1804. ] Account of the late Mr. Thomas Fyjbe Palmer. 
could give no fupport whatever. Neceffity 
vobliged them to fubmittothe hard termsofiered 
them. They were immediately taken prifon- 
€rs, and a guard put into their fhip. Meffrs, 
Palmer, Eliis, Bofton, Reed, and Harris, fen. 
and jun.-liyed. with. the governor, and were 
treated with hofpitality. During their fay 
dere, which appears to have been: a“year'and 
a halt, Mr. Palmer was feized with a Dyfen- 
tery, a difeafe with which he had been perpe- 
tually aflitted, fince he jeft England, but for 
which he conceived he had difcovered an infal- 
~dible remedy i: cerated glafs of antimony and 
ipecacuanha. Ip a letter:to a friend, in; Lon- 
don, dated Sept. 10,1799, he fays, ‘* I would not 
change my. refidence a week, without thefe 
medicines. — know that Ithould long have 
been dead but for them. IT give from 7 to 1o 
grains of the antimony, and alternately {mall 
dofes of ipecacuanha. Oh, had I known of this 
yemedy at Spithead, what lengthened mifery, and 
wear and-tear Of conititution I fhould have ef- 
caped. Poflibly Gerald and. Skirving might 
mow have been alivei?? Whether Mr. Palmer 
was now without his medicines, or what is 
more propable, whether the frequent attacks of 
the fame diforder had-weakened his conftitution 
to a degrée beyond the power of medicine to 
Fecruit, we have.no information. He lingered 
under the diforder till the beginning of June 
41862, when a mortification took:place, which 
terminated his valuable life, on the fecondday.of 
that month. His effeéts and papers he bequeathed 
to Mr. James bliisywho now refides at.Manilla, 
and with Mr. Bofton, is carrying ona large diftil- 
ery, under the pretection of the Spanifhgovernor. 
Such have been the life, the labours, and the 
duiferings of Mr. Palmer. In. his, youth he 
was dilligent and, affiduous in cultivating his 
mind, and in Jaying up ftores of ufeful learn-, 
ang; in his advancing-years he induttrioufly 
inveitigated the feriptures, and fearlefsly aban- 
doned the road to preierment, for the, fake of 
inculcating the more fimple and unadulterated 
ac@xines which he conceived. were-taught in 
the Old and New Teflament, Asa preacher; 
jhe was zealous in feafon; and out of feafon, he 
felt the importance of right principles, and was 
Aefirous that others fhould fee! the lame. When 
tornfrom his country, and doomed to exile, his 
eongregation grieved for him as for.a father ; 
they feit for his fufferings, and wept that they 
could render him no effectual fervice. ‘* We 
mourn,’’ fay they, in an addrefs fent to him, 
while in the Stanilaus hulk, at Woolwich, 
** your abfence, but while we have no dowbt of 
being remembered by youin your prayers, you 
Shall not be forgotten in ours. In the mean 
time, we moft tervently pray that the God and 
Father of all, whofe mercies are not confined 
go profperous filuations, may impart to yeu dis 
$5 
pow 
vine confolations, that if your heart and fieth 
fhould at any time-be apt: tofail, he may be 
your never failing fupport, and that you may 
be enabled ever to exercife fuch a lively faith im 
him, and in the gofpel of his Son, as with 
truly pious ardour, to anticipate’ that» future 
inconceivable joy, which affurediy fhall be the 
portion of thofe who have come out of great 
tribulation.’? The conicioufnefs of rectitude, 
and the animating hope of futurity, gave to the 
mind of Mr. Palmer patience and dignity in 
the midft of all his fufferings. Chrittianity was 
his fupport, and the perfuafion that there is an 
- 
Almighty Providence, who directs ali for good, _ 
and who out of apparent evi] can educe impor- 
tant advantages to his rational offspring, never 
feems to haye left him 3 in a letter toone whom 
he honoured with the title of friend, and whe 
at this: period, glories’ in the facred title, he 
writes from: New. Holland; ‘* — am: much 
obliged to you and my friends, for the anxiety 
you took in my welfare, when you learned the 
danger wasin, 1 do affure you, we paid you 
in coin, when we heard of your imprifonment.*: 
I bow in homage to the Great Being of the 
Univerfe (for Tam ftill a Chrittian) for your 
prefervation, and truft that a life fo replete 
with benevolence, and marked by principle, will 
be preferved for {till greater ufefulnefs.?? The 
ways of heaven are inferutable: in all pat 
ages, to effect important changes in the world, 
fome of the wifeft and moft virtuous of our race 
have frequently been facrificed inthe wantonnefs 
of power, by: perfons the moft profligate and 
abandoned. Such was the fate of a Cornifh, a 
Lifl-, aSidsey, anda Ruffel, who perifhed on 
a feaffold, But a future, and indeed no very 
diftant period, reverfed their fentences, and 
thofe who had died as criminals, have, in every 
fucceeding age been regarded as martyrs, in 
the facred caule of liberty. if the world has 
been deprived of the brilliant and commanding 
eloquence of a Gerald; of the profound talents 
of a Murr; of the honeit enthufiafm of a Skirs 
ving, and of the unimpeached honour and in- 
-tegrity of Thomas Fythe Palmer, yet the time 
may poflibly comet, when tle judgment of 
their fudges {hall be rejudged, and when hiftory 
and the records of this kingdom, fhall give them 
an honourable place among thofe who have fa- 
erificed at the fhrine of their country’s happis 
nefs, their worldly interefts, their perfonal 
freedom, and their lives: ] 
* Alluding to the ftate trials, in 1794. 
+ For the ground of this conjecture, fee a 
Proteft entered on the journals ofthe Houfe of 
Lords, Die Veneris, 31 January, i794, 
PROVINCIAL 
