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directors, thanking them for the essential service they had thus rendered to their establishment. A CORRESPONDENT.

CONSTANTINOPLE AND THE

TURKS.

It is now 380 years since the proud and persecuting followers of Mahomet became masters of one of the finest capitals in Europe; and mosques usurped the place of churches, where the meek followers of Christ poured forth their praise and thanksgiving to the throne of a beneficent Creator; the fine language of Holy Writ gave way to the dogmas of the Koran; and arts, sciences, and literature, to spoliation, rapine, and ignorance.

The Turkish empire, politically speaking, may, however, be said to have expired since its occupation by the Russians; and, whatever may be the duration of their sway, it is to be hoped that some amelioration will be speedily effected in the social condition of the ill-fated people. Of their superstitious character, the Rev. Mr. Hughes gives the following eloquent view, in his Travels in Greece:

"It is possible," says he, "that the people of England may be unacquainted with the superstition of these barbarians, who are so zealously supported by Christian powers! They may not know that it is fiercely and implacably hostile to Christianity-that it was hatched and matured in falsehood, hypocrisy, and blood-that it addresses itself to the sensual appetites and corrupt passionsthat it cherishes inordinate pride, fanatic zeal, and is a pander to the most abominable impurities-that it degrades the dignity of human nature, and depreciates the value of human life-that it encourages ignorance, by representing all arts, sciences, and literature, as unnecessary, or prejudicial to mankind, unless warranted by the Koran-that it produces mental torpor and apathy, chilling every tendency to speculative exertion, or intellectual and moral improvement, by the desolating doctrines of predestination-finally, that it establishes the horrid principle, that civil and political power shall depend exclusively upon faith in the law of Mahomet, whilst it exposes every Christian to the unrestrained brutality and irresponsible tyranny of the vilest wretch that wears a turban. If the reader would learn what insults and horrors the very ministers of the Gospel are subjected to in this vile land of abominationsif he has forgotten the public execution of the Patriarch of Constantinople, hung like a dog at the gates of his own cathedral-let him peruse a narrative, which I have extracted from the interesting work of my friend, M. Pouqueville, formerly consul of France at the court of Ali Pacha :

"Would the reader know more concerning the internal government of this wretched

country? Let him take the portrait as I am able to sketch it from personal observation; for I have traversed no small part of these interesting realms, so rich in all the gifts of bountiful nature, and so dispoiled by tyrant man. I have seen the pallid countenances and squalid forms of their wretched peasantry, worn to the very bones by labour, want, and oppression-I have seen blows inflicted by wanton authority, and borne with patient submission -I have seen those, who, by commercial or any other fortunate speculations, had amassed wealth, either careful to hide it from their rapacious tyrants under the external garb of misery, or dissipating it in prodigality, in order that they might secure a few moments of happiness, and then live upon the recollection of the past-I have seen rich and amiable families turned out of houses and possessions, at the caprice of a Pacha, who desired them for his favourites-I have seen whole districts so appropriated, after the inhabitants had been exposed to unheard-of persecutions, in order to make them voluntarily throw up their territory into the hands of a tyrant-I have rode over the ruins of large villages, scathed by the flames of destruction, because some reputable family had refused to deliver up a beautiful son or daughter, as the victim of that tyrant's execrable lusts-I have seen part of the Turkish popu. lation, in a large city, armed against its Frank inhabitants, cutting and maiming with swords and ataghans every Christian they met with, on account of a private quarrelI have seen large towns professing the Mahometan faith, whose inhabitants had all to a man apostatized from that of their forefathers, to escape the inordinate exactions and oppressive cruelties to which as Christians they were subjected-I have seen rich tracts of country turned into deserts, fields languishing without culture, and cities fallen into decay, where misrule and injustice had combined with plague and famine against the constitution of society; and, as public immorality flourishes most and grows up to maturity, under the reign of despotism; I have seen apostates, false witnesses, secret poisoners, open assassins, and all the other agents of unlimited tyranny, clothed in the spoils and rioting on the property of their unhappy victims. In short, I have seen a nation humbled, degraded, and abused; I have seen man, made in his Maker's likeness, reduced below the standard of the brute creation, living without civil or political existence, plundered without remorse, tortured without mercy, and slaughtered without commiseration!""*

