"Five Letters from a Free Merchant in Bengal to Warren Hastings" was a pamphlet published in 1783 from London by Captain Joseph Price. Joseph Price as the title of the pamphlet was a free merchant, who operated alongside the East India Company in India. Joseph Price went to India in 1750, to trade on his own behalf from the Asian ports. Initially based in Bombay, Price later shifted to Calcutta in 1767. Price's trade extended when he took over the business of Richard Gregory another free merchant. Once his fortunes declined, Price returned back to India in 1780 trying to settle with his creditors. It was in Britain that Price made his name as a pamphleteer. Between 1782-83 he published as many as fourteen pamphlets, including "Five Letters from a Free Merchant in Bengal to Warren Hastings". Price came back to Indian in 1784 as marine storekeeper. In 1786 he was promoted to marine paymaster. Price continued his trade till 1793, when he sent back. Price died in 1796.
He writes about Tido's time in "Bussorah", which Wikipedia tells me is Basra, a port city in modern-day Iraq.
A factory, cahn, as you may recall from the Peter bio, "is not a factory as in a place of manufacture, as we use the term today, but a collective of merchants with its own bylaws, hospital, cemetery, chaplain, and chapel."
Here's what Joseph Price has to say about Baron Tido von Knyphausen:
It was a maxim with the Baron, that the Dutch and English factory flags should never fly in sight of each other. But the English were not the rivals of the Dutch at Bussorah. The former had neither sugar nor spice to send there; the latter brought very little else. The Baron's story has been made up since his expulsion: And the Dutch at Batavia, have their ears ever open to believe any disadvantageous story of their rivals in trade. The Baron, who used truth or falshood in his narratives, as best suited his purpose, laid the blame of the treatment he received from the Turkish government, entirely to the account of the English, as with intent to cover the real cause of his expulsion. The truth is this; the Baron was a man of great intrigue, and had a very high opinion of his own abilities in the service of the fair. His vanity often prompted him to boast of favours he never received. It is not easy for a European, and a Christian, in so conspicuous a situation, as that in which the Baron acted at Bussorah, to negociate for himself, in affairs which lead to an intimate intercourse with Mahometan ladies. The law positively forbids such commerce, even with the meanest of the people, and a discovery is very fatal to both parties.
Knyphausen's ambition led him to seek an intimacy with Duchesses and Lady Marys; and the pimps of Bussorah, like their brethren in all other parts of the world, promise Junos, though they deal in clouds. One of those honest men taught the Baron to believe, that the young spouse of a rich old Turkish merchant, sighed for his embraces. Secret passages, trap doors, and every other apparatus of intrigue, was prepared at the Dutch factory. Hush money was in golden showers advanced; and a trained goddess from the public stews, was conducted with great mystery to the Baron's arms. The art of the well taught courtezan, her fine clothes, which had been procured by the Baron's bounty, together with his ignorance in the Turkish and Arabian languages, enabled the pimp and drab to impose on him for some time.
But nothing could secure him from the effects of his own absurd vanity. He puffed of his success so often, and so publicly, that the Cadies Officers got intelligence of the intrigue. The factory was surrounded, and the happy pair taken together. The Baron was confined, the Lady drummed with ignominy round the town, and the Pimp lost his nose and ears. I have several times since seen the miserable mutilated wretch, imploring charity from the passengers in the public way.
Whether the Baron received a bambooing or not, I really do not remember; but I know that the English Resident, interested himself extremely with the government, to prevent so disgraceful and painful an application, to the feet of a national Resident. Be that as it may, it cost the Baron large sums to make the matter up, and obtain his release. He was however, at length discharged, went to Batavia, and had art enough to procure some ships of force, with which he returned to the Gulf of Persia; landed on the Island of Carrack, and sent his ships to block up the entrance to Bussorah River; laid the government under contribution, as well as the foreign merchants; and for a time interrupted the trade of the port; and obtained repayment of the money which had been forced from him, with large premium.
Then Joseph recounts Tido having more adventures in a province formerly belonging to Persia, intriguing, getting involved in coups, etc.
In conclusion, I have no idea what this guy *actually* did, but I think it's safe to conclude that he's not boring! From the guy who wrote those super melodramatic letters, and casually lied to the colonel of his new regiment about being sick*, I'm willing to believe a lot!
* I wouldn't be surprised if he was faking the fever at Breslau, too. I know he says Fritz's personal physician inspected him, but 1) maybe he's lying about that (I'm just going by what my sister would do here), 2) Wilhelmine's memoirs report young Fritz self-inducing the symptoms of a fever, by applying heated-up stones to his skin, I believe.
Anyway, that's all I know about him, but Knyphausen papers I don't have copies of say they have more deets, so once I've got a list of what I want access to, I'll contact the family again and ask for permission, then place an order with the archive. (They have more on Amalia, too!)
It‘s a small 18th century world: was just reading a bit about Warren Hastings‘ trial in the G3 biography. Also Feuchtwanger wrote a drama (as in play) about Warren Hastings, so I know tidbits of his story. Did Price publish these five letters before, during or after the trial?
