be rewarded or punished for their conduct in this world. There were no missionaries on the islands. "The use of ava is now giving way to that of ardent spirits; they are very fond of smoking tobacco, which grows in great abundance. Many of the natives who are employed as carpenters, coopers, blacksmiths, and tailors, do their work as skilfully as Europeans; and at the king's forge none but natives were employed. All dealings are conducted by barter; they know, however, the value of dollars, and take them in exchange; but these are rarely brought out again into circulation vessels are supplied with fresh provisions, live-stock, salt, and other articles of out-fit, giving, in return, fire-arms and all other European articles. Sandal wood, pearls, and mother of pearl, the produce of these islands, are frequently purchased for the China market. It is probable that the Russians will in future derive from hence the principal supplies for their settlements on the Fox islands, and north-west coast of America, and even Kamschatka. Whilst the author was with the Russians, it seems it was in contemplation to establish a settlement at one of these islands, though this project was afterwards abandoned; and it is obvious that at no very distant period, these islands must become objects of great importance to America. Provisions, from the frequent arrival of ships, are not cheap. "There is no regular armed force, except about fifty men of the guard, who constantly do duty about the king's residence; twenty mounting guard each day, armed with muskets and bayonets: in their exercises, rapidity is more regarded than precision. All the natives are trained to arms, and are bound to attend the king's person in his wars. Although he is anxious to induce white people to remain, no encouragement is given to deserters; nor are those who wish to depart detained. In 1809, says Campbell, the king seemed about 50, stout and well made; the expression of his countenance agreeable; mild and affable in his manners, and appeared to possess great warmth of feeling; and though a conqueror, is very popular amongst his subjects: he has amassed by trade a considerable store of goods, and treasure in dollars. He encourages his subjects to make voyages in the ships which touch at the island: and many have been to China, and even to the United States, and has amongst the natives many good sailors. His residence was built in the European style. He had two wives, and was about to take a third. We shall conclude our extracts from this book, with the following description of the author's journey to take possession of his farm. "We passed by foot paths winding through an extensive and fertile plain, the whole of which is in the highest state of cultivation; every stream was carefully embanked to supply water for the taro beds; where there was no water, the land was under crops of yams and sweet potatoes; the roads and numerous houses are shaded by cocoa-nut trees, and the sides of the mountains covered with words to a great height; we halted two or three three times, and were treated by the natives with the utmost hospitality. Fifteen persons with their families resided on my farm, and they cultivated the ground as my servants; there were three houses on the property, but I' found it more agreeable to live with one of my neighbours, and get what I wanted from my own land." Authentic Anecdotes of the Life of Major-General Claude Martine. General Martine, a man s0 well known in India, both by his eccentricity and his riches, was. the son of a silk-manufacturer at Lyons in France, in which city he was born, and in which some of his father's family still reside. At an early age he expressed a dislike to follow his father's inactive profession, and determined to choose one more congenial to his disposition. He accordingly enlisted in the French army, and soon distinguished himself so much, that he was removed from the infantry to the cavalry, and afterwards appointed a trooper in Count Lally's body-guard, a small corps of select men, that was formed for the purpose of accompanying that officer to Pondicherry, of which place he had then been appointed governor. Soon after Lally's arrival at Pondicherry, he began to exercise his power with such oppressive severity, and to enforce the discipline of the army with such a rigid minuteness, that his conduct excited the disgust and detestation of the whole settlement. Several remonstrances were drawn up VOL. LVIII. against him, and transmitted to France; and many officers of distinction resigned their appointments. He, nevertheless, persevered in his injudicious system of discipline, with an unremitting strictness, unmindful of the representations of some officers who were in his confidence, and totally blind to the dangers he was thus foolishly drawing on himself, till it was too late to avert them. Though he must have been sensible that he had lost the affections of the army, yet he seemed not aware of the consequences to which that loss might lead. The troops were so dissatisfied, that when the English army laid siege to Pondicherry, great numbers deserted from the garrison; and at last his own body-guard went over in a body to the enemy, carrying their horses, arms, &c. along with them. This corps was well received by the English commanders, by whom Martine was soon noticed for the spirit and ability which he displayed on many occasions. On the return of the British army to Madras, after the surrender of Pondicherry, Martine obtained permission of the Madras government to raise a company of Chasseurs from among the French prisoners, of whom he got the command, with the rank of ensign in the Company's service. A few weeks after he received this appointment, he was ordered to proceed with his Chasseurs to Bengal. On their passage, the ship in which they were embarked sprung a leak, and Martine, by great fortitude and perseverance, but with much difficulty, saved himself and some of his men, in 2 1 one one of the ship's boats. The ship foundered off Point Guadawar, tie promontory which separates the coast of Coomandel from that of Orissa; and thence Martine and his men proceeded in the ship's boat to Calcutta, which place they reached, after surmounting many dangers and great hardship ps. He was received with much kindness by the Bengal government, and appointed a cornet of cavalry, in which service he continued until he had risen by regular succession to the rank of captain in the line, when he got a company of infantry. Shortly after this promotion, he was employed by government to survey the north-east districts of Bengal, being an able draftsman, and in every respect well qualified for that purpose. When he had completed his journey to the north-east district, he was sent to Oude, in order to assist in surveying that province. While employed in this service, he resi led chiefly at Lucknow, where he amused himself in showing bis igenuity in several branches of mechanics, and his skill in gunnery, which gave the Nabob Vizir Sujah-ud-Dowlah so high a 1.0tion of the value of his services, that he solicitel and obtained permission from the Governor and council of Calcutta, to appoint him superintendant of his artillery park and arsenal. Martine was so well satisfied with his appointment, and with his prospects in the service of the Nabob Vizir, that he proposed to the Governor and council, to relinquish his pay and allowances in the Company's service on the condition of his being permitted to retain his rank, and to