I come now to a delicate subject; and shall speak accordingly, with
due caution; I mean the character and conduct of _Mr. Beasly_, the
American Agent for prisoners. He resides in the city of London,
thirty-two miles from this place. There have been loud and constant
complaints made of his conduct towards his countrymen, suffering
confinement at three thousand miles distance from all they hold most
dear and valuable; and he but half a day's journey from us. Mr. Beasly
knew that there were some thousands of his countrymen imprisoned in a
foreign land for no crime; but for defending, and fighting under the
American flag, that emblem of national independence, and sovereignty;
if he reflected at all, he must have known these countrymen of his
were, in general, thinking men; men who had homes, and "fire
places."[D] He knew they had, some of them, fathers and mothers, wives
and children, brothers and sisters, in the United States, who lived in
houses that had "_fire places_," and that they had, in general, been
brought up in more ease and plenty than the same class in England; he
knew they were a people of strong affections to their relatives, and
strong attachments to their country; and he might have supposed that
some of them had as good an education as himself; he must, or ought to
have thought constantly that they were suffering imprisonment,
deprivations and occasionally sickness in a foreign country, where he
is specially commissioned, and placed to attend to their comforts,
relieve, if practicable their wants, and to be the channel of
communication between them and their families. The British commander,
or commodore of all the prison ships in this river visited them all
once a month; and paid good attention to all their wants.
When we first arrived here, we wrote in a respectful style to Mr.
Beasly, as the Agent from our government for the prisoners in England.
We glanced at our sufferings at Halifax; and stated our extreme
sufferings on the passage to England, and until we arrived in the
river Medway. We remarked that we expected that the government of the
United States intended to treat her citizens in captivity in a foreign
land all equally alike. We represented to him that we were, in
general, destitute of clothing, and many conveniences, that a trifling
sum of money would obtain; that we did not doubt the good will, and
honorable intentions of our government; and that he doubtless knew of
their kind intentions towards us all.--_But he never returned a word
of answer._ We found that all those prisoners, who had been confined
here at Chatham, from the commencement of the war, bore Mr. Beasly an
inveterate hatred. They accuse him of an unfeeling neglect, and
disregard to their pressing wants. They say he never visited them but
once; and that then his conduct gave more disgust, than his visit gave
pleasure. "Where there is much smoke there must be some fire." The
account they gave is this--that when he came on board, he seemed
fearful that they would come too near him; he therefore requested that
additional sentries might be placed on the gangways, to keep the
prisoners from coming aft, on the quarter deck. He then sent for one
of their number, said a few words to him relative to the prisoners;
but not a word of information in answer to the questions repeatedly
put to him; and of which we were all very anxious to hear. He acted as
if he was afraid that any questions should be put to him; so that
without waiting to hear a single complaint, and without waiting to
examine into any thing respecting their situation, their health, or
their wants, he hastily took his departure, amidst the hooting and
hisses of his countrymen, as he passed over the side of the ship.
Written representations of the neglect of this (nominal) agent for us
prisoners, were made to the government of the United States, which we
sent by different conveyances; but whether they ever reached the
person of the Secretary of State, we never knew. Several individuals
among the prisoners wrote to Mr. Beasly for information on subjects in
which their comfort and happiness were concerned, but received no
answer. Once, indeed, a letter was received from his clerk, in an
imperious style, announcing that no notice would be taken of any
letters from individuals; (which was probably correct) but those only
that were written by the committee collectively. The committee
accordingly wrote; but their letter was treated with the same silent
neglect. This desertion of his countrymen, in their utmost need,
excited an universal expression of disgust, if not resentment. Cut off
from their own country, surrounded only by enemies, swindled by their
neighbors, winter coming on, and no clothing proper for the
approaching season, and the American agent for themselves and other
prisoners, within three or four hours journey, and yet abandoned by
him to the tender mercies of our declared enemies, it is no wonder
that our prisoners detested, at length, the name of Beasly. We made
every possible allowance for this gentleman; we said to each other, he
may have no funds; he may have the will, but not the power to help us;
his commission, and his directions may not extend so high as our
expectations; still we could make no excuse for his not visiting us,
and enquiring, and seeing for himself our real situation. He might
have answered our letters; and encouraged us not to despair, but to
hope for relief; he might have visited us as often as did the English
Commodore, which was once in four weeks; but he should not have
insulted our feelings, the only time he did visit us, and humble and
mortify us in the view of the Frenchmen, who saw, and remarked that
our agent considered us no more than so many hogs. The Emperor
_Napoleon_ has visited some of his hospitals in cog. has viewed the
situation of the sick and wounded; examined their food, and eaten of
their bread; and once threw a cup of wine in the face of a steward,
because he thought it not good enough for the soldier; but--some of
our agents are men of more consequence, in their own eyes, than
Napoleon!
