, almost without exception, imbued with an ardent desire to be transported to these colonies — a wish, he says, that induces many to commit offences in order to realise this longing of their hearts. The learned Archbishop of Dublin has taken up the theme, and addressed two long letters to Earl Grey, urging the impropriety, alike on moral ISO THE CONVICT KINQ. and political grounds, of continuing the present system of transportation. Now, upon the expe- rience, not only of the twenty months I speak of, but of the three years' imprisonment, which the reader will presently see I subsequently endured, as well as my nine years' close observance of convicts, after their transportation to these colonies, I most distinctly affirm that Mr. Gribbon Wakefield's con- tention is not correct. Let every man examine the emotions of his own breast, and see whether in the abstract, and under any circumstances, he would wish to be torn away from those scenes of his youth which habit or intimacy had endeared to his remembrance, from old friends and relations to whom he felt he had a natural right to look for sympathy and support in periods of distress, and to be placed amidst a sunken and degraded class, among strangers in a distant land ! Even the voluntary emigrant, with all his hope and expectation of bettering his position in life, is not without an inward pain, approaching, not unfre- quently, to a species of torture, on so trying an occasion. How much more is the convict alive to these acute sensations ! He is doomed to be landed on a foreign shore, with the ensign of crime carried THE CONVICT KING. 131 before him, where his deprivation of liberty will consist, not, as in England, of simple confinement within prison walls, or of the exaction of labour, but * in having the eye of supervision everlastingly over him, in being assigned to a master whose interest it is to watch him incessantly, and to deprive him of the smallest chance of indulging in his favourite propensities. No, the prisoners of Newgate fear nothing so much as transportation. From the moment that they enter the prison, the subject which most prominently occupies their minds is — how to evade this much-dreaded alternative. This is the fact, gainsay it who will, and let it be borne in mind that I speak from considerable experience, from personal knowledge of upwards of 15,000 individuals who came under my particular notice during my stay in Newgate. The female prisoners were kept entirely by them selves in a separate part of the building. There were sometimes as many as 200, previous to the Sessions at the Old Bailey. A ladies' committee inspected the whole of the prison every Friday. I have seen from forty to fifty carriages collected at the gate on those occasions. The ladies gave out needlework to the female prisoners and paid them 9* 132 THE CONVICT KING-. jmall sums. I remember a hearth-rug, upon which /our of them had worked, that was sold for ten guineas. Mrs. Fry was a constant visitor. Amongst other distinguished lady visitors, I once saw the Princess of Denmark, who was then on a visit to the English Royal family. The Countess of Darlington, who accompanied Her Royal Highness, said to me — " I wonder how you can keep this hospital so neat and clean." " Please your ladyship," I replied, " I have been used to a man-of-war." No employ- ment was found for the male prisoners, as they were drafted away to their respective destinations at the close of each Sessions, with the exception of the privileged few who, like myself, were permitted to remain, and work about the prison in different ways — cooks, sweepers, whitewashers, carpenters, wards- men, etc. Every artifice is employed, and every influence brought to bear by the prisoners to get them.selves appointed to these menial situations, rather than be sent to the hulks, or transported. My situation as hospital-assistant precluded me frorti any desire or opportunity to yield again to my ruinous failing. How great the importance of the prayer, enjoined as one of the most essential by the Divine Preserver and Teacher of mankind, to be THE CONVICT KING. 133 kept from temptation ! During this time, when I had no temptation before me, my life was happy and contented. Throughout the twenty months of my sojourn in Newgite, I scarcely ever gave a thought to gambling. Judging from my own experience in this respect, I realised the efficacy of transportation as a check to crime, for, when temptation is removed from the convicts, all desire or inclination to offend is removed at the same time. But even if I had been viciously disposed, the unvarying kindness and consideration of my immediate employer, Dr. Box, would have effectually restrained me. None but those who have filled subservient situations can adequately share the feelings of him who has had the satisfaction to serve a good master, or rightly appreciate how much the good conduct of the servant depends on that of the employer. That person must be strangely constituted who would not strive to give such a man as Dr. Box every satisfac- tion in his power, by his assiduity and uniformly correct behaviour. And this enables me to illustrate another feature of the assigned service transporta- tion system. For, the settlers to whom the convicts are for the most part assigned have a still stronger and more personal motive to act the part of the 134 THE CONVICT KING. good master than Dr. Box ever had with n)e, seeing that their success as colonists mainly depends on the reformed conduct of their assigned servants. It is evident at a glance hovr different the influence of Dr. Box over me, or that of the settler over the assigned prisoner, is from that of the keeper or over- seer of any gaol, penitentiary, or gang, where many men are subjected to the control of one who has only a collective interest in them. Dr. Box was surgeon to other London prisons in addition to Newgate, and the responsibility of his position was very great. He once nobly and con- scientiously withstood a bribe of a very large amount. It happened that a gentleman was con- fined for a capital off'ence, for which he had been tried and condemned to death. By his decease his family would lose the chief part of their patrimony, which consisted of a lease for life of certain Crown lands held at a low rate and yielding a handsome income. The two sons of the prisoner came to Dr. Box and offered him £4,000, with every assurance of secrecy, if he would certify that their father was insane, so as to avert the execution. Dr. Box rejected the bribe with indignation, but his sympathy for the distressed family induced him THE CONVICT KING. 1J5 to give a pledge not to divulge the circumstance except to the Recorder, Sir John Silvester, who also agreed to keep it secret. The sons subsequently waited on two very eminent physicians in London, and, by the offer of equally large bribes, succeeded in getting a certificate of their father's insanity. The case came before the Council, and Dr. Box was summoned to attend. On entering. Lord Sidmouth said : « Take a chair, Mr. Box." Whereupon Lord Eldon exclaimed : " No, that man shall not sit down in my presence. He has been guilty of a gross dereliction of duty in not certifying that this person is mad, who has been declared to be so by two physicians far more eminent and skilful than himself." The certificate of the two distinguished doctors carried conviction to the minds of the Council ; the prisoner was liberated as being irresponsible for his actions, and was soon amusing himself in his garden and talking as rationally as ever. Sir John Silvester afterwards informed Lord Sidmouth of the truth, and eulogised the immovable firmness of Dr. Box in resisting the bribe. The incident also came to the ears of Lord Eldon, who sent for Dr. Box, apologised 136 THE CONVICT KING. for the apparent roughness of his first reception, and praised him as he deserved for his rigid adherence to personal and professional integrity. During the intervals of duty in prison I devoted myself to reading and literary occupations. From the inexpensive manner in which I lived, and the various gratuities with which I was presented from time to time, I found my pockets tolerably well furnished on my liberation. The first person I met going along the street was my old friend, the captain of the whaling ship Alexander, Poor man ! he had just emerged from the King's Bench prison, where he had been long confined for debt. I had scarcely parted with him when I had the pleasure to meet Captain King, whom I had known as Grovernor of New South Wales. He was then, he informed me, setting out for Bath to see his old friend, Captain Phillip, the first Australian Grovernor, who was lying dangerously ill. It was the last journey he ever took, for he died soon after his arrival, whereas Phillip recovered. His account of Norfolk Island is one of the most interesting works on the colonies. I was never superstitious. Had I been so, I might have had a presentiment of my future fate THE CONVICT KING. 137 from the singular recurrence of former scenes and incidents in Australia thus brought accidentally to my remembrance. Little did I think then that I was destined to endure so many years of bondage at the Antipodes. Had it been made a condition of my liberation that I should depart forthwith from England, I should certainly have been saved from my last dreadful lapse at the gaming-table, with its lifelong ruinous consequences to me. But, as the reader will remember, I was unfortunately permitted to remain in England for a month, and with my pockets tolerably well filled, I could not resist a visit to my former wretched haunts. I was soon once more within the grip of the gambling fiend, and was gradually reduced to penury. I had also overstayed my time in England by several weeks. I was on the road to a tender in the river in order to go on board a man-of-war, when I had the misfor- tune to meet an old acquaintance on Tower Hill, whom I had known in Newgate. The scoundrel invited me to dinner, and while we were enjoying as I thought, friendly social conversation, he had the police introduced into the house, and myself, his guest, apprehended under his own roof. I was tried and formally sentenced to death for violating the 138 THE CONVICT KING: condition of my liberation, but this was afterwards commuted to transportation for life. I had interest, however, to secure my re-appointment to my former situation in the hospital, where I remained for three years, but I never imagined for a moment that I should receive so severe a sentence for remaining a few weeks beyond my appointed time in England. Immured once more within the walls of Newgate, I, for a time, mourned deeply over my hapless fate. Time, however, softened my regret, and I found some consolation in studious pursuits. I revised and retouched the published account of my three years' travels through France and Grermany, subse- quent to the battle of Waterloo. The object of that journey, which was to ascertain what effects the subjugation of the troops of Napoleon was likely to have in advancing the interests of British com- merce, gave this book a character of importance which perhaps it would not otherwise have possessed. I also wrote the work which has since been published in England without my knowledge under the title of " The Keligion of Christ the Religion of Nature," and which cost me no small amount of study and attention. Had it cost no more I should have been thankful. But the fact of my having written such THE CONVICT KING. 139 a work aroused hostility against me in certain atheistical quarters, and a regular battery was levelled against me, which did not cease its fire until I was ordered on board the hulk Justitia to be sent out with the first sailing transport ship to these colonies. I was exceedingly surprised that the Secretary of State should have listened to the suggestions of these atheistical monsters and ordered me for transportation, when, by the general regulations, I was entitled to His Majesty's pardon. CHAPTER YIII. Life in the Hulks- -Brutality of Officers — Hideous Demoralisation — On Board Convict-skip W'oodviai — Appointtd to Hospital— A Queer use for a Lamp — Epidemij of Brain Fever — An Amateur Doctor— A Surgeon in a Comical Situation — Arrival in Yan Diemen's Land— An Amazing Transformation. In October, 1825, I was removed from Newgate to the hulk Justitia, which was lying at Woolwich. The moment a convict passes over the gangway of a hulk, he is searched for money or other articles of value ; he is then taken below, and entirely stripped, is subjected to an ablution, has his hair cut off, and a prison-dress put on; irons are placed on his legs, and next morning he is sent to hard labour in the dockyard. A very few, as a matter of great favour, are permitted to wear a slight bezel on one leg and are exempted from dockyard labour. I was one of those thus privileged. All communication with the rest of the world is cut off, no person is allowed on board, a visitor must stand on a platform by the side of the hulk, and can only speak to a prisoner in THE CONV^ICT KINa. 141 the presence of an officer. Any money or articles given to a prisoner must be handed over to the chief mate; all letters, even from members of parliament, to a convict are opened, and if the captain does not choose to deliver them, he need not do so. In like manner, letters from convicts to friends, relations and others are inspected, so, should anyone complain, he only exposes himself to vengeance and punishment. When a House of Commons committee of inspection visits the hulks, everything seems in admirable order, and when the unfortunate men are asked if they have any complaints to make, the reply is invariably in the negative, for woe betide him who should dare to open his lips except to say that the treatment on board was most humane and kind. The super- intendent of a hulk is styled captain and the subordinate officers are called mates, although none of them are seafaring meuj being simply promoted turnkeys. I have seen the captain knock a poor fellow down with one blow merely for not getting quickly out of his way when passing forward on the deck. Eedress is impossible, for all is mystery and secrecy. I am bound to admit that I escaped any harsh treatment, and it is only a sense of truth and 142 THE CONVICT KING. public utility that could impel me to state facts as they are. I have long had by me several incidents of the hulks which I intended to have published, but a sense of shame prevented me from doing so, and I now feel happy that the hulk establishments are broken up, for hitherto they have proved nothing but schools of abominable pollution. Those who have been discharged from them have overrun England and spread vice and immorality everywhere in their track. I scarcely ever saw any signs of true repentance in any of them ; on the contrary, most have, after their liberation, been again convicted, though by changing names they have succeeded in concealing the fact from the notice of the authorities. I am glad indeed that those establishments, those nuisances, those nurseries of deep crime, have been removed, for I should have felt reluctant to publish what I myself have seen in them. On board the hulks any one who should complain to the superiors concerning these heart- appalling scenes, would be destroyed by the other prisoners and would incur the resentment of the officers. Should I be asked whether the whole, or at least THE CON VIC r KING. 143 the greater portion, of the convicts on board the hulks really merited the punishment inflicted upon them, truth would compel me to answer in the affirmative, but the whole system tended un- equivocally to make them sycophants, hypocrites, and ten times more the children of darkness than they were before. Only