the newspapers of our forefathers during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries contained very many advertisements like the two following. the first is from the western flying post, of 1756, dated from launceston, and offering two guineas reward for two officers, who had broken their parole, and were thus described:
‘one, mons. barbier, a short man, somewhat pock-marked, and has a very dejected look, and wore a snuff-coloured coat; the other, mons. beth, a middle-aged man, very strongly set, wore his own hair and a blue coat. the former speaks no english, but the latter very well. they were both last seen near exeter, riding to that city.’
the second is from the london observer of april 21, 1811:
breach of parole of honour.—transport office, april 12, 1811.
‘whereas the two french officers, prisoners of war, named and described at the foot hereof, have absconded from chesterfield in violation of their parole of honour; the commissioners for conducting his majesty’s transport service, etc., do hereby offer a reward of five guineas for the recapture of each of the said prisoners, to any person or persons who shall apprehend them, and deliver them at this office, or otherwise cause them to be safely lodged in any of the public gaols. joseph exelman, general of brigade, age 36, 5 feet 11? inches high, stout, oval visage, fresh complexion, light brown hair, blue eyes, strong features.
‘auguste de la grange, colonel, age 30, 6 feet high, stout, round visage, fair complexion, brown hair, dark eyes, no mark in particular.’
excelmans was one of bonaparte’s favourites. he and de la grange induced jonas lawton, an assistant to doctor john elam, the surgeon at chesterfield, to make the necessary 377arrangements for escape, and to accompany them. they left chesterfield concealed in a covered cart, and safely reached paris. here lawton was liberally rewarded, and provided with a good post as surgeon in a hospital, and retained the position long after the conclusion of peace.
merely escaping from the parole town did not become frequent until it was found necessary to abolish virtually the other method of returning to france which we allowed. by this, an officer on parole upon signing a declaration to the effect that unless he was exchanged for a british officer of similar rank by a certain date he would return to england on that date, was allowed to go to france, engaging, of course, not to serve against us. but when it became not a frequent but a universal rule among french officers to break their honour and actually to serve against us during their permitted absence, the government was obliged to refuse all applications, with the result that to escape from the parole town became such a general practice as to call into existence that profession of escape-aiding which was dealt with in the last chapter.
the case of captain jurien, now to be mentioned, is neither better nor worse than scores of others.
on december 10, 1803, the transport office wrote to him in paris:
‘as the time allowed for your absence from this kingdom expired on november 22nd, and as captain brenton, r.n., now a prisoner of war in france, has not been released in exchange for you agreeably to our proposal, you are hereby required to return to this country according to the terms of your parole agreement.’
but on march 16, 1804, jurien had not returned. one result was that when a colonel neraud applied to be sent to france upon his giving his word to have a british officer exchanged for him, the transport office reminded him that jurien had been released on parole, august 22, 1803, on the promise that he would return in three months, if not exchanged for captain brenton, and that seven months had passed and he was still away. they added that the french government had not released one british officer in return for 500 french, who had been sent on parole to france, some of whom, furthermore, in 378violation of their parole, were in arms against britain. ‘hence your detention is entirely owing to the action of your own government.’
as time went on, and jurien and the others did not return, the transport office, weary of replying to the frequent applications of french officers to go to france on parole, at last ceased to do so, with the result that attempted escapes from parole places became frequent.
at the same time it must not be understood that laxity of honour as regards parole obligation of this kind was universal. when in 1809 the transport office, in reply to a request by general lefebvre to be allowed to go to france on parole, said that they could not accede inasmuch as no french officer thus privileged had been allowed to return, they italicized the word ‘allowed’, and cited the case of general frescinet, ‘who made most earnest but ineffectual intreaty to be allowed to fulfil the parole d’honneur’ he had entered into, by returning to this country.
thame seems to have been a particularly turbulent parole town, and one from which escapes were more than usually numerous. one case was peculiar. four prisoners who had been recaptured after getting away justified their attempt by accusing smith, the agent, of ill-behaviour towards them. whereupon the other prisoners at thame, among them villaret-joyeuse, testified against them, and in favour of smith.
