GULLIVER’S
TRAVELS
PART 7
CHAPTER VII.
The author, being informed of a
design to accuse him of high-treason, makes his escape to Blefuscu. His
reception there.
Before I
proceed to give an account of my leaving this kingdom, it may be proper to
inform the reader of a private intrigue which had been for two months forming
against me.
I had been
hitherto, all my life, a stranger to courts, for which I was unqualified by the
meanness of my condition. I had indeed heard and read enough of the
dispositions of great princes and ministers, but never expected to have found
such terrible effects of them, in so remote a country, governed, as I thought,
by very different maxims from those in Europe.
When I was
just preparing to pay my attendance on the emperor of Blefuscu, a considerable
person at court (to whom I had been very serviceable, at a time when he lay
under the highest displeasure of his imperial majesty) came to my house very
privately at night, in a close chair, and, without sending his name, desired
admittance. The chairmen were dismissed; I put the chair, with his
lordship in it, into my coat-pocket: and, giving orders to a trusty servant, to
say I was indisposed and gone to sleep, I fastened the door of my house, placed
the chair on the table, according to my usual custom, and sat down by it.
After the common salutations were over, observing his lordship’s countenance
full of concern, and inquiring into the reason, he desired “I would hear him
with patience, in a matter that highly concerned my honour and my life.”
His speech was to the following effect, for I took notes of it as soon as he
left me:—
“You are
to know,” said he, “that several committees of council have been lately called,
in the most private manner, on your account; and it is but two days since his
majesty came to a full resolution.
“You are
very sensible that Skyresh Bolgolam” (galbet, or high-admiral) “has been
your mortal enemy, almost ever since your arrival. His original reasons I
know not; but his hatred is increased since your great success against
Blefuscu, by which his glory as admiral is much obscured. This lord, in
conjunction with Flimnap the high-treasurer, whose enmity against you is
notorious on account of his lady, Limtoc the general, Lalcon the chamberlain,
and Balmuff the grand justiciary, have prepared articles of impeachment against
you, for treason and other capital crimes.”
This
preface made me so impatient, being conscious of my own merits and innocence,
that I was going to interrupt him; when he entreated me to be silent, and thus
proceeded:—
“Out of
gratitude for the favours you have done me, I procured information of the whole
proceedings, and a copy of the articles; wherein I venture my head for your
service.
“‘Articles
of Impeachment against QUINBUS FLESTRIN, (the Man-Mountain.)
Article I.
“‘Whereas,
by a statute made in the reign of his imperial majesty Calin Deffar Plune, it
is enacted, that, whoever shall make water within the precincts of the royal
palace, shall be liable to the pains and penalties of high-treason; notwithstanding,
the said Quinbus Flestrin, in open breach of the said law, under colour of
extinguishing the fire kindled in the apartment of his majesty’s most dear
imperial consort, did maliciously, traitorously, and devilishly, by discharge
of his urine, put out the said fire kindled in the said apartment, lying and
being within the precincts of the said royal palace, against the statute in
that case provided, etc. against the duty, etc.
Article II.
“‘That the
said Quinbus Flestrin, having brought the imperial fleet of Blefuscu into the
royal port, and being afterwards commanded by his imperial majesty to seize all
the other ships of the said empire of Blefuscu, and reduce that empire to a
province, to be governed by a viceroy from hence, and to destroy and put to
death, not only all the Big-endian exiles, but likewise all the people of that
empire who would not immediately forsake the Big-endian heresy, he, the said
Flestrin, like a false traitor against his most auspicious, serene, imperial
majesty, did petition to be excused from the said service, upon pretence of
unwillingness to force the consciences, or destroy the liberties and lives of
an innocent people.
Article III.
“‘That,
whereas certain ambassadors arrived from the Court of Blefuscu, to sue for
peace in his majesty’s court, he, the said Flestrin, did, like a false traitor,
aid, abet, comfort, and divert, the said ambassadors, although he knew them to
be servants to a prince who was lately an open enemy to his imperial majesty,
and in an open war against his said majesty.
Article IV.
“‘That the
said Quinbus Flestrin, contrary to the duty of a faithful subject, is now
preparing to make a voyage to the court and empire of Blefuscu, for which he
has received only verbal license from his imperial majesty; and, under colour
of the said license, does falsely and traitorously intend to take the said
voyage, and thereby to aid, comfort, and abet the emperor of Blefuscu, so
lately an enemy, and in open war with his imperial majesty aforesaid.’
“There are
some other articles; but these are the most important, of which I have read you
an abstract.