those amongst them were appointed to petty offices who would betray their fellow-convicts, not in matters of great crimes or attempts to escape, but in such little trivialities as the unwarrantable possession of an inch of tobacco, or a little tea and sugar, or half a loaf. It was natural that, seeing myself surrounded with horrors such as I have indicated, I should make every interest to get away as speedily as possible from scenes which afflicted me more than any I had witnessed in the previous course of my life. I was therefore delighted to receive the permission of the Home Secretary to proceed to Van Diemen's Land in the Woodinian^ which had been chartered to convey convicts to that colony. I found the Wood- man in all the hurry and confusion of preparing for sea. The berths for the prisoners were not yet finished ; friends had come from all parts to take a last farewell of those who were to be banished to a 144 THE CONVICT KING. distant land; swearing, cursing, wrangling, lamen- tations and tears offended all within hearing, and one would fancy ten thousand demons had been let loose. The Surgeon-Superintendent had not arrived, and consequently there was no check on the prisoners, the other officers having quite enough to do without heeding them. One would imagine that persons sent to a penal settlement in expiation of crimes committed at home would, when starting on their voyage across the seas, show some signs of contrition, and cease their former evil practices, but it was not so. By daylight or by dark they did not scruple to steal all that came in their way. Boxes and parcels of tea and sugar were torn from under those who possessed them, and one's life would be endangered by resistance to these ruffians. I remember one day when I had occasion to open a trunk in the single berth allotted to me, a silk hand- kerchief was snatched by someone, and on looking round to see who it was, I was served in a similar manner by others. Having taken most of the articles out of the box, many of them were thus stolen before I could replace them in security. Those who were most active and daring in these exploits were looked up to with a great deal of THE CONVICT KING. 146 respect by their less hardened fellow-convicts. It may seem strange how such stolen articles could be disposed of in a ship whose every hole and corner was liable to inspection and search. But the thieves easily found receivers, for wearing apparel and many other articles were sold to the soldiers, their wives, and the sailors in the half-deck. The Surgeon-Superintendent now joined the ship. He was of a meek and kind-hearted disposition, and well qualified for his work, having already made two voyages to the colonies with convicts and given general satisfaction. Mr. Leary, a lieutenant in the navy, commanded the Woodman, and Mr. Nutting, the chief mate, was shrewd, honest and off-handed, with much of the gentleman about him. Order and regularity were soon established, and some of the prisoners, whose characters stood fair, were appointed to subordinate situations, such as boatswain's mates, cooks, sweepers, etc. As I had dabbled a little in medicine, I was placed in the hospital as dispenser and assistant. Those who were so selected enjoyed privileges to which the other convicts were strangers, and were entitled to go on deck nearly at all hours from sunrise to sunset. T had forwarded a letter to my friends to 10 146 THE CONVICT KING. furnish me with some money, but our departure was so sudden that the one addressed to me in reply never reached me, although I have since been charged with it in account. The Woodman having received her final orders, we sailed from Sheerness at the latter end of November, with 150 convicts on board and a detach- ment of military, the latter accompanied by their wives and children in some instances. We had not proceeded far down the Channel before we were overtaken by a storm, and the ship laboured ex- ceedingly. Little care had been evinced in ex- amining the ship before she was chartered, for the stem was so loose that an immense volume of water poured into the hospital and made sad havoc with all my arrangements. To those who had never been at sea before the situation was intensely disagree- able, a large number of persons cooped up in small berths, encumbered with irons, and- dreadfully sea- sick, combining to make up a scene of the most repellent description. Yet comical incidents occur in the most distressing circumstances. I remember one night, when the sea was washing over the deck and the water pouring down the hatchways. We had a lamp burning in the hospital, and a stout THE CONVICT KING. 147 ignorant countryman came running in, praying that we would lend him the lamp. I asked him what did he want it for ? He exclaimed : " We are all going down in this ship, and I should like to see where I go to." At length the weather abated, and we proceeded along with a fair breeze. The hour arrived when we gazed on the English shore for the last time. I now found myself torn from all that was dear to me on earth, from friends and relations whom I had not seen for years, but with whom I had held friendly intercourse. I stood in silent agony, taking a last and lingering view of those shores the sight of which had, on so many former occasions, afforded me keen delight when returning to them after long voyages to distant lands. I saw myself an exile and a captive on that element on which I had once been a commander. I felt the blow, and I felt it deeply. I could scarcely quell the emotions which swelled my unhappy breast without giving vent to tears, but a sense of manhood restrained me from any public exhibition of emotion. I then made a fervent appeal to Heaven, and I have not prayed in vain. For the information of such as are not acquainted 10* 148 THE CONVICT KING. with the precise manner in which convicts are conveyed to the penal colonies, I will give a brief summary of the regulations. The British Govern- ment has hitherto regarded the transportation of prisoners as the chief mode of providing labour in the colonies. Punishment and utility have been connected so as to render convict labour alike beneficial to the colonists and conducive to the best interests of the parent state. All convicts sent out are newly clad, and ample rations of wholesome food are apportioned to them. Health is preserved by cleanliness, which is strictly attended to, and the ship-owners are bound by the terms of their charter to supply each prisoner with at least half-a-gallon of water per day. Care is also taken that they are not subjected to any oppressive or capricious treatment. Formerly, it frequently happened that brutal masters of convict ships would flog every prisoner on board. To prevent abuses of that sort, a surgeon of the Eoyal Navy has for some years past been attached to every convict-ship to superintend the prisoners on the passage out. This officer, in addition to his half-pay, is entitled to half-a-guinea per head for every prisoner he delivers safe and sound at the end of the voyage, on receiving THE CONVICT KING. 149 a certificate from the governor of the colony that his conduct has merited such a gratuity. Naturally under such a system surgeon-superintendents have every inducement to exercise the greatest attention and vigilance, and to see that everyone receives his just allowance, which includes two pints of wine served every week, as well as a certain quantity of limejuice and sugar each day after arriving in the warmer latitudes. Canisters of preserved meat are supplied for the sick, with rice, tea, sugar, sago, and extra wine, as well as an additional allowance of water. Should a convict be deemed deserving of corporal punishment, the superintendent and master must both concur before it can be inflicted, and par- ticular mention must be made in the ship's log-book of the nature of the offence and the amount of punishment awarded. During our passage from England to the Cape of Grood Hope, only two convicts were flogged, and they richly deserved it, having been caught in the act of robbing their comrades. After the Land's End had faded from our view, all the prisoners were called on deck and relieved of their iron?. This relaxation threw an air of cheerfulness over the ship, and with happier 150 THE CONVICT KING. countenances, we glided with gentle breezes over the swelling billows. As the prisoners conducted themselves extremely well, and were permitted to come on deck for a certain time every day, a general good-will prevailed on board, and the soldiers and sailors were alike very agreeable. After crossing the tropic of Cancer, a number of the convicts were attacked by a species of brain fever, which speedily carried off four, who were buried in the deep. A considerable number had to be placed in the hospital. It certainly appeared to me that the surgeon was wrong in his treatment of the complaint. He sometimes gave in one dose from twenty to thirty grains of calomel, when the disease invariably terminated in madness. But, poor man ! he was himself soon attacked with the fever, and one morning he suddenly dropped dead from his chair, to the grief of all on board. This sad event placed me in a position of great responsibility, for I was called upon to take sole charge of the hospital and do the best I could. By following the simple practice I had learned from Dr. Box in Newgate, I succeeded in restoring all the afflicted to their usual health, and when the Woodman arrived at the Cape, there was not a single individual in the hospital. THE CONVICT KING. 161 The master and officers were not permitted to land by the Cape authorities, who supposed that some epidemic disease was lurking in the ship. But it was absolutely necessary according to the regulations that we should be supplied with a surgeon, and the Admiral on the station ordered Captain Auckland, commanding a sloop of war, to send his surgeon on board the Woodman, Mr. Kelly was this gentleman's name, and he was apparently glad to be removed to our ship. He was uncommonly skilful in his profession, and possessed great generosity. His history was rather singular. He had served with distinction in the Navy, and at the close of the war had settled down in a lucrative practice at Belfast. He had married a young wife, and it is well-known how a young wife can manage a middle-aged husband. She was a Koman Catholic and persuaded him on one occasion to attend an anti-Orange demonstration. This was reported to the Lords of the Admiralty, with the result that Mr. Kelly was immediately ordered for active service. A refusal to comply with this command would, of course, have entailed the forfeiture of his half-pay. What with being appointed to a sloop, removed from a profitable practice, and compelled to leave his wife 152 THE CONVICT KING. behind, his temper had become somewhat soured, and his brother officers did not always find him an agreeable companion. When the Woodman put out to sea once more, it soon transpired that Mr. Kelly and the master, though both Irishmen, were totally opposed to one another in political principles. The convicts derived no small advantage from this conflict of opinion, for if any one of them committed a breach of discipline and the surgeon desired to have him punished, the master would not consent, and vice versa. However, the prisoners continued to con- duct themselves very quietly on the whole. A ludicrous incident occurred one evening when the wind was blowing hard, and all hands were engaged reefing and handing the sails. Mr. Kelly turned into his cot and was in the act of pulling a garment over his head, but unfortunately he had forgotten to remove a pair of strong silver sleeve-buttons, and the ship at that moment taking a lurch, he tumbled out and remained perfectly helpless on the floor, rolling to and fro for some time, the noise on deck being so great that no one could hear his cries. The accident was fortunately attended with no more serious consequences than a THE CONVICT KINO. 163 broken nose and a black eye. It is bub bare justice to Mr. Kelly to say that his undoubted skill, and unremitting attention to the convicts, prevented any disease from spreading amongst them, and only one died between the Cape and Van Diemen's Land. On May 4, 1826, we arrived in the Storm Bay passage and sailed up the river with a fair wind. I, who had visited the scene twenty-four years previously, when no white man occupied a single spot in Van Diemen's Land, and when all around us was a wilderness, felt myself strongly moved by the changes that time aod colonial energy had brought about in my absence. Along the banks of the river I observed a long series of farms and pleasant- looking cottages, but it was when we reached the harbour on the following morning that my astonish- ment became truly great. It has fallen to my lot to visit many colonies and settlements on this globe, and if I had not witnessed the amazing transform- ation now disclosed to my view on the site where Hobart Town reared its novel and beautiful aspect, I could have formed no conception of it from any published description, and I should have rejected the truth as an exaggeration. In less than one 154 THE CONVICT KING. generation tlie foundations of future strength and prosperity had been laid. My mind dwelt in deepest contemplation of the city that had sprung up daring my wanderings in the northern hemisphere, and I brooded over the thought that twenty-four years ago I had assisted in forming the infant settlement on this very spot. Thinking of then and now, of the grievous change in the circumstances under which I revisited this scene of my former labours, I keenly felt the sad re- verse of fortune, my head drooped, and I could scarcely refrain from weeping over my present helpless condition and my forlorn hopes. My imagination presented nothing but gloomy presages and a dreary waste during the remainder of my earthly pilgrimage. Mournful indeed were the prospects before me, yet I felt a cheering ray of hope that time would heal the deepest wounds, and that fresh energy and a constant reliance on Providence in this new and improving land would tend to blot out the harrowing memories of a dismal past, and conduce to a brighter future. CHAPTER IX. Landing at Hobart— Appointed Clerk in Government Service — Transferred to Van Diemen's Land Company— Commissioned as Explorer — Amid Surging Streams — A Kangaroo Pilot — Dunn, The Notorious Bushranger — An Innocent Victim of the Blacks — A Perilous Retreat — Mistaken for Bushrangers — Enormous Sand Hills — Ships Wrecked and Buried — Appalling Scene of Devastation — Stopped by Impenetrable Scrub —Fatal Attempt to Cross a River— Foodless for Four Days — Devouring a Dog-Fish. On the morning after the Woodman had anchored in the harbour, the convicts were all landed in their prison-clothes and marched in regular order to the barracks, where they were drawn up in line and inspected by His Excellency Colonel Arthur, the then Governor of Van Diemen's Land. I had brought with me letters of recommendation from Mr. Pearse and Captain Dundas, both directors of the Van Diemen's Land Company, to their principal agent, Mr. Edward Curr. Unfortunately for me, I did not avail myself of those testimonials, although an application was made by Mr. Curr that I might be assigned to the company's service. When the Woodman was sailing up the river, she was boarded 156 THE CONVICT KING. by Mr. Rolla O'Farrell, a Grovernment official of fashionable appearance, who spoke a little French. He accosted me, and, as I was informed that he was of a humane disposition, I applied for permission to be placed in his office rather than be assigned to the Company. I soon discovered that I had com- mitted a serious error, for the Grovernment pay was very small, a