Our thanks are due to our zealous correspondent W. G. C., for pointing attention to these powerful extracts. An outline of the taking of Constantinople by the Turks was printed in The Mirror, vol. xii. which circumstance will not allow us farther to avail ourselves of W. G, C.'s obliging offer.

New Books.

SHIPWRECKS AND DISASTERS AT SEA.

[THESE form the 78th and 79th volumes of Constable's Miscellany, the issue of which we are glad to see resumed with subjects of such intense interest. The Editor, Mr. Cyrus Redding, observes in the Preface:]

These volumes may be regarded, in some respect, as a continuation of what has been already laid before the reader in the earlier portion of this miscellany. The losses of the Antelope, Pandora, and Medusa, as well as the perils of Madame Godin, and the captivity of De Brisson, were published some time ago. The present narratives of the same nature have been drawn from valid authorities, British and foreign, and have been condensed, in order, while nothing material is omitted, to bring into the smallest compass as much interesting matter as possible. Thus they continue a record of the fortitude, patience, and suffering of gallant under perils, oftentimes beyond example in human endurance.

seamen

[The first of the volumes is occupied with Narratives of the Polar and Northern Seas, from 900, and Zeno, in 1380, (not 1830, as printed in the Contents,) to the Loss of the Lady Hobart in 1808.

The second volume contains disasters in

different climates, chronologically arranged, One of the most interesting of the narratives is that of-]

The Famine in the Peggy. From the following narrative it is probable Byron drew part of the shipwreck scene in Don Juan. The sloop Peggy, commanded by Captain Harrison, sailed from New York in 1765, for the island of Fayal, and having discharged her cargo, weighed anchor upon her return, on the 24th of October. The weather was fine until the 29th, when it came on to blow hard, and so continued for a whole month till the 1st of December. The rigging was so much injured that the ship could make but little way through the water, and the provisions, except a small quantity of bread, were all exhausted: a quarter of a pound, a pint of wine, and a quart of water, each man, were the daily allowance of those on board.

The ship was also, from continual straining, in a very bad condition, leaky and much injured. The sea still ran very high. Thunder and lightning prevailed almost without intermission, and the starving crew were in great fear of the ship going down. While the gale continued so strong, that there could be no communication with another vessel, they had the disappointment to see two ships pass them without the possibility of communicating their sufferings. They had only the miserable prospect before them

of dying with hunger. The allowance of bread and water was now further reduced by the general consent, until at length the food was all eaten up, and only two gallons of which was thick and dirty. The crew, while water were left at the bottom of a cask, they could obtain sustenance, were obedient to superior orders, but every thing being consumed, their sufferings made them desperate. They drank the wine and brandy, of distress with oaths and imprecations. became intoxicated, and mingled their cries

The captain, to whom they abandoned the dregs of the water-cask, abstained from wine as much as possible, and husbanded the wretched remnant of the liquid. In the midst of this, their desperation, à sail was seen. All beheld it with eager eyes, and even their despair was for a moment hushed. They hoisted a signal of distress, and the stranger sail came so near them, about eleven o'clock in the forenoon of the day she was first seen, that they were able to communicate their pitiable condition. The weather was calm, and the captain promised them a which he could spare. Yet even this the supply of bread, but he had nothing more inhuman wretch delayed sending, coolly occupying himself with taking an observation for the space of an hour, while the famishing crew of the Peggy, with wild and ravening could hardly hope to exist longer, and which eyes, expected the food, without which they they made sure of ultimately obtaining. Captain Harrison was then so weak he was obliged to leave the deck with hunger and faintness; a film came over his eyes, and suffering as well from rheumatism as hunger, he went down into his cabin.