Anyway, LOL about Tido the wannabe Casanova. I‘m intrigued by the phrasing he sought intimacy „with Duchesses and Lady Marys“ - given „our“ Lady Mary was a prominent figure in her life time and chances are someone interested in the East had read her Embassy Letters, so do you think Price makes an allusion to her here? I mean, not in the sense that Tido was trying to get it on with her, obviously she was dead and had been for many years at that point, in the sense that he uses „Lady Mary“ as a stand in for „English aristocratic lady who travels abroad and writes about it“ because Lady Mary Wortley Montagu was still the most famous Englishwoman wo have done so at this point?
Basra I know mainly from the 1001 nights story where the main character wants to avoid literal Death who waits for him in Basra and asks Haroun Al Rashid for help.
Anyway, it looks like Tido‘s true career should have been that of a pirate….
Did Price publish these five letters before, during or after the trial?
Before: the trial was in 1787.
Lady Mary was a prominent figure in her life time and chances are someone interested in the East had read her Embassy Letters, so do you think Price makes an allusion to her here?
I was wondering about that! It's possible.
I mean, not in the sense that Tido was trying to get it on with her
She was dead when Joseph Price wrote this, but so was Tido (1780). She was alive during Tido's lifetime, and they were even both in northern Italy in the early 1740s! Lady Mary didn't die until 1762, at which point Tido has disappeared (last known-to-us whereabouts in 1744), so who knows where he went and what he did and who he attempted to get it on with. The impression I have is that Basra was one of the earlier places Tido went to, because he had many adventures after that (as described by Price).
Anyway, she wasn't in the Middle East when Tido was there, which is the more relevant point. So yes, I suspect she's become a byword for "lady traveler in the Middle East"!
Anyway, it looks like Tido‘s true career should have been that of a pirate….
Tido is a character. First he satirizes Fritz so effectively he gets arrested, then he escapes, then he wanders Europe trying to get himself killed by having adventures, tries and fails twice to get to America, threatens suicide all over the place, joins the Second Silesian War, ends up somehow in Basra and Jakarta, and either does the things Price says or becomes the kind of person of whom these stories are told!
He doesn't know what dull is! Adrenaline junkie with poor impulse control and poor emotional regulation skills, I say. *g* Never easy to live with, but always fun to read about.
I have this feeling there is a *lot more* about him in the archives, especially if one were willing to dig into envoy reports from the eastern colonies. Not my area, alas*, but maybe if I publish the Keith bio, I can interest someone else in him. I bet a sufficiently dedicated researcher could write a biography of *this* guy. A novel! A screenplay!
* Coming from the same person who said she'd never be able to decipher handwriting, never say never!
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timeasmymeasure
A Knyphausen Abroad
Date: 2025-01-15 10:42 am (UTC)According to this website:
"Five Letters from a Free Merchant in Bengal to Warren Hastings" was a pamphlet published in 1783 from London by Captain Joseph Price. Joseph Price as the title of the pamphlet was a free merchant, who operated alongside the East India Company in India. Joseph Price went to India in 1750, to trade on his own behalf from the Asian ports. Initially based in Bombay, Price later shifted to Calcutta in 1767. Price's trade extended when he took over the business of Richard Gregory another free merchant. Once his fortunes declined, Price returned back to India in 1780 trying to settle with his creditors. It was in Britain that Price made his name as a pamphleteer. Between 1782-83 he published as many as fourteen pamphlets, including "Five Letters from a Free Merchant in Bengal to Warren Hastings". Price came back to Indian in 1784 as marine storekeeper. In 1786 he was promoted to marine paymaster. Price continued his trade till 1793, when he sent back. Price died in 1796.
He writes about Tido's time in "Bussorah", which Wikipedia tells me is Basra, a port city in modern-day Iraq.
A factory,
Here's what Joseph Price has to say about Baron Tido von Knyphausen:
It was a maxim with the Baron, that the Dutch and English factory flags should never fly in sight of each other. But the English were not the rivals of the Dutch at Bussorah. The former had neither sugar nor spice to send there; the latter brought very little else. The Baron's story has been made up since his expulsion: And the Dutch at Batavia, have their ears ever open to believe any disadvantageous story of their rivals in trade. The Baron, who used truth or falshood in his narratives, as best suited his purpose, laid the blame of the treatment he received from the Turkish government, entirely to the account of the English, as with intent to cover the real cause of his expulsion. The truth is this; the Baron was a man of great intrigue, and had a very high opinion of his own abilities in the service of the fair. His vanity often prompted him to boast of favours he never received. It is not easy for a European, and a Christian, in so conspicuous a situation, as that in which the Baron acted at Bussorah, to negociate for himself, in affairs which lead to an intimate intercourse with Mahometan ladies. The law positively forbids such commerce, even with the meanest of the people, and a discovery is very fatal to both parties.