During the war it was stated to our government that _six thousand two
hundred and fifty-seven_ seamen had been pressed and forcibly detained
on board British ships of war.--Events have proved the correctness of
this statement; and this slavery has been a subject of merriment, and
a theme for ridicule among the "_federalists_." They say it makes no
more difference to a sailor what ship he is on board, than it does to
a hog what stye he is in. Others not quite so brutal, have
said--"hush! it may be so; but we must bear it; England is mistress of
the Ocean; and her existence depends on this practice of impressment;
her naval power must be submitted to--give us, merchants, commerce,
and these Jack Tars will take care of themselves; for it is not worth
while to lose a profitable trade for the sake of a few ignorant
sailors, who never had any rights; and who have neither liberty,
property or homes, but what we merchants give to them."
The American Seamen on board the Crown Prince, were chiefly _men who
had been impressed into the British Navy previous to the war_; but
who, on hearing of the Declaration of War against Great Britain by the
people of the United States, gave themselves up as prisoners of war;
but instead of being directly exchanged, the English Government
thought it proper to send them on board these prison ships to be
retained there during the war; evidently to prevent them from entering
into our own navy. It should be remembered that they were all citizens
of the United States, sailing in merchant ships; and yet the
merchants, at least those of Boston, and the other New-England
sea-ports, have, very generally, mocked the complaints of impressed
seamen, and derided their representations, and have even denied the
story of their impressment. Even the Governor of Massachusetts
(Strong) has affected in his public speeches to the Legislature to
represent this crying outrage, as the mere groundless clamor of a
party opposed to his election? Whether groundless or not, I will
venture to assert, that the names of many of the leading federalists
in Massachusetts, and a few others will never be forgotten by the
inhabitants of the prison ships at Chatham, at Halifax, and in the
West Indies.
We are now at peace, and the tide of party has so far slackened, that
we can tell the truth without the suspicion of political, or party
designs. I shall relate only what I have collected from the men
themselves, who were never in the way of reading our newspapers, or of
hearing of the speeches of the _friends of the British in Congress_;
or in our State Legislatures. I think I ought, however, here to
premise, that my family were of that party in Massachusetts called
_Federal_, that is, we voted for Governor Strong, and federal Senators
and Representatives; our clergyman was also federal, and preached and
_prayed_ federally; and we read none but _federal_ newspapers, and
associated with none but _federalists_; of course we believed all that
Governor Strong said, and approved all that our Senators and
Representatives voted, and believed all that was printed in the
Boston _federal_ papers. The whole family, and myself with them,
believed all that Colonel Timothy Pickering had written about
impressment of seamen, and about the weakness, and wickedness of the
President and administration; we believed them all to be under the pay
and influence of Bonaparte, who we knew was the first Lieutenant of
Satan. We believed all that was said about "_Free trade and sailors'
rights_," was all stuff and nonsense, brought forward by the
Republicans, whom we called _Democrats_ and _Jacobins_, to gull the
people out of their liberty and property, in order to surrender both
to the Tyrant of France. We believed entirely that the war was
"unnecessary" and "wicked," and declared with no other design but to
injure England and gratify France. We believed also that the whole of
the administration, and every man of the Republican party, from
Jefferson and Madison, down to our ---- was either fool or knave. If
we did not believe that every republican was a scoundrel, we were sure
and certain that every scoundrel was a republican. In some points our
belief was as strong and as fixed as any in the papal dominions; for
example--we maintained stiffly that Governor Strong, Lieut. Governor
Phillips, H. G. Otis, and John Lowell and Francis Blake, Esqrs. were,
for talents, knowledge, piety and virtue, the very first men in the
United States, and ought to be at the head of the nation: or--to
express it _all_ in one word, as my sister once did, "_Federalism is
the politics of a GENTLEMAN, and of a LADY_; but _Republicanism is the
low cant of the vulgar_; of such men as your Tom Jeffersons, Jim
Madisons, and John Adams', and Col. Monroes."