the experiences of baron le jeune are among the most interesting, and his case is peculiar inasmuch as although he was nominally a prisoner on parole, he was not so in fact, so that his escape involved no breach. in 1811 he was taken prisoner by spanish brigands, who delivered him to the english garrison at merida. here he was treated as a guest by major-general sir william lumley and the officers, and when he sailed for england on h.m.s. thetis he had a state-cabin, and was regarded as a distinguished passenger. on arriving at portsmouth his anxiety was as to whether the hulks were to be his fate. ‘and our uneasiness increased’, he writes in the memoirs, whence the following story is taken, ‘when we passed some twenty old vessels full of french prisoners, most of them wearing only yellow vests, whilst others were perfectly naked. 379at this distressing sight i asked the captain if he was taking us to the hulks. to which he replied with a frown: “yes, just as a matter of course.” at the same moment our boat drew up alongside the san antonio, an old 80–gun ship. we ascended the side, and there, to our horror, we saw some five to six hundred french prisoners, who were but one-third of those on board, climbing on to each other’s shoulders, in the narrow space in which they were penned, to have a look at the newcomers, of whose arrival they seemed to have been told. their silence, their attitude, and the looks of compassion they bestowed on me as i greeted them en passant seemed to me omens of a terrible future for me.’
the captain of the hulk apologized to the baron for having no better accommodation. le jeune, incredulous, made him repeat it, and flew into a rage. he snatched a sword from an irishman and swore he would kill any one who would keep him on a hulk. the french prisoners shouted: ‘bravo! if every one behaved as you do, the english would not dare treat us so!’
the captain of the hulk was alarmed at the possible result of this with 1,500 desperate prisoners, and hurried the baron into his boat.
thus baron le jeune escaped the hulks!
he was then taken to the forton dép?t, where he remained three days, and was then ordered to ashby-de-la-zouch. so rapidly was he hurried into a coach that he had not time to sign his parole papers and resolved to profit by the omission. he passed many days on a very pleasant journey via andover and blenheim, for he paused to see all that was interesting on the way, and even went to theatres. he found about a hundred french prisoners at ashby (some of whom, he says, had been there fifteen years!), and reported himself to the agent, farnell, a grocer, ‘certainly the tallest, thinnest, most cadaverous seller of dry goods in the world.’
at ashby he found old friends, and passed his time with them, and in learning english. he was invited to lord hastings’ house about a mile from ashby. hastings was brother to lord moira, a friend of the prince of wales, and here he met the orphan daughter of sir john moore. he was most 380kindly treated, and lord hastings said he would try to get leave for him to live in london.
then came a change.
‘a man came to me one morning, and said to me privately that the duke of rovigo, minister of police in france, authorized by the emperor, had sent him to propose to me that i should let him arrange for me to get out of england, and return to france. i distrusted him, for i had heard of the tricks of escape agents, and said i would first consult my friend, colonel stoffel. i did so. stoffel said it was a bona fide offer, but the emissary had brought no money with him, and it would cost probably 200 guineas.’
where was the baron to get such a sum? he went to baudins, a merchant, and asked him for a loan, and at a ball that night baudins signalled that the loan was all right. farnell was at the ball, and the baron describes his comical assumption of dignity as the guardian of the french prisoners. baudins lent baron le jeune the money in gold without asking interest on it.
‘i was invited to a grand dinner by general hastings the very evening we were to start, and i duly appeared at it. the evening passed very brightly, and at dessert, after the ladies had retired, the men remained behind to drink wine together, beginning with a toast to the ladies. as a matter of taste, as well as of design, i kept my head clear, and when my companions were sufficiently exhilarated by the fumes of the claret they had drunk, they returned with somewhat unsteady steps to the drawing-room, where tea had been prepared by the ladies.’
the baron won the goodwill of all and was invited to return the next day.
