Sidebilder
PDF
ePub

they were embarked; on board the corvette, LA VAILLANTE, which failed with them from the road of Rochelle, on the evening of the 23d of September 1797, under the command of a Captain LA PORTE, who feems to have fully justified the confidence which the agents of the Directory had repofed in him. Their treatment on board this veffel perfectly corresponded with that which they had experienced on fhore; and nothing can be more clear, than that it was intended to put an end to their exiftence during the voyage. They were kept below decks, in a narrow confined fituation, without light, and almoft without air, till the 29th, when they were permitted to go upon deck for one hour; but were prohibited from fpeaking.

"The detachments which had been put on board the Vaillante to guard us, chiefly confifted of marines fent home from the islands of • France and Bourbon by Meffrs. de Circey, together with the com miffaries of the Directory, who had been fent to thofe colonies to carry out the decrees which had diforganized and deftroyed the French fettlements at the Antilles. Thefe men had formerly been selected from among the revolutionary bands of the committee of Nantes, fo famous in the annals of terror by the maffacres and the drownings of the priests who were fentenced to deportation!

"We heard them relate to each other their various exploits. One boasted of having, during a march, ftabbed his captain in the back, and thrown him into a ditch, because he fufpected him of arif. tocracy; another coolly enumerated how many priests he had drowned in the Loire ; third explained to his comrades how thefe drown. ings were performed, and the grimaces of the unfortunate wretches at the moment of fubmerfion: feveral of them bragged of having killed with their oars thofe who, after paffing through the trap-door in the drowning-veffels, endeavoured to fave their lives by fwimming; and they acknowledged that thofe who had fent them back from the island of Bourbon had done well, for that otherwife they would have put that colony à la hauteur de la révolution!

"If these monsters fufpended for a moment their horrid converfations, it was to fing difgufting fongs. They chofe the time of our reft, to place themfelves by the hatchway, and howl out their obfcenities, their blafphemies, and their fongs of cannibals. If we requefted their indulgence, they loaded us with abufe, and immediately refumed their infernal choruffes.

Their fole food confifted of rotten bifcuit, and a few beans, and their only beverage was die water, which, joined to the wretchedne fs of the place i the infults and injuries of pofed, muft have proved of the mafter, named Do

[graphic]

they were confined, and ad to which they were exem, but for the humanity and of a cabin-boy, who, according

according to the revolutionary fafhion, had been named ARISTIDES; and who, indeed, appeared fo juft in his fentiments and conduct, that he deferved this pompous appellation much better than the different revolutionary heroes deferved those which they had the arrogance and the folly to affume. It is remarked, as a fingular circumftance, that this corvette had been named by General WILLOT, himself, who was now a prifoner on board her, and who was Commandant at Bayonne, where fhe was built, at the time he was launched. Fortunately La Vaillante was a prime failor, fo that they had a very quick paffage, having anchored in the great road of Cayenne, on the 10th of October. They were here fent on fhore and delivered into the hands of Jeannet, the Agent-General of the Colony, who, was nephew to DANTON, who made fo confpicuous a figure at an early part of the revolution. This man, at first, evinced a difpofition to treat the prifoners with humanity and attention; but, after an interview which he had with the Captain, LA PORTE, his conduct changed, and he was afterwards as fevere as he had before been indulgent. We cannot here avoid remarking a fingular inftance of retributive juftice. The father of the French Republic, the man whofe voice had proclaimed the deftruction of a monarchy which had fubfifted for fourteen centuries, and had, confequently, configned his Sovereign to the fcaffold, perifhed, by a miferable death, in a wretched hofpital at Cayenne. This mifcreant, COLLOT D'HERBOIS, who was originally a strolling-player, had been tranfported to Cayenne, with his worthy colleague, BILLAUD DE VARENNES; and, instead of feeling any remorfe for his paft crimes, determined to add to the black ca-: talogue, by inftigating the negroes to maffacre all the white perfons in the colony. The rebellion was fuppreffed by the energy of JEANNET; Collot was thrown into prifon, and foon after died in an hospital.