In a short time one of the crew came down to him, in an agony of despair, telling him the strange vessel was gone without sending them the scanty assistance which had been promised. Captain Harrison again crept upon the deck, and saw the ship standing away with additional canvass: in five hours she was out of sight.

As long as the vessel of this inhuman commander was to be descried, the poor fellows in the Peggy hung about the rigging, and ran from one part of the ship to another, in frantic consternation. Their looks were ghastly their cries rent the air, and must have been plainly heard by the commander of the vessel which had gone away when he had got under sail, coming louder and quicker upon his ear every yard the ships separated from each other. Their lamentations and supplications were reiterated until despair choked their voices, and they died away in feeble groans. When they recovered the cruel disappointment a little, they were not idle in studying means to preserve existence as long a possible. They had two pigeons and a cat on board: the former they cooked

for their Christmas dinner; the cat was killed on the following day, and divided into nine parts by lot. The head fell to the share of the captain, who enjoyed it better than any food he had ever before tasted. The day following they began to scrape the bottom of the ship for barnacles; but most of these, which had been within reach, were beaten off by the waves, and the men were too weak to hang long over the vessel's side to get at them. The crew now got intoxicated again, and they vented their sufferings in imprecations and oaths.

The captain continued eking out his miserable pittance of dirty water, half a pint of which, mingled with some drops of a medicinal balsam he found by him, made all his sustenance for twenty-four hours. The crew, in the meanwhile, were heating wine in the steerage, reckless of every thing in their frenzy. The captain quietly contemplated the doom which they now cared nothing about. The approach of the king of terrors he could have beheld without the slightest emotion, but that he had a wife and children, whom it would involve in difficulties. He now and then flattered himself that some vessel might yet come in sight, and relieve them; but he was aware that unless it appeared very quickly, from the weakness and ebriety of the crew, and the leakiness of the vessel, they could hardly be expected to keep much longer a-float. The pumps they were too feeble to work. They had no light during a night of sixteen hours but what the glimmering of their fire afforded. The candles and oil had all been used for food. The vessel made a little progress, until the 28th of December, when their only remaining sail was blown away, and she lay a wreck upon the ocean. For sixteen days, until the 13th of January, it is not known how the crew subsisted, yet on that day they were still alive. In the evening the mate entered the cabin, with the crew at his heels, half drunk. They wore countenances of the most frightful ghastliness. They told the captain they could go on no longer; they had exhausted their tobacco, eaten up the leather from the pumps, and even the buttons from their jackets, and that they had now no way of averting death but by casting lots which should die to sustain the lives of their comrades. They trusted the captain would agree to the proposal, and demanded his determination. The captain tried to divert them from their purpose, by saying that if they would postpone until the morning the execution of their scheme, and by that time they were not relieved by an interposition of Providence, he would confer with them further.

This only made them more outrageous. They with oaths and execrations declared what was done must be done at once. They

said it was indifferent to them, whether he consented or not. They had paid him the compliment of consulting him, but he must take his chance with the rest, for the calamity levelled all distinctions. On this they left him, and went into another part of the vessel, from whence they returned in a few minutes, and told the captain that they had taken a chance for their lives, and that the lot had fallen on the negro who was part of the cargo. They loaded a pistol, which the poor fellow seeing, flew to the captain, who, though he imagined the negro had not been fairly treated by the rapidity of the proceedings, told him he could only lament he was unable to protect him. The negro was dragged upon deck and shot.

His life was scarcely extinct, when they made a large fire and began to cut up the body; as in order to make it last, they intended only to dress the entrails that night. One of the crew, James Campbell, was so ravenous, that he snatched the liver from the body and devoured it without dressing. That night, until morning came, they were busy at their loathsome meal. The next day they demanded from Captain Harrison, if they should pickle the body. This proposal was so shocking, that he took up a pistol, and declared if they who made such an application did not leave the cabin, he would send them after the negro. The crew then cut up the body, threw the head and fingers overboard, and duly preparing it, put it in pickle.