at 11 p.m., it being very dark, he slipped out through the park to meet colonel stoffel and a guide. he waited an hour, but at last they arrived in a post-chaise, and they drove off. passing through northants, north middlesex [sic], london, and reigate, they came to hythe, where they stopped the next night. they pretended to be invalids come for a course of sea baths, and the baron was actually assisted out of the carriage by custom-house officers. the chaise dismissed, tea was ordered while the guide went to make inquiries about folkestone. 381he returned with a horror-struck face, and wrote on a slate: ‘pay at once and let us be off.’ le jeune gave the girl of the house a guinea, and told her to keep the change, which made her look suspicious, as if the money had not been honestly come by. no time was to be lost, for hythe was full of troops. the guide advised the baron to drop the erect bearing of a soldier, and assume a stoop. they got away, and hid in a wheat-field during the day while the guide again went into folkestone. he was away seventeen hours. at length they got to folkestone, and le jeune was introduced to a smuggler named brick, a diabolical-looking man, who said he would take them safely over to france.
brick asked the baron for 200 guineas, and got them. the wind was contrary, he said, but he would lodge them well. a decent room was hired with a trap-door under the bed for escape, and here they remained thirteen days. le jeune became impatient, and at last resolved to risk weather and everything else and go. ‘well! follow me! like the others!’ growled brick ferociously to the sailor with him. but the woman of the house implored le jeune and stoffel not to go with brick: they remained determined, but she persisted and held them back, and so, now persuaded that she had good reasons for her action, and she seeming a decent body, they remained. later on they learned how close to danger they had been, for the woman told them that brick had taken the money of a score of fugitives like themselves, promising to land them in france, hiding them under nets to avoid the coast-guard, and as soon as they were well out, murdering them and flinging their bodies overboard with stones tied to them, knowing that transportation awaited him if he was caught aiding prisoners to escape.
they asked the woman to help them, for now they had no money. the baron told the sailor that he would give him fifty livres at boulogne, if he landed them there. he was an honest fellow, brought them a sailor’s clothes, and went along the beach with them, replying, ‘fishermen’ to the many challenges they got. finding a small boat, they shoved it off, and got in, so as to board a fishing-smuggling smack riding outside. it was a foul night, and three times they were hurled 382back ashore, wet to the skin; so they returned. the next day the weather moderated and they got off, under the very lee of a police boat, which they deceived by pretending to get nets out. in six hours they were within sight of boulogne, but were obliged to keep off or they would be fired upon, until they had signalled and were told to come in.
at this time england sent by smugglers a quantity of incendiary pamphlets which the french coast-guard had orders to seize, so that le jeune and stoffel were searched and, guarded by armed men, marched to the commissary of police, ‘just as if’, le jeune said, ‘we were infected with the plague.’
luckily, the commissary was an old friend of the baron, so they had no further trouble, but paid the sailor his fifty livres, and went to paris. at an interview with the emperor, the latter said to le jeune, ‘and did you see lefebvre-desnouettes?’
‘no, sire, but i wrote to him. he is extremely anxious to get back to you, and is beginning to lose hope of being exchanged. he would do as i have done if he were not afraid of your majesty’s displeasure.’
‘oh! let him come! let him come! i shall be very glad to see him,’ said the emperor.
‘does your majesty give me leave to tell him so in your name?’
‘yes, yes. don’t lose any time.’
so madame lefebvre-desnouettes got a passport, and went over to england, and her presence did much to distract the attention of the general’s guardians, and made his escape comparatively easy. the general, as a german or russian count, madame in boy’s clothes as his son, and an a.d.c. got up as a valet-de-chambre, went in a post-chaise from cheltenham to london, where they rested for a couple of hours at sablonière’s in leicester square, then at midnight left for dover and thence to paris.
general osten, second in command at flushing, on parole at lichfield, was another gentleman who was helped to get off by a lady member of his family. his daughter had come with him from flushing, and in december 1809 went away with all her father’s heavy baggage. in february 1810, waddell, the 383escape agent, met the general and two other officers in birmingham, and forty-six hours later landed with them in holland.