With these expanded and enlightened ideas of men and things, did I,
_Perigrinus Americanus_, quit my father's house ease and plenty, to
make a short trip in a Privateer, more for a frolic than for any thing
serious, being very little concerned whether I was taken or not,
provided my capture would be the means of carrying me among the people
whom I had long adored for their superior bravery, magnanimity,
_religion_, knowledge, and justice; which opinions I had imbibed from
their own writers, in verse and prose. Beside the federal newspapers,
I had dipped into the posthumous works of Fisher Ames, enough to
inspire me with adoration of England, abhorrence of France, and a
contempt for my own country; or to express all in a fewer words, _I
was a Federalist of the Boston stamp_. These are the outlines of my
preconceived opinions, which I carried with me into Melville Prison,
at Halifax. I was not the only one by many, who entered that abode of
misery with similar notions. How often have I wished that Governor
Strong, and his principal supporters, were here with us, learning
wisdom, and acquiring just notions of men, things and governments.
But to return from the Governor and Council, and other great men of
Massachusetts, to the British prison ship at Chatham.--The British had
been in the habit of pressing the sailors from our merchant ships,
ever since the year 1755. The practice was always abhorred, and often
resisted, and sometimes even unto death. We naturally inferred that,
with our independence, we should preserve the persons of our citizens
from violence and deep disgrace; for, to an American, a whipping is a
degradation worse than death.--Since the termination of the war with
England, which guaranteed our independence, the British never
pretended to impress American citizens; but pretended to the right of
entering our vessels, and taking from them the natives of Britain or
Ireland, and this was their general rule of conduct;--they would
forcibly board our vessels, and the boarding-officer, who was commonly
a lieutenant, completely armed with sword, dirk, and loaded pistols,
would muster the crew, and examine the persons of the sailors, as a
planter examines a lot of negroes exposed for sale; and all the thin,
puny, or sickly men, he allowed to be Americans--but all the stout,
hearty, red cheeked, iron fisted, chestnut colored, crispy haired
fellows, were declared to be British; and if such men showed their
certificates of citizenship, and place of birth, they were pronounced
forgeries, and the unfortunate men were dragged over the side into the
boat, and forced on board his floating hell! Not a day in the year,
but there occurred such a scene as this, somewhere on the seas; and to
our shame be it spoken, we endured this outrage on man through the
administration of _Washington_, _Adams_,[E] and _Jefferson_, before we
declared war to revenge the villany. If an high spirited man, thus
kidnap'd, refused to work, he was first deprived of victuals; and if
starvation did not induce him to work, he was stripped, and tied up,
and whipped like a thief!--and many a noble spirited fellow suffered
this accursed punishment. If he seized the first opportunity, as he
ought, to run away from his tyrants, and was taken, he was severely
whipped; and for a second attempt the punishment was doubled, and for
the third he was hanged, or shot.
It happened on our declaration of war, chiefly on account of this
atrocious treatment of the sailors, that thousands of our countrymen
had been impressed into the British navy, and more or less were found
in almost every ship; most of these informed their respective
captains, that being American citizens, they could not remain in the
service of a nation, to aid them in killing their brethren; and in
pulling down the flag of their native country. They declared firmly,
that it was fighting against nature for a man to fight against his
native land, the only land to which he owed a natural duty. Some noble
British commanders admired their patriotic spirit, and permitted them
to quit their ships, and go to prison: while other captains, of an
opposite and ignoble character, refused to hear their declarations,
and ordered them to return to what they called _their duty_; which
they accompanied with threats of severe punishment if they disobeyed.
