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JAMES SILK BUCKING HAM.
A correspondent has forwarded tbe follo\v- !
ing sketch of the life of Mr J. S. Bucking- ;
ham. which w?ll doubt!es= prove of interest to !
some of our readers : —
Mr Buckingham is known as a traveller,
a statesman, a philanthropist, an author, a
scholar, and a gentlemen, and in each of these
capacities he has a just claim to our admira
tion and regard. Burn at Flushing, in Corn
wall, in 1786, be at the early &ge of nine
entered the navy, and before he had completed
his 10th year was captured and confined at
Corunna as a prisoner of war. Before attain
ing his 11th year he was marched with the
officers an# crew of his ship a distance of
many hundred miles through Spain and
Portugal. At tbe age of 21 we find him in
command of a vessel, and in the cowrse of his
voyages acquiring a thorough knowledge of
the French, Italian, Grajk, and Arabic lan
guages. In 1813 be resigned bis command,
and proceeded to Egypt, where he was cor
dially received by Mohammed Ali, and at
once proposed to that Prince the reopening of
the ancient canal which connected the Ked
Sea wiih the Mediterranean. lie was also
employed by some English merchants lo
survey the hydrography of the country washed
by the waters of the Hed Sea, and to endeavor
to renew the trade between India and Egypt.
Strange to say, the merchants at Bombay
refused to entertain the enlightened pro
posals of the Pacha. In 1815 he left
Alexandria to proceed to India 33 ambassador
to the Egyptian Viceroy. A variety of cir
cumstances ltd him to travel nearly the whole !
of Palestine, and the countries east of the i
Jordan and the Dead Sea, the Haursn, and '
Dccapolis. ' I reached,' he savs, 'Damascus, I
passed several weeks in the agreeable and
hospitable society of Lady Hester Stanhope ;
visited Baal beck, Lebanon, Tripoli, Antioch,
Orontcs, and Aleppo. From thence I pro
ceeded to Mesopotamia ; crossed tbe Euphrates
at Bir, visited Orfah near Iiaraiu, the Ur of
the Chaldees, the birthplace of Abraham and
Edesa of the Greeks ; journeyed to Diarbekr,
or the Black Citv, in the heart of Asia Minor ;
from thence to Mardin on tbe mountains ; and
by the great desert of Sinjar to Moosul on the
Tigris ; inspected the ruins of UabyJon,
identified the hanging gardens and the palace,
and discovered a portion of the ancient wall ;
ascended to the summit of the tower of
Babel, now still in the plain of Shinar ; and
at length reposed in the celebrated city of
Bagdad.'
Sometime about 1818 Mr Buckingham was
induced to settle in Calcutta ?nd devote him
self to literary occupation. But b'i3 frank
outspoken way of telling the truth displeased
the company (then all-powerful], and he was
banished their territories and despoiled of
upwards of £40,000, the just reward of his
toil. No part of this large sum was ever re
covered, although be had tbe powerful
adwoeacy of Lards Durham, Denman, and
John Russell. In 1832 be was returned with
out opposition M.P, for Sheffield, and sat for
that town five years, when he. retired and
visited America, lecturing on history, travel,
education, and temperance. Financially,
these lectures were most successful, as they
subsequently were in England, bringing both
fame and fortune.
To show that Mr Buckingham has not been
an idler In the world, I need only state that
be published no less than 78 volames of bis
writings. In tbe removal by death of James
Silk Buckingham, tbe world has lost a patriot,
and the people a friend.
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