Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/724

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704 JUDSON all the other white foreigners, and loaded with chains. Mrs. Judson was kept a prisoner in her own house, under the guard of ten ruffian- ly men ; but on the third day a message to the governor of the city, expressing a desire to ap- pear before him with a present, resulted in an order for her release. Further gifts secured the promise of an amelioration of her husband's sufferings, and permission to visit him in pris- on ; and by the same means all the prisoners were delivered from their suffocating confine- ment, and placed in an open shed within the prison enclosure. Hither she sent food and mats for them all, commencing those angelic ministries to the sufferers which have rendered her name immortal. Seven months thus passed away, during which she employed her time in devising and executing measures for the comfort of the prisoners, and especially for the release of her husband, scarcely a day passing in which she did not visit some member of the govern- ment, or some branch of the royal family ; with no other effect, however, than that she and the objects of her solicitude were kept from despair by the encouraging promises of a capricious court. New miseries were still in store. The hot season had arrived, and the sufferings of the prisoners had become intolerable. The birth of a child suspended for a brief period these ministries of Mrs. Judson. Twenty days after this event she was again at the prison, and again in the presence of the governor pleading for ameliorations. Returning to the prison from an interview which the governor had requested, she found the white prisoners all removed. She learned from an old woman that they had gone toward Amarapura, the old capital, distant six miles. She obtained a passport, and set off for Amarapura, where she learned that the prisoners had just left for Oungponla. Here she found them, chained two and two, and almost dead from fatigue and suffering. They spent the next six months at this place, subjected to continual oppression and extortion. The king was at length forced to ask conditions of peace of the British, and in February, 1826, Mr. and Mrs. Judson were released through the demand of Gen. Sir Archi- bald Campbell. Descending the river to the territories ceded by the Burman government to the English, they commenced missionary operations at Amherst, a new town designed to be the British capital. Scarcely, however, were they fixed in this abode, when urgent overtures were made to Dr. Judson to accom- pany an embassy to Ava, to negotiate a new treaty. In the hope that an article providing for religious toleration might be incorporated, he yielded to the wishes of the commissioner, and parted with Mrs. Judson on July 5, never to see her more. Her constitution, broken by the intense sufferings and cares of the long imprisonment, yielded to an attack of fever, and she died after 18 days' illness. Returning to Amherst, Dr. Judson applied himself with diligence to missionary labors. The number of native converts was increased, many new missionaries arrived, and new branches of the mission were established, that among the Karens starting at once into importance as among the most successful of modern times. Dr. Judson was chiefly employed in the transla- tion and revision of the Scriptures, and in the preparation of a Burmese-English dictionary. In January, 1834, he completed the translation of the Bible. In April of the same year he married Mrs. Sarah II. Boardman, widow of a missionary, the Rev. George Dana Boardman. For eleven years he continued his missionary labors, to a large degree Biblical and philo- logical, till 1845, when the failing health of his wife compelled a voyage to the United States. Mrs. Judson died in the harbor of St. Helena, Sept. 1, and was buried on that island. Dr. Judson arrived at Boston, Oct. 15. The emotion excited by his return spread over the whole country, and was shared by every de- nomination of Christians. He was received with distinguished marks of respect and ven- eration by public meetings in many chief cities and towns of the United States, and especial- ly by his Baptist brethren assembled in their missionary conventions at New York and Richmond. On July 11, 1846, he reembarked for Burmah, having married Miss Emily Chub- buck. Arriving at Maulmain in December, he resumed his work with ardor, assuming the pastorship of the Burman church, and carry- ing forward the dictionary on which he had been so long engaged. In the autumn of 1849 a severe cold, followed by a fever, withdrew him from his work. His disease refused to yield to remedies, and on April 3, 1830, he left his wife in a state of health which forbade her accompanying him, and departed with a single attendant f or.the isle of Bourbon. He suffered much while descending the river, but rallied for a time on the open sea. On April 12 he sank quietly to rest, and was buried in the ocean. The Burmese and English dictionary, on which he was engaged at the time of his death, was compiled from his papers by E. A. Stevens and printed at Maulmain in 1852. A memoir of his life was written by the Rev. Francis Wayland, D. D. (2 vols. 12mo, Boston, 1853). See also a memoir by J. Clem- ent (12mo, Auburn, N. Y., 1852) ; " Records of his Life, Character, and Achievements," by the Rev. D. T. Middleditch (12mo, New York, 1854); and "The Earnest Man: a Sketch of the Character and Labors of the Rev. Ado- niram Judson," by Mrs. II. C. Conant (8vo, Boston, 1856). II. Ann Hasseltine, first wife of the preceding, daughter of John and Rebecca Ilasseltine, born in Bradford, Mass., Dec. 22, 1789, died at Amherst, Burmah, Oct. 24, 1826. She was educated at the academy of her na- tive town. Her mind was well disciplined, and her acquisitions were unusually large. Mr. Jud- son's acquaintance with her commenced in 1810, and resulted in an invitation to share with him the responsibilities and perils of mis-