But some, whose noble spirits would have honored any man, or station,
adhered to their first determination, _not to fight against their own
brothers; or aid in pulling down the flag of their nation_. These were
immediately put in irons, and fed on scanty allowance of bread and
water; for if any thing can bring down the high spirit of an hearty
young man, it is _the slow torture of hunger and thirst_; when it was
found that this had not the effect of debasing the American spirit,
the young sufferer was brought upon deck, and stripped to his waist,
and sometimes lower, and--Oh! my pen cannot write it for indignation!
resentment, and a righteous revenge shakes my hand with rage, while I
attempt to record the act of villany. Yes, my countrymen and my
countrywomen, our noble minded _young men_, brought up in more ease
and plenty than half the officers of a British man of war, are
violently stripped, and tied fast and immoveable by a rope, to a
cannon, or to the iron railing of what is called the gang-way, and
when he is so fixed as to stretch the skin and muscles to the utmost,
he is whipped by a long, heavy and hard knotted whip, four times more
formidable and heavy than the whip allowed to be used by the carters,
truck, or carmen, on their horses. With this heavy and knotted
scourge, the boatswain's mate, who is generally selected for his
strength, after stripping off his jacket, that he may strike the
harder, lashes this _young man_, on his delicate skin, until his back
is cut from his shoulders to his waist! Few men, of ordinary feelings
of humanity, could bear to see, without great emotion, even a thief,
or a robber, so severely punished. But what must be the feelings of an
American, to see such a cruel operation upon the body of his
countryman, of his mess-mate and companion? We will venture to say,
that if a dog, or an horse, were tied fast to a post, in any street of
any town in America, and lashed with such an heavy knotted whip, swung
by the strong arm of a vigorous man, although their skins were covered
and defended by their hair, or fur, we do not believe that the
inhabitants would see it inflicted on the poor beast, without carrying
the whipper before a magistrate, to answer for his cruelty. Yet what
is the whipping of a beast, devoid of reason, and covered with fur, to
this severe operation upon the delicate skin and flesh of one of our
young men? And all, for what? For nobly maintaining and upholding the
first and great principle of our nature. Yet has this heroism of our
enslaved seamen been overlooked; and even derided by the federal
merchant and the federal politician, and the federal member of
congress, and the federal clergyman! Some of our brave fellows have
been brought upon deck, every punishing day, and undergone this horrid
punishment, three or four times over, until the crews of the men of
war were disposed to cry out shame, upon their own officers! Some of
our poor fellows could not sustain these repeated tortures, which is
not to be wondered at, and have finally gone to work as soon as they
recovered from their barbarous usage. Others, of firmer frames and
firmer minds, have wearied out their persecutors, whose infernal
dispositions they have defied, and triumphed over; such have been sent
out of the ship into our prison-ships; and here they are, to tell
their own story, to show to their countrymen the everlasting marks of
their tormentors, the British navy officers. With what indignation,
rage and horror, have I seen our brave fellows actuated, while one of
these heroes of national rights, and national character, has been
relating his sufferings, and showing his degrading scars, made on his
body by the accursed whip of a boatswain's mate, by order of an
infamous captain of the British navy! You talk of peace, friendship
and cordiality with the nation from whom most of us sprang! It is
well, perhaps, that the two nations should be at peace politically;
but can you ever expect cordiality to subsist between our impressed
and cruelly treated sailor, and a British navy officer. It is next to
impossible. Our ill treated sailor, lacerated in his flesh, wounded in
his honor, and debased by the slavish hand of a boatswain's mate,
never can forget the barbarians; nor ever can, nor ever ought to
forgive them. The God of nature has ordained that nations should be
separated by a difference of language, religion, customs, and manners,
for wise purposes; but where two great nations, like the English and
American, have the same language, institutions and manners, he may
possibly have allowed the devil to inspire one with a portion of his
own infernal spirit of cruelty, in order to effect a separation, and
keep apart two people, superficially resembling each other.
