FREEDOM
That Dr. Franklin had been much concerned in regard to the treatment
accorded to Captain Conyngham by the British authorities is proved by
the letters and correspondence that passed between him and Conyngham’s
friends. Let us look at these letters for a moment and we shall see
that these friends were not idle. Here are the authentic copies of a
portion of the correspondence.
Jonathan Nesbit, the nephew of Mr. James Nesbit, of Philadelphia, was
yet in Europe, living for the time at L’Orient, and in September he
wrote to Dr. Franklin as follows:
“L’ORIENT, _Sept. 22, 1779_.
“SIR: By the brig Retaliation, Captain Kolloch, which left
Philadelphia the 10th August, I have received letters informing
me that Captain G. Conyngham, late commander of the cutter
Revenge, had the misfortune to be taken last spring by the
Galatea and sent into New York, from whence he had been sent
to England with a design to have him tried for piracy. They
pretend to say that he took the Harwich packet without having
any commission, which your Excellency must know to be false--as
I believe you were in Paris at the time that his commission
and orders were delivered him. The commission under which he
acted as captain of the Revenge is dated, I apprehend, after
the taking of the Harwich packet. It is on this circumstance,
no doubt, that the charge of piracy is founded. His first
commission was taken from him in Dunkirk after he was put
in jail and sent up to Paris, and I think was lodged in the
hands of M. Comte de Vergennes. I have to request that your
Excellency will do everything in your power to prevent the poor
fellow from suffering. Considering the smallness of his vessel
and the difficulty he labored under when he first left France,
he has done a great deal for the service of his country. He has
done so much harm to the enemy that he can expect no mercy at
their hands, and if they can find any pretense whatever, they
will certainly destroy him. Captain Kolloch informs me that
he was sent home in irons. I should certainly have heard from
him was he not already confined. I once more take the liberty
to recommend the unhappy man’s case to your Excellency’s
particular attention.
“I have the honor to be, with great respect,
“JONATHAN NESBIT.”
Before this, however, Dr. Franklin had been informed of the condition
of affairs, and he had written to secret friends of America in London
and tried to get them to interfere in some way for the gallant
captain, or at least to endeavor to mitigate the circumstances of his
imprisonment. He replies to Mr. Nesbit in the following letter:
“_To Mr. Nesbit._
“PASSY, _Sept. 20 1779_.
“SIR: Captain Conyngham has not been neglected. As soon as
I heard of his arrival in England, I wrote to a friend to
furnish him with what money he might want, and to assure him
that he had never acted without a commission. I have been made
to understand in answer that there is no intention to prosecute
him, and that he was accordingly removed from Pendennis Castle
and put among the common prisoners at Plymouth, to take his
turn for exchange. The Congress, hearing of the threats to
sacrifice him, put three officers in close confinement to
abide his fate, and acquainted Sir George Collier with their
determination, who probably wrote to the British ministers. I
thank you for informing me what became of his first commission.
“I suppose I can easily recover it, to produce on occasion.
Probably the date of that taken with him, being posterior
to his capture of the packet, made the enemy think they had
an advantage against him. But when the English Government
have encouraged our sailors, entrusted with our vessels, to
betray that trust, run away with the vessels, and bring them
into English ports, giving such lawful prizes, it was foolish
imprudence in the English commodore to talk of hanging one of
our captains for taking a prize without commission.
“I have the honor to be, with great esteem, sir,
“B. FRANKLIN.”
Rumors, and then certain assurance, soon came to Paris that a wholesale
escape of American prisoners had taken place from Mill prison, and on
November 23d Franklin was rejoiced to receive the following letter,
dated November 18th, at Amsterdam:
“SIR: I have the pleasure to inform you that on the 3d inst.,
I, with about fifty of our unfortunate countrymen, broke out
of Mill prison. I brought three officers with me. I came by
the way of London, it being the safest. At London we met with
our good friend Mr. Digges, who did everything in his power
to serve one and all his countrymen that chance to fall in
his way. Happy we to have such a man among the set of tyrants
they have in that country! The treatment I have received is
unparalleled. Iron, dungeons, hunger, the hangman’s cart,
I have experienced. I shall set off from here the 19th for
Dunkirk. There I shall be glad to hear from you. I shall always
be ready to serve my country, and happy should I be to be able
to come alongside some of those petty tyrants. I find something
of the effects of my confinement. In a short time will be able
to retaliate. I should at this time go out with Captain Jones
or in the squadron, could I have heard from you. I should be
glad to go for the Continent if a good opportunity served. In
this I shall take your advice, and act accordingly.