prisoner clerk receiving only sixpence a day salary, and a shilling for rations, the former paid every quarter and the latter every month. I landed with a solitary one pound note in my possession, and so was compelled to dispose of the greater and best part of my wardrobe to obtain the means of subsistence. Often when I saw prisoners assigned to gentlemen, tradesmen and farmers, sitting down to a plentiful repast, I felt inclined to curse my unlucky stars that I was not brought up as a labourer, servant, or handicraftsman of some sort. I certainly had hoped that the Grovernor would have extended some consideration towards me in view of my long incarceration in Newgate, and in recognition of my services on board the Woodman in having successfully supplied the place of the surgeon for five weeks. But I was disappointed. THE CONVICT KISQ. 157 Under the regime of Colonel Arthur, prison dis- cipline had assumed a very different and much more stringent character than before. In former days pardons were easily obtained, not so now. Besides, strange rumours were afloat which tended to make the Grovernor somewhat circumspect in his dealings with me. Some said I had been punished for having written pamphlets against the British Grovernment and for having been a spy in England. Others reversed this story and declared that the British Gfovernment had employed me as a spy in foreign countries, and Heaven knows what else equally ridiculous and void of truth. The effect of such stupid irresponsible stories was to create a prejudice against me in official quarters. I was told by Mr. O'Farrell that when an application was made to Colonel Arthur on my behalf, the Grovernor replied : " I can do nothing for Jorgenson, as he is a violent political character, and a dangerous man in any country." In this dilemma I made renewed and persistent efforts to be transferred from the service of the Government to that of the Van Die men's Land Company. I met with many difficulties, for the 158 THE CONVICT KING. removal of a clerk from a public office in the colony was not readily sanctioned. However, my services to the authorities were comparatively useless, for, although I could write a tolerably fair hand, I was quite incompetent to manage books of accounts and entries. After a good deal of teasing, I was at length assigned to the Company's service, and had no longer any fear of want. After some preliminary training in the office, I was sent into the interior with a party of men to explore the Company's land, and trace a road from the-Eiver Shannon to Circular Head. We set out early in September. During the whole of the winter it had rained almost incessantly, and the rivers were exceedingly swollen. We had to carry our provi- sions and necessaries in knapsacks on our backs, and this not only impeded our movements but severely taxed our strength, for each man was burdened with six weeks' provisions. I had now arrived at a time of life when such a task as this was not easy of per- formance, nevertheless I proceeded along cheerfully, for roaming at large was much more agreeable to my temperament than being cooped up in an office. We visited a number of farms on our way, and everywhere met with a most hospitable reception. THE CONVICT KING. 159 At that time some parts of the country were infested with bushrangers, and the aborigines were also becoming troublesome. More than eight da3's elapsed before we could find a practicable ford across the Shannon, and even then the water was up to our arm-pits. Owing to the heavy knapsack I was carrying and the fact that the stream was running at the rate of six or seven miles an hour, I lost my equilibrium, and would most assuredly have been drowned if a member of my party, Black Greorge, had not providentially seized and saved me. At length we all got across in safety, and proceeding onwards in a north-westerly direction we arrived at the Big Lake, a magnificent sheet of water. From the heights around we enjoyed an extensive and picturesque view of the charming lake country. On approaching the Kiver Ouse we again found our- selves in a dilemma, as no fording-place could be discovered. We followed the river upwards for many miles until we came upon a cataract environed by perpendicular and seemingly impracticable rocks. Just as we were about giving up the idea of further progress as hopeless, a kangaroo bounded past us, our dogs pursued the animal, and to our surprise we were led through an opening which brought us 160 THE CONVICT KING. round to the north-west side of the rocks. We eventually found a fording-place and crossed, though not without imminent danger, for the water was high and the stream rapid. After proceeding some distance further on our tour of exploration, surrounded by swollen rivers, deep gullies, and snow-covered moun- tains, our provisions began to show unmistakable signs of exhaustion, and I determined to fall back upon the Shannon for fresh supplies. We succeeded in reaching the farm and cottage of Dr. Ross, situated at the confluence of the Ouse and the Shannon. On our arrival we learned that the place had been visited on the previous day by a daring and notorious bushranger named Dunn, who had terrorised the inmates, insisted on the best entertainment being provided for him, and eventu- ally walked away, after having helped himself to supplies of ammunition and provisions. How one outlawed ruffian could carry everything before him in this unquestioned style seemed somewhat mysterious to me, until I remembered that a con- siderable number of the assigned servants all over the country were actually in league and sympathy with the bushrangers. Having despatched one of my men to Hobart THE CONVICT KING. 161 Town with letters for Mr. Curr, the manager of the Company, I explored the country around in every direction. I generally went by myself, armed with a ponderous sword, presented to me by Dr. Eoss. I have often wondered that I did not meet with bush- rangers or some of the aborigines during these lonely wanderings. In my rambles I frequently met a Caledonian named Scott, who had come a free man to the colony, and had engaged as a shepherd in the service of a gentleman who possessed a fine sheep-run in that part of the country. Scott was an inoffensive, well-behaved man, who by frugality and sobriety had succeeded in saving £400. I frequently conversed with him and learnt that some of the aboriginal tribes were in the habit of visiting his hut or meeting him on the run. For years he had been on the best of terms with them. He described them as a harmless race if not wantonly provoked or injured. He never carried firearms or any other weapons for his pro- tection, and he smiled at the idea of his ever being assailed by the blacks. Two^days after I had been speaking with Scott as usual, a large tribe of blacks came down to a hut occupied by three assigned convict servants. These 11 162 THE CONVICT KING. men struck a bargain with some of the blacks and afterwards succeeded in cheating them, which so exasperated the blacks, nearly one hundred in number, that they surrounded the hut and would have certainly burnt it to the ground and killed its inmates, had not the bushranger Dunn with some members of his gang appeared on the scene and compelled them to beat a retreat. In their rage and disappointment at not getting their revenge, the blacks fell in with poor Scott ; the friendship of former days was now entirely forgotten, and they murdered him in a most barbarous manner. This bushranger, Dunn, had a long-standing grudge against a Mr. Thomson, a magistrate residing near New Norfolk. The bold robber had just previously made a descent upon Mr. Thomson's farm, loosened a large, fierce dog from the chain, and taken the animal away with him. It may seem incredible that a stranger could quietly remove a ferocious watch-dog, but the process is easily effected. The bushranger places a large piece of mutton, beef, or kangaroo on the fire and half broils it. Then he takes it to windward of the dog, which soon smells the appetising morsel and evinces an impatience to get at it. When it is thrown within THE CONV^ICT KING. 163 reach, the animal eagerly devours it, and suffers itself to be led away. After having thus secured Mr. Thomson's dog, Dunn took it away with him for some distance, and, having killed a sheep, threw a quarter to the dog, exclaiming to one of Mr. Thomson's servants, whom he had compelled to ac- company him : " Now go and tell your master that I stole his dog at New Norfolk, and fed it with his own mutton here." The history of one bushranger is the history of all such lawless desperadoes — sometimes suffering in- credible hardships, anon revelling in plenty, and from mere wantonness or revenge needlessly destroying what they cannot carry away ; betrayed by their own associates or by persons in whom they are necessarily obliged to place confidence, and finally expiating their crimes on the scaffold. Similarly, it may be said that the description of the mode in which one tribe of aborigines organised and carried out an attack on the whites would answer equally well for all. In every case there is the same resort to cunning and artifice, the ^ame untiring patience in lying in wait for their prey, and the same barbarous cruelty with which their 11* 164 THE CONVICT KING. victims are murdered when once within their grasp. Their ceaseless vigilance to guard against surprise, and the dexterity they evince in eluding the closest pursuit are also noteworthy characteristics of theirs. On the return of my messenger from Hobart Town, we resumed our interrupted tour of explor- ation, and succeeded in penetrating to the source of the Derwent. I was in hopes of reaching Circular Head, some 65 miles distant, when our progress was suddenly arrested by an impracticable country and impassable chasms. Our provisions were at a low ebb, and a hundred miles separated us from the nearest stock-hut in the settlements from which we had travelled. I calmed the apprehensions and the evident impatience of my men by assuring them of my ability to lead them to some stock-hut. Descending from the mountains and keeping be- tween the flooded rivers, we gradually, to my great relief, entered on a grassy country sloping to the southward, and came upon broad cattle-tracks that told us plainly we were approaching the borders of civilization. Soon we caught sight of the Table Mountain on the Clyde, and our spirits were raised by the presence of that familiar landmark. By this time all our provisions were gone, nevertheless, w^e THE CONVICT KING. 165 started cheerfully at daybreak next morning, know- ing that we could not be more than 30 miles from the stock-hut, which to our inexpressible satisfaction we reached at about three o'clock in the afternoon. As we approached, the occupants of the hut regarded us with general suspicion and some symptoms of fear. Our clothes were in tatters, our beards of patriarchal length. As we were carying fire-arms and other weapons, we were evidently mistaken for bushrangers. I found some difficulty in con- vincing the inmates of the hut that we were a party in the service of the Van Diemen's Land Company, but when we all laid down our arms, and when I exhibited my map, compass, journals and letters from Mr. Curr, their doubts were dispelled and they treated us with the greatest hospitality and kind- ness. At a farmhouse which we subsequently struck, our appearance so frightened the inmates that they barricaded themselves within the building and could not be induced to open the doors on any account. They had good reason for their distrust, for the house had been already thrice robbed by bushrangers, and the family very harshly treated. Luckily a shipmate of mine, coming from the fields to his dinner, recognised me and mutually satis- 166 THE CONVICT KING. factory explanations ensued. Without any further adventures worth noting we arrived at Hobart Town, where I delivered the report of my journey to the authorities of the company. From what I then learned I found we had good reason to congratulate ourselves en not having continued our journey to Circular Head. It had been arranged that some casks of provisions and clothing should be deposited there in anticipation of our arrival, but a number of untoward circum- stances prevented these supplies reaching their destination, and we would have been exposed to all the horrors of starvation if we had not altered our programme. After some more exploration journeys through the bush, which I have described in detail in my published account of "The Kise, Progress and History of the Van Diemen's Land Company," I was directed in the early part of January, 1827, to proceed to Launceston, there to join the Tranmere, one of the company's vessels, which was about to convey to Circular Head hired servants, stores, provisions, etc., for the purposes of an infant settle- ment. A mutiny had broken out amongst the convicts who were first sent to the place, and some THE CONVICT KING. 167 coercion was required to put it down, but coercion is at all times unpleasant, and often not attended with the desired eflfect. 80 Mr. Curr requested me, on my arrival at Circular Head, to exercise my influence over the prisoners and show them the injury they were doing themselves by not remaining quiet and obedient. This commission I easily accomplished, for in truth the prisoners had nothing serious to complain about ; their working hours were from six in the morning until six at night, they had proper time for meals, and they received ample rations and good warm clothing and bedding. Soon after my arrival at Circular Head, I was placed in charge of a party under instructions to proceed along the western coast of Van Diemen's Land, and endeavour to penetrate as far as the Shannon. A whale-boat with provisions accom- panied us for the first five days of our journey. We then loaded our knapsacks with supplies and ammunition, and accompanied by three kangaroo dogs, started on our march through this unexplored part of the island. As a precautionary measure, we buried 32lbs. of flour in two strong bags and made a large fire over the spot, so that the natives might not perceive that the ground had been dug. Mr. 168 THE COJSVICT KING. Lorjmer, one of the company's surveyors, was with us, and we formed a little party of four. We were not prepossessed with the country through which we passed at first. The view towards the coast was wild and forbidding, and, when we ascended Mount Norfolk and other lofty eminences, the scenery on every side was stern and savage. In many places, as far as the eye could reach, the view resembled the undulations of the ocean when ruffled by a furious storm. On some parts of the coast we fell in with the wrecks of vessels buried in. the sand, which had been piled up in some places to an amazing height. At one spot in particular a mountain of sand had been reared, which we ascended with great difficulty and found to be fully seven miles in length. The farther we advanced the greater became our difficulties. When we reached the Pieman's River, it took us a whole day to descend from the top of the bank to the water's edge, for the descent was so precipitous that a false step would have cast us headlong to destruction. The ascent on the opposite bank was still more trying, and it took us nearly two days to accomplish it. It was for the most part sheer climbing up the perpendicular. THE CONVICT KING. 169 At the few spots where it was possible to pause and rest awhile, we looked out upon a truly appalling scene. All was desolation and chaos, as if some mighty convulsion had rent the earth asunder and sported with trees of enormous height and circum- ference, tearing them up by the roots and strewing them around in reckless confusion. At length we