A Voyage to the Moon

by George Tucker

  APPEAL TO THE PUBLIC.

  Having, by a train of fortunate circumstances, accomplished a voyage, ofwhich the history of mankind affords no example; having, moreover, exertedevery faculty of body and mind, to make my adventures useful to mycountrymen, and even to mankind, by imparting to them the acquisitionof secrets in physics and morals, of which they had not formed thefaintest conception,--I flattered myself that both in the characterof traveller and public benefactor, I had earned for myself an immortalname. But how these fond, these justifiable hopes have been answered,the following narrative will show.

  On my return to this my native State, as soon as it was noised abroadthat I had met with extraordinary adventures, and made a most wonderfulvoyage, crowds of people pressed eagerly to see me. I at first met theirinquiries with a cautious silence, which, however, but sharpened theircuriosity. At length I was visited by a near relation, with whom I feltless disposed to reserve. With friendly solicitude he inquired "how muchI had made by my voyage;" and when he was informed that, although I hadadded to my knowledge, I had not improved my fortune, he stared at me awhile, and remarking that he had business at the Bank, as well as anappointment on 'Change, suddenly took his leave. After this, I was notmuch interrupted by the tribe of inquisitive idlers, but was visitedprincipally by a few men of science, who wished to learn what I couldadd to their knowledge of nature. To this class I was more communicative;and when I severally informed them that I had actually been to theMoon, some of them shrugged their shoulders, others laughed in my face,and some were angry at my supposed attempt to deceive them; but all,with a single exception, were incredulous.

  It was to no purpose that I appealed to my former character for veracity.I was answered, that travelling had changed my morals, as it had changedother people's. I asked what motives I could have for attempting todeceive them. They replied, the love of distinction--the vanity of beingthought to have seen what had been seen by no other mortal; and theytriumphantly asked me in turn, what motives Raleigh, and Riley, andHunter, and a hundred other travellers, had for their misrepresentations.Finding argument thus unavailing, I produced visible and tangible proofsof the truth of my narrative. I showed them a specimen of moonstone.They asserted that it was of the same character as those meteoric stoneswhich had been found in every part of the world, and that I had merelyprocured a piece of one of these for the purpose of deception. I thenexhibited some of what I considered my most curious Lunar plants: butthis made the matter worse; for it so happened, that similar ones werethen cultivated in Mr. Prince's garden at Flushing. I next producedsome rare insects, and feathers of singular birds: but persons werefound who had either seen, or read, or heard of similar insects andbirds in Hoo-Choo, or Paraguay, or Prince of Wales's Island. In short,having made up their minds that what I said was not true, they had ananswer ready for all that I could urge in support of my character; andthose who judged most christianly, defended my veracity at the expenseof my understanding, and ascribed my conduct to partial insanity.

  There was, indeed, a short suspension to this cruel distrust. An oldfriend coming to see me one day, and admiring a beautiful crystal whichI had brought from the Moon, insisted on showing it to a jeweller, whosaid that it was an unusually hard stone, and that if it were a diamond,it would be worth upwards of 150,000 dollars. I know not whether themistake that ensued proceeded from my friend, who is something of a wag,or from one of the lads in the jeweller's shop, who, hearing a part ofwhat his master had said, misapprehended the rest; but so it was, thatthe next day I had more visiters than ever, and among them my kinsman,who was kind enough to stay with me, as if he enjoyed my good fortune,until both the Exchange and the Banks were closed. On the same day,the following paragraph appeared in one of the morning prints:

  "We understand that our enterprising and intelligent traveller, JOSEPH ATTERLEY, Esquire, has brought from his Lunar Expedition, a diamond of extraordinary size and lustre. Several of the most experienced jewellers of this city have estimated it at from 250,000 to 300,000 dollars; and some have gone so far as to say it would be cheap at half a million. We have the authority of a near relative of that gentleman for asserting, that the satisfactory testimonials which he possesses of the correctness of his narrative, are sufficient to satisfy the most incredulous, and to silence malignity itself."