continue in the service of the Nabob Vizir. This proposal was complied with; and from this his subsequent pros perity commenced. He was now admitted into the confidence of the Vizir; and in the different changes which took place in the councils of his Highness, as well as in the various negociations with the English government, he was his secret advise; he eldom however appeared at the Durbar; and he never held any ostensible situation in the administration of the Vizir's government; but there is reason to believe, that few measures of importance were adopted without his advice being previously taken. Hence his influence at the court of Lucknow became very considerable, not only with the Vizir, but with his ministers, and that influence was the source of the immense fortune which he amassed. Besides a large salary with extensive perquisites annexed to it, he used to receive from the Nabob frequent presents of considerable value; and when any of the Nabob's ministers, or other men of conse quence about the court, had any part.cular measure to carry with their master, or personal favour to ask of him, it was their customi to go privately to Martine, and obtain his interest in their cause, which, if he was at times induced to refuse, he took due care to procure for them ultimately, by other means and with adequate compensation During the reign of Asoph-udDowlab, father of the present Vizir, Martine made a consider able able sum of money by encouraging that prince's taste for the productions of Europe, with which he undertook to supply him. Another mode by which he realized money was, by establishing an extensive credit with the shroffs, or bankers, in Oude, and the adjacent provinces; so that no public loan could be made without his having a share in it. The extra ordinary degree of favour and credit which he thus acquired in the Vizir's dominions, induced all descriptions of people to repose in him such an implicit confidence, that in times of public commotion, they flocked to him from all quarters, to deposit their moveable property, which on the condition of paying him twelve per cent. on its full value, he engaged to secure and return them on demand. This alone must have been a source of immense profit, in a country where, for upwards of twenty years of his residence in it, personal property was so often exposed to danger. The vast riches which he accumulated by these various and singular modes, he does not appear to have laid out with a very generous spirit. He is said, indeed, to have been hospitable to the English gentlemen who resided at Lucknow, but his table was little calculated to invite his acquaintance to it, either by the elegance of the entertainment, or the conviviality that presided at it. Very few instances have come to our knowledge of his private bounty and benevolence. He is said to have assisted his family at Lyons, by occasionally remitting small sums of money; and by his will he has left them 25,000l. But the principal object of his ambition, and wish of his heart, seems to have been to amass immense treasures in order to gratify himself by the possession of them while he lived; and by bequeathing almost the whole of them on his death, to the support of pious institutions, and public charities, to leave behind him the reputation of a philanthropist. Meanwhile every sensible reader will judge of his title to that name, not from the bequests of his will, but from the actions of his life. After having lived twenty-five years at Lucknow, he had attained by regular succession the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the Company's service. At the commencement of the war with Tippoo Sultan in 1790, he presented the Company, at his private expense, with a number of fine horses, sufficient to mount a troop of cavalry. He was soon afterwards promoted to the rank of Colonel in the Company's army, which object the present of horses was obviously designed to obtain. In 1796, when the Company's officers received brevet rank from his Majesty, Martine was included in the promotion of colonels to the rank of Major-General. Some years before this he had finished a spacious dwelling-house on the banks of the river Goomtee, in the building of which he had long been employed. This curious edifice is constructed entirely of stone, except the doors and window-frames. The ceilings of the apartments are formed of elliptic arches, and the floors made of stucco. The basement-story comprises two caves or recesses 212 within within the banks of the river, and level with its surface when at its lowest decrease. In these caves he generally lived in the hot season, and continued in them until the commencement of the rainy season, when the increase of the river obliged him to remove. He then ascended another story, to apartments fitted up in the form of a grotto; and when the further rise of the river brought its surface on a level with these, he proceeded up to the third story, as a ground-floor, which overlooked the river when at its greatest height. On the next story above that, a handsome saloon, raised on arcades, projecting over the river, formed his habitation in the spring and winter seasons. By this ingenious contrivance he preserved a moderate and equal temperature in his house at all seasons: on the attic story he had a museum, well supplied with various curiosities, and over the whole, he erected an observatory, which he furnished with the best astronomical instruments. Adjoining to the house there is a garden, not laid out with taste, Eat well filled with a variety of fine trees, shrubs, and flowers, together with all sorts of vegetables. In his artillery-yard, which was situated at some distance from his house, he erected a steam-engine, which had been sent to him from England; and here he used to amuse himself in making different experiments with air-balloons. After he had exhibited to some acquaintances his first balloon, the Vizir Asoph-udDowlah requested he would prepare one large enough to carry twenty men. Martine told his highness that such an experiment would be attended with considerable hazard to the lives of the men; upon which the Vizir replied, "Give yourself no concern about that-be you so good as to make a balloon." The experiment, however, was never tried. Besides his house at Lucknow, he had a beautiful villa about fifty miles distant, situated on a high bank of the Ganges, and surrounded by a domain of almost eight miles in circumference, somewhat resembling an English park. Here he used occasionally to retire in the hot season. In the latter part of his life he laid out a large sum of money in constructing a gothic castle, which he did not live to finish. Beneath the ramparts of this castle he built casemates, secured by iron doors, wrought. The lodgments within the walls are arched and barred, and their roofs completely bombproof. The castle is surrounded by a wide and deep ditch, fortified on the outer side by stockades, and a regular covered way, so that the place is sufficiently protected to resist the attacks of any Asiatic power. Within this castle he built a splendid mausoleum, in which he was interred; and on a marble tablet over his tomb is engraved the following inscription, written by himself some months before his death : and gratings thickly Here lies Claude Martine. He was born at Lyons, A. D. 1732. He came to India a private soldier, and died a Major-General. During the last fifteen years of his life, he was much afflicted with the stone and gravel; and disliking |