gained the heights and recognized in the distance the Frenchman's Cap and the Traveller's Guide, two well-known landmarks in the vicinity of Macquarie Harbour. From the elevation we had now attained I saw with considerable satisfaction what I supposed to be extensive grassy plains stretching away to the westward. We all thought we had discovered good country and had gained the object of our expedition, so we cheerfully descended. But when we ap- proached the supposed luxuriant plains, what was our disgust and disappointment to find ourselves amongst six-wire scrub, so high, that when we entered it, we could see none of the surrounding objects. We cleared a way with our hackers, but with all our efforts could not progress more than 200 yards in a day. The horrible truth then flashed upon me that we were in that impenetrable " region where so many previous exploring parties 170 THE CONVICT KING. and runaway convicts from Macquarie Harbour had been lost. We determined to retreat in all haste to Circular Head, for our provisions were shrinking fast and our two best dogs had died of hunger. Not a solitary kangaroo was to be seen in this sterile and inhospitable region. Our last supplies were exhausted when we reached the spot where we had made an underground deposit in case of emergency, and to my inexpressible relief we found the two bags of flour untouched and intact. With our knapsacks thus replenished we resumed our retreat, meeting from time to time with huts constructed by the aborigines on quite a different principle to that which prevails in other parts of the island. They were very neatly built and well thatched, shaped like a beehive, and would easily accommodate about thirty persons. The natives reside in these huts at certain seasons of the year. We frequently traced their footprints in the sands and on the sea-shore, but we could never succeed in bringing them to a stand. At Cape Cameron dangers began to thicken around us once more, and for two days we could find no drinkable water. We endeavoured to cross the flats on the sea-shore, but the attempt was a THE CONVICT KING. 171 failure, for we sank knee-deep and, in our ex- hausted condition, it was only with the utmost diflSculty we could extricate ourselves. Pending no means of fording the Duck Eiver, we constructed a raft of such dead timber as we could collect. I was the first to venture upon it ; and I had scarcely done so when it went down, end foremost, and I narrowly escaped being drowned. Proceeding further up the river, we were still unsuccessful in discovering a way of getting across. Next morning Mr. Lorymer proposed that we should retrace our steps and, somehow, endeavour to cross at the mouth of the river. He said he could swim a little, and as the spits of sand and mud ran out a con- siderable distance, he did not anticipate any danger. But to make sure, we cut our blankets in strips and made a sort of rope, which we fastened around him. Poor Lorymer then led the way ; all at once we saw him plunge ; the men behind unfortunately pulled hard on the blanket rope; it broke ; our unfortunate companion made a second plunge, and we lost sight of him for ever. This was one of the saddest incidents of my life, and it made an indelible impression on my mind. The sight of my comrade, in the full vigour of life and health, 172 THE CONVICT KING. coming to so untimely an end, affected me very deeply. I upbraided myself for having yielded to his desire of returning to the mouth of the river, and I regretted my acquiescence all the more when we retraced our course up the river, for we had not proceeded far above the place where we had camped on the previous night, when we came upon a fallen tree stretched right across the stream and forming a bridge, over which we passed with ease. But we were so exhausted that we could move no farther, and we remained on the river-bank for the night. The slightest weight was now most irksome to our enfeebled frames, and we left our fire-arms and everything else we could dispense with behind us in the scrub. Next morning, although we knew we could not be very far from our destination, we could scarcely move our limbs, and I believe we would never have returned alive to Circular Head, but for our good fortune in coming upon a dog-fish, at which the crows and the gulls were greedily pecking. We seized upon this prize, and in a moment it was cooked in a small camp-kettle, with plenty of salt and pepper, the only articles that remained in our knapsacks. Somewhat revived by this lucky meal, we proceeded on our way, and THE CONVICT KING. 173 reached Circular Head in the afternoon, having tasted no food for four days, with the exception of the providential fish we had snatched from the ravenous crows and gulls. CHAPTER X. Jealousy of the Blacks — G-ranted a Ti eke t-of -Leave — An Ex- travagantly Pious Editor — Appointed Constable of Oatlands District — Eeversed Ideas of Eight and Wrong — Barbarous Bush- rangers — A Man Eoasted Alive — Breaking up a Eobbers' Gang — Outrages by Blacks — A Settler's Hut Attacked — Shooting a Gigantic Chief — A Little Heroine — Two Years' Pursuit of the Hostile Blacks. I GRADUALLY recovered from tlie exhaustion that supervened on this perilous and ill-fated expedition, and found that, during our absence, the advances and improvements which had been made at Circular Head were quite surprising. It had become a really bustling little place, yet good order, regularity, and steady management were everywhere apparent. A notable instance of the jealousy with which the blacks regard the loss of one of their women came under my notice here. A black girl from Cape Grim had attached herself to one of the white men at Circular Head, and no persuasion could induce her to rejoin her tribe. But they watched her incessantly; and one day, when she was a short THE CONVICT KING. 175 distance outside the settlement, she was suddenly attacked by her own people, and received three or four spear-wounds. She succeeded in escaping to the settlement, and our surgeon cured her injuries ; but she ever afterwards lived in constant appre- hension of attack. In May 1827 I was informed that the Govern- ment had been pleased to grant me a ticket-of-leave, which entitles a prisoner of the Crown, under certain restrictions, to do the best he can for himself and seek such employment as he deems most suitable and beneficial. But should he misconduct himself in any way, or be discovered out after a certain hour in the evening, or miss the weekly muster, a single magistrate may deprive him of the indulgence and return him to the Government, when his case becomes hr worse than before, as a black mark is entered against his name for not making a proper use of the favour that had been extended to him. I was now invited to assist in editing a newspaper at Hobart Town, and I accepted the appointment, as I was glad to employ myself in any way in which I could earn an honest subsistence. But the worthy proprietor insisted on every one in the house attending prayers three times a day, and as these 176 THE CONVICT KING. prayers were unusually long, and delivered in a tone and dialect that were extremely disagreeable, I was soon very glad to terminate the connection. Applying to the Grovernment for employment, I had the satisfaction of being nominated as a constable of the field police, and assistant-clerk to Mr. Thomas Anstey, the police-magistrate of the Oatlands District. I had now to enter upon duties to which hitherto I had been quite un- accustomed. My district was more than 150 miles in circumference, and as the habitations were widely scattered, bushrangers were harassing the settlers, and the hostile aboriginal tribes were committing many murders and depredations, my situation was not without its dangers and difficulties. I had to visit all the farms and stock- huts in the districts of Oatlands, Clyde, Campbell Town, the Grreat and Little Swan Ports, and not unfrequently Eichmond. Some settlers, I found, kept their convict servants under the strictest discipline, whilst others neglected even the slightest surveillance. It frequently happened that when I made inquiry of some of my former shipmates and acquaintances as to the character of certain in- dividuals, I would be told : THE CONVICT KING. 177 " Oh, he is a fiae man ; he will do what is right." Of others it would be said : " He is a rogue in grain and would be glad of a chance to injure any one." The magistrate often felt extremely surprised at this, for the parties who would be lauded in this fashion had long been suspected of cattle and sheep-stealing and other malpractices, and those whose characters had been apparently depreciated were esteemed as honest and industrious men. But I was not slow in discovering the proper meaning and value of the information thus received. What was meant by calling a man a fine fellow and saying he would do what was right, was that he would join in any species of robbery and under no circumstances, not even from the gallows, divulge anything that might bring a companion to justice. By a rogue in grain was implied any one who would not join in robberies and plunders, and who would exert bis utmost power to detect and puni-h villany. The Grovernment of Van Diemen's Land had ever found it a matter of extreme difficulty to establish a police that would devote their whole attention to the protection of life and property. Even the 12 178 THE CONVICT KING. highest pay that could possibly be given would not induce free persons to encounter ferocious and desperate bushrangers, pursuing them across dangerous rivers into their mountain fastnesses, and following in their tracks by day and night. Still more severe was the service against the hostile aborigines, for, with them, exertions almost beyond human endurance could effect but little. The prospect of freedom was the only stimulus that could rouse convicts to risk their lives in defence of the settlers and their families. Mr. Anstey was pleased to say that I was an intelligent man and to repose his confidence in me, giving me liberty to exercise a large discretion in the discharge of my duties. As regards sheep and cattle stealers, and robbers of all sorts, persons illegally selling spirits without a license, and all offenders of that stamp, I followed them up with unswerving perseverance. The sly grog-shops, particularly in the interior, were nests for convicts of every description, robbers were harboured in them, and stolen goods were stored within their walls. As to such minor offences as drunkenness, slight quarrels, and being out a little beyond the prescribed hours, I did not pay much heed to them, knowing that when police THE CONVICT KING. 179 are looking after such paltry matters the greater villains escape. Notwithstanding the severity of the service, and the frequent necessity of travelling by myself over an extensive and lawless district, I found this mode of life so suitable to my temperament that I was scarcely ever more happy than at this time. For some years I enjoyed an unwonted tranquillity and serenity of mind. I received nothing but kindness from Mr. Anstey, his lady and family, and all beneath his hospitable roof. I look back upon this period as one of the brightest in my life. I was free from care, and all anxiety was banished from my mind. Whilst holding office as Constable at Oatlands, I devoted myself to an object which the governor, Colonel yir George Arthur, and the magistracy had very much at heart. When Sir George first arrived in the colony, such was the state of society that he found it necessary to act with greater severity towards offenders than was consonant with his feelings. But sheep and cattle-stealing, highway robberies, and bushranging, often attended with murder, continued to disturb the public peace and place in jeopardy the lives and property of the 12» 180 THE CONVICT KINQ. colonists. The punishment of death was resorted to, but with very little remedial effect. At the period of which I am now speaking, a formidable gang of sixty desperadoes acted in concert, and, being connected with certain receivers in Hobart Town and Launceston, were easily enabled to dispose of their ill-gotten booty. If any person accidentally passed whilst these scoundrels were engaged in killing or driving away stolen stock, he was immediately put to death. I remember one unlucky trespasser who was seized, wrapped up in a green bullock-hide, and roasted alive before an immense fire. After a time, information was obtained that led to the apprehension of the principal depredators, but, instead of condemning them all to death as hitherto, several were admitted as evidence for the Crown. This new departure was entirely successful, for almost the whole of the gang were soon secured. Formerly a convicted prisoner was induced from a false sense of honour to mount the scaffold and die with his secrets, a decision due also to the certainty that, no matter what he might divulge, his life would not be spared. But when the outlaws found that there were hopes of escaping, they betrayed each other as fast as they could, and THE CONVICT KING. 181 the moral effect on the fraternity still at large was of the most efficacious description, for all confidence was destroyed, and no one knew whom he could safely trust. The satisfactory consequence was, that for two or three years afterwards sheep and cattle-stealing were almost unknown crimes. Owing to my activity in bringing about this improved state of things, I incurred the enmity of the robbers and their sympathisers, and I cannot but con- gratulate myself on my singular good fortune in escaping the effects of their animosity. I am afraid some innocent persons lost their lives through being mistaken for me. Several murders were committed in places to which' I had frequently resorted, and in huts where I had slept by myself with no other protection than my trusty sword. When I first set out on these journeys, I was very much surprised at the sanguinary and repulsive names given to many places I came across. Amongst them were " Murderer's Plains," " Murderer's Tier," "Deadman's Point," "Killman's Point," "Hell's Corner," "Hell's Grates," "Four-square Gallows," " Devil's Backbone," etc. Foreigners reading a catalogue of such terrific titles would be apt to think us a savage and peculiar people. It was also 182 THE CONVICT KING. the fashion to name places after some of the most notorious bushrangers, as if those depredators had performed actions worthy of commemoration. In the early part of 1829 Sir George Arthur was roused to action by the alarmiug depredations of the aboriginal tribes of the island, who were carrying on a species of warfare against which the whites were unable effectually to contend. Such was the cunning displayed by the blacks in their attacks that all our measures were baffled, and many colonists were barbarously murdered. I was engaged for some time with a party of men under my orders in restraining the outrages of the blacks. I am aware it is said by some that bushranging and our broils with the blacks are traceable to the injudicious measures of Sir George Arthur, and that he was responsible for jeopardising the lives of the colonists and their property in the interior. People have boasted that if their advice had been taken, the blacks would have been captured at once and much blood would have been spared. They counselled the governor to send out a number of prisoners to catch all the aborigines and transport them to some island off the coast, but in what manner this desirable end could be achieved they did not say. THE CONVICT KING. 183 The fact is, that long before the arrival of Sir George Arthur, the blacks had engaged in systematic attacks on the whites. I could quote numerous instances, but shall only mention the case of Mr. Kobert Jones, a respectable settler in the district of the Upper Clyde. His experience was unfortunately typical of many other settlers. He was residing in a stock hut, under a stony sugar-loaf, about two miles to the west of the Macquarie River. He had three companions, one of whom ran into the hut one afternoon in an exhausted condition, with the report that the natives were spearing the sheep and had pursued him until he came within sight of the hut. Mr. Jones and his companions seized their fire-arms and, after advancing 200 yards, descried the natives, who ran up into a high tier, where they were joined by a considerable number of their tribe. Some of the most daring of them now approached the whites, quivering their spears and making a hideous noise. Mr. Jones and his party presented their pieces, but soon discovered to their dismay that the man who had charge of the ammunition had unfortunately lost it. There was nothing for it but to beat a retreat, and the hut was reached in safety. Next morning the blacks came towards the hut in formidable array. 