“In the
several debates upon this impeachment, it must be confessed that his majesty
gave many marks of his great lenity; often urging the services you had done
him, and endeavouring to extenuate your crimes. The treasurer and admiral
insisted that you should be put to the most painful and ignominious death, by
setting fire to your house at night, and the general was to attend with twenty
thousand men, armed with poisoned arrows, to shoot you on the face and
hands. Some of your servants were to have private orders to strew a
poisonous juice on your shirts and sheets, which would soon make you tear your
own flesh, and die in the utmost torture. The general came into the same
opinion; so that for a long time there was a majority against you; but his
majesty resolving, if possible, to spare your life, at last brought off the
chamberlain.
“Upon this
incident, Reldresal, principal secretary for private affairs, who always
approved himself your true friend, was commanded by the emperor to deliver his
opinion, which he accordingly did; and therein justified the good thoughts you
have of him. He allowed your crimes to be great, but that still there was
room for mercy, the most commendable virtue in a prince, and for which his
majesty was so justly celebrated. He said, the friendship between you and
him was so well known to the world, that perhaps the most honourable board
might think him partial; however, in obedience to the command he had received,
he would freely offer his sentiments. That if his majesty, in
consideration of your services, and pursuant to his own merciful disposition,
would please to spare your life, and only give orders to put out both your
eyes, he humbly conceived, that by this expedient justice might in some measure
be satisfied, and all the world would applaud the lenity of the emperor, as
well as the fair and generous proceedings of those who have the honour to be
his counsellors. That the loss of your eyes would be no impediment to
your bodily strength, by which you might still be useful to his majesty; that
blindness is an addition to courage, by concealing dangers from us; that the
fear you had for your eyes, was the greatest difficulty in bringing over the
enemy’s fleet, and it would be sufficient for you to see by the eyes of the
ministers, since the greatest princes do no more.
“This
proposal was received with the utmost disapprobation by the whole board.
Bolgolam, the admiral, could not preserve his temper, but, rising up in fury,
said, he wondered how the secretary durst presume to give his opinion for
preserving the life of a traitor; that the services you had performed were, by
all true reasons of state, the great aggravation of your crimes; that you, who
were able to extinguish the fire by discharge of urine in her majesty’s
apartment (which he mentioned with horror), might, at another time, raise an
inundation by the same means, to drown the whole palace; and the same strength
which enabled you to bring over the enemy’s fleet, might serve, upon the first
discontent, to carry it back; that he had good reasons to think you were a
Big-endian in your heart; and, as treason begins in the heart, before it
appears in overt-acts, so he accused you as a traitor on that account, and
therefore insisted you should be put to death.
“The
treasurer was of the same opinion: he showed to what straits his majesty’s
revenue was reduced, by the charge of maintaining you, which would soon grow insupportable;
that the secretary’s expedient of putting out your eyes, was so far from being
a remedy against this evil, that it would probably increase it, as is manifest
from the common practice of blinding some kind of fowls, after which they fed
the faster, and grew sooner fat; that his sacred majesty and the council, who
are your judges, were, in their own consciences, fully convinced of your guilt,
which was a sufficient argument to condemn you to death, without the formal
proofs required by the strict letter of the law.
“But his
imperial majesty, fully determined against capital punishment, was graciously
pleased to say, that since the council thought the loss of your eyes too easy a
censure, some other way may be inflicted hereafter. And your friend the
secretary, humbly desiring to be heard again, in answer to what the treasurer
had objected, concerning the great charge his majesty was at in maintaining
you, said, that his excellency, who had the sole disposal of the emperor’s
revenue, might easily provide against that evil, by gradually lessening your
establishment; by which, for want of sufficient for you would grow weak and
faint, and lose your appetite, and consequently, decay, and consume in a few
months; neither would the stench of your carcass be then so dangerous, when it
should become more than half diminished; and immediately upon your death five
or six thousand of his majesty’s subjects might, in two or three days, cut your
flesh from your bones, take it away by cart-loads, and bury it in distant
parts, to prevent infection, leaving the skeleton as a monument of admiration
to posterity.
“Thus, by
the great friendship of the secretary, the whole affair was compromised.
It was strictly enjoined, that the project of starving you by degrees should be
kept a secret; but the sentence of putting out your eyes was entered on the
books; none dissenting, except Bolgolam the admiral, who, being a creature of
the empress, was perpetually instigated by her majesty to insist upon your
death, she having borne perpetual malice against you, on account of that
infamous and illegal method you took to extinguish the fire in her apartment.