“The cash Mr. Digges supplied me with, and some necessaries
I got at Plymouth. The friend we have at Plymouth is obliged
to act with the greatest caution. Mr. Redmond Conyngham, in
Ireland, has ordered me some little supply through the hands
of David Hartley, of London--a mortal enemy of America, by all
accounts.
“From your most obedient and very humble servant,
“G. CONYNGHAM.”
One more letter--Franklin’s answer to this one just quoted--and we have
done with the correspondence.
“PASSY, _Nov. 22, 1779_.
“SIR: It gave me great pleasure to hear of your escape out of
prison, which I first learned from six of the men who broke
out with you and came to France in a boat. I was then anxious
lest you should be retaken, and I am very glad indeed to hear
of your safe arrival at Amsterdam. I think it will be best for
you to stay awhile at Dunkirk till we see what becomes of the
little squadron from Holland, for which it is said the English
are lying in wait with superior force. The Congress resented
exceedingly the inhuman treatment you met with, and it ordered
three English officers to be confined in the same manner, to
abide your fate.
“There are some Frenchmen returned to Dunkirk who were put by
you into one of your first prizes, which was afterward carried
into England. I wish you would adjust their claims of wages,
prize-money, etc., and put them in a way of getting what may be
due to them.
“I write to Mr. Coffyn by this post, to supply you with
necessaries. You will be as frugal as possible, money being
scarce with me, and the calls upon me abundant.
“With great esteem, I have the honor, etc.,
“B. FRANKLIN.”
Now let us return to Conyngham and follow him through the excitement of
the escape that he refers to so casually.
The English officers in charge of the prison not only visited revenge
upon Conyngham’s head for the clever ruse that had almost been
successful, but they made most of the other American prisoners suffer
also. Below ground, under the center of the western wing of Mill
prison, were the “Black Holes,” or dungeons, and in the largest one
of these Conyngham, with three officers of American privateers and
fifty men--captured seamen--were confined. Four times a day and twice
during the night was the damp and dismal apartment inspected, and yet
no sooner had they all been placed inside and the heavy door locked
behind them than Conyngham proposed that a meeting should be held and
that they should appoint a leader who was to rule and govern them. At
once the proposition was made to him, that as senior officer he should
at once take the responsibility himself. At first modestly he refused,
but the rest of the prisoners would hear of nothing but his acceptance,
and so, wisely, the first thing he did was to appoint a committee
that examined into each man’s pedigree and position in order to be
assured that there were no spies among them. No suspicious persons were
developed by the inquiry, and that very evening Conyngham detailed the
plans for the attempted escape. Upon searching the apartment the first
thing he discovered was a loose flat stone in the flooring. Upon being
removed the ground was found to be soft and sandy underneath--so much
so that it could be almost scooped out with the hand. Digging began
that very night under Conyngham’s direction, a watchful person being
placed at the door to listen to the approaching footsteps of the patrol.
Conyngham had well gauged the distance and direction that the tunnel
should take to bring him out at the edge of the common outside of
the prison walls. The earth as it was dug up was concealed under
the mattresses, and from thence transferred to the pockets of the
prisoners, who carried it out handful by handful when they were in
the corridor, the privileges of the jail-yard being now denied them.
During the day and when the men were not working, for they had arranged
the labor and divided the time into watches of half an hour each, the
stone that concealed the opening was itself hidden by one of the straw
pallets.
