BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. In the "Colonial Magazine" for 1841 was published, by the Editor of that Periodical, who had long resided in India, a Sketch of the Life and Labours of Mr. Buckingham, as likely to interest the large class of Indian and Colonial readers which that work possesses; but its range of circulation being more limited in England, the facts there detailed were comparatively little known to the English public. At an interval of some twelve years after this, another Sketch, containing many additional facts, was published in the "Lives of the Illustrious," a Biographical Magazine for 1853. The latter was written by a gentleman, also a former resident in India, but to whom Mr. Buckingham was personally unknown, as they had never met till after this publication appeared; but having watched his course in India and in England with great interest, he was perfectly competent to the task he had undertaken, as far as the limited space available for this purpose in the work in question admitted. As there are many facts included in each of these narratives not mentioned in the other, a union of the two seems necessary to the completion of both, and this has now been undertaken; so that, with these united, and additional matter subsequently supplied, the narrative is rendered more continuous and unbroken from the commencement to the end. An active life of sixty years' duration, commenced at nine years of age and now verging on seventy, to be compressed within the compass of a few pages, must necessarily be confined to the merest outlines; but these embrace, at least, the most prominent facts of the author's varied and adventurous career, and must suffice, till they shall be filled up in more ample detail, if that indeed shall ever be accomplished, by the only hand that could furnish all the necessary materials for such a purpose. The only object of presenting this Sketch, in its present limited form, is to prepare the reader of this and the subsequent Numbers of the Series of which this is the commencement, for the more ready acceptance of what is to follow. Every one must be conscious, from his own experience, that both the pleasure and the profit, with which books of this description especially are read, depends largely on the degree of confidence which they are able to place in the experience, capacity, and truthfulness of the writer. If there be any doubt as to either of these, the facts are received with more distrust, and the opinions with less respect; but if the reader is satisfied that the author has had abundant opportunities from experience to accumulate facts, and that his judgment may be relied on for the careful investigation of evidence and the formation of accurate opinions thereon — his confidence and pleasure in the perusal will be greatly augmented thereby. In this hope, the Sketch, for it is not pretended to be anything more, is given as a fitting Preface or Preliminary Introduction to what is to follow. JAMES SILK BUCKINGHAM was born at Flushing, near Falmouth, in Cornwall, in 1786. He was but nine years of age when he embraced the maritime profession, and commenced his world-wide travels. Misfortune began immediately to haunt his steps. Ere he completed his tenth year he was a prisoner of war, and passed several months in confinement at Corunna; and ere he attained his eleventh he had been marched barefoot many hundred miles through Spain and Portugal to Lisbon. He subsequently visited other countries in a seafaring capacity. At the age of twenty-one he was appointed to the command of a vessel; and performed several voyages to the West Indies, the two Americas, and the Mediterranean (including Gibraltar, Malta, the Greek Islands, and Smyrna, in the Levant), in the double character of captain and supercargo. Having in these voyages accumulated a moderate capital, and, at the same time, acquired a practical knowledge of the value of ships and merchandise, he proposed to settle as a general merchant at Malta, then the great central magazine whence the Continent of Europe derived its supplies of English and Colonial produce, and the great prize-port into which all captured vessels were brought for adjudication and sale. Already he had acquainted himself with the languages of which Malta was the seat, French, Italian, Greek, and Arabic; and he had every prospect, therefore, of making a speedy and competent fortune. On arriving off the port of Valetta, however, it was found that the plague, which had not been known there for upwards of a century, raged with such violence, as to induce the governor to prohibit the landing of any individuals, and, indeed, to prevent any personal communication with the shore. The cargoes destined for this depôt were accordingly landed, and placed in magazines near the sea, when the ships proceeded to other ports, the one in which he was embarked going to Smyrna. Mr. Buckingham remained there a sufficient period to be a considerable loser by the calamitous events that occurred at Malta, in consequence of the long-continued and devastating pestilence which afflicted that island, and at length proceeded to Egypt, to look around for fresh sources of enterprise. The cordial reception given to him by the British residents there soon obtained him the notice and attention of the Egyptian Pasha, Mohammed Ali, then ruler of that interesting country. He was at this period just beginning to perceive the advantage of encouraging the settlement in Egypt of all persons of skill and capital from every quarter of the globe, for the purpose of improving the resources of his dominion; and, extending his views also to external commerce. Mr. Buckingham had the pleasure of passing many successive evenings in his divan, after all his public officers, excepting only his confidential secretary, were dismissed; and there, with a set of Arrowsmith's charts, which he exhibited to him, explaining the relative positions and productions of various countries, the winds, seasons, monsoons, currents, rocks, shoals, &c., as well as the theory and practice of navigation and hydrography, all of which afforded him such delight, that they often sat together until near the dawn of the following morning; and Mr. Buckingham at length succeeded in having transcribed, upon a duplicate set of Arrowsmith's charts, traced by his own hand for the purpose, all the information of importance, written in the Arabic language and character. One of the undertakings that Mr. Buckingham subsequently proposed to accomplish for the Pasha of Egypt, was the re-opening of the ancient Canal which formerly connected the Red Sea with the Mediterranean, and another was, the transporting across the Desert |