184 THE CONVICT KING. some carrying lighted bark in their hands, whilst others took up a position on the side of the. hill, from which, after having given a loud shout, they commenced to throw spears, waddies and stones at the hut and its inmates. They were smeared all over with red ochre, a certain indication that they were on the war-path. Altogether they numbered not less than 200 and were under the command of a gigantic chief, who stood aloof from the rest, issued his orders with the utmost calmness and was implicitly obeyed. Under his direction they arranged themselves in crescent formation and made a determined assault upon the hut, but were repulsed and compelled to retreat. A second furious rush of the whole body was more successful, the whites had to evacuate the hut and flee for their lives, pursued by the howling horde. Mr. Jones was struck by three spears, one through the right cheek, another through the right arm, and a third in the side. A fortunate accident saved the fugitives from massacre. A chance shot from one of their guns hit the aforesaid gigantic chief and killed him on the spot. The blacks surrounded their fallen chief, tried to make him stand erect again, and, seeing that their efforts were unavailing, raised an unearthly yell, sent a THE CONVICT KING. 186 shower of spears to the skies, aod violently smote their breasts. In the confusion caused by this accident Mr. Jones and his companions succeeded in effecting their escape. On another occasion Mr. Jones and his family were besieged for four hours by a party of blacks, whom he somewhat paradoxically describes as "swearing at us in good English." This time their lives were saved by a courageous and faithful little girl, a member of their household, who crawled out unperceived and brought up a party to their relief. After such critical experiences as these, it is not surprising that Mr. Jones and his men should ever afterwards place their fire-arms against a stump in the middle of the field when they went out ploughing. It cannot be denied that ignorant and vindictive stock-keepers often wantonly fired at and killed the blacks, but it is no less true that the natives were often guilty of gross ingratitude towards those who had treated them with kindness. I remember a party of blacks camping for three or four weeks at a short distance from Mr. Anstey's, and, although they were supplied every day with provisions from the house, this kindness did not prevent them from subsequently attacking two of Mr. Anstey's 186 THE CONVICT KING. men and robbing them of everything they pos- sessed. As the aborigines persisted in their depredations with the utmost daring — 121 outrages were com- mitted in the neighbourhood of Oatlands alone, and Mr. Anstey, as coroner, had to hold 28 inquests on the bodies of men, women, and children, victims of the blacks — it was only natural that the Governor should feel extremely uneasy and alarmed at the numerous reports of outrages which he daily received. He instituted a system of roving parties to go in pursuit of the blacks, and the direction of four of these bodies was assigned to me. It was a very laborious task, for I had sometimes to lead out one, and sometimes another, in the middle of winter, besides having to regulate the movements of all. The necessities of the case demanded that I should carry a heavy knapsack on my back, containing a whole month's provisions. When the roving parties were fully organised and equipped. Sir Greorge Arthur issued instructions that would at once tend to the protection of the colonists and of inoffensive blacks. With that object certain boundaries were fixed beyond which martial law could not operate, and it was thought that when the blacks would find THE CONVICT KING. 187 by experience that there were certain parts of the island in which they were never molested, they would remain in those districts in peace and quiet- ness. The parties under my direction met with only partial success so far as capture was concerned, but there can be but little doubt that many lives were saved by the activity and vigilance of the roving bands which would otherwise have been sacrificed, for the blacks could not with any safety approach the stock-huts as hitherto, nor could they hunt or light their fires within the settled districts without being speedily driven back over the boundary lines. But we laboured under great difficulties owing to our ignorance of the numerical strength of the aborigines. Reports of depredations crowded in upon us from many different points and opposite directions, and we came to the conclusion that the blacks had a regularly organised system for distract- ing our attention. One afternoon we surprised a tribe under the western tier, encamped on the bank of a small rivulet. Although we came suddenly upon them, the slight noise we made in crossing the rivulet alarmed them, and in an instant they dis- appeared like so many spectres, without the possi- 188 THE CONVICT KING. bility of tracing them, leaving their spears, waddies, and plunder behind. The latter consisted of blankets, tea, sugar, firearms, cooking utensils and many other articles, which we identified as having been taken from places at considerable distances apart, clearly showing that the same tribe was con- tinually moving on all points. I was altogether two years in quest of the blacks, and during the whole of that period not a single complaint was made either against me or any of my parties, neither had I occasion to make any. CHAPTER XL A Conditional Pardon— Its Singular Effects— Diminished Reck- lessness and Greater Care of Life — Renewed Outrages by the Blacks — A Levj En Masse— A. "Whole Colony Takes the Field — "The lilack War" — Two Ferocious Tribes Surrounded— How they Escaped Capture — The Military Movement a Failure— An Apostle of Peace Succeeds— The Beneficence of Exile — Lessons of a Chequered Career. A VERY gratifying incident occurred at this time which, as it placed me in a condition of comparative freedom, forms a very important epoch of my life. I happened to be at Anstey Barton one Saturday when the mail arrived, and in looking over the Gazette I observed my name announced as having obtained a conditional pardon. I felt extremely surprised, not having made any application for such a boon. The kind inmates of Anstey Barton seemed to derive even more satisfaction from the happy event than I did myself. The fact is, a man who has long been deprived of liberty may be compared to one who has been bed-ridden for a considerable time, and who, when allowed to walk, does not at 190 THE CONVICT KING. once feel his legs under him. So it was with me. It was some time before I could shake off the trammels in which I had hitherto been entangled. Those who have always enjoyed freedom can form only an inadequate idea of the feelings of one who has just recovered his liberty after a protracted period of bondage. Take the chain off the dog ; he indulges in a variety of pranks, and all his former ferocity deserts him. I have more than once referred to the present system of prison discipline, and to the employment of convicts in the police force and wherever the public safety required activity, diligence, patient endurance, courage, and even daring. In this con- nection I will mention a curious and significant incident. Prior to my receiving a pardon, I had fearlessly plunged into rushing torrents with a knapsack on my back weighing from 60 to 70lbs On resuming my quest of the blacks, I proceeded to Mr. Greorge Espie's farm on the Jordan. Across the Jordan at this point there runs a post-and-rail fence, along which persons may pass over, although the operation is not without danger, the fence trembling from the heavy pressure of the current. I went down and, although I had frequently crossed when THE CONVICT KING. 191 the fence was completely under water, and now there was a clear rail, yet I could not bring myself to venture the passage. Mr. Espie expressed his surprise at my backwardness, as he had formerly seen me cross without any apprehension. " Yes, Mr. Espie," I replied, " but you forget that I was a prisoner then, and life was a matter of little moment, but now I am free, and I must take more care of myself." Here, then, is the secret why convicts have exerted themselves and so often risked their lives for the public good and the general safety. Notwithstanding our increased exertions and activity, the blacks became more cunning and experienced every day. Until now they had scrupulously refrained from travelling by night, as they entertained some superstitious notions on this head. Instead of remaining as before on the plains and by the side of the rivers, they now formed retreats in the high and rugged mountains, from which they could sally forth when the coast seemed clear. We had no suspicion that they could exist in places so inhospitable and so difficult of access, and it was some time before I discovered how matters really stood. Meanwhile, they were becoming more 192 THE C0^^V1CT KING. desperate every day. From their concealed positions on the heights, they closely watched the movements of the roving bands, and when one of these retired from a farm-house, they would immediately make a hostile descent in force. In one instance they noise- lessly advanced on a farm-house our party had just visited, entered by the back door, killed the lady of the house and the children, and succeeded in getting away with a considerable amount of plunder. This daring outrage was perpetrated while the master and servants were at work in the field, not 50 yards from the front of the house, with firearms ready to their hands. The unabated outrages of the blacks at length determined Sir George Arthur to make a call on the public spirit of the colonists. By proclamation His Excellency called out a levy en masse to cope with the crying evil of the day. It was vain to expect, he pointed out, that the country could be freed from the incursions of the savage tribes unless the settlers themselves came forward, and zealously united their best energies with those of the Government in making such a general and simul- taneous effort as the occasion demanded. He therefore called upon every settler, whether residing THE CONVICT KING. 193 on his farm or in a town, cheerfully to render assistance, and place himself under the direction of the police-magistrate of his district. It was hoped that a sufficiently numerous volunteer force would thus be raised, which, in combination with the whole disposable strength of the military and police, would by one cordial and determined efifort, either capture the whole of the hostile tribes, or permanently expel them from the settled districts. The colonists nobly responded to the Grovernor's appeal, and entered into his plans with alacrity. His Excellency took command in person, nearly the whole of the military were called out, the field- police joined the line in a body, the volunteer settlers were formed into divisions named after their respective districts, all ticket-of- leave men were mustered into the ranks as well as a multitude of convicts who were either in assigned service or otherwise at the disposal of the Grovernment. It will appear singular to English readers, that a body of convicts, nearly equal in number to the military and free volunteers, and possessing an infinitely better acquaintance with the bush, should have been entrusted with fire-arms by the Government — but no wonder will be experienced by those who are 13 194 THE CONVICT KIN0. aware of the excellent discipline which Sir George Arthur had established among the prisoner popu- lation. Sir Greorge's plan of campaign was to drive the blacks into the south-eastern corner of the island, every precaution being taken to prevent them breaking through the advancing line. As the divisions advanced, it was surprising, and indeed highly gratifying, to observe the good order that prevailed, and the good feeling evinced by all. Grentlemen of influence and property, youths con- nected with the best families in the island, marched along with the convicts, all, without exception, carrying knapsacks laden with provisions. At night large fires were constantly kept burning, and the , whole country was thus illuminated in a most picturesque fashion. But unfavourable weather soon set in, and greatly impeded our operations. Nevertheless, it was ascertained that two of the tribes were encompassed, and skirmishing parties were sent out to reconnoitre. A number of blacks were encountered by one of these parties, but the opportunity of capturing them was lost, owing to the indiscretion of the skirmishers in rushing upon them, instead of quietly sending for reinforcements to thoroughly surround them. The result was that THE CONVICT KING. 195 only one was captured, and the rest escaped. This unfortunate blunder proved very injurious to the success of the movement, for the aborigines now fully comprehended what we had in view, and brought all their ingenuity into play to circumvent us. Native dogs became numerous at night, a proof that the blacks were nigh, and ready to crawl through any opening in our ranks that offered a chance of escape. Subsequent accounts, derived from the blacks themselves, showed that such was really the case, and that we had, at one time, surrounded two of the most ferocious tribes. It could scarcely have been otherwise, for during the whole of this period no outrages were committed by the natives, notwithstanding that the settled dis- tricts were left practically unprotected. The rock on which our expedition split was a dense scrub of vast extent and impervious character. It was found impossible to penetrate it and keep the line of march intact as hitherto. All our efforts to preserve the continuity of the ranks were baffled, and the aborigines were thus afforded opportunities, which they did not fail to utilise, of noiselessly gliding through the unavoidable gaps in our line. When our ranks were re-united, it was 13» 196 THE CONVICT KING. soon ascertained that the natives had broken through the net we had been so diligently weaving around them. The forces were dispersed, and the movement was confessedly a costly failure. Never- theless it had important indirect results, for the subsequent peaceful and successful mission of Mr. Gr. A. Kobinson, was only made possible by our previous demonstration of force and determination. No conciliation was ever effected until the line had taken the field under the command of Grovernor Arthur. It was when the forces were so engaged that Mr. Kobinson scored his first success in securing the submission of a whole tribe. I am fully persuaded that the display of the white men's strength and vigour frightened the