The guards continued to be unsuspicious, and one night, late in
October, the two men who were at work in the farthest end of the
tunnel came quickly back announcing that they were so close to the
surface that the earth was beginning to break and crumble. It was
very fortunate that they had found beneath the first layer of soft
sand a stratum of hard clay mixed with gravel, which required no prop
or support to prevent its caving. Work now for a time was suspended,
Conyngham concluding to wait for the moonlight nights, and yet to
choose one when the light would not be too brilliant. The hour settled
upon was when the shadow of the prison would lie heavy upon the spot
where the breaking out would take place.
No better night could one imagine than that of the first Monday of
November, when every one was warned to make ready for escape. Conyngham
himself led the way and dug, lying on his back with the earth falling
all about him, until at last he could feel the free air as his hand
broke through the upper crust. In three minutes more a hole was made
sufficiently large to admit of his thrusting forth his head and
shoulders.
It was dangerous indeed, for should a sentry happen by any chance to
be in the vicinity, not only might the discovery lead at once to the
detection of the plot, but also to death by a musket-ball. No one was
in sight! The deep black shadows lay heavy under the high wall, and
above it towered the great roof of the prison. Beyond them rose the
square watch-tower against the gray misty moonlit sky. All at once
he heard a voice behind him. It was evident that if he did not take
care, the very eagerness of the men to make their way out would prove
their own undoing, for they had already begun jostling and shoving
one another, despite the stringent orders he had given. With great
difficulty he forced his way back through the hole, and there in a
few earnest words impressed upon them the necessity for caution and
patience. Order restored and the muttering stopped, he drew himself
by sheer strength out of the hole and rose to his knees on the ground
outside. One after another the men were pulled forth. All went well
until the last man’s turn came. I say “man,” but in reality he was a
huge overgrown boy, whose weeks of imprisonment had not appeared to
have reduced his bulk, for he stuck fast in the hole and apparently
could not be moved either one way or the other. If the position had
not been so full of danger it might have been found amusing, but every
minute’s delay increased the prospect of discovery, so they struggled
to relieve the fat boy from his predicament. Three men had hold of one
of his arms, when suddenly he gave a sharp cry. He once had been hurt
or wounded, and in their endeavors to release him they had broken the
large bone of his forearm. However, after his first outcry the poor
fellow said nothing, and by dint of digging and more careful hauling
they succeeded in releasing him.
[Illustration: One after another the men were pulled forth.]
By common consent they were to divide into small parties and make their
way to London or the vicinity, where from their various hiding-places
they were to inform a certain Mr. Digges of their arrival. It would be
six hours and more before their escape would be discovered.
One by one, keeping close to the cover of the walls, they each made
the shelter of a small clump of bushes, from which they reached a wood
about a half mile distant, where a meeting was held to determine on
their future course of action. It was a very short one, for Conyngham
dominated it and impressed upon them the necessity for haste. Soon all
were on the highroad, which they followed for about five miles and
then broke up in small parties as had been arranged for. Strange to
say, only fourteen of them, so far as could be ascertained, were ever
recaptured. The fat boy escaped!
Conyngham and one of the officers were the first to reach London, where
they immediately repaired to the house of Mr. Digges, who provided them
with food, money, and clothing, and despite the great risk began to
make preparations to assist the other men as they should arrive.
Conyngham, while walking the streets of London, had the pleasure of
seeing displayed, in the window of a print-shop, a most extravagant
print alleged to be his portrait, “representing him a man of gigantic
stature, very broad in the shoulders, the whole person indicating great
strength, with a ferocious countenance. Under the arm was a sword at
least six feet long, and beneath the whole was the legend, ‘The Yankee
Pirate, Conyngham, the arch-rebel. An Admirable likeness.’”
Soon a vessel was found that was sailing for Amsterdam, and on board of
her Conyngham embarked in the guise of an English merchant, but before
this, six of his companions had made their way to the seacoast, where
they had helped themselves to a small fishing boat and arrived safely
on the French coast. As soon as he reached Amsterdam he wrote the
letter to Benjamin Franklin which we quoted at the beginning of this
chapter.
John Paul Jones was then in the Texel, where he was having any amount
of trouble with the Dutch authorities owing to the objections of
the English representatives to his remaining there with his prizes.
Conyngham joined him, when at last he was forced to leave, and sailed
with him in the Alliance; but the captain’s misfortunes were not yet
over.