Kabanata Kabanata 7 · The author, being informed of a design to accuse him of high-treason,

. 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 food, 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

severities 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 my 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.