blacks, and that our march across the island contributed most to Mr. Kobinson's subsequent peaceful victory in bringing in all the tribes. The natives themselves have indeed since confessed that they were in a great measure swayed by the motive I have mentioned. They had found themselves driven from their own hunting-grounds, forced into a corner, surrounded, and only escaping capture after great danger and difficulty. They imagined that we would not cease our efforts, that we would harass them until either THE CONVICT KING. 197 surrender or extermination ensued, and they pre- ferred the former. Mr. G. A. Robinson, the " Apostle of the Blacks," was generally regarded as a madman when he proposed nothing less than proceeding into the wilderness with a few companions, all unarmed, meeting the aboriginal tribes wherever practicable, conciliating them, and persuading them to surren- der themselves peaceably. But, to the astonishment and rejoicing of the whole colony, Mr. Eobinson gradually secured the submission of the most savage and sanguinary tribes in the island. Nothing daunted this remarkable man. Conscious of his philanthropic motives and of the integrity of his intentions, he would fearlessly advance towards the fierce and suspicious savages, extend his arms as a sign of peace, and soon convince them that they had nothing to fear from an unarmed party. Then a parley would ensue, and, wonderful to relate, the whole tribe, as if impelled by a sudden magnetic influence, would consent to accompany Mr. Robinson to headquarters. Mr. Robinson devoted five years to this memorable work, and I am not aware that he has received any very adequate remuneration for his valuable services. I do not believe that 198 THE CONVICT KING. altogether he has received £6,000 in money and land. This is but a trifling reward in comparison to the large sums that had previously been ex- pended on offensive and defensive operations against the blacks. I received 100 acres of land in recognition of my services in the field, the grant being accompanied by a letter from the Colonial Secretary, intimating that if I made good use of this quantity I would be awarded an additional grant. But, with my usual imprudence, I sold the hundred acres shortly after I came into possession of them, and so forfeited the further benefits I might have enjoyed. One day, about this time, I received a note requesting me to wait on the Colonial Secretary. I did so, and some letters were handed to me, one addressed to Lord Glenelg by the Danish envoy in London, and another from his lordship to Sir George Arthur, intimating that I had succeeded to some family property in Denmark. I sent home a power of attorney and have since had from that source £200 in money, and goods to a greater amount, but as I did not make good use of this windfall, I have experienced little benefit from the accession. Throughout my life I have been exceedingly un- THE CONVICT KING. 199 fortunate in money matters. It will be remembered that I commanded a Danish vessel of war in 1807-8 and succeeded in making several valuable captures. My share of the prize-money amounted to a considerable sum, but, owing to the strange course of the events of my life, I was never in a position to claim it. I have now come to the conclusion of the second part of my autobiography. It is not for me to speculate upon whether or not I shall ever be able to write a third instalment. This must be left to the will of that Being who rules man's destiny. I have had my full share of days, and little is there in this world to care for. These pages would have probably never appeared if I had merely consulted my own feelings, for I am not fond of thrusting myself on the public with unnecessary confessions. I have been swayed by motives of a higher character. My youthful readers may derive a lesson from the history of my life. All human wisdom is vanity, if not regulated by prudence. One error leads to another, and every deviation from the straight path is sure to lead the strayed sheep into the mazes of a labyrinth. I will only add that my transportation ^has been the means of 200 THE CONVICT KING. totally eradicating from my breast all inclination for the horrid propensity which persecuted me for so many years. A return to the gaming-table would now be as severe a punishment as could well be inflicted on me, and such is the common effect of transportation on all prisoners in Van Diemen's Land. The new scenes and occupations in which they are suddenly and abruptly placed, like the transplanting of a tree, make them pine and suffer for a time, until restraint becomes a habit, and in both body and mind the convict becomes a new man. He is taught to value character as the only means of emancipation — I mean emancipation in the moral sense, for in Van Diemen's Land, although a man's sentence may be completed, unless he has cut himself free from criminal indulgences, unless he seeks by honest industry alone to earn his living, he is as much a convict, and even more so, more wretched in the eyes of the surrounding community, than if he were still in actual bondage, a prisoner of the Crown. Placed in assigned service, he is comparatively at large, and is in a certain sense master of his own conduct and actions. He is at liberty to choose his own course. Much more dependence can be placed on the reformation THE CONVICT KING. 201 of a man so situated than upon that of a person who is never suffered to try his own depth, whose arms are, so to speak, continually tied, whose evil in- clinations are in a manner kept alive by the ever- lasting effort to resist the restraint that is necessarily imposed upon them, and which only await its removal to burst forth in all their original wildness and wickedness. Prisons, hulks, and penitentiaries, generally speaking, rear a race of hypocrites and sycophants. Whilst they seem to repress, they accumulate and intensify the disposition to the very worst of crimes. Thus convicts, on being set at large in England, immediately resort to their former acquaintances, and recommence their former depredations on society. There is a species of madness and delusion hanging over the minds of persons addicted to crime which can only be cured by change of scene — the absence and the treatment which transportation only can secure. Casting a retrospective glance on the picture I have drawn of myself, I feel that candour has induced me to paint it occasionally in less favour- able colours than those employed by the learned Dr. Hooker, or the biographer in the preface to my theological work. But my business was not to 202 THE CONVICT KING. palliate, but to expose, the great error of my life, so that, as I conceive, a moral lesson may be derived from it. I remember a Quaker at Whitby, who once delivered a very impressive discourse from the eccentric text : " Every tub shall stand upon its own bottom and every herring hang by its own tail." Similarly, the success or failure of the foregoing narrative must rest entirely upon its own merits or imperfections. APPENDIX A. Jorgenson's Published Works — " State of Christianity in Otaheite '* — Sound Advice to Missionaries — " Travels Through France and Germany " — Lengthy Critique in the Edinburgh Review — Social Life in Paris — Scenes in the Gambling Saloons —Eulogium on the Germans — "The Keligion of Christ the Religion of Nature" — A Book Written in Newgate— It Occasions the Author's Transportation — Implicit Belief in the Bible — Rhapsodies and Reflections of an Amateur Theologian — ^Apprecia- tive Notice in the Qentleman's Magazine — '• Observations on the Funded System" — The Future of Tasmania — Ill-informed Downing Street — Interference Deprecated. JoRGENSON, throughout all his vicissitudes of fortune, was an industrious and voluminous writer, but com- paratively few of the products of his pen are accessible now-a-days. His first published volume was a con- tribution to current religious controversy under the title of " The State of Christianity in the Island of Otaheite." The author made his purpose plain on the title-page by describing his book as " A defence of the pure precepts of the gospel against modern anti-Christs, with reasons for the ill success which attends Christian missionaries in their attempts to 204 THE CONVICT XING. convert the heathens." It was published in a large volume of 1 75 pages by J. Hatchard, Piccadilly, and dedicated in a characteristically effusive epistle to John Berkeley Monk, *'the generous descendant of the illustrious and loyal Albemarle," in whose house, Jorgenson says, he received the sincerest welcome and the noblest hospitality. He strikes the key-note of his attack with the declaration that " the contemplating mind is lost in amazement on perceiving a religion, which teaches nothing but charity and fraternal love, meet with so much opposition as it generally does, where it is attempted to be introduced." He attributes this opposition to two principal causes : — (1.) The ignorance, bigotry, violence and indecent behaviour of those men, called missionaries, sent abroad for the purpose of propa- gating Christianity, and (2.) The manner in which preachers of the Grospel attempt to convert the heathens and others, which tends rather to perplex their minds, and give them a contemptible idea, not only of missionaries, but even of religion itself, than to enlighten the natives. He then proceeds to address himself at considerable length to the proof of these two assertions, by giving the results of his observations on the work of the missionaries during THE CONVICT KING. 206 his stay on the island of Otaheite, which he mentions in an early portion of his autobiography. The picture he gives of the missionaries of his day is lurid and unflattering in the extreme. But there are also passages in the book exhibiting no little shrewdness and insight into native character. Here for instance is some excellent advice, not unworthy of attention by all engaged in missionary enterprise at the present time : " If men who settle among the heathens for the purpose of introducing Christianity would, in the first instance, not open their lips at all about the superior merit of our religion, or depreciate that of the country in which they reside, they would find much less opposition. Let them begin with showing the natives all the good-nature and friend- ship they can, let them endeavour to instruct the natives in useful arts and social duties, and let them demean themselves in such a manner that the pagan will fall in love with the man and his virtues before he is taught by word of mouth the precepts of Christianity. The heathen will listen with peculiar pleasure to one whom he esteems and reverences, and will wish to imitate his \y i:06 THE CONVICT KING. upright and disinterested conduct. He will be a practical Christian before he knows the name of Christ, and he will glory in being the follower of One who has done so much good to mankind." Jorgenson's "Travels through France and Grermany " — a bulky volume of 432 pages issued by Cadell & Davies, Strand — was honoured by an extended notice of twenty pages in the Edinburgh Review, on its first publication. The reason assigned for this special distinction was " the peculiarity of the journey described in this volume having been performed on foot." " It was," says the reviewer, " the expectation of receiving facts, the result of actual observation respecting the country and the people, collected in an intercourse with them much more close than almost any other traveller has had, that induced us to go through Mr. Jorgenson's book with care." In this expectation the reviewer confesses that he was somewhat disappointed, that Jorgenson had given more dissertations than facts. And this was undoubtedly an accurate estimate of the book. Jorgenson was evidently of opinion that the time had not yet come for a full statement of the facts THE CONVICT KING. 207 attending his confidential mission to the Continent. Twenty years afterwards, when he was writing his autobiography in Van Diemen's Land, he committed to paper some of the information which the Edinburgh Review not unreasonably expected to find in the first published account of his travels. As he arrived on the Continent just in time to witness the final and irrevocable overthrow of Napoleon at Waterloo, Jorgenson could not resist the temptation of embodying in his record of travel a lengthy review of the character and conduct of the fallen Caesar. He sums Napoleon up as a great military commander, who fell into the same error which had proved fatal to so many other conquerors — that of teaching the art of war to their enemies, and then of disregarding them. Jorgenson entered Paris at a time when " it contained within its walls the greatest sovereigns of Europe, the most illustrious commanders, the most able and most dis- tinguished diplomatists. The gay, the curious, the witty, the learned, the fool that had more money than wit, the knave who possessed more of the latter than the former — all had flocked to Paris, some to ruin themselves, and some to raise their fortunes." He adds that " the little bonnet and the neat modest 208 THE CONVICT KING-. habit of an Englishwoman excited much ridicule amongst the Parisians. During my stay in the city there were several English ladies of the highest rank, who obstinately adhered to their own country customs and who were greatly admired by some foreign sovereigns and princes, but the French declared that they had no taste and looked like monsters. The French fashion about this time was to wear a very lofty bonnet, resembling in miniature the tower on the back of an elephant. A head furniture of this kind, about 14. inches in height, had the effect of making the French women look somewhat dwarfish, and from a very natural reason. The body of a person appears longer or shorter in proportion to the dimensions of the head ; now if the latter be ex- tended by artificial means to a great length, the former will seem more contracted than it really is." An inveterate gambler like Jorgenson, it is need- less to remark after what he has himself told us in his autobiography, could not resist the fascinations of the Parisian gaming-houses, and he devotes a whole chapter to his experiences and observations within these dangerous establishments. " The con- course of people," he says, " who flock to these sinks THE CONVICT KINa. 209 of iniquity, is far beyond description. During the time I was at Paris an amazing number of foreign officers resorted thither to ruin themselves. One day I saw a military gentleman of considerable rank, who, after losing a large sum of money, took three different decorations of honour which were fastened to the button-holes of his coat, and sold them for a trifle to a bystander. Having staked the whole of the money thus obtained on a colour and lost, he rushed out of the room with every symptom of despair." After narrating several other incidents of the like character that came under his notice in the Parisian gaming - houses, Jorgenson proceeds to philosophise on the evil in a strain that is singu- larly daring, considering what a slave to this particular vice he was himself. *'Why men with their eyes open should thus rush into certain destruction, after the repeated defeats of their hopes have shown the folly of their perseverance, is a question by no means easy of solution. In every game of hazard the advantage is so greatly on the side of the bank that it cannot escape the notice even of the most common understanding. In no other case would a man enter on the transaction of business with the odds so clearly against him ; yet 14 210 THE CONVICT KING. here we see him place the utmost confidence in the flattering aspect of fortune." Our author professes to have found little to admire