in this year, 1810, the escapes were so numerous by boats stolen from the shores that the admiralty issued a warning that owners of boats on beaches should not leave masts, oars, and tackle in them, and in 1812 compensation was refused to a newton abbot and to a paignton fisherman, because prisoners had stolen their boats, which had been left with their gear on the beach, despite warning, and when the prisoners were recaptured it was found that they had destroyed the boats.
in october 1811, six french officers—bouquet, army surgeon, leclerc, lieutenant of hussars, denguiard, army surgeon, jean henry, ‘passenger’ on privateer, gaffé, merchant skipper, and glenat, army lieutenant, under the guidance of one johns, left okehampton, crossed the moor to bovey tracey, where they met a woman of whom they asked the way to torbay. she replied, and while they consulted together, gave the alarm so that the villagers turned out and caught three of the runaways. the other three ran and were pursued. johns turned on the foremost pursuer and stabbed him so that he died, and two others were wounded by the frenchmen, but the latter were caught at torquay. johns got off, but on november 2 was seen at chesterfield, where he got work on a saturday; instead of going to it on monday morning, however, he decamped, and was seen on the manchester road, eight miles from chesterfield. in 1812 a man named taylor, of beer alston, said to be johns, was arrested, but proved an alibi and was discharged.
in 1812 general maurin, who may be remembered in connexion with the crapper trouble at wantage, escaped with his brother from abergavenny, whither he had been sent, the smuggler waddell being paid ￡300 for his help. at the same time general brou escaped from welshpool. both these officers had been treated with particular leniency and had been allowed unusual privileges, so that the transport office comments with great severity upon their behaviour.
on november 8, 1812, a girl named mary clarke went in very foggy weather from wolverhampton to bridgnorth to meet a friend. she waited for some time, but he did not come; so she turned back towards her inn, where her chaise was 384waiting. here was lieutenant montbazin, a french naval officer, who had broken his parole from lichfield, who politely accosted her and asked her if she was going to wolverhampton. she replied that she was. was she going to walk? no; she had her chaise. would she let him have a seat if he paid half expenses? she agreed, and went back for the chaise while he walked on, and she picked him up half a mile on, between some rocks by the roadside. so they went on to wolverhampton—and to birmingham. in the meantime he had been missed at lichfield, and followed, and in the back parlour of the swan at birmingham was arrested with the girl.
this was mary clarke’s evidence in court.
in defence, montbazin said that he had been exchanged for four british seamen, who had been landed from france, but that the transport office had refused to let him go, so he had considered himself absolved from his parole.
it is hardly necessary to say that the girl’s story was concocted, that her meeting with montbazin was part of a prearranged plan, and the court emphasized their opinion that this was the case by sending the lieutenant to a prison afloat, and mary clarke to one ashore.
in october 1812, eight french officers left andover quietly in the evening, and, a mile out, met two mounted escape-aiders. behind each of them a prisoner mounted, and all proceeded at a walk for six miles, when they met another man with three horses. on these horses the remaining six prisoners mounted, and by daybreak were at ringwood, thirty-six miles on their road to liberty. all the day they remained hidden in the forest, living upon bread, cheese, and rum, which their guides procured from ringwood. at nightfall they restarted, passed through christchurch to stanpit, and thence to the shore, where they found a boat waiting for them; but the wind being contrary and blowing a gale, they could not embark, and were obliged to remain hidden in the woods for three days, suffering so much from exposure and want that they made a bargain with a mrs. martin to lodge in her house for ￡12 until the weather should moderate sufficiently for them to embark. they stayed here for a week, and then their suspense and anxiety, they knowing that the hue and cry was after them, 385became unbearable, and they gave the smuggler-skipper of the freeholder a promissory note for six hundred guineas to hazard taking them off. he made the attempt, but the vessel was driven ashore, and the frenchmen were with difficulty landed at another spot on the coast; here they wandered about in the darkness and storm, until one of them becoming separated from the others gave himself up, and the discovery of his companions soon followed.
