How I shall be able to procure money for bills on London, during my probable term of residence in this country, is not the smallest of my inquietudes. I have hinted the difficulty to Captain Le Franq; but from his real or assumed ignorance, one might be led to suppose, that paper-money had always been the only currency of France. The little cash I had by me, I took care to secure in my pocket, which escaped unsearched. It is, however, very inadequate to administer to my wants, stripped as I am almost to my last shirt. Small as it is, something like an attack was made upon it just now. An old militaire, who is captain of the troops on board, came to me, and, with many professions of esteem, offered to serve me, by giving me, in exchange for English guineas, twenty-four livres in paper, each; assuring me that I should subject myself to disagreeable consequences, by offering to purchase with gold, when I might land. He brought the assignats in his hand to tempt me: but I begged leave, with a profusion of compliments, to decline this courteous proposal. Surely gold and assignats cannot be deemed by all Frenchmen of equal value! Nous verrons! At present all is mystery to me.—This said captain has a son on board, a fine youth, who is a corporal in his father’s company.
Admiral Bligh is gone on shore to-day with the French captain, in order to be taken before the representatives on mission here. He will probably gain some intelligence of what we are destined to, and we expect his return with impatience. We are too well acquainted with his feelings and sentiments, to doubt that he will hesitate to sacrifice even his own personal comforts to promote ours, and to prevent our being separated from him.
Upon surrendering our swords we were given to understand, that they should be restored to us, agreeably to the usages of war among civilized nations, but nothing has been lately said of this restitution; and the French officers, on being asked about it, only shake their heads, and plead ignorance.—How unlike the polished generality which once distinguished Frenchmen towards enemies, who, in submitting to the imperious necessity of war, yielded up arms without a stain!—— Adieu!
LETTER II.
Normandie, prison-ship, in
Brest-Water, 1st Dec. 1794.
I MUST continue to write on to you, as if I had the means of regularly transmitting my letters. In the horrid dungeon in which I am now immured, it forms my only consolation to talk to you, although you cannot hear me; and to complain to you, although you cannot succour me.
Two days after the date of my first letter, we were all, except Admiral Bligh, sent from Le Marat, on board this prison-ship. Such a change did not much surprize us; for the reception which the Admiral experienced from the representatives, was so cold and mysterious, as to afford neither intelligence nor consolation; and Le Franq, who was his introducer and interpreter, affected utter ignorance of their intentions towards us.
Our situation here is extremely irksome. The captain of the vessel and his lieutenants are men of ferocious manners and brutal behaviour, high-flying patriots, whose supreme delight consists in blaspheming all revealed religion, and in abusing the English nation. In the day-time we have nominally the liberty of walking upon the deck; but this privilege is frequently so curtailed, by the caprices of our gaolers, as to amount almost to a prohibition. At night we are crowded into a small cabin, and hardly allowed light enough to undress ourselves by. Luckily, however, I have recovered my mattress and a couple of blankets. We eat with the officers of the ship, who are allowed a traitement, or table-money, of three livres six sols a day, besides a ration of provisions, for each of us; so that the fault does not seem to be imputable to the government. But either the markets of Brest are extravagantly dear, or these patriotic gentlemen make an advantage of us; for hardly a day passes in which we have a sufficiency of any thing but coarse brown, or rather black, bread, so full of sandy particles as to be almost uneatable. Our breakfast at first was bread and butter, and a small red wine; but of late the butter has been taken away, and either Newfoundland salt-fish, or salt herrings, substituted in its place. These, indeed, are petty grievances, which would be easily tolerated, were they not incessantly aggravated by the disagreeable tempers, and debased sentiments, of those with whom we are obliged to live and converse. We are surrounded by American vessels, but cannot hold with any of them the smallest communication. A hope of hearing from England, or of conveying aught to it, must not be indulged. We have been told, that if we choose to venture the experiment of sending open letters by the post through Switzerland, we may do it; but that they must be first taken to the representatives, who will order them to be read, and forward them, if they contain information of a private nature only. This precaution is reasonable enough; but I have been assured by an officer of the ship, who is in a civil capacity, that I may spare myself the trouble of sending any, for that to his knowledge they are always thrown aside, and forgotten, in the office to which they are carried. The number of prisoners on board is about four hundred, nearly all of whom are English; and three more vessels appropriated to a similar use, which also seem quite full, are moored close to us. On the return of some frigates from a cruize, a few days since, we received an accession to our number which surprized me:—twenty emigrants—who for the crime of being Englishmen were taken out of an American ship at sea, after which the vessel was suffered to proceed on her voyage to Philadelphia, and the rest of the cargo remained unmolested.
I find that I acted prudently in not parting with my guineas. Since I have been here, my brother-officer from Le Marat has honoured me by a second visit, and offered thirty livres for a guinea, pointing out one of the serjeants of the guard, through whom the business might at any time be transacted. I again begged permission to decline this benevolent gentleman’s proposal, and also two others of a similar tendency, which were made to me here. Nor did the event deceive my expectation; for to-day a little Jew, who mounts a cockade, and belongs to a frigate in the harbour, came on board, and secretly gave me two hundred and fifty livres for five guineas, declaring it to be the market price on shore. What think you of these specimens of republican honour and delicacy to children of misfortune, like us? I was so transported by indignation at those who had thus endeavoured to cheat me, that I could not help asking them, on their attempting to renew the subject, if the law did not forbid the depreciation of paper, when bartered for gold. This regulation, they pretend, relates to French gold only. To exchange a louis for more than its nominal value in assignats were criminal: but mark the curious distinction! An English guinea, and a Portugueze johannes, are articles of merchandize, whose worth depends on the election of the buyer. Well! I have yet four English guineas left! Let me look at them! Oh “ye ever-young, loved, and delicate wooers! whose blush doth thaw the consecrated snow on Dian’s lap,”—and before whom even the sternness of modern republican virtue melts into thin air,—tenaciously will I treasure ye up!——Adieu!