Three days after, Campbell, who had eaten the raw liver, died mad. The crew became more sober from this circumstance, but for fear of contracting madness by using their comrade's body, they threw it overboard. On the following day, the men said, "though he would not give his consent, let us give the captain some of the meat." A boiled piece was taken to him in the cabin, but he refused it with horror, chid the messenger, and threatened him. His appetite went away from nausea at the spectacle of human flesh.

The negro's body, which had been used with the utmost economy, lasted from the 17th to the 26th of January. They were then as badly off as before. They bore it for three days, when the mate told the captain, they had delayed as long as they could sustain their hunger, that no help had come, and that they must cast lots a second time. It was better they said to die in detail, than all at once, as the remnant might still be saved. The captain, who could not move from his bed, tried unsuccessfully to reason with them. He then considered that if the dots were not drawn in his presence he might not himself be fairly treated. He was just able to raise himself up in bed, high enough to cause the lots to be drawn equitably. The

fatal lot fell on one David Flat, a seaman much beloved on board. The shock this decision produced on them all, rendered them speechless for some time, until the victim who was resigned to his doom, addressed them saying, "My dear comrades, all the favour I ask is to dispatch me as you did the negro, with as little torture as is possible." He then said to Doud, the man who had killed the negro, "It is my wish that you should shoot me." Doud reluctantly consented. He then begged a short time to prepare for his end, which they readily conceded. They were even inclined not to insist upon the sacrifice. But they had no alternative, save that of dying themselves. They drank freely of wine, and thus lulled the last feeling of humanity. They then made preparations for the dreadful act. They kindled a fire to cook the flesh of the comrade they loved, for the protraction of their own miserable existence, and awaited the moment when they were to dispatch him, in bitter agony of feeling. As the time drew near, their reluctance increased. Friendship and humanity contended with famine and death in their hearts. They determined the devoted man should live until the next morning at eleven o'clock, praying that God would interpose during the interval, to save his life. They begged the captain to read prayers to them, which he had scarcely strength left to do. When they were concluded, he felt ready to faint, and fell back in his bed. The seamen went to Flat, and were overheard by the captain talking with great kindness to him, and trusting God would yet preserve him, they told him that they had been unable to catch a single fish, but they would put out their hooks, and try if heaven would in that way relieve them. Poor Flat, however, was beyond their kind consolations, already weak, he became so agitated, that by midnight he was deaf, and in two or three hours more, raving mad. His comrades then began to think it would be a merciful act to dispatch him, but still having promised to spare his life until eleven o'clock, they resolved to abide scrupulously by their determination.

At eight o'clock in the morning, the captain whose weakness was increasing, but who was still able to think more upon the fate of his poor seamen, than his own sufferings, was surprised by two of the crew coming into the cabin in great haste. They eagerly seized his hands, and fixed their eyes on his face, but were unable to articulate. Still they looked at him so earnestly, that he was unable to conjecture their meaning. He at first imagined that as they were afraid to eat the body of Campbell, and had thrown him overboard, they were also in the same fear with respect to Flat. He imagined he

saw

The longings of the cannibal arise (Although they spoke not) in their wolfish eyes! He therefore disengaged his hands, and snatched a pistol which was within his reach, to defend himself. The poor faminestricken fellows, seeing his error, managed to show him that they were dumb from their emotions, which in their enfeebled state, had completely overcome them. Joy and surprise had thus affected them, at the sight of a strange sail. It appeared a large vessel had been seen to leeward, standing toward them in as good a direction as they could desire.

