Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-12-01
Ahl I IlouaIy grOanl vaInIy weepl

ALL loudly groani vainly weepi
Comfort have none.
Bound by iron chains of cruel weight
To this wooden bench,
A thousand pains they bring me straight
Without release, alasl
Hundreds of Huguenots were sent to the
galleys during the reigns of Louis XIV.
and Louis XIV. The story of one of these
was woven into a celebrated drama, which
the celebrated Talma rendered famous.
His name was Jean Fabre, and he substi-
tuted himself for his aged father, arrested
at conventicle. He was finally pardoned.
| Our best information concerning lie on
board the galleys is derived from the
"Memoires dun Protestant Condamne aux
Galeres de France" by Jean Marteilhe,
translated by Goldsmith into English.
Marteilhe suffered from 100 to 1713, and
his memoir gives us a vivid picture of the
life of the galley slave. He was condemned
to this terrible life at the age of 18, and
seems to have been afforded better treatment
than the rest, because of his youth and
strength. Policy induced the Captains of
these Galleys to foster the strength of these
human engines, and frequently caused them
to be better fed and treated. The Captain
of one of the galleys in which Marteilhe
was chained hated the Huguenots, and babe
his "comite" never to spare the whip upon
them, and said mate was noted as being the
most cruel man afloat.
AS human endurance is not capable of all
things, the crew were divided into four
parts, each of which rowed in turn, but
rest and sleep were only obtained in chairs
and on the bare benches.
On one occasion, the galley to which Mar
teilhe was attached, engaged in a running
fight with an English frigate, which ran
alongside, grappled the galley and peppered
her with shot and hand grenades. The un-
fortunate slaves, chained to their oars were
moved down like sheep, and a frightful
carnage resulted. To Marteilhe's bench were
chained five convicts and Turkish slave,
and one of the guns was just abreast of
them. All lay down except the Huguenot,
who alone survived the discharge of the
piece. He was wounded, and remained
unconscious for some hours, and when he
came to, upon taking the Turk
by the hand to arouse him, the arm came
of, and remained in his graspl He was the
only survivor out of Is who were chained on
the three benches nearest him. He tainted
again, and was near being thrown overheard
for dead, when aroused by the striking off
of his irons. He was then, with the other
wounded, thrown in upon the coiled cables
below, where they remained three days
without treatment, and loaded with vermin.
Gangrene set in on many, and they died
like flies" Even when they were trans
ferred to the hospital, upon their arrival at
Dunkirk, they were chained to their beds by
the neckl No wonder three-fourths of them
died. The horrors of slave ship alone can
equal this scene of cruelty and barbarity.
A vICERoY's RUsE.
An old seventeenth century author relates
q singular expedient employed by Sicilian
viceroy in order to obtain crews for his gal
leys. Seeing that there were many beggars
and sham cripples, he instituted public
games during the carnival, promising GER
tain rewards to those who should jump to a
certain height, and a greater sum to those
who should touch higher mark. Many of
those who mad had grievous sores and all
a prize, but in so doing exposed themselves
as shams, and were at once sent to the gall
leys for ten years. Louis XIV. of France
was guilty OF similar outrages. He, through |
his Minister, Colbert, enjoined the Judges |
ito condemn to the galleys the greatest |
number of criminals possible" Many |
were subservient to him, and those indicted |
were seldom freed. A public prosecutor, in |
announcing the condemnation OF "A to the |
galleys: "We should be ashamed of serving |
the King so poorly in this quarter, seeing |
the necessity he expresses for galley-slaves."
In 1876 there were 4,710 of these miserable |
beings in the French galleys. Laws were |
afterward made, by which beggars and |
smugglers were condemned 10 labor at the |
oar. An oppressive tax caused a revolt |
in Boulonnais, which was vigorously re- |
pressed, and more than 400 unfortunates |
were sent to the galleys. As roweFs were |
still wanted, the King directed that all those |
sent to the galleys, if only sentenced to two |
years, should be retained six years, and this |
was afterward increased to 15l'
Marteilhe saw the bastinado applied on |
his first day on board galley. The victim !
was held down over a bench while a muscu- |
lar Turk beat him with rope. Few could |
bear II strokes and retain their senses, but |
they were continued until 80, 40 or even 100 |
blows had been inflicted upon the senseless
body. Vinegar and salt were then rubbed |
into the wounds to restore the circulation |
and prevent gangrene.
Punishment was inflicted upon these un- |
fortunates in no gentle spirit. The venial |
offense of blasphemy subjected the galley |
slave, in the fifteenth century, to whip |
ping, while other sea-faring men only paid |
a fine. In some places his tongue was cut |
out for the second offense. Don Juan, of
Austria, condemned them to death in the |
next century, and by the laws framed by |
Colbert, in France, during the seventeenth |
century, the tongue of the blasphemer was
pierced for second offense Decapitation
or burning alive awaited the subject of Peter
the Great who should blaspheme, profess
the black art, or practice idolatry.
The penalty of the bowline, or rducking and
dragging the victim under the keel, was one
of those instituted by Richard l., of En-
gland, in the twelfth century. It was only
requisite, in order to undergo this severe
that one of the crew should
strike another. So freely was this terrible
penalty used in the Turkish galleys in the
seventeenth century that he who smoked
after sunset was three times dragged under
the keel J As war vessels the galleys were
very efficient, but were much exposed to
damage and slaughter. Being furnished
with beaks, or prows. they were formidable
as rams dashing into the smaller vessels
then used in the fleets of Europe. The
galley slaves were not compelled, or ex-
pected, to fight, but were, as we have seen,
chained during the combat. The volunteers,
however, frequently had their chains loosed
and arms were given to them. When the
onset came the whole crew of naked shaven
men, often as many as 300 in number, arose
with frightful yells, sufficient OF themselves
10 territy any but resolute foe. Charles
in Westward Ho" gives a
stirring picture of galley engaged in battle.
Life on board of the galleys of the Bar
barry piratical States was worse even than
hat in the marines of Europe. This was
specially true when a renegade Christian
nate was set over the miserable captive. In
. captured Turkish galley the renegade
nate was thrown among the chained cap
ives, and passed from bench to bench by
he infuriated men until scarcely SEM
,lance of humanity remained. At the bat