the result of the trial was that the officers were, of course, sent to the hulks, the master of the freeholder was transported for life, four of his men for seven years, and the aiders acquitted. this appears curious justice, which can only be explained by presuming that the magistrates, or rather the admiralty, often found it politic to get escape-aiders into their service in this way.
of course, all ‘escapes’ were bad offences from an honourable point of view, but some were worse than others. for instance, in 1812, the duc de chartres wrote a strong letter of intercession to the transport office on behalf of one du baudiez. this man had been sent to stapleton prison for having broken his parole at odiham, and the duke asked that his parole should be restored him. the transport office decidedly rejected the application, and in their reply to the duke quoted a letter written by du baudiez to his sister in france in which he says that he has given his creditors in odiham bills upon her, but asks her not to honour them, because ‘les anglais nous ont agonis de sottises, liés comme des bêtes sauvages, et traités toute la route comme des chiens. ce sont des anglais; rien ne m’étonne de ce qu’ils ont fait ... ce sont tous des gueux, des scélérats depuis le premier jusqu’au dernier. aussi je vous prie en grace de protester ces billets ... je suis dans la ferme résolution de ne les point payer.’
on one occasion an unexpected catch of ‘broke-paroles’ was made. the revenue officers believed that two men who were playing cards in an inn near canterbury were escaped prisoners, and at 8 p.m. called on a magistrate to get help. the magistrate told them that it was of no use to get the constable, as at that hour he was usually intoxicated, but authorized them to get the military.
this they did, but the landlord refused to open the door and, 386during the parleying, two men slipped out by the back door, whom the officers stopped, and presently two others, who were also stopped. all four were french ‘broke-paroles’ from ashby-de-la-zouch, and the card-players within were not prisoners at all. the captured men said that on beckenham common they had nearly been caught, for the driver of the cart stopped there at 10 p.m. to rest the horse. the horse-patrol, passing by, ordered him to move on. as he was putting the horse to, the frenchmen, all being at the back of the cart, tilted it up and cried out. however, the horse-patrol had passed on and did not hear.
in the two next cases english girls play a part. in 1814 colonel poerio escaped from ashbourne with an english girl in male attire, but they were captured at loughborough. at the trial an ashbourne woman said that one day a girl came and asked for a lodging, saying that she was a worker at ‘lace-running’; she seemed respectable, and was taken in, and remained some days without causing any suspicion, although she seemed on good terms with the french prisoners on parole in the town. one evening the woman’s little girl met the lodger coming downstairs, and said: ‘mam! she has got a black coat on!’ when asked where she was going, she replied, ‘to colonel juliett’s. will be back in five minutes.’ (colonel juliett was another prisoner.) she did not return, and that was the last witness saw of her.
upon examination, the girl said that she kept company with poerio, but as her father did not approve of her marrying him she had resolved to elope. she took with her ￡5, which she had saved by ‘running’ lace. they were arrested at the bull’s head, loughborough, where the girl had ordered a chaise. counsel decided that there was no case for prosecution!
i am not sure if this colonel poerio is identical with the man of that name who, in 1812, when on a chatham hulk, applied to be put on parole, the answer being a refusal, inasmuch as he was a man of infamous character, and that when in command of the island of cerigo he had poisoned the water there in order to relieve himself of some 600 albanian men, women, and children, many of whom died—a deed he acknowledged himself by word and in writing.
387colonel ocher in 1811 got off from lichfield with a girl, was pursued by officers in a chaise and four, and was caught at meriden, on the coventry road, about two miles beyond stone bridge. upon examination, ann green, spinster, lodging at 3, newman street, oxford street, london, said that she came to birmingham by the ‘balloon’ coach, according to instructions she had received from a baron ferriet, whom she knew. he had given her ￡6, paid her fare, and sent her to the swan with two necks in ladd lane, where she was given a letter, which, as she could not read, the waiter read to her. the letter told her to go to lichfield to the st. george hotel, as the baron had business to attend to which kept him in london. at the lichfield hotel there was a letter which told her to go to mr. joblin’s, where colonel ocher lodged. here she left word she would meet him in the fields, which she did at 9 p.m., when they went off, and were captured as above.
