APPENDIX No. III. NOTICE OF ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL, AUTHOR OF THE VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD.

NOTICE OF
ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL.

[From Blackwood’s Magazine.]

Our readers cannot have forgotten the name of Archibald Campbell, the poor Scottish seaman, whose account of his voyage round the world was, three or four years ago, noticed at considerable length in the Quarterly Review. This unhappy adventurer’s narrative was, in every way, well deserving of the interest which it created at the time of its publication. It was modest and unassuming in its manner, and, in its matter, free to a great extent, from the many species of blunders and inaccuracies which are commonly so abundant in the productions of persons in the humble situation of life of Archibald Campbell. At that time, however, its merits could not be quite so fully appreciated as now. Although the apparent candour of the mariner was well qualified to lend credit to all his statements, yet even his benevolent editor abstained from expressing himself in any very decided manner respecting their authority, and the same diffidence was, of course, shared by his reviewer. But in the years which have now intervened, the narratives of succeeding voyages have given perfect confirmation to all the assertions of Campbell; and his story may, therefore, be considered as forming an authentic link in the history of the Sandwich Islands, with regard to which, for several years previous to his arrival there, we had received no certain or direct intelligence.

We refer to Campbell’s book itself, and the review of it already mentioned, for any information which our readers may require in order to restore them to a perfect acquaintance with the early and important incidents in his various life. At the time when his book was published, it will be recollected, the sores upon his legs were still in a very distressing condition, owing to the unskilful manner in which they had been amputated below the ankle, by the Russian Surgeon, into whose hands he fell immediately after they were frostbitten. The period of tranquil existence which he had spent in the Sandwich islands, the voyage homewards, and a residence of many months in his native country, had all been found insufficient to remove the irritation of his wounds; and he was still not only a cripple, but an acute sufferer, when he attracted the attention of Mr. Smith, in the Clyde steam-boat. The kindness of that excellent person soon enabled him to lay the story of his afflictions before the public, and the success of the book was such, as to furnish a sum far beyond the expectations of Archibald Campbell. Had he remained in this country during the time when the public impression was strongly in his favour, there is reason to believe that something might probably have been done to provide the means of comfortable retirement to one whose errors, in themselves venial, had been so severely punished in the person of the offender, and had furnished a lesson so capable of doing good to others. Neither Campbell nor his friends, however, entertained, at the moment, any expectations of such a nature, and the poor man, whose patience was quite exhausted, resolved, as soon as he got a little money into his hands, to seek in it the means of being once more transported to the friendly territories of king Tamaahmaah, and his own comfortable farm on the banks of the Wymumme. In the midst of all his distresses, he found leisure for courtship, so he set sail with his wife, in the autumn of 1816, for New-York, in the hope of finding a passage to Owhyhee, on board of some of the American ships, which have, of late years, been almost the only visitors of these islands. On the 23d of December following, he writes as follows, to a medical gentleman in Glasgow, who had shown him much kindness while in that city:—“I am very sorry to inform you that we shall have no opportunity of going to the Sandwich Islands this season, the vessels having all left Boston for the northwest coast before our arrival, and it is very likely that there will be no more ships going that way until they return again, which will not be these two years; therefore I am at a loss what to do. There is nothing at all doing here in my line, and times are much worse here than at home, and a great many of the passengers that came out with us have gone home again, not being able to find work of any kind.” He then states his intention to procure, if possible, a passage to the Brazils, where he had before been. In the meantime, however, it was announced that some person was about to publish an American edition of his book, which unhandsome procedure Archibald forthwith took the most effectual method of preventing, by publishing an American edition of it himself. Of this edition he sold 700 copies in a month, and cleared about 300 dollars on the speculation.

His legs continued all this time to be as troublesome as ever; and Campbell determined to give himself a chance of being a sound cripple, by having them amputated over again above the ankle. This resolution he carried into effect last winter with the most perfect fortitude. His right leg was amputated on the 20th of November, 1817, and the bursting of an artery a few hours after the operation, threw him into a brain fever, from which he escaped with difficulty. “My whole leg,” says he, “began from the end of the stump to be inflamed with erysipalas, combined with phlegmatic inflammation, which, luckily for me, turned into a suppuration. I am happy to inform you, that ever since, I have been mending so fast, that I was able to go home all last week, and it is only yesterday, (January 13, 1818) that I returned to have the other leg cut; and the surgeon says I shall have a better chance of recovery, as my habit is not so full.” The second operation was accordingly performed in a few days after this, and his recovery was even more easy than he had been led to expect. “As soon as I got out of the hospital,” says he, “I made myself a pair of artificial legs, with which I already begin to walk pretty tolerably, and am going to Albany, Baltimore, &c. to get subscriptions for the second edition of my book.”

But during his stay in New-York, Campbell has not been an author, publisher, and patient only. He has also been carrying on various little species of traffic, in globe glass mirrors, plaster of Paris casts, Scots Almanacks, &c. &c. with various, but, on the whole, not very flattering success. As soon as he shall have sufficiently supplied the transatlantic reading public with his voyage round the world, Archy, who is a Jack of many trades, purposes to turn another of his talents to a little advantage, and to make a voyage to the Clyde “to see his friends,” in the capacity of a cook to a merchantman. He still, however, has a hankering after his “steading” in Owhyhee; and it is probable that ere long we shall have it in our power to inform our readers that he has come to “his ain again.”

We might quote some farther passages from his letters to his friend in Glasgow; but although they are all highly interesting to those who have seen any thing of the man, we are apprehensive of trespassing too far on the patience of the general reader. The letters are written in a clear, distinct style, and in a very good penmanship; and his account of the state of things in America, so far as it goes, shows that Archibald has been in his youth no inattentive or unworthy member of some of the “literary and commercial” clubs, so common in the west of Scotland. The letters are all concluded in a very polite manner, as thus:—“Be pleased, Sir, to give our best respects to your father and sisters, and our compliments to your servant maids; meantime, we remain, Sir, your most obedient and very humble servants,

Archb. & Isabella Campbell.”

We trust our readers will pardon us for detaining them so long with the history of this poor countryman of ours.—Those of them who have read his book will, we are quite sure, be happy in this renewal of their acquaintance with him; for our own parts, we hope he will, on his arrival, forthwith publish a full account of his adventures during this last voyage. He must now be pretty well initiated into the ways of the booksellers, and we do not see why Mr. Campbell should not succeed as well in his transactions with that slippery generation, as many other authors of greater pretension.