  But this gleam of sunshine soon passed away. Two days afterwards, anotherparagraph appeared in the same paper, in these words:

  "We are credibly informed, that the supposed diamond of the _famous_ traveller to the Moon, turns out to be one of those which are found on Diamond Island, in Lake George. We have heard that Mr. A----y means to favour the public with an account of his travels, under the title of 'Lunarian Adventures;' but we would take the liberty of recommending, that for _Lunarian_, he substitute _Lunatic_."

  Thus disappointed in my expectations, and assailed in my character,what could I do but appeal to an impartial public, by giving them acircumstantial detail of what was most memorable in my adventures, thatthey might judge, from intrinsic evidence, whether I was deficient eitherin soundness of understanding or of moral principle? But let me firstbespeak their candour, and a salutary diffidence of themselves, by oneor two well-authenticated anecdotes.

  During the reign of Louis the XIVth, the king of Siam having receivedan ambassador from that monarch, was accustomed to hear, with wonderand delight, the foreigner's descriptions of his own country: but theminister having one day mentioned, that in France, water, at one timeof the year, became a solid substance, the Siamese prince indignantlyexclaimed,--"Hold, sir! I have listened to the strange things you havetold me, and have hitherto believed them all; but now when you wish topersuade me that water, which I know as well as you, can become hard, Isee that your purpose is to deceive me, and I do not believe a word youhave uttered."

  But as the present patriotic preference for home-bred manufactures, mayextend to anecdotes as well as to other productions, a story of domesticorigin may have more weight with most of my readers, than one introducedfrom abroad.

  The chief of a party of Indians, who had visited Washington duringMr. Jefferson's presidency, having, on his return home, assembled histribe, gave them a detail of his adventures; and dwelling particularlyupon the courteous treatment the party had received from their "GreatFather," stated, among other things, that he had given them ice, thoughit was then mid-summer. His countrymen, not having the vivacity of ourladies, listened in silence till he had ended, when an aged chief steppedforth, and remarked that he too, when a young man, had visited theirGreat Father Washington, in New-York, who had received him as a son, andtreated him with all the delicacies that his country afforded, but hadgiven him no ice. "Now," added the orator, "if any man in the world couldhave made ice in the summer, it was Washington; and if he could have madeit, I am sure he would have given it to me. Tustanaggee is, therefore, aliar, and not to be believed."

  In both these cases, though the argument seemed fair, the conclusion wasfalse; for had either the king or the chief taken the trouble to satisfyhimself of the fact, he might have found that his limited experience haddeceived him.

  It is unquestionably true, that if travellers sometimes impose on thecredulity of mankind, they are often also not believed when they speakthe truth. Credulity and scepticism are indeed but different names forthe same hasty judgment on insufficient evidence: and, as the old womanreadily assented that there might be "mountains of sugar and riversof rum," because she had seen them both, but that there were "fishwhich could fly," she never would believe; so thousands give creditto Redheiffer's patented discovery of perpetual motion, because theyhad beheld his machine, and question the existence of the sea-serpent,because they have not seen it.

  I would respectfully remind that class of my readers, who, like theking, the Indian, or the old woman, refuse to credit any thing whichcontradicts the narrow limits of their own observation, that there are"more secrets in nature than are dreamt of in their
philosophy;" andthat upon their own principles, before they have a right to condemn me,they should go or send to the mountains of Ava, for some of the metalwith which I made my venturous experiment, and make one for themselves.

  As to those who do not call in question my veracity, but only doubt mysanity, I fearlessly appeal from their unkind judgment to the sober andunprejudiced part of mankind, whether, what I have stated in the followingpages, is not consonant with truth and nature, and whether they do notthere see, faithfully reflected from the Moon, the errors of the learnedon Earth, and "the follies of the wise?"

  JOSEPH ATTERLEY.

  _Long-Island, September_, 1827.