244 
The friends of Benyowsky have represented him as 
possessing bravery, prudence, resolution, perseverance, 
humanity, penetration, and strength of mind. His 
enemies, on the contrary, declare him to be ambi¬ 
tious, haughty, tyrannical, cruel, ignorant, unjust, 
extravagant; let us see how far the latter opinion is 
borne out by facts. 
His ambition we will not dispute; but it was not 
excited until he considered himself deserted by the 
French government; and then can scarcely be said 
to have been ill directed, or to have betrayed him into 
any measures inconsistent with the welfare of France, 
until he found they were determined to oppose him, 
and even to aim at his life. 
That he was haughty, too, we are not much dis¬ 
posed to deny. Descended from a family of high 
rank, and in a country where the nobility are looked 
up to with great respect, he naturally partook of the 
reserve which such circumstances are calculated to 
produce; and his rank in the army did not tend 
to lessen it. Notwithstanding this, we do not 
find it carried by him to such a length as to ren¬ 
der him an object of hatred or dislike to his officers 
or soldiers. On the contrary, we see them strongly 
attached to him, and ready to forego every engage¬ 
ment, and submit to every sacrifice to promote his 
views. 
His tyranny was of a very extraordinary descrip¬ 
tion; for, after it had enabled him to overcome 
the prejudices excited in the minds of the natives 
