THE ADVENTURES OF THE LATE EARL OF SEAFIELD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 9324, 29 March 1889, Page 5

THE ADVENTURES OF THE LATE EARL OF SEAFIELD.

[FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT. J London, February 8. One of the Scotch newspapers recounts an interesting little adventure which befell this nobleman in his early years, and which, as it is, perhaps, not known in New Zealand, may be worth reproducing here. Upwards of twenty years ago, when he was a strong-boned lad of eighteen, he had a remarkable experience in the West Indies. He was then a midshipman on board the Challenger, under Captain Gordon. Permitted bo go on shore at Jamaica, he and a companion found the air of the Blue Mountain so exhilirating that they very wrongly exceeded their leave, and on their return to the ship found their names struck off the books and their effects sold to the highest bidder amongst the crew. Young Gran 6 was sent homo in the Buzzard, which on it-3 way touched at Barbadoes. At this place the midshipman Grant thought he would start in the world on his own account, so he left the Buzzard and took up his quarters at Barbados.?. Finding this place too over populated to offer much chance of making a livelihood, he sailed westward to one of those lovely Grenadines which, like emeralds rising out of the soft blue Caribbean Sea, more than rival the far-famed isles of Greece. Here at Cariacon a Scottish medical man, Dr. Lang, kindly gave him quarters ; bub soon after his arrival at the place his adventures began. While he was being hospitably entertained by the few families in Cariacon Commander Franklin, of the Constance, sent word to the authorities in Grenada that his servant had decamped with his dressing-case and some money, and was believed to have gone to Cariacon. While the chief magistrate of the place, Mr. Home, was reading Commander Franklin's letter a constable happened to come in from Cariacon, who was asked whether any stranger or white sailor was there at the time. The reply was that there was one, giving himself out as a naval officer. Mr. Magistrate Home thereupon forthwith jumped to the conclusion that this must be Commander Franklin's runaway servant, and he at once issued an order to bring him to St. George's, the chief town and seat of Government. His host, Dr. Lang, convinced that he was no impostor, resisted the execution of the warrant, and was subsequently reprimanded by the Governor for so doing. On the other hand, his neighbour, Major Milnes, an officer of the volunteers, 'was horrified and unnerved to a degree at tho thought that he entertained at lunch such a waif of the sea as Commander Franklin's runaway servant. -

After some incidents by the way which did not disabuse tho mind of the constable who executed the warrant of his prisoner's guilt, Mr. Francis Grant was brought to town, and was next found in the guardroom of Fort George, then used as a police station, deftly brushing his boots on his feet, and clothed in a well-worn brown shooting suit. To a sympathising fellow-countryman ho protested that he was the victim of a mistake, and, in corroboration showed photographs of his father and stepmother and other members of his family, but as the theory was that the runaway was very cunning and plausible, it was conceived possible that he might have become possessed of these likenesses in the capacity of a servant, so that the mure Mr. Grant said in vindication of himself tho more were those most favourable to him constrained to hold their judgment in suspense. When brought before the magistrate and some members of the Council, Midshipman Grant, in a selfpossessed way, asked the bench to read the description which Commander Franklin gave of his servant, and compare it with his own person and features. " Look at my eyes," he said, "and see if there be any resemblance." But the worthy maeisbrate was so impressed with the idea that he had got hold of the right man, and so pleased with the notion of being able to serve the commander, that he abruptly terminated the proceedings. "It's no use going into those things, my man," said he, "I can bring a washerwoman who is able to prove that you brought Commander Franklin's dirty clothes to her when his ship was here six weeks ago." Forthwith Mr. Grant was taken to the common prison at the foot of Fort George to await the arrival of the first ship of war. There he lay within ICO yards of the scene which Mr. Froude has lately described in all its picturesque beauty and tropical influences as giving him a sensation of Paradise. Mr. Grant's experiences, however, were of another kind. The sweetest odour that reached him was that of chloride of lime strewed in the courts of the prison, and intensified in its pungency by the torrid heat. For companions he had a coolie, who was awaiting his trial for murder, and a negro, a notorious thief, who was unable to go out with the penal gang. After three weeks the Admiralty surveying ship Gannet entered the harbour to coal, and Captain Chimmo, who was in command, on beingcommunicatcd with,sent a sub-lieuten-ant and a quartermaster ashore to bring the prisoner on board. What was the surprise of the lieutenant (Mi'. Sullivan) and the quartermaster when they found in Mr. Grant a friend with whom they had both served. And great was their delight at being the means of his liberation. Mr. Grant's first impulse on gaining freedom was to go in search of the only one who had sympathised with hiui in his trouble, and his next to invest his last half-crown in a horsewhip for the magistrate and all his other police tormentors. But on being persuaded by the minister of the Scotch Church there (now of St. Andrew's, Alloa, Clackmannan) that all those functionaries were heartily grieved by what had haphened, and would be almost ready to undergo a horsewhipping if this would be any satisfaction for an outrage on a scion of the noblest of the British aristocracy, ho generously forgave them, and for the three months during which he lived in the Scotch manse, he saw them with equanimity every day.

His intercourse with the Scotch minister exercised a beneficial influence over his character, which remained throughout life. After leaving Grenada, Mr. Grant was next heard of in New Zealand, which became the country of his adoption.