Knyphausen's ambition led him to seek an intimacy with Duchesses and Lady Marys; and the pimps of Bussorah, like their brethren in all other parts of the world, promise Junos, though they deal in clouds. One of those honest men taught the Baron to believe, that the young spouse of a rich old Turkish merchant, sighed for his embraces. Secret passages, trap doors, and every other apparatus of intrigue, was prepared at the Dutch factory. Hush money was in golden showers advanced; and a trained goddess from the public stews, was conducted with great mystery to the Baron's arms. The art of the well taught courtezan, her fine clothes, which had been procured by the Baron's bounty, together with his ignorance in the Turkish and Arabian languages, enabled the pimp and drab to impose on him for some time.
But nothing could secure him from the effects of his own absurd vanity. He puffed of his success so often, and so publicly, that the Cadies Officers got intelligence of the intrigue. The factory was surrounded, and the happy pair taken together. The Baron was confined, the Lady drummed with ignominy round the town, and the Pimp lost his nose and ears. I have several times since seen the miserable mutilated wretch, imploring charity from the passengers in the public way.
Whether the Baron received a bambooing or not, I really do not remember; but I know that the English Resident, interested himself extremely with the government, to prevent so disgraceful and painful an application, to the feet of a national Resident. Be that as it may, it cost the Baron large sums to make the matter up, and obtain his release. He was however, at length discharged, went to Batavia, and had art enough to procure some ships of force, with which he returned to the Gulf of Persia; landed on the Island of Carrack, and sent his ships to block up the entrance to Bussorah River; laid the government under contribution, as well as the foreign merchants; and for a time interrupted the trade of the port; and obtained repayment of the money which had been forced from him, with large premium.
Then Joseph recounts Tido having more adventures in a province formerly belonging to Persia, intriguing, getting involved in coups, etc.
In conclusion, I have no idea what this guy *actually* did, but I think it's safe to conclude that he's not boring! From the guy who wrote those super melodramatic letters, and casually lied to the colonel of his new regiment about being sick*, I'm willing to believe a lot!
* I wouldn't be surprised if he was faking the fever at Breslau, too. I know he says Fritz's personal physician inspected him, but 1) maybe he's lying about that (I'm just going by what my sister would do here), 2) Wilhelmine's memoirs report young Fritz self-inducing the symptoms of a fever, by applying heated-up stones to his skin, I believe.
Anyway, that's all I know about him, but Knyphausen papers I don't have copies of say they have more deets, so once I've got a list of what I want access to, I'll contact the family again and ask for permission, then place an order with the archive. (They have more on Amalia, too!)
Re: A Knyphausen Abroad
Date: 2025-01-16 09:34 am (UTC)Anyway, LOL about Tido the wannabe Casanova. I‘m intrigued by the phrasing he sought intimacy „with Duchesses and Lady Marys“ - given „our“ Lady Mary was a prominent figure in her life time and chances are someone interested in the East had read her Embassy Letters, so do you think Price makes an allusion to her here? I mean, not in the sense that Tido was trying to get it on with her, obviously she was dead and had been for many years at that point, in the sense that he uses „Lady Mary“ as a stand in for „English aristocratic lady who travels abroad and writes about it“ because Lady Mary Wortley Montagu was still the most famous Englishwoman wo have done so at this point?
Basra I know mainly from the 1001 nights story where the main character wants to avoid literal Death who waits for him in Basra and asks Haroun Al Rashid for help.
Anyway, it looks like Tido‘s true career should have been that of a pirate….
Re: A Knyphausen Abroad
Date: 2025-01-16 10:04 am (UTC)Before: the trial was in 1787.
Lady Mary was a prominent figure in her life time and chances are someone interested in the East had read her Embassy Letters, so do you think Price makes an allusion to her here?
I was wondering about that! It's possible.
I mean, not in the sense that Tido was trying to get it on with her
She was dead when Joseph Price wrote this, but so was Tido (1780). She was alive during Tido's lifetime, and they were even both in northern Italy in the early 1740s! Lady Mary didn't die until 1762, at which point Tido has disappeared (last known-to-us whereabouts in 1744), so who knows where he went and what he did and who he attempted to get it on with. The impression I have is that Basra was one of the earlier places Tido went to, because he had many adventures after that (as described by Price).
Anyway, she wasn't in the Middle East when Tido was there, which is the more relevant point. So yes, I suspect she's become a byword for "lady traveler in the Middle East"!
Anyway, it looks like Tido‘s true career should have been that of a pirate….
Tido is a character. First he satirizes Fritz so effectively he gets arrested, then he escapes, then he wanders Europe trying to get himself killed by having adventures, tries and fails twice to get to America, threatens suicide all over the place, joins the Second Silesian War, ends up somehow in Basra and Jakarta, and either does the things Price says or becomes the kind of person of whom these stories are told!
Never a dull moment...
Re: A Knyphausen Abroad
Date: 2025-01-20 05:21 am (UTC)Re: A Knyphausen Abroad
Date: 2025-01-20 05:09 pm (UTC)I have this feeling there is a *lot more* about him in the archives, especially if one were willing to dig into envoy reports from the eastern colonies. Not my area, alas*, but maybe if I publish the Keith bio, I can interest someone else in him. I bet a sufficiently dedicated researcher could write a biography of *this* guy. A novel! A screenplay!
* Coming from the same person who said she'd never be able to decipher handwriting, never say never!