in defence, ‘baron ferriet’ told a strange story. he said he had been in the british secret service in france. he lived there in constant danger as there was a reward of 40,000 francs offered for him by the french government. at sables d’olonne, colonel ocher’s family had hidden him when the authorities were after him, and had saved him, and madame ocher had looked after his wife and family. so, in a long letter he explains in very fair english that he determined to repay the ochers in france for their kindness to him by procuring the escape of general ocher, a prisoner on parole in england, and regarded him as ‘his property’.
although the prisoners on parole had no lack of english sympathizers, especially if they could pay, a large section of the lower class of country folk were ever on the alert to gain the government reward for the detection and prevention of parole-breaking. the following is a sample of letters frequently received by the ‘sick and hurt’ office and its agents:
‘my lords and gentlemen,
‘this informs your lordships that on ye 30th july 1780, i was on okehampton road leading to tavistock, saw four french prisoners, on horseback without a guide. they signified to me that they had leave to go to tavistock from there company at okehampton. after i was past tavistock four miles 388they came galloping on towards buckland down camp. i kept in sight of them and perceived them to ride several miles or above out of the turnpike road taking of what view they could of gentlemen’s seats, and ye harbour and sound and camp, and i thought within myself it was very strange that these profest enemies should be granted such libertys as this, by any company whatever. accordingly came to a resolution as soon as they came within the lines of the camp ride forward and stopt them and applyd to the commanding officer which was major braecher of the bedfordshire militia, who broke their letter, and not thinking it a proper passport the major ordered them under the care of the quarter guard.
[winds up with a claim for reward.]
‘joseph giles,
‘near ye p.o., plymouth dock.’
it turned out in this case that the agent at okehampton had given the frenchmen permission to go to tavistock for their trunks, so they were released and returned. the ‘sick and hurt’ office said that to allow these prisoners to ride unguarded to tavistock was most improper, and must, under no circumstances, be allowed to occur again.
from a paper read by mr. maberley phillips, f.s.a., before the newcastle society of antiquaries, i take the following instances of escapes of parole prisoners in the north.
in 1813 there were on parole at jedburgh under the agent, george bell, about a hundred french prisoners. at the usual saturday muster-call on june i, all were present, but at that of june 4, beno?t poulet and jacques girot were missing. from the evidence at the trial of the accomplices in this escape, all of whom except the chief agent, james hunter of whitton, near rothbury, were arrested, and three of whom turned king’s evidence, the story was unfolded of the flight of the men—who were passed off as germans on a fishing excursion—across the wild, romantic, historic fell-country between the border and alwinton on the coquet; and so by whitton, belsay, and ponteland, to the bird in bush inn, pilgrim street, newcastle; whence the frenchmen were supposed to have gone to shields, and embarked in a foreign vessel for france.
i quote this and the following case as instances of the general sympathy of english country people with the foreign prisoners amongst them. the courant of august 28, 1813, says: ‘the 389trial of james hunter occupied the whole of monday, and the court was excessively crowded; when the verdict of not guilty was delivered, clapping of hands and other noisy symptoms of applause were exhibited, much to the surprise of the judge, sir a. chambers, who observed that he seemed to be in an assembly of frenchmen, rather than in an english court of justice. the other prisoners charged with the same offence, were merely arraigned, and the verdict of acquittal was recorded without further trial.’
hunter had been arrested in scotland, just before the trial. quoting from wallace’s history of blyth, mr. phillips says:
‘one sunday morning in the year 1811, the inhabitants were thrown into a state of great excitement by the startling news that five frenchmen had been taken during the night and were lodged in the guard-house. they were officers who had broken their parole at edinburgh castle [? jedburgh], and in making their way home had reached the neighbourhood of blyth; when discovered, they were resting by the side of the plessy wagon-way beside the “shoulder of mutton” field.