“In three
days your friend the secretary will be directed to come to your house, and read
before you the articles of impeachment; and then to signify the great lenity
and favour of his majesty and council, whereby you are only condemned to the
loss of your eyes, which his majesty does not question you will gratefully and
humbly submit to; and twenty of his majesty’s surgeons will attend, in order to
see the operation well performed, by discharging very sharp-pointed arrows into
the balls of your eyes, as you lie on the ground.
“I leave
to your prudence what measures you will take; and to avoid suspicion, I must
immediately return in as private a manner as I came.”
His
lordship did so; and I remained alone, under many doubts and perplexities of
mind.
It was a
custom introduced by this prince and his ministry (very different, as I have
been assured, from the practice of former times,) that after the court had
decreed any cruel execution, either to gratify the monarch’s resentment, or the
malice of a favourite, the emperor always made a speech to his whole council,
expressing his great lenity and tenderness, as qualities known and confessed by
all the world. This speech was immediately published throughout the
kingdom; nor did any thing terrify the people so much as those encomiums on his
majesty’s mercy; because it was observed, that the more these praises were
enlarged and insisted on, the more inhuman was the punishment, and the sufferer
more innocent. Yet, as to myself, I must confess, having never been
designed for a courtier, either by my birth or education, I was so ill a judge
of things, that I could not discover the lenity and favour of this sentence,
but conceived it (perhaps erroneously) rather to be rigorous than gentle.
I sometimes thought of standing my trial, for, although I could not deny the
facts alleged in the several articles, yet I hoped they would admit of some
extenuation. But having in my life perused many state-trials, which I
ever observed to terminate as the judges thought fit to direct, I durst not
rely on so dangerous a decision, in so critical a juncture, and against such
powerful enemies. Once I was strongly bent upon resistance, for, while I
had liberty the whole strength of that empire could hardly subdue me, and I
might easily with stones pelt the metropolis to pieces; but I soon rejected
that project with horror, by remembering the oath I had made to the emperor,
the favours I received from him, and the high title of nardac he
conferred upon me. Neither had I so soon learned the gratitude of
courtiers, to persuade myself, that his majesty’s present seventies acquitted
me of all past obligations.
At last, I
fixed upon a resolution, for which it is probable I may incur some censure, and
not unjustly; for I confess I owe the preserving of mine eyes, and consequently
my liberty, to my own great rashness and want of experience; because, if I had
then known the nature of princes and ministers, which I have since observed in
many other courts, and their methods of treating criminals less obnoxious than
myself, I should, with great alacrity and readiness, have submitted to so easy
a punishment. But hurried on by the precipitancy of youth, and having his
imperial majesty’s license to pay my attendance upon the emperor of Blefuscu, I
took this opportunity, before the three days were elapsed, to send a letter to
my friend the secretary, signifying my resolution of setting out that morning
for Blefuscu, pursuant to the leave I had got; and, without waiting for an
answer, I went to that side of the island where our fleet lay. I seized a
large man of war, tied a cable to the prow, and, lifting up the anchors, I
stripped myself, put my clothes (together with my coverlet, which I carried
under my arm) into the vessel, and, drawing it after me, between wading and
swimming arrived at the royal port of Blefuscu, where the people had long
expected me: they lent me two guides to direct me to the capital city, which is
of the same name. I held them in my hands, till I came within two hundred
yards of the gate, and desired them “to signify my arrival to one of the
secretaries, and let him know, I there waited his majesty’s command.” I
had an answer in about an hour, “that his majesty, attended by the royal
family, and great officers of the court, was coming out to receive me.” I
advanced a hundred yards. The emperor and his train alighted from their
horses, the empress and ladies from their coaches, and I did not perceive they
were in any fright or concern. I lay on the ground to kiss his majesty’s
and the empress’s hands. I told his majesty, “that I was come according
to my promise, and with the license of the emperor my master, to have the
honour of seeing so mighty a monarch, and to offer him any service in my power,
consistent with my duty to my own prince;” not mentioning a word of my
disgrace, because I had hitherto no regular information of it, and might
suppose myself wholly ignorant of any such design; neither could I reasonably
conceive that the emperor would discover the secret, while I was out of his
power; wherein, however, it soon appeared I was deceived.
I shall
not trouble the reader with the particular account of my reception at this
court, which was suitable to the generosity of so great a prince; nor of the
difficulties I was in for want of a house and bed, being forced to lie on the
ground, wrapped up in my coverlet.
To be continued
