Gulliver's Travels

he 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.