‘a party of countrymen who had been out drinking, hearing some persons conversing in an unknown tongue, suspected what they were, and determined to effect their capture. the fugitives made some resistance, but in the end were captured, and brought to blyth, and given into the charge of the soldiers then quartered in the town. this act of the countrymen met with the strongest reprobation of the public’ (the italics are mine). ‘the miscarriage of the poor fellows’ plan of escape through the meddling of their captors, excited the sympathy of the inhabitants; rich and poor vying with each other in showing kindness to the strangers. whatever was likely to alleviate their helpless condition was urged upon their acceptance; victuals they did not refuse, but though money was freely offered them, they steadily refused to accept it. the guard-house was surrounded all day long by crowds anxious to get a glimpse of the captives. the men who took the prisoners were rewarded with ￡5 each, but doubtless it would be the most unsatisfactory wages they ever earned, for long after, whenever they showed their faces in the town, they had to endure the upbraiding of men, women, and children; indeed, it was years before public feeling about this matter passed away.’
the continuance and frequency of escapes by prisoners on parole necessitated increased rigidity of regulations. the 390routes by which prisoners were marched from place to place were exactly laid down, and we find numberless letters of instruction from the transport office like this:
‘colonel x having received permission to reside on parole at ashby-de-la-zouch, his route from chatham is to be: chatham, sevenoaks, croydon, kingston, uxbridge, wendover, buckingham, towcester, daventry, and coleshill.’
the instructions to conductors of prisoners were as follows:
prisoners were to march about twelve miles a day. conductors were to pay the prisoners sixpence per day per man before starting. conductors were to ride ahead of prisoners, so as to give notice at towns of their coming, and were to see that the prisoners were not imposed upon. conductors (who were always mounted), were to travel thirty miles a day on the return journey, and to halt upon sundays.
of course, it was in the power of the conductors to make the journeys of the prisoners comfortable or the reverse. if the former, it was the usual custom to give a certificate of this kind:
‘april 1798. this is to certify that mr. thomas willis, conductor of 134 dutch and spanish prisoners of war from the security prison ship at chatham, into the custody of mr. barker, agent for prisoners of war at winchester, has provided us with good lodgings every night, well littered with straw, and that we have been regularly paid our subsistence every morning on our march, each prisoner sixpence per day according to the established allowance.
‘(signed).’
the ill-treatment of prisoners on the march was not usual, and when reported was duly punished. thus in 1804 a coldstream guardsman on escort of prisoners from reading to norman cross, being convicted of robbing a prisoner, was sentenced to 600 lashes, and the sentence was publicly read out at all the dép?ts.
in 1811 posters came out offering the usual reward for the arrest of an officer who had escaped from a scottish parole town, and distinguished him as lacking three fingers of his left hand. a year later bow street officers vickary and lavender, 391‘from information received’, followed a seller of artificial flowers into a public-house in ‘weston park, lincolns inn fields.’ the merchant bore the distinctive mark of the wanted foreigner, and, seeing that the game was up, candidly admitted his identity, said that he had lived in london during the past twelve months by making and selling artificial flowers, and added that he had lost his fingers for his country, and would not mind losing his head for her.
in the same year a militia corporal who had done duty at a prisoner dép?t, and so was familiar with foreign faces, saw two persons in a chaise driving towards worcester, whom he at once suspected to be escaped prisoners. he stopped the chaise, and made the men show their passports, which were not satisfactory, and, although they tried to bribe him to let them go, he refused, mounted the bar of the chaise, and drove on. one of the men presently opened the chaise-door with the aim of escaping, but the corporal presented a pistol at him, and he withdrew. at worcester they confessed that they had escaped from bishop’s castle, and said they were trafalgar officers.
in 1812 prisoners broke their parole in batches. from tiverton at one time, twelve; from andover, eight (as recorded on pp. 384–5); from wincanton, ten; and of these, four were generals and eighteen colonels.
in the quarterly review, december 1821, the assertion made by m. dupin, in his report upon the treatment of french prisoners in britain, published in 1816, and before alluded to in the chapter upon prison-ships, that french officers observed their parole more faithfully than did english, was shown to be false. between may 1803, and august 1811, 860 french officers had attempted to escape from parole towns. of these, 270 were recaptured, and 590 escaped. in 1808 alone, 154 escaped. from 1811 to 1814, 299 army officers escaped, and of this number 9 were generals, 18 were colonels, 14 were lieutenant-colonels, 8 were majors, 91 were captains, and 159 were lieutenants. it should be noted that in this number are not included the many officers who practically ‘escaped’, in that they did not return to england when not exchanged at the end of their term of parole.
