CHAPTER III.

Clutha Leader, Volume VIII, Issue 428, 23 December 1881, Page 7

CHAPTER 111.

— Continued.

Paterson had now been for some time settled in Edinburgh ; and his project had been published and dilated upon, with all the eloquence of all ardent imagination, inspired by a lofty purpose.

It was an age of speculation and daring enterprise. A commercial spirit was just then beginning to stir in Scotland. Men's minds wore groping about among dark theories for something palpable ; and they seized upon the magnificent scheme of Paterson with avidity. His modest lodging became at once the centre of attraction. From the earliest dawn till midnight, men of all creeds, politics, and ranks of life beseiged his room, where, surrounded by maps and plans, the earnest speculator imparted and distributed his own hopes to all ; and expatiated on their foundation until they expanded into conviction in his hearers' liearts. The wilderness of Darien' became as familiar to the Scottish imagination as the LotMaus. The produce natural and possible of the fur-oft" American soil, its trees, its hilte, its mines, its waters, — were the common and constant theme of discussion. Old puritanical ministers, young scape-graces of dissipation, sages, subtle politicians, and even women, were alike possessed of the same subject. The very gaberlunzie could tell that ' Daricn. lies between the goiclen regions of Mexico i and Peru ; it is within six week's sail of Europe, India, and China ; it is in the heart of the West Indies, close fco the rising colonies of North America. The. expense and danger of navigation ho Japan, the Spice Islands, and all the Eastern world, will be lessened one- ' half, the consumption of European j commodities and manufactures will soon be doubled. Trade will increase trade ; money will beget money ; and the trading world will need no more to want work for its hands, but hands for its work.'

Thus the whole mass of society became suddenly leavened with the leaven

of one active and imaginative mind. To eager listeners, Paterson would describe what he himself had heard and seen : and his words repeated grew into such shape as follows, most of which may still be read in the old pamphlets of that day :

'Darien posscsseth great tracks of country as yet unclaimed Irvariy European. The Indians, original proprietors of the soil, will welcome to their fertile shores the lion eat, honourable settler. Their soil is rich to a fault, producing spontaneously the most delicious fruits, and requiring the hand of labour to chasten rather than to stimulate its capabilities. There, crystal rivers sparkle over sands of gold ; there the traveller may wander for days under a natural canopy formed by the fruit laden, branches of trees, whose wood is of inestimable value. The very waters abound in wealth. Innumerable shoals of fish disport themselves among coral rocks, and the bottom of the sea is strewn with pearls. From the first dawn of creation, this enchanted land had lain secluded from mortal eyes ; to the present generation — to Scottish enterprise, it was now revealed. Let us enter and take possession of the promised land. There a new city, a new Edinburgh shall arise ; the Alexandria of old, which seated on a barren isthmus, grew suddenly into prodigious wealth and power by the mere commerce of -Arabia and Inxl, shall soon yield in fame to the new emporium of the world.'

Such were the rumours that spread

abroad rapidly among the people of Scotland. Wafer, the great traveller, and a disinterested authority, gave them his support. Xor was the enthusiasm bounded by the Tweed — -the glories of the future colonies were soon familiar in the mouths and ears of England. London speedily caught up the infection. Even the cold cautious ear of William the Third was won by the great scheme, and in an evil hour for Scotland lie gave ii his assent.

Paterson then passed on to Hamburgh, in which great mart, and among the friendly citizens of which his first ideas of commerce had expanded. Hamburgh caught the flame of his enthusiasm. In a few days the projector was so overwhelmed with applications for shares that he was fain to return to Edinburgh, lest his own country should be supplanted by foreign capitalists. Fame and fortune rolled in upon him witli a sudden tide like that of his own Solway. He had already conjured up by his own words sufficient wealth and forces to carry out his schemes upon the grandest scale. His name was in every mouth; his slightest expressions were quoted as oracles. The Scottish Parliament was assembled to consider, and of course to approve, 'his scheme Then it was that he gave the noble instance of disinterestedness which alone might immortalise his name. • In the original project he had claimed the modest remuneration of two per cent. on such money as should be subscribed ; and tliis was in consideration of the great outlay of capital as well as

devotion of his time, which . maturing the project had required. He now made. a simple, and. unconditional release of all his claims upon the fund.*

! So far ail went well. The subscription lists were full and closed. Scotland had contributed L 400,000, half of all the circulating capital in the country ; England added L 300,000, Hamburg and Holland made up L 200,000 more. With this vast sum, considering the time, Paterson and his associates went to work with energy ; drawing freely" on their supposed capital for the equipment of the first expedition on a scale commensurate with its importance. Its proposed magnitude surprised even the London merchants. A panic suddenly seized the East India Company. f They remonstrated by petition to the king. The English parliament then met, and the Darien scheme was too popular a subject not to be made a matter of eager debate. The feeling of the parliament was hostile. It even impeached some of its members for joining in a sclieine ' so injurious to English commerce.' The king saw fit to yield to the altered tone of public feeling ; he actually made a sort of apology for the encouragement he had bestowed upon the scheme ; he confessed ' that he had been ill-advised in Scotland,' and he at once revoked all his favourite dispositions toward the company, The English subscriptions were withdrawn, and under a threat of England's displeasure Hamburgh and Holland, after some squabbling (and deprecating any fear of England as their motive for doing so), like wise withdrew.