It may be for good and wise purposes, in the order of Providence, that
there should be a partition wall between us and Britain. We have had
to deplore that three thousand miles of ocean is not half enough; for
avarice, fashion and folly, are continually drawing us together; and
these often drown the still small voice of patriotism, whose language
is, "_Come out of her, O my people!_" There is nothing that tends so
strongly to keep us asunder, as the different _dispositions_ of the
two people. The Americans are a kind, humane, tender-hearted people,
as free from cruelty as any nation upon earth; and possessing as much
generosity towards an enemy they have vanquished, and who is at their
mercy, as any people to be found on the records of the human kind.
Their laws express it; the records of their courts prove it; the
history of the war illustrates it; and I hope that all our actions
declare it. We may change, and become as hard hearted and cruel as the
English. It may be that we are now in the _chivalrous_ age, or that
period of our political existence, which is the generous, youthful
stage of a nation's life; this may pass away, and we may sink into the
cold, phlegmatic, calculating cruelty of the present Britons; and
become, like them, objects of hatred to our own descendants. Whatever
we may, in the course of degeneration, become, we assert it, as an
incontrovertible fact, that the Britons are now, and have been for
many generations past, vastly our inferiors on the score of polished
humanity. On this subject, we would refer the reader to the _History
of England_, written by eminent Englishmen and Scotchmen, and to
Shakespeare's historical plays; and to the records of their courts,
the annals of Newgate, and of the Tower; and to their penal code,
generally; but above all, to their horrid _military_ punishments, in
their army, and in their navy; and then contrast the whole with the
history of America; of her courts, and of her army, and navy
punishments.
We would not indulge invective, nor lightly give vent to the language
of resentment; but truth and utility compels us to speak of the
English as they really are. Their whole history marks them a hard
hearted, cruel race, and such we prisoners have found them. We will
not have recourse to so early a period as the reign of Richard the 3d,
or Harry the 8th, or his cruel daughter Mary, but we refer to the
latter part of Charles 2d, a reign of mirth, frolic and unusual gaiety
of heart, and not a period of austerity and gloom. The instance we
here adduce, was not the furious cruelty of a mob, or of exasperated
soldiery storming a town; but of _courtiers_, privy counsellors, and
advisers of the good humored Charles the 2d.
William Carstares, confidential Secretary to King William, during the
whole of his reign; afterwards Principal of the University of
Edinburgh, was a sincere and zealous friend both to religious and
civil liberty, and he lived in reputation and honor till Dec. 28th,
1715. This worthy man was put to the torture before the privy council,
in the latter end of the reign of Charles the Second. The Rev. Joseph
M'Cormick, D.D. who has written his life, and detailed an account of
his fortitude and sufferings in the cause of liberty, says, "that all
his objections and remonstrances being over-ruled by the majority of
the privy counsel, the public executioner was called upon to perform
his inhuman office. A thumb-screw had been prepared on purpose, of a
peculiar construction. Upon its being applied, Mr. Carstares
maintained such a command of himself, that, whilst the sweat streaming
over his brow, and down his cheeks, with the agony he endured, he
never betrayed the smallest inclination to depart from his first
resolution. The Earl of Queensberry was so affected, that, after
telling the chancellor, that he saw that the poor man would rather
die than confess, he stepped out of the council, along with the duke
of Hamilton, into another room, both of them being unable longer to
witness the scene; whilst the inhuman Perth sat to the very last,
without discovering the least symptom of compassion for the sufferer.
On the contrary, when the executioner, by his express order, was
turning the screw with such violence, that Mr. Carstares, in the
extremity of his pain, cried out, that now he had squeezed the bones
in pieces, the chancellor, in great indignation, told him, that, if he
continued longer obstinate, he hoped to see every bone of his body
squeezed to pieces. At last, finding all their efforts by means of
this machinery fruitless, after he had continued no less than an hour
and an half under this painful operation, they found it necessary to
have recourse to a still more intimidating species of torture. The
executioner was ordered to produce the iron boots, and apply them to
his legs; but happily for Mr. Carstares, whose strength was now almost
exhausted, the fellow, who was only admitted of late to this office,
and a novice in his trade, after having attempted in vain to fasten
them properly, was obliged to give it over; and the counsel adjourned
for some weeks."
