MR. MASSON'S TREATMENT AT QUETTA. TO THE EDITOR OF THE
SPECTATOR.
Guernsey, 10th March 1843.
SIR—Having observed in your columns an article under the head of " Mas- son's Adventures in Balochistan," in which allusion is made to my conduct towards that person when at Quetta, as " inhuman" and "harsh is the ex- treme," in justice to myself I feel it necessary to put you in possession of the following facts.
From what is set forth in the artiee alluded to, the reader would doubtlessly be led to infer from the terms used by Mr. MASSON of "confinement," " in- carceration " and "an armed guard of troopers, and ehapprassis" placed over him, that he really bad been in close and rigid confinement : but bow widely different will it appear when the public are informed that Mr. MASSON, on his arrival at Quetta, was received by me with courtesy, and refreshment immediately provided him ? After which, he left my quarters in company with the late Lieutenant BAMMERSLEY, and proceeded to the camp, where he was regaled at one of the regimental messes, and slept that night in Lieutenant HAIUMERSLEY'S tent. The following morning, Mr. MASSON was provided with the best available accommodation in the town, and was perfectly at liberty to go out and in at pleasure; and the guard of "armed troopers" were merely two Chupprassees attached to the Agency, who were directed to be in attendance on Mr. MassoN to provide whatever he required, and to make daily report to me. The Rawul (or head parson of the Bazaar) was similarly in- structed.
It is well-known that every Chupprassee in that country was armed, and the two in question possessed each a pony ; and these Mr. Masson, in his lively imagination, has magnified into a guard of orated troopers. To show further that I was disposed to accommodate Mr. MASSON as far as lay in my power with regard to his personal comfort, I furnished him with table, chair, and breakfast-utensils ; which he did not hesitate to make use of. Why, then, he should have "scorned" to have made me acquainted with the badness and scantiness of the provisions furnished him, can only be attributable to a desire to try and establish some ground for complaint against me. But would it not have said more for his integrity had he made me acquainted with the circumstance, rather than have descended to do what he acknowledges to have done ? But that would have frustrated his ungenerous motive. It might also be inferred, that the loan of one hundred rupees had been tendered by the late Lieutenant HAMMERSLEY as hush-money on the occasion referred to : whereas I have every reason to believe, that an advance to that amount was solicited by Mr. MASSON from the Treasury until a bill which Mr. MAS- SON expected should arrive; the advance was unhesitatingly granted, and in due course was adjusted by bill on the Treasury. These facts, to which I pledge myself, will enable the public to judge of the extent of credit that may be placed in Mr. MASSoN'S assertions ; and the vindictive style in which the whole pro- duction in question is couched will be sufficient in itself to condemn it.
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