392from the parliamentary papers of 1812, i take the following table:
transport office, june 25, 1812.
number of all french commissioned officers, prisoners of war, on parole in great britain.
total no. com. officers on parole. no. that broke parole. been retaken. escaped.
year ending 5th june 1810 1,685 104 47 57 n.b. the numbers stated in this account include those persons only who have actually absconded from the places appointed for their residence.
a considerable number of officers have been ordered into confinement for various other breaches of their parole engagements.
(signed)
rup. george.
j. bowen.
j. douglas.
year ending 5th june 1811 2,087 118 47 71
year ending 5th june 1812 2,142 242 63 179
5,914 464 157 307
besides the above, the following other prisoners of rank entitling them to be on parole, have broken it during the three years above mentioned. 218 85 133
682 242 440
during the above-quoted period, between 1803 and 1811, out of 20,000 british détenus, not prisoners of war, in france, it cannot be shown that more than twenty-three broke their parole, and even these are doubtful.
sometimes the epidemic of parole-breaking was severe enough to render drastic measures necessary. in 1797 orders were issued that all french prisoners, without distinction of rank, were to be placed in close confinement.
in 1803, in consequence of invasion alarms, it was deemed advisable to remove all prisoners from the proximity of the coast to inland towns, the admiralty order being:
‘at the present conjunction all parole prisoners from the south and west towns are to be sent to north staffordshire, and derbyshire—that is, to chesterfield, ashbourne, and leek.’
393general morgan at bishop’s waltham resented this removal so far away, in a letter to the transport office, to which they replied:
‘this board has uniformly wished to treat prisoners of war with every degree of humanity consistent with the public safety: but in the present circumstances it has been judged expedient to remove all prisoners of war on parole from places near the coast to inland towns. you will therefore observe that the order is not confined to you, but relates generally to all prisoners on parole: and with regard to your comparison of the treatment of prisoners in this country with that of british prisoners in france, the commissioners think it only necessary to remark that the distance to which it is now proposed to remove you does not exceed 170 miles, whereas british prisoners in france are marched into the interior to a distance of 500 miles from some of the ports into which they are carried.’
morgan was allowed eventually his choice of richmond or barnet as a place of parole, a privilege accorded him because of his kindness to a mr. hurry, during the detention of the latter as a prisoner in france.
in 1811, so many prisoners escaped from wincanton that all the parole prisoners in the place were marched to london to be sent thence by sea to scotland for confinement. ‘sudden and secret measures’ were taken to remove them, all of the rank of captain and above, to forton for embarkation, except general houdet?t, who was sent to lichfield. from okehampton sixty were sent to ilfracombe, and thence to swansea for abergavenny, and from bishop’s waltham to oswestry in batches of twelve at intervals of three days.
many parole towns petitioned for the retention of the prisoners, but all were refused; the inhabitants of some places in devon attempted to detain prisoners for debts; and enchmarsh, the agent at tiverton, was suspended for not sending off his prisoners according to orders. their departure was the occasion in many places for public expressions of regret, and this can be readily appreciated when it is considered what the residence of two or three hundred young men, some of whom were of good family and many of whom had private means, in a small english country town meant, not merely from a business but from a social point of view.
394in the times of 1812 may be read that a french officer, who had been exchanged and landed at morlaix, and had expressed disgust at the frequent breaches of parole by his countrymen, was arrested and shot by order of bonaparte. i merely quote this as an example that even british newspapers of standing were occasionally stooping to the vituperative level of their trans-channel confrères.