If to this shameful account we add their cruelty to the vanquished
Scotch, in 1745, and of late years towards the brave Irish, together
with what _we_ have known of them in the revolutionary war, and in the
present one, we can feel no pride in claiming kindred with them. They
are a sluggish, cold, hard-fibred race of men, on whom soft and
delicate airs of music make no agreeable impression. Loud and
thundering sounds, such as the ringing of heavy bells, beating of
drums, and firing of cannon, and the gothic _hourra_ are requisite to
move the phlegm that surrounds the tough heart of old _John Bull_.
When the Algerines captured some of our vessels, and made slaves of
the crew, a very high degree of sensibility was excited. It was the
theme of every newspaper and oration, and the subject of almost every
conversation. The horror of Algerine slavery was considered as the ne
plus ultra of human misery; but it has so happened, that we have many
sailors returned again to their country, who have been enslaved at
Algiers; and have been impressed and detained on board British men of
war, and afterwards thrown into their prison-ships. The united opinion
of these people is, the Algerine slavery is much more tolerable than
the _British_ slavery. The Algerines make the common sailors work
from six to eight hours in the day; but they give them very good
vegetable food, and enough of it; and lodge them in airy places; and
always dispose the officers _according to their rank_; whereas the
British seem to take a delight in confounding and mixing together, the
officers with their men. As to their punishments among themselves,
they will cut off a man's head; and strangle him with a bowstring, in
a summary manner; but a Turk, or Algerine, would sicken at the sight
of a whipping in the navy; and in the _army_ of the _Christian_ king
of England. There is no nation upon this globe of earth that treats
its soldiers and sailors with that degree of barbarity common to their
camps, garrisons and men of war; for what they lack in the number of
lashes on board a ship, they make up in the severity of infliction, so
as to render the punishment nearly equal to the Russian _knout_.
If any one is curious to see British military flogging treated
scientifically, I would refer him to chapter xii, vol. 2d, of _Dr. R.
Hamilton's Duties of a Regimental Surgeon_, from page 22 to 82. The
reading of it is enough to spoil an hungry man's dinner. We there read
of the suppuration, and stench that follow after seven or eight
hundred lashes; and that some men have complained that its
offensiveness was almost equal to the whipping. We there read of the
surgeon discharging a pound and a half of matter from an abscess,
formed in consequence of a merciless punishment.--The reader may also
be entertained with the discussion, whether it is _best_ to wash the
_cats_ clear from the blood, (for the executioners lay on twenty-five
strokes, and then another twenty-five, and so on, till the nine
hundred or a thousand, ordered, are finished) or whether it is best to
let the blood dry on the knots of the whip, in order to make it _cut
the sharper_. There, too, you may learn the advantage of having the
naked wretch tied fast and firm, so that he may not wring and twist
about to avoid the torture, which, he says, if not attended to, may
destroy the sight, by the whip cutting his eyes; or his cheeks and
breasts may be cut for want of this precaution. He says, however, that
in those regiments, who punish by running the gauntlet, it is almost
impossible to prevent the man from being cut from the nape of the neck
to his hams. You will there find a description of a neat contrivance,
used at Gibraltar, which was compounded of the stocks and the
pillory. The soldier's legs were held firm in two apertures of a thick
plank, while his body and head were bent down to a plank placed in a
perpendicular direction, to receive the man's head, and two more
apertures to confine his arms. In this immoveable posture, human
beings, _Englishmen_, _Irishmen_ and _Scotchmen_, have had their flesh
lacerated for more than half an hour! But the Doctor informs us, that
the men did not like this new contrivance, as it checked their
vociferation and injured their lungs; so it was discontinued; and they
returned again to the halberts, where their hands were tied up over
their heads. Some of these poor wretches have been known to gnaw the
flesh of their own arms, in the agonies of torture; and many of them
have died with internal impostumes.