In order to increase the rigour of their confinement, the fixteen prifoners were on the 22d of November fent from Cayenne to a fort in the canton of Sinamary, about 30 leagues diftant, where they arrived the next day. Here it was intended they should pass the remainder of their days, in feven mifer. able rooms deftined for their habitation; an eighth adjoining room was occupied by Billaud de Varennes.

"The Commandant, addreffing himself to M. de Murinais, as the eldeft of us, pointed to one of the rooms which was to contain only one prifoner, and faid, this room will do for you,’ • Lead me,' replied the old general, to that which is nearest to the cemetery; for that will fuit me beft."

[ocr errors]

"After having obliged our worthy general to go into this firft

room

room alone, the others were divided between the remaining fiftethi Fortune feparated us as follows:

"Second, Aubry alone.

"Third, Pichegru and Marbois.

Fourth, Willot, la Rue, and Doffonville.

"Fifth, Bourdon and Rovère.

"Sixth, Laffond, Tronçon du Coudray, and Barthélemy.
"Seventh, Brothier, la Vilheurnois, le Tellier, and Ramel.

"The Commandant ordered a hammock for each of us; for thefe dungeons contained neither bed, table, nor chair, nor any one piece of furniture or utenfil.

"Our only food was an allowance of bifcuit, a pound of falt meat; and a glafs of rum, to correct the extreme bad quality of the water. Sometimes we had bread that we could not eat, because it was full of worms and ants, and fome portions of wine that had grown four in the magazines.

"Our first occupation was to clean out our rooms, which were full of venomous infects, that rendered them uninhabitable, although we had no other fhelter. No European; perhaps, had ever been thrown into fuch a den, in fuch a climate, there to be given as a pro to fcorpions, millepedes, gnats, mofquitoes, and many other fpecies of infects, equally numerous, dangerous, and difgufting! We were not even fecure from the ferpents that frequently crept into the Fort. Pichegru found one of uncommon fize, which he killed; it was thicker than his arm, and lay concealed in the folds of his cloak, which ferved him for a pillow to his hammock.

"The infect that tormented us most severely was the chica, or niguas, a fpecies of bug, which enters the pores of the fkin, and, if it is not carefully removed, breeds there, and deftroys the fleth fo rapidly, as to render amputation neceffary. We were covered with pimples and puftules, which deprived us of fleep, overwhelmed us with fatigue, and plunged us in the deepest dejection. Some of us had received, during our journey from the Temple to Rochefort, clothes, linen, and money; but others, and myself among the number, were totally def titute; our precipitate embarkation having disappointed the vigilance of our families. Jeannet fent us fome shirts and handkerchiefs, taken from the magazines from which the negroes are fupplied."

Yet even in this wretched fituation, the fenfe of their common mifery could not make them forget their political differences; they were divided into parties; and we find that their difputes were frequently violent, though the author, with more prudence than he generally difplays, has very properly caft a veil over them. The marked predominance of profeffional habits was strongly evinced in the conduct of Tronçon du Cou dray (formerly an advocate, eminent for his talents and integrity, with whom the writer of this article was, in better times, perfonally acquainted at Paris), who, in his prison,

loudly

loudly taxed the Directory with a fcandalous violation of the laws; called for a copy of the charges prefered against him, and "afked for judges even of the echos of Sinamary. He wrote memorials, and applied with so much affiduity, that he allowed himself no intervals of relaxation, and his health was impaired by the intenfenefs of his application." The old General Murinais having died in the fort, Du Coudray composed a funeral oration, which he delivered with fuch impreffive energy over the grave, that the Fort echoed with the fighs and fobs of the garrifon, and the attendant negroes. This circumftance produced an order from Jeannet prohibiting, under pain of death, any attempt to excite the compaffion of the foldiers or the negroes!! And, with a view to inftil a very different fentiment into the minds of the latter, and to ftimulate them to affaffinate the prifoners, he caufed them to be told, that the tranfported deputies were royalifts, who wished to replunge them into that ftate of flavery from which the republicans had emancipated them. Fortunately this diabolical artifice did not fucceed.