in the France he saw at the close of the Hundred Days. He says he entered the country with the most favourable prepossessions, but, with the exception of a comparatively few individuals, he came across little that corresponded with the flatter- ing opinion he had formed of the French nation. On the other hand he discovered many excellent qualities, concealed under an apparently rough exterior, amongst the Germans, whom he describes as free from guile, honest and upright, ever ready to render a real service when in their power — in short a patriotic, brave, and loyal nation. " I quit Grermany," he says, " with feelings of gratitude more easily conceived than described. Nowhere (and I have been a sojourner in many countries) have I found more sincerity of heart, more frank- ness of manners, more good-will towards their fellow-men, than in the brave and honest Grerman nation." *' The Eeligion of Christ the Eeligion of Nature ', is the book that Jorgenson wrote in Newgate, and to which, he says, he devoted no small amount of THE CONVICT KING. 211 study and attention. According to the author's account it was published outside without his know- ledge, and made him so many enemies in influential quarters that the authorities were induced to order his transportation to Van Diemen's Land — a course that they did not originally contemplate. It was issued in a large volume of 429 pages by Joseph Capes, Fleet Street, with a biographical preface by " H. D. M.," who does not explain how the manu- script of the book came into his possession, but contents himself with briefly summarising in a few pages Jorgenson's stirring career up to date. What there was in the book to give offence in high places, and to bring about the banishment of its author, is not easy to discover at this time of day. English unbelievers of a couple of generations ago must have been peculiarly sensitive if they lost their tempers over a not particularly well-ordered com- pilation of all the evidences of Christianity that could be collected within the limited confines of Newgate. No doubt Jorgenson's language is some- what vehement at times, and the tone of the book throughout is ultra - controversial. He announces his purpose at the start in this uncompromising fashion : 212 THE CONVICT KING. " When I observe doctrines promulgated so repugnant to the best feelings of the human mind, and so diametrically at variance with the Holy Scriptures and right reason, I cannot refrain from doing all in my power, not only to expose the idle and indefinite jargon of the philosophers, but to show that the Religion of Christ is the Keligion of Nature." He then sets about marshalling all the argu- ments against atheism that he can command, and incidentally makes the following profession of faith :— " J, for my part, place the most implicit belief in the account given in the Scriptures of the ante- diluvian world, because I defy any human art, contrivance or ingenuity to produce a similar account so self-evident, so clear and concise. The Bible preserves an undeviating consistency in all its parts and relations, never stating any fact where the human reason cannot trace a just necessity. The \ entire account is agreeable to the nature of man and the nature of things. No one has as yet, with authority or without authority, supplied mainkind THE CONVICT KING. 213 with even a rational conjecture of the origin of all things, except what we learn from the Scriptures, The writers could never have been actuated by corrupt motives or an intention to impose on mankind. Their aim was clearly to promote virtue and hold up vice to detestation, objects connected with the happiness of all human beings. The subjects recorded have a visible connection with the other parts of the Scriptures subsequently written, making the whole a work of uniformity, directly bearing upon the grand design of our Creator." Towards the close of the book, the imprisoned author permits himself to indulge in a rhapsodical flight that is in curious contrast to the ignoble circumstances of his present, and the grievous un- certainty of his future. " Should those be in the right," he exclaims, " who consign man to die the death of a beast of the field, to be for ever annihilated and confounded with the grossest matter, then would my days be days of misery, despair would mark my footsteps, profound grief and melancholy would seize upon my goul, the hours of night would be the constant 214 THE CONVICT KING. witnesses of my tears, I should have to relinquish all those flattering ideas and fond hopes which have rendered my peregrination through life tolerable to me. From my earliest youth I have been taught to look up to my Creator as one most holy, most wise, and most good, but now neither the glories of the sun, the pale beauties of the moon, nor the pleasant sight of the fields could for one moment dispel the cloud of doubt hanging over my mind : all, all within me would be dismay and confusion. I could scarcely help questioning the Divine wisdom and goodness. As a human creature I enjoy the powers of contemplation, yet I should never be able to discern any wise design in the creation. Grenera- tion after generation follow each other in rapid succession, and to me it would appear as for no other visible purpose than to look about them for a few moments, then drop into the grave, and the grosser elements of nature would reign lords paramount of the creation. Every honourable and, virtuous feeling of my mind would be outraged ; were it in my power I would change myself into a block of stone without sense or motion; I should envy the lot of the reptile creeping on the earth." THE CONVICT KING. 215 The amateur theologian and professional adven- turer gives his Christian reader some valedictory advice, that reads like the peroration of a sermon by some Evangelical divine : — " If in the midst of temptation you preserve your faith pure and perfect ; if in prosperity moderate, and in adversity patient ; if you act with charity towards your brother, if you rely on the promises of your Saviour, if you truly repent of your sins — then, most assuredly, you will in due time obtain that high reward which Grod has decreed to righteousness. You shall partake of the glories of His Kingdom, and your felicity shall be never-ceasing." The GentlemarCs Magazine accorded this book of Jorgenson's an extended and appreciative notice: — " We are prepared," it says, " to speak of this volume in high terms, and yet we consider it rather as curious than valuable. It is curious as coming from one who will possess a niche in history, as displaying considerable acuteness, as having been written in a peculiar situation, and from its scientific character ; but its value is lessened (para- doxical as the remark may seem) by some of these very causes, for the leisure of a prison is not like that of the closet, neither can the literary attain- 216 THE CONVICT KING. ments of a potentate or of a felon (for such the author alternately was) equal those of a student. With this and some other considerations, to be mentioned afterwards, we enter upon the ex- amination of a work whose title creates an interest which is not lessened by a perusal of its contents." In the course of this detailed examination, the Gentleman^ 8 reviewer awards high honours to Jorgenson as a controversialist. " He possesses the rare talent of setting two infidel theories against each other, and carrying the argument away from them both ; sometimes he plays with his adversary, as a cat with a mouse, gives him liberty to range for a while, then contracts his space, and at last crushes him with a grasp." The GentleTYian^s reviewer finally sums up the book as " a valuable addition to our stores of natural theology. The style is often ironical, sometimes foreign in its idioms, and occasionally ungrammatical to our ears. We conclude with sincerest wishes that the author may live to show himself worthy of the dignified position he once held, as well as of the happy mind to which he is now brought. The literary labours of historical personages are always interesting, even if less THE CONVICT KIXG. 217 intrinsically valuable than this volume ; nor can we imagine a fairer likelihood of fame than his whose political career will be perpetuated in the annals of his country, whose conversion will secure to him a prominent post in those of religion, and whose arguments will be cited as conclusive in the most important of controversies." From the lofty and edifying moral teaching of Jorgenson's magnum opus, it is a somewhat abrupt and, possibly, profane descent to the same pious gentleman's " Observations on the Funded System : A Summary View of the Present Political State of Great Britain and the Relative Situation in which the Colony of Van Diemen's Land stands towards the Mother Country." This is a reprint of a series of articles contributed by Jorgenson to the Colonial Times, published in a volume of 134 pages, by H. Melville, Hobart. The economic theory, which the ex-King of Iceland elaborates in this treatise, is, that English pauperism, and all its attendant evils, are directly traceable to the funded system, which, he alleges, has created a mischievous aristocracy of wealth and usury. Its baneful effects extend even to the remote Antipodes. " A gentleman asked me, a few days ago, ' what concern have we in Van Diemen's 218 THE CONVICT KING. Land with the funded system of England ? ' I answer, that the funded system of the United Kingdom exerts an influence over the pecuniary transactions of the whole civilised world. I further say that, had Britain not been involved in debt, the British Government would not have been guilty of the excessive meanness and injustice of depriving this infant colony of such a paltry sum as £30,000, which had been laid by for the construction of roads and bridges, and for providing against other exigencies that are likely to arise in a new and undeveloped country." Into Jorgenson's proposals for the extinction of the National Debt, it is unnecessary to enter, but the opinion he had formed of the land of his exile, when the evening of his adventurous life was ap- proaching, may be worth noting. Having, he says, for upwards of thirty-five years travelled in many parts of the globe, and looked at everything with a scrutinising eye, he knew of no country where man could live so happily as Van Diemen's Land, if only the British Grovernment would leave the administration of local matters to those who understand them. With the cessation of such undue interference, at the hands of far-away THE CONVICT KING. 219 and ill-informed officials, the Colony would thrive and prosper beyond any other dependency of the Crown. It is only within a comparatively recent period that Downing Street has learnt the lesson here indicated, wisely decided to loosen the reins, and advantageously allowed the Colonies to work out their own destiny with native vigour and enterprise. APPENDIX B. Jorgenson's Unpublished Remains — "The Adventures of Thomas Walter " — Difficulties of Writing in Prison — English Luxury and Extravagance— *' The Kingdom of Shandaria " — Advantages of A Benevolent Despotism — "Historical Ac- count of the Icelandic Revolution" — A Personal Vindi- cation —" The Due D'Enghien," A Five-act Tragedy — "The Oxford Scholar," A Satirical Comedy — Voluminous Correspon- dence — Jorgenson as a Preacher — Selections from his Sermons in Newgate— Inaccessible Writings — Jorgenson's Psychological Study of Himself. Of Jorgenson's unpublished writings, there are five large volumes in the Egerton collection of manuscripts in the British Museum. The first, and the most ambitious, fills 517 closely-written pages, and was composed during the author's de- tention in Tothill Fields prison, after his brief and merry career as a monarch in Iceland. It is entitled " The Adventures of Thomas Walter," and is dedi- cated in a prefatory letter to Sir William Hooker, whom Jorgenson describes as " the only one who has had sufficient courage to address me as ' My Dear Friend.' " This book is a curious and entertaining THE CONVICT KING. 221 mixture of fact and fiction. On the basis of his extensive experience as a traveller in many lands, and a voyager over many seas, Jorgenson has built up a succession of imaginary adventures, evidently in imitation of the manner of Swift and Defoe, some of his stories being tender and pathetic, whilst others are characterised by a coarse, riotous and Rabelaisian style of humour. As an English composition it is far from faultless, but this is not surprising in view of the circumstances under which it was written. " The prisoners are generally either swearing, cursing or fiddling," says Jorgenson in his preface, " and every moment I am in dread of some- body or other tumbling over me and spoiling all I have written." England is described in the book under the disguise of Capricornia, and London as Thamas, France figures as Badocia, Denmark as Odinia, and Germany as Almadia. No small portion of the volume is occupied by reflections on the manners, customs, and characteristic qualities of the peoples of these countries. For instance, " It is not from external foes the Capricomians have anything to fear. Their navy, their valour, their courage, their love for their country, will always prevent an evil of that kind. 222 THE CONVICT KING. To suppose Capricornia can be invaded is perfectly ridiculous to every man of common sense, but this great, this glorious nation, has ad- dicted itself so much to luxury and extravagance within recent years that I foresee innumerable evils which may undermine its happiness and plunge Capricornia into many dangers and difficulties. If being oppressed by one tyrant is an evil, to be the slaves of luxury is a greater evil still. Should the Capricornians ever be conquered, it must be by themselves, they will never be conquered by others." This manuscript volume is illustrated with several pictures in black and white, drawn by Jorgenson to beguile the tedium of prison life. One exhibits an amusing incident at an Iceland ball, another shows us the hulk Bahama, in which Jorgenson was confined, with a view of the Chatham of the period in the background, and a third portrays Jorgenson's early friend and patron, Sir Joseph Banks, as a Maecenas rescuing the arts and sciences driven from the Continent by revolutionary violence. Two of them are pictorial allegories, into which he has introduced his own portrait, first as a captive and afterwards as a free man. THE CONVICT KING. 223 They are intended to illustrate a dream of the ex- king, in which he beheld himself sitting desolate and in irons before an altar on which an aged priest was sacrificing to Tyranny and Oppression. The Goddess of Liberty appears, but is unable to approach the captive, whereupon she ascends to Olympus and invokes the aid of mighty Jove, who arms her with a thunderbolt, with which she strikes and shivers into fragments the altar of Tyranny and releases the captive king. These pictures were obviously planned and designed by Jorgenson to stimulate Sir William Hooker and other influential friends of his to redouble their exertions to obtain his release from Tothill Fields prison, where he was confined at the time in consequence of his Icelandic escapade. " The Kingdom of Shandaria and the Adventures of King Detrimedes," is projected on somewhat similar lines to the preceding. It is also dedicated to Sir William Hooker, and bears the motto, " I was in prison and ye came unto me." It fills 433 pages. As may be guessed from the title, it belongs to a class of writings now familiar to the reading world, the numerous progeny of Sir Thomas More's "Utopia," the host of books in 224 THE CONVICT KING. which imaginary kingdoms are founded, and ideal civilisations built up to