Scotland was then left to conduct her enterprise single - handed, only i guarded by such privileges to the company as the king had not ventured to retract. Far more merciful would it have been, to have suppressed it utterly than first have allowed the expedition to tako place, and then cruelly have consigned its volunteers to destruction 1 But in the same proportion that the English resources and prospects with respect to the Darien scheme wore failing the hopes und enthusiasm of the Scots grew strong. It was evident that the jealousy and the fears of great England were aroused ; what more certain than that there was cause for their envy % The ministers, always a weighty and influential body in the north, preached on the falling off, and compared it to the recreancy of the Israelites, who lingered and hung back to lap the stream, while Joshua, pressed forward with his true conquerors.

Among the first who were attracted by the- glare of this new project was John Law, of whom we have obtained a glimpse in the earlier pages of tiiis history. His name was now well known in most of the capitals of Europe as a most daring and successful gamblers, — a profession not then

branded with the infamy which in later days has consigned to it the rank next to robbery. Gaming was almost universally practised by all classes of life ; monarchs set the example ; and there was even a court-mourning game — picquet — which might be played in the chambers ox death without breach of decorum, — at least such decorum as was practised in the court of Louis XV. Ombre, basset, and faro were looked upon as so many drawing-room sciences, in which it was necessary for every aspirant to society to have taken his degree. Gaming was as full of adventure, indirectly, as of pecuniary vicissitudes. Dangerous assistance rendered at a critical moment ; trust bestowed with a liberal confidence ; the bitterest sacrifices submitted to, in order to save credit ; hasty words answered at the point of the sword ; imputed stains washed out in blood. The < Board of Green Cloth ' was an arena for all the passions to expatiate in ; it conferred its own peculiar fame ; it had its own Napoleons, Machiavellis, and Thurtells ; all casualties and air human results might be found there— except peace and honour.

Jolm !Law was the Napoleon o£ the gambling world. Sis fortune never finally forsook liim until it had culminated in the Mississippi scheme, and brought princes and their minions to his feet. He had had his temporary reverses in the early part of his career, however, and had sold his patrimony of Lauriston on his father's death ; but his mother had contrived to purchase it, and kept it in the family ; even while with the proceeds of its sale Law was amassing a considerable fortune.

Paterson's scheme of the Bank of England had turned in that direction the attention of his enterprising young kinsman, who amidst all his dissipations had found time to study deeply financial, mysteries at Paris and Amsterdam. The Darien scheme, too, riveted his attention, though he hap-

pened to bo at that time in exile for the death of a ' friend,' named Wilson, whom he had unintentionally killed in a duel in Lincoln's Inn Fields.

During Paterson's visit to Hamburgh, Law assisted in spreading, his doctrines, but when England withdrew from the undertaking he seems also to have abandoned it. He gave credit to the foresight of the cold, clear-headed monarch. He saw that unless William was prepared to enter on a war with Spain, he could not countenance a trespass on a country to which she advanced a claim, however ridiculous in its foundation. Therefore, while Law cursed for his country's and his friend's sake the permission at first freely given to the Darien scheme, and then cruelly withdrawn, he thought he saw in that withdrawal a proof of the king's future policy towards Spain 3 aud he contented himself ..with speculating on the result of that policy. In Edinburgh, his secession was contemptuously spoken of. ' What did it signify,' they said, ' on what side " Jessamy John " staked his card f But those who had observed John's depth of penetration argued differently.

The hope and faith of the Scottish people soared all the higher for the desertion of their allies. The preparations for the expedition were pressed forward. Diminished by more than half as were their resources, the- equipment lost nothing of its pretentions. The consequence was, that five ships sailed with a stinted and miserable provision, scarcely sufficient to have carried them in comfort on a cruising voyage among Christian lands ; much less across the wide Atlantic, through hostile regions, along savage shores. But the 'hopes of Paterson and the enthusiasm of his followers were not to be depressed. The chivalry of Scotland was aroused, and hundreds of men of high family exchanged their prospects in their own country for the golden hopes of America, with all its doubts and dangers. The chief difficulty experienced by the company was the selection from such a number of volun- . teers : unfortunately in many instances interest prevailed, and obtained the promotion of some undisciplined scapegrace, to the exclusion of the hard

working, earnest man, who might have clone far better service. The same fault prevaded other departments of the expedition. The great mind of Patersou could not inspire all the council to whom the affair was confided with his own single-heartedness and integrity. Almost every one of its members sought to make a profit out of his office. The ships themselves, the provisions, the arms, everything that was bought with a price, were all contracted for in a manner which enriched "the patrons, but was rued by many a brave emigrant doomed to perish in their service.

