Malta. Unfortunately, however, it was otherwise ordained; for on the 4th both settees were retaken by a French squadron, from which the Phoebe herself with difficulty escaped. On the same day H.M. schooner Redbridge and a transport under her convoy also fell into the hands of the enemy.
After performing quarantine in Toulon roads, Mr. Boys, Messrs Murray and Whitehurst, midshipmen, Mr. Danderson, master of the transport, and ninety men, were landed about two miles to the westward of the town, and from thence escorted by a guard of infantry, through Aix, Tarascon, Beaucaire, Nismes, Montpellier, Beziers, Narbonne, Carcassone, Castelnaudary, and Ville Franche, to Toulouse. In this once noble capital they remained, on parole, from Sept. 12th, until Dec. 2d, and then set out for Verdun, in company with a lieutenant and six midshipmen, who had been taken in the Redbridge. During this latter journey, they passed through Auch, Beaumont, Montauban, Cahors, Gourdon, Martel, Brive, Uzerches, Limoges, Argentan, Chateauroux, Orleans, Pethivier, Melun, Belleville, Troyes, Chalons (on the Marne), and St. Menehould. The following are extracts from a “Narrative of his captivity and adventures in France and Flanders,” published by the subject of this memoir, in 1827.
“Upon being escorted to the citadel, certain regulations as the conditions of my parole, were given to me for perusal. These I signed; permission was then given me to retire into the town, where I took lodgings suitable to my finances. * * * * With respect to the personal treatment of the prisoners at Verdun (setting aside extortion), every candid mind will confess that it was generally apportioned to individual desert; and if occasional acts of oppression occurred, they were exceptions emanating from the petty malice of vulgar minds, unaccustomed to exercise authority, rather than the result of systematic discipline; of which the following fact is an evidence:–
“Four of us were rambling about the country, with a pointer and silken net, catching quails, when the gun was fired (as a signal of some one having deserted). On our return, in passing through the village of Tierville, we were surprised by two gens-d’armes, one of whom instantly dismounted, and seized me, uttering the most blasphemous epithets; he tied my elbows behind me, then slipping a noose round my bare neck, triced me up to the holsters of his saddle, remounted, and returned with his prize to town, exulting in his cowardly triumph, and pouring forth vollies of vulgar abuse,