During their confinement, in April 1798, the period of the new elections, they faw "fifteen hundred negroes and thirty or forty whites affembled, who, having received a distribution of rum, voted, by order of the Directory, for Monge (then employed as commiffary for the fpoliation of Italy) as the reprefentative of the people of Cayenne!!!" It was about this time that eight of the prifoners conceived the plan of their efcape, which they afterwards communicated to Marbois, Laffond, and du Coudray; but thefe infatuated men remained obftinately attached to their mistaken principle of public duty, which decided them to wait quietly in prifon "until the nation fhould call out for juftice." The two latter, however, foon paid the debt of nature.

The first plan of the prifoners was to take refuge among the Indians in the neighbouring forefts, in the hope of afterwards penetrating across the continent to the Portuguese fettlements. But from the execution of this fcheme they were deterred by the want of guides, and fill more by the hoftile difpofition of the Galabis, the tribe that lived nearest to the Fort, who, to their eternal honour be it recorded, "had conceived a great averfion for the French nation, and, fince they had heard of the affaffination of the King, committed with impunity in the heart of France, their chiefs had broken off all communication," with the French. We ftrenuously recommend the conduct of thefe honeft favages, thefe untutored inhabitants of the impenetrable forefts of Sinamary, to the enlightened Sovereign of Pruffia, and to thofe other princes of

Europe,

Europe, who have not difdained to affociate with traitors, and to admit affaffins and regicides into their confidence!

It was at last determined to feize a canoe that always lay at the foot of the Fort, and, in that flender veffel, to brave the fury of the ocean, and endeavour to reach the Dutch fettlements, at about the diftance of one hundred leagues. For this purpose they were provided, by a trufty friend at Cayenne, with paffports, defcribing them, under feigned names, as French traders, figned by Jeannet himself. The arrival of an American Captain, Tilly, whofe veffel had been feized by the French, facilitated the execution of their enterprize. He offered to be himself their pilot; but his offer was rejected from regard to him, and his pilot, whofe name was Berwick, was fubftituted in his ftead; and he accordingly left the Fort on the first of June, and hid himfelf in the woods, whence, on a fignal agreed on, he was to fally forth and feize the canoe.

"Captain Poifvert had invited the Commandant of the Fort to dinner on the 3d of June, on board the American prize, in return for the kind reception he had met with, and the affiftance he had received from the garrifon, which had two days before vigorously attacked an English privateer that had approached the anchorage. At the fame time that he entertained the Commandant with a handfome dinner, and gave him the choiceft wines he had on board, he had distributed to the garrifon fome common Bourdeaux wine. A girl, who had arrived fome days before from Cayenne, did the honours, and delivered bottles of wine in profufion to the foldiers in their barracks and guardhoufe, to the negroes in their rooms, to the fentinels at their pofts, and to the deported under their corridor. Ah! how long this day appeared! with what pleafure we watched this young girl thus joy. oufly pouring out bumpers to the half intoxicated foldiers. Her activity and folicitude ferved us to our utmost wishes.

"Every one drank freely, as we did ourselves, and, feeming to take. part in these orgies, we feigned a quarrel among us while at dinner, in order to avoid giving the moft trifling indication of the plot. Aubry and Larue abused Barthélemy, le Tellier alfo took part in the difpute, Doffonville and Pichegru threatened each other, and Willot and myself feemed defirous of pacifying the reft. Glaffes and plates flew about, and the uproar was fo great, that the rest of the deported perfons came in to feparate us. The Abbé Brothier himself endea voured to put an end to this disturbance, which only increased the more but Barthélemy, who was the leaft fkilful in feigning paffion, coolly breaking his glafs in an aukward gefture of rage, a burst of laughter had nearly betrayed us.

"Night came on, and we faw the Commandant Aimé brought in, dead drunk, like a corpfe. Silence had now fucceeded to the fongs and cries of intoxication, and the foldiers and negroes lay difperfed here and there. The fervice was forgot, and the guard-houfe abandoned.

"Before

« ForrigeFortsett »