In all immature and half-civilised communites there is a strong tendency to job ; and at the prospect of this great opportunity, the Scots rushed on its perquisites like vultures on a prey, — like them to batten on corruption. Some .wanted to provide for themselves, others for a relation, or to get him out of the way. Many a one on his own account wished to leave Scotland, and sought only a free passage from a dangerous home. Hence the members of the expedition were as ill-fitted for their purpose as the ships themselves.

The difficulty of collecting the subscriptions was great, notwithstanding the enthusiasm of the subscribers. It was a period of severe scarcity, moreover, and provisions were enormously dear ; hence the temptation to adulterate them was greater than usual, and it was extensively done. Scotland was dishonoured by the promoters of her first and last attempt to found a colony ; William 111. did not do more to cause, the ruin of the expedition than these earnest yet dishonourable

men

At length the expedition was pronounced ready to set sail. The rotten ships, gaily painted and bedecked with flaunting flags, were filled with rotten provisions, most carefully made up in order to conceal the imposture. Certain bales of goods and merchandise, also of a very inferior description, were placed in the ships, in order to traffic with the natives of the Land of Promise as well as with the Christian inhabitants of the West Indian Islands for provisions. With tlese goods invoices were sent, fixing exorbitant value upon every article. To crown all, these ill-fated ships were commanded by coarse, brutal, and ignorant captains, jealous of and hostile to one another. The ' Council ' which accompanied them had no superior, no decisive authority. There was no chief, and everyone aspired to command ; the ingenuity of man coidd not have devised a plan more evidently anarchical. Paterson had been allowed no voice in! any of the proposed arrangements ; through jealousy he had not, cv.en bee.n named as one of the Council. Pie entered his ship as ignorant of her equipment as any seanian, on board. He proposed, indeed, even then, to hold an inspection of the stores before tKe ships weighed anchor, but ' this was angrily forbidden, for reasons which are "hot difficult to

divine.

At Torwoodleej' as in many other houses throughout Scotland, the preparations for the expedition were watched with all-absorbing interest.- At length .young Pringle received notice that the

ships were to. sail in a few days, and he prepared to join them;."' 'His fatlier (so great was the enthusiasm about the cause) did not remonstrate, against his purpose. Hope, amounting , almost to certainty, filled every heart in Scotland ; even patriotism lent its countenance to a scheme that was to bestow sudden greatness on the country that gave it birth. The young laird would, therefore, have left his home with a light heart if he could have obtained any hope from Isobel of the dearest future reward that he ever dreamed of. B\it for this he could not even ask ; his fair kinswoman was too ill to see him. At the very time when she was most anxious to repair to Edinburgh to join Alice, she had be'en seized with sickness which threatened her very existence until long after the expedition had set sail.

It was a satisfaction to young Torwoodlee, however, to find himself destined to sail in, the same .ship with Alice, and he attached himself to Paterson with a fidelity that remained unshaken to the last.

There was one other "person in the

whole expedition upon whom Paterson could entirely rely. His faithful wife was with him ; still hopeful, gentle, uncomplaining, fearless. She entirely believed in her husband's mission ; and with many more enthusiasts considered that it little signified, how imperfect were the preparations, — so certain and so speedy must be the success of the expedition. One only sorrow or regret

was weighing on her mind, that of separating, under such circumstances, from Isobel, who would fain have been allowed to embark with the rest, even \i she was to breathe her last sighs among the emigrants. But the chiefs were scrupulous in every matter out of which no profit could be made, and they would not admit one sickly person to the ships.

Young Torwoodlee was accompanied to the sea-shore by his father, who almost envied the youth his honourable hope of being able to win from the wildernesses of the west, • sufficient weath to redeem the acres of Torwoodlee from their burdens of debt.

There were not a few such aspirants about to sail in those fated ships ; no less than three hundred, it is said, of the best blood in Scotland were among the emigrants. With them, went many of their servants and husbandmen ; determined, with clansman loyalty, to follow the fortunes of their young masters for good or ill, whithersoever they might lead. These poor fellows also left behind them all their household ties, — for the heart of Scotland, high and low, went with the Darien Expedition.