A few days before I was taken prisoner I shifted my clothes, by which I happened to be taken in a Canadian dress, viz., a short fawn-skin jacket, double breasted, an undervest and breeches of sagathy, worsted stockings, a decent pair of shoes, two plain shirts, and a red worsted cap; this was all the clothing I had, in which I made my appearance in England.
When the prisoners were landed, multitudes of the citizens of Falmouth, excited by curiosity, crowded to see us, which was equally gratifying to us. I saw numbers on the house tops and the rising adjacent grounds were covered with them, of both sexes. The throng was so great, that the king's officers were obliged to draw their swords, and force a passage to Pendennis castle, which was near a mile from the town, where we were closely confined, in consequence of orders from General Carleton, who then commanded in Canada.
[CHAPTER XII.]
LIFE IN PENDENNIS CASTLE.—LORD NORTH.—ON BOARD THE "SOLEBAY."—ATTENTIONS RECEIVED IN IRELAND AND MADEIRA.
The rascally Brook Watson then set out for London in great haste, expecting the reward of his zeal; but the ministry received him, as I have been since informed, rather coolly; but the minority in parliament took advantage, arguing that the opposition of America to Great Britain was not a rebellion. If it is, say they, why do you not execute Colonel Allen according to law? but the majority argued that I ought to be executed, and that the opposition was really a rebellion, but that policy obliged them not to do it, inasmuch as the congress had then most prisoners in their power; so that my being sent to England, for the purpose of being executed, and necessity restraining them, was rather a foil on their laws and authority, and they consequently disapproved of my being sent thither. But I had never heard the least hint of those debates in parliament, or of the working of their policy, until some time after I left England.
Consequently the reader will readily conceive I was anxious about my preservation, knowing that I was in the power of a haughty and cruel nation considered as such. Therefore, the first proposition which I determined in my own mind was, that humanity and moral suasion would not be consulted in the determining of my fate; and those that daily came in great numbers out of curiosity to see me, both gentle and simple, united in this, that I would be hanged. A gentleman from America, by the name of Temple, and who was friendly to me, just whispered to me in the ear, and told me that bets were laid in London, that I would be executed; he likewise privately gave me a guinea, but durst say but little to me.
However, agreeably to my first negative proposition, that moral virtue would not influence my destiny, I had recourse to stratagem, which I was in hopes would move in the circle of their policy. I requested of the commander of the castle, the privilege of writing to congress, who, after consulting with an officer that lived in town, of a superior rank, permitted me to write. I wrote in the fore part of the letter, a short narrative of my ill-treatment; but withal let them know that, though I was treated as a criminal in England, and continued in irons, together with those taken with me, yet it was, in consequence of the orders which the commander of the castle received from General Carleton, and therefore desired congress to desist from matters of retaliation, until they should know the result of the government in England respecting their treatment toward me, and the prisoners with me, and govern themselves accordingly, with a particular request that, if retaliation should be found necessary, it might be exercised not according to the smallness of my character in America, but in proportion to the importance of the cause for which I suffered. This is, according to my present recollection, the substance of the letter inscribed: "To the illustrious Continental Congress." This letter was written with the view that it should be sent to the ministry at London, rather than to congress, with a design to intimidate the haughty English government, and screen my neck from the halter.
The next day the officer, from whom I obtained license to write, came to see me and frowned on me on account of the impudence of the letter, as he phrased it, and further added, "Do you think that we are fools in England, and would send your letter to congress, with instructions to retaliate on our own people? I have sent your letter to Lord North." This gave me inward satisfaction, though I carefully concealed it with a pretended resentment, for I found that I had come Yankee over him, and that the letter had gone to the identical person I designed it for. Nor do I know to this day, but that it had the desired effect, though I have not heard anything of the letter since.