The remainder of the crew followed the two first into the cabin, but in addition said that the vessel seemed now to be bearing away from them. The captain at the mere mention of the ship being in sight steering in whatever direction, nearly expired with joy. As soon as he was recovered enough to speak, he told them to lose no time in making every signal of distress they were able. The sight of the ship was enough for this of itself, and could hardly give the stranger an idea that there was life on board to preserve. The crew did the best they could to fulfil the orders they received, and he soon heard from his bed, a sort of jumping movement on the deck, and the cry, "She nears us! she nears us!" The truth of this became every moment more clear, and the hopes of the crew were strong, of obtaining assistance. Yet amidst all their joy, their generous hearts turned upon their comrade Flat. He could feel none of their gratification; they lamented his situation in the midst of the eagerness with which they contemplated their hope of deliverance. A can of wine was proposed, but the captain resisted their application, assuring them that their deliverance must yet depend upon their being masters of their conduct, when their deliverers might come alongside. They had all the self-denial, in the midst of their burning thirst, to refrain, except the mate, who retired by himself to drink, unable to resist the temptation. They continued to watch the ship for several hours, until, as it were to tantalize them, the breeze died away and she lay becalmed about two miles from them. They were cheered notwithstanding by seeing the boat put off from her, and come towards them, with all the dispatch she could make.

During the progress of the boat, their anxiety after their previous disappointment of relief may be imagined; joy, fear, hope, anxiety, were seen by turns on their emaciated and haggard faces. They were not sure until the boat was alongside, that they should he saved. The conflict of the various passions in bodies so enfeebled was scarcely endurable by their enfeebled frames, until doubt became certainty, and then for a time

they scarcely appeared to be animated. The strangers paused with surprise at the cadaverous appearance of these unfortunate people, when they came within a few yards of them. They even rested on their oars, and looking at them with countenances which cannot be pictured, asked, "Who are you-are you men?" They came on board, but requested the crew to make haste in quitting their wreck of a vessel, as they feared a gale of wind was coming on, and they might be prevented from regaining their own. The captain was so weak he could not move, and they conveyed him more like a corpse than a man to the deck, and then lowered him with ropes into the boat. The crew followed, the wretched man Flat, to whom joy and misery were the same, being among them. The mate was still missing, and was added to their number with no more strength, than just enough to crawl to the ship's side. The can of wine had produced an oblivion of everything preceding that moment. He was received into the boat, and in about an hour they were all safe on board the stranger vessel, the Susanna of London, of which Thomas Evers was master. She was on her return from Virginia to London. Evers received the miserable crew as might be expected from a noble-spirited British tar. He treated them with the utmost humanity and gentleness. He lay by the wreck in hopes to save some clothes for the captain the next morning, but it came on to blow hard, and he was obliged to carry sail the same night. They saw the Peggy no more.

The Susanna was scant of provisions, they were obliged to put all on board upon short allowance, and she was much shattered in the hull and rigging. They succeeded in making the Land's End on the 2nd of March, and proceeded at once to the Downs, whence Captain Harrison reached London by land. The mate, Doud the seaman, who shot the slave, and Warren, a sailor, died on the passage to England. Three only, besides the captain, survived, they were named Ashley, Wentworth, and Flat. Whether the last was ever restored to reason is unknown.

[We shall return to this work in our next.] The Topographer.

OLD LONDON.

THE annexed Cut is probably as curious an illustration of olden topography as it has ever been our good fortune to present to the readers of this Miscellany. It represents a south-east view of London before the destruction of St. Paul's Steeple by fire, A. D. 1560: showing the ancient state of London Bridge and its neighbourhood, the Tower, St. Paul's Cathedral, &c.

The Cut has been engraved from one of a Series of Views of the Ancient Metropolis,

published by Messrs. Boydell and Co. in the year 1818. Appended to the Print is the following note stating its authority: "A view of London, from a painting in the possession of Mr. John Grove, of Richmond, was engraved in 1754, and dedicated to Lord Hardwicke and the Antiquarian Society; but the plate, (which was a private one,) was afterwards mislaid." From this print the original of the subjoined Cut was engraved. The view is bird's eye, reaching from the Bridge to St. Catharine's. In it appears St. Paul's

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