Lefort, on parole at Tiverton, was allowed to go to France on parole because of his kindly treatment of the wounded prisoners on the Hannibal (which, after a heroic resistance, ran aground in 1801 at Algeciras and was captured).
In 1813 Captain Collins of H.M.S. Surveillante successfully obtained the unconditional release of Captain Loysel because of the splendid manner in which the latter had risked his life in protecting two British officers, who were wounded in the unsuccessful first attack on San Sebastian, from being killed by some drunken or infuriated French soldiers.
A French marine officer named Michael Coie, a prisoner on parole, died at Andover, November 9, 1813. It happened that the 2nd battalion, 5th Regiment was halting on the march in the town, and the commanding officer, Captain Boyle, at once offered to attend the funeral, with the battalion, the regimental band at the head. This was done, all the French officers in Andover being present. The act of grace was much appreciated by the prisoners.
So also when General Rufin—a great favourite of Bonaparte, captured at Barossa in 1811—died in the May of that year on his passage to England, his body was interred in the Garrison Chapel at Portsmouth, with every rank of honour and distinction, minute guns, flags half-mast high, and three rounds of nine pieces of cannon at the close.
In 1814, an officer on parole at Oswestry was liberated for having rescued an infant from the paws of a lion.
The following is pleasing reading:
General Barraguay-Hilliers, who with his suite was captured in the Sensible by H.M.S. Seahorse in June 1798, arrived at Portsmouth in August, and on the very day after his arrival was allowed to go on parole to France with his aides-de-camp, Lamotte and Vallie. But before they could get out of England an amusing incident occurred which afforded an English gentleman an opportunity for displaying a graceful courtesy. The officers reached Lewes en route for Dover, where they hoped to get a neutral vessel to France, but, as Brighton races were on, not for love or money could they get a conveyance to carry them on their journey. None of them could speak English; they were not allowed by the terms of their parole to go to London, which they might have done by mail-coach, so they resolved to send their baggage on by cart, and themselves proceed on foot. Sir John Shelley of Maresfield Park heard of their predicament, and at once sent carriages to take them on to Dover.
It is also pleasant to read that at Tiverton the French officers on parole there, with scarcely an exception, conducted themselves in such a way as to win the esteem and regard of their hosts, and in many cases lasting friendships were formed with them. After the establishment of Peace in 1815, some, rather than return to France, remained. Among these was M. Alexandre de la Motte, who lived at Tiverton, acquired property there, and gained much respect as French master at Blundell’s School.
That so gregarious a race as the French should form clubs and associations for social purposes among themselves in all circumstances can be readily understood, and in almost every parole town some such institution existed, and in no small degree contributed to the enlivenment of local social life. There were also no less than twenty-five lodges and chapters of Freemasons in England, and others in Scotland. Still, the Government, from politic motives, warned their Agents to keep these institutions under observation, and were disposed to regard with suspicion such clubs as the ‘Des Amis Réunis’ at Ashburton and Plymouth, the ‘Enfants de Mars et de Neptune’ at Abergavenny and Tiverton, and others of like character, as being institutions for the fomentation sub rosâ of agitation and disaffection. For the same reasons all amusements which gathered crowds were discouraged among the prisoners.