AMERICANS! think of these barbarities, and bless the memories of those
statesmen and warriors, who have separated you, as a nation, from a
cruel people, who have neither bowels of compassion, nor any
tenderness of feeling, for the soldier, or the sailor. They value
them, and care for them on the same principle that we value a horse,
and no more, merely as an animal that is useful to them. I have for
some time believed that America would be the grave of the British
character. Our free presses dare speak of their military whippings,
without fearing the punishment inflicted on the Editor of their
_Political Register_, as drawn by one of themselves.[F]
Those pressed men liberated from the British men of war, and sent on
board this ship, the Crown Prince, that is, sent from one prison to
another, are large, well made, fine looking fellows, for such they
usually select as Englishmen.--Some of them were men of colour. The
following anecdote does honor to the character of Sir Sidney Smith, as
well as to that of our brave tars. Sir Sidney was then off Toulon. On
the news reaching the crew that the UNITED STATES had declared war
against England, all the Americans on board had determined not to
fight against their country, or aid in striking its flag; they
therefore asked permission to speak with Sir Sidney, who permitted
them to come altogether on the quarter deck; they told him they were
all Americans by birth, and impressed against their will into the
British service; and forcibly detained; that although they had
consented to do the duty of Englishmen on board his ship, they could
not fight against their own country.--"_Nor do I wish you should_,"
was the answer of this gallant knight. On being reminded by one of his
officers, that they were nearly all petty officers--he observed to
them, that they had been promoted in consequence of their good
behaviour; and that if they could, as he hoped they would, reconcile
themselves to the service, he should continue to promote them, and
reward their good behaviour. They thanked him; but assured him that it
_was against their principles_, as Americans, and against a _sense of
duty_ towards their _beloved country_, to fight against _their
brethren_, or to aid in _pulling down the emblem of their nation's
sovereignty_. He promised to report the business to his superiors; and
turning to one of his officers, said, "_I wish all Englishmen were as
strongly attached to their country, as these Americans are to
theirs._"
Another instance of a British commander, the opposite of this, is
worth relating. I give it as the sufferer related it to us all; and as
confirmed by other testimony beside his own. The man declared himself
to be an American, and as such, asked for his discharge. The captain
said he lied; that he was no American, but an Englishman; and that he
only made this declaration to get his liberty; and he ordered him to
be severely whipped; and on every punishing day, he was asked if he
still persisted in calling himself an American, and in refusing to do
duty? The man obstinately persisted. At length the captain became
enraged to a high degree; he ordered the man to be stripped, and tied
up to the gratings, and after threatening him with the severest
flogging that was in his power to inflict, he asked the man if he
would avoid the punishment, and _do his duty_? "Yes," said the noble
sailor, "_I will do my duty_, and that is _to blow up your ship the
very first opportunity in my power_." This was said with a stern
countenance, and a corresponding voice. The captain seemed astonished,
and first looking over his larboard shoulder, and then over his
starboard shoulder, said to his officers, "_this is a damn'd queer
fellow! I do not believe he is an Englishman. I suppose he is crazy;
so you may unlash him, boatswain_:" and he was soon after sent out of
that ship into this prison-ship. This man will carry the marks of the
accursed cat to his grave!
O, ye Tories! ye Federalists, ye every thing but what you should be,
who have derided the sufferings of the sailor, and mocked at his
misery--had you one half of the heroic virtue that filled and
sustained the brave heart of this noble sailor, you would cease to
eulogize these tyrants of the ocean, or to revile your own government
for drawing the sword, and running all risks to redress the wrongs of
the oppressed sailor. The cruel conduct of the British ought to be
trumpeted through the terraqueous globe; but we would feign cover
over, if possible, the depravity of some few of our merchants and
politicians, who regard a sailor in the same light as a truckman does
his horse.
Several of these impressed men have declared, that in looking back on
their past sufferings, on board English men of war, and comparing it
with their present confinement at Chatham, they feel themselves in a
Paradise. The ocean, the mirror of heaven, is as much the element of
an American as an Englishman. The great Creator has given it to us, as
well as to them; and we will guard its honor accordingly, by chasing
cruelty from its surface, whether it shall appear in the habit of a
_Briton_ or an _Algerine_.