the perfect satisfaction of the self-complacent author. Jorgenson's mythical kingdom is vaguely described as situated in Asia, beyond the dominions of the Great Mogul. Accord- ing to the maps, its site is occupied by a vast desert, peopled only by a few nomadic tribes, but, according to Jorgenson, it is in reality one of the finest countries in the world, inhabited by a race whose manners, customs, religion, government and laws are worthy of the most serious study and the heartiest admiration. Shandaria is exhibited as showing all the advantages to be derived from a benevolent despotism — no poverty, no insanity, no prisons, no drunkenness, no lawyers, no doctors, no communication with foreigners, none of the evils, in short, that afiflict society as constituted in real matter-of-fact monarchies. It is not surprising that Jorgenson should express himself very feelingly on the subject of the total absence of prisons in his mythical kingdom, for whilst his imagination was thus roaming at large, his body was confined within the limits of a Westminster prison as a punishment for the little unauthorised experiment in benevolent despotism that he himself had initiated in Iceland. THE CONVICT KING. 225 " In the kingdom of Shandaria," he says, " there are never seen loathsome gaols, places of confine- ment, bolts, irons, and other such disgraceful implements and witnesses of human folly." A considerable portion of the book is devoted to a protracted discussion w^ith the mythical King of Shandaria on the merits of the Christian religion. Jorgenson's " Historical Account of a Eevolution in Iceland, in the year 1809," is a detailed narrative of his deposition of Count Tramp and his assumption of the sovereignty, supplemented by a vindication of his conduct throughout the whole extraordinary affair. It fills 38 1 pages, and, with characteristic audacity is dedicated without permission to the " Most Noble the Marquis of Wellesley, Minister for Foreign Affairs in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland." The facts as set forth in this unpublished manuscript are substantially the same as he subsequently recorded in his now- published autobiography written in Van Diemen's Land, the only difference being that the former bears abundant evidence of the natural heat and excitement under which he laboured immediately after the occurrence of the events described, whereas the latter, composed thirty years after- 15 226 THE CONVICT KING. wards in exile, states the circumstances with more of the sobriety, calmness and moderation of an old man looking back, in the evening of life, upon the various incidents of a stormy and adventurous career. Here is one highly rhetorical passage from Jorgen son's manuscript vindication of his conduct as King of Iceland. "If there are any charges against me, let the people making them come forward in an open, fair and candid manner ; let me see the accusers face to face, and how easily shall I confront them ! But this they dread, for the truth must prevail. Where in the name of God is there any man in Iceland that can make a just complaint against me ? Is anyone injured in property or liberty ? Is there any innocent blood crying for vengeance against me ? If I have shed the blood of a fellow creature in Iceland, either justly or unjustly, let my head pay for it ! If I have enriched myself to the detriment of a single individual, let my left hand be cut off! If I have caused a single person to be confined for being opposed in principles to me, let me be consigned to all the horrors of perpetual imprison- ment ! But, if I have done none of these things, THE CONVICT KING. 227 let me enjoy that liberty which I look upon as the only true good on earth. If the British Grovem- ment has a power to crush, it has also the power to be merciful, and if ever a man deserved generous treat- ment from that government it is I, for I have sacrificed all my worldly prospects rather than serve against Great Britain." Two of Jorgenson's plays are preserved in manu- script in the British Museum — the five-act tragedy entitled " The Due D'Enghien " to which he in- cidentally refers in his autobiography, and a satirical piece, also in five acts, styled " Robertus Montanus ; or The Oxford Scholar." He is more successful in the second than the first. The tragedy opens with a scene somewhat reminiscent of " Hamlet," the ghost of Henry IV. appearing as the genius of France to the young Bourbon Prince and commanding him to arise and deliver his country from the tyranny of theCorsican usurper. He promises to obey the behest of his illustrious ancestor, enters into a conspiracy with General Moreau for the destruction of Bonaparte, and the restoration of the Bourbons, but the designs of the conspirators are betrayed to the Emperor by a soldier who accidentally overhears their conversa- tion. The Duke is seized, brought before Bonaparte, 228 THE CONVICT KING. and the most dramatic scene of the play is then enacted, the princely prisoner declaiming a lurid impeachment of the military autocrat, who at length starts up in ungovernable rage, orders his accuser out of his presence and resolves on the Duke's immediate condemnation to death. The Bourbon Princess Adelaide and the Empress Josephine supply the feminine interest of the drama. "Kobertus Montanus; or The Oxford Scholar" may be classed amongst what are known now-a-days as farcical comedies. The hero, Robert Hill, is the son of honest but unlearned parents in an English village, who spend their little all in giving him an Oxford education. He returns to the village full of academic lore, and causes consternation amongst the simple-minded folks by upsetting all their time- honoured notions and beliefs. He alienates his intended father-in-law by asserting and maintaining the novel and highly-objectionable doctrine that the earth is round, not flat, as all the villagers had hitherto supposed from the evidence of their senses. At length after having plunged the little community into all sorts of dissensions, and converted a peaceful village into a sort of miniature pande- monium, the pedantic arch-disturber is cleverly THE CONVICT KING. 229 caught by a recruiting lieutenant, who subjects him to a severe course of discipline and speedily subdues his intellectual pride. The last act shows him thoroughly tamed and listening in all humility to such friendly advice as this : " Endeavour to get out of your head what you have spent so much time in putting into it, and employ your time for the future in something useful." The idea of the piece is carefully and creditably worked out, and the result is a far more satisfactory piece of dramatic work than the ambitious tragedy founded on the violent end of the ill-fated Prince of the House of Bourbon. Jorgenson was a most industrious and painstaking correspondent, and his numerous letters to Sir William Hooker, Mr. Dawson Turner, and Mr. Henry Jermyn, form the fifth and final volume of his manuscript works in the British Museum. They are a mirror of his Micawber-like character, exhibiting him one day soaring high on the pinions of hope, and on the next plunged in the lowest depths of despair. Most of them were written from the inside of London prisons ; a few were dated from the respectable and refined quarter of Tavistock Place ; others issued from a sponging-house in the neigh 230 THE CONVICT KINa. bourhood of Lincoln's Inn Fields, of which he gives a very graphic description, and several were sent from his retreat at Keading, during one of the brief intervals of comparative calm in his tempestuous career in the northern hemisphere. It would seem that during his detention in New- gate, Jorgenson officiated not only as hospital assistant, but also as occasional preacher to the prisoners. He makes no mention of the fact in his autobiography, but what purports to be a selection from his sermons in Newgate is bound up with his correspondence in the British Museum. These sermons are certainly in his handwriting, but whether they are genuine and original compositions of his is a question that cannot so easily be deter- mined. They have undoubtedly a sort of Jorgen- sonian ring and a courageous audacity about them that would seem to point to the ex-king of Iceland as their probable author. This is the exordium of the first of these singular exhortations : " There is something extremely affecting to the mind in the idea of having known a person in the full vigour of manhood who is suddenly called away by the Lord. Some of you I have seen and THE CONVICT KING. 231 conversed with ; therefore it is my most anxious wish to afford you all the aid and consolation in my power, that you may appear before your Heavenly Judge without fear and trembling. The fate of some of you in this world is, I am sorely afraid, irrevocably sealed, and thus the few moments you have yet to linger in this vale of grief and sorrow should unceasingly be fixed on the salvation of your souls. My present discourse will be limited to two objects of vast importance : to strengthen your faith and to show you what sort of repentance can only be acceptable to Grod." An extract from another Jorgensonian sermon may be given, in which shrewd worldly wisdom is deftly interwoven with higher religious considera- tions: " I still entertain such regard for humanity that I think no man would become vicious but for a mistaken notion that vice produces happiness. Let us examine this matter thoroughly. The old proverb most assuredly holds good, that * honesty is the best policy.' Look around you, and see what you have gained by your vicious pursuits. The 232 THE CONVICT KINO. man whom you laughed at and ridiculed, whom you called a fool, whom you defrauded, walks erect on the face of the earth without fear or reproach, whilst you are shackled with irons, and have to endure all sorts of suffering and degradation. Who now is the wisest man ? Where are those faithless friends that shared in your ill-gotten booty ? They have deserted you in the hour of tribulation. Observe the difference when a truly honest man is in distress or when he is unjustly accused. Kind friends and neighbours will administer consolation ; they will sympathise with his sorrows, and exert all the influence in their power to rescue him from impending danger." The other writings of Jorgenson have apparently perished. His treatise on "The Copenhagen Expedition" is not accessible now, although it is referred to in one of his letters as having been printed and published. The same observation applies to his " Statistical Account of the Eussian Empire." Jorgenson's " History of the Black War in Van Diemen's Land," — a movement in which he bore an active and prominent part — was presented in manuscript to Archdeacon Braim, of Portland, THE CONVICT KING. 283 Victoria, who placed it at the disposal of Mr. James Bon wick, when that industrious investigator into the colonial events of the past was compiling his interesting work on ** The Lost Tasmanian Kace." Portions of Jorgen son's narrative are quoted in Mr. Bonwick's book. In closing the record of the unique career of this audacious and versatile adventurer, the question naturally suggests itself — Was Jorgenson entirely sane ? It is evident that in the many strange and startling vicissitudes that make up the bustling story of his life, he was more frequently and more powerfully swayed by momentary impulse than by the dictates of reason. He has anticipated a contro- versy that is current at the present time, as to whether genius is allied to insanity, and, with this psychological study of himself, the curtain may appropriately descend on the stirring drama of " The Convict King." Writing from 1, Duke's Kow, Tavistock Place, to Sir William Hooker, on his return from his Continental tour as a con- fidential agent of the British Foreign Office, Jorgenson says, " I have thousands of things to tell you — wonders indeed — and when I reveal to you my adventures within these last four years, 16 234 THE CONVICT KING. they will have more the appearance of romance than reality. During my late peregrinations I have succeeded in attracting the notice of some of the highest and most powerful characters on the Con- tinent, who are as willing as they are able to use their interest and influence on my behalf. Yet, strange as it may appear, there are some curious peculiarities attached to my character, which baffle the penetration of my best friends and well-wishers, and which puzzle my own mind to such a degree at times that, even in my most solitary hours and in the. midst of deepest meditation, I cannot under- stand myself. These peculiarities have sometimes been considered in a strong light, and have rendered my friends suspicious of my reason. Yet after taking a careful and repeated survey of my own mind, I think genius may often be mistaken for madness. My good-natured friend, do not smile at my presumption. I talk to myself when I talk to you But now I am convinced that the greatest human happiness consists in the attain- ment of a certain equanimity, which is much more suitable to our natures than wild schemes of ambi- tion or worldly advantages. The highest privileges of the mind, if not rightly applied to some great THE CONVICT KING. 235 purpose, are of little avail, and the most splendid situations of life are as nought in comparison with that happy tranquillity where science is the com- panion of virtue." THE END. Works by J. F. HOGAN. THE LOST EXPLORER : A Story of Australian Adventure. Price 3/6. '* A very interesting work. I rely on the aboriginal manners and feats of Uralla as taken from the life." — Rt. Hon. W. E. Gladstone, m.p. "The Rider Haggard of Australia. A wonderful story. Will dehght boys quite as much as Allan Quatermain or Kidnapped. ^^ — Academy. '♦A very agreeable and straightforward story. Mr. Hogan has a very pretty invention, and he wields a nimble pen." — National Observer. "Thoroughly good and readable and full of fascination." — London Guardian. ♦* Mr. Hogan is to Australia what Mr. Rider Haggard is to South Africa. This is an exciting, well-written novel. It ought to be very popular." — Vanity Fair. " Forcibly written and of considerable merit. Mr. Hogan's powers of description are remarkable." — Manchester Guardian. THE IRISH IN AUSTRALIA. Crown 8vo., 2/6. " An excellent contribution to the literature of the great Irish question." — The Earl of Aberdeen. *'We can heartily endorse Mr. Hogan's well-drawn characters of repi-esentative Irish- Australians." — Athenceum. " In Mr. Hogan the labours and fortunes of Ireland in Australasia have found a very pleasant and sympathetic narrator." — Pall Mall Gazette. "Light, easy, racy. A fund of anecdote." — Sydney Morning Herald. " A versatile and entertaining writer. His story of the Irish in Australia reveals the best characteristics of the race." — Scotsman. "A work of considerable interest and value." — Dublin Freeman^ s Journal. "A work which it ought to be a pride to every Irishman to read." — Dtiblin Nation. " A well- written book. Interesting to all." — Sydney Mail. THE AUSTRALIAN IN LONDON. Crown 8vo., 6/-. " Bright and sparkling." — Morning Post. " Freshly and pleasantly written. Some of his hints will be useful.' —Pall Mall Gazette. " Written with much spirit and cordial sympathy."— Daily News. " Very pleasant reading. Mr. Hogan's pen has a light and easy touch, and his descriptive powers are of a high order." — Freeman's Journal. " Well worth reading. Descriptions excellent." — AthencBum. WARD & DOWNEY, 12, York Street, Covent Garden, London. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY BERKELEY Return to desk from which borrowed. This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. INTER ^^ (i^RARY ^' ft,^%3 1953 OCT 1 9 2001 Mars '53 S** LD 21-95m-ll,'50 (2877816)476 iviai3231