Soon afterwards the consul-general of the Netherlands, accompanied by his
colleagues the consuls-general of Sweden, Denmark, and Sardinia, proceeded
to the residence of the person pointed out as the receiver, and in the
name of Colonel Warrington, and by virtue of the declaration of Mohamed,
called upon him instantly to restore Major Laing's papers. He answered
haughtily, that this declaration was only a tissue of calumnies; and
Mohamed, on his side, trusting, doubtless, in a pretended inviolability,
yielding, perhaps, to fallacious promises, retracted his declaration,
completely disowned it, and even went so far as to deny his own
hand-writing.
This recantation deceived nobody; the Pasha, in a transport of rage, sent
to Mohamed his own son, Sidi Ali; this time influence was of no avail.
Mohamed, threatened with being seized by the _chiaoux_, retracted his
retractation; and in a new declaration, in the presence of all the
consuls, confirmed that which he made in the morning before the Pasha and
his officers.
One consolatory fact results from these afflicting details: the papers of
Major Laing exist, and the learned world will rejoice at the intelligence;
but in the name of humanity, in the name of science, in the name of the
national honour--compromised, perhaps, by disgraceful or criminal
bargains--it must be hoped that justice may fall upon the guilty, whoever
he may be.
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