Memoir of Armand Carrel. 133 



"During," said he, "the eight months that the officers in confine- 

 ment at Perpignan have occupied a dark and unwholesome cell, the 

 only request which they have made to the medical attendants and 

 those of the police, has been, that they might be allowed the air 

 necessary for the preservation of their health and have as much 

 light admitted into their room as would remove its present appear- 

 ance of a dungeon. No notice however has been taken of this 

 application, nor has redress been obtained. Finding that they could 

 not succeed in having their apartment rendered more habitable, they 

 next applied to be allowed to remain in the open air for two hours 

 a day : this also was refused. They continue to have only an hour 

 in the twenty-four allowed them ; and even this indulgence is often 

 denied them through the caprice of the jailer or on the plea of bad 

 weather. At the time when the heat of the weather began to render 

 their prison dreadful, they were again obliged to apply for the ne- 

 cessary alterations in their cell; as, in order to breathe the air, they 

 had to stand, one at a time, at the small opening which admitted the 

 light; and their application was again refused. These details may 

 appear trifling to those who are living in liberty and ease ; but they 

 are important to those that suffer. All that they now hope is, that, 

 as sentinels have lately been placed on the terrace during the whole 

 day, they may be allowed to go out twice during the twenty-four 

 hours, and that the time when this liberty is granted them may be 

 so arranged, that they may not be exposed to a transition from the 

 damp of their dungeon to the fervent heat of the sun. An hour 

 before their morning meal and another before their evening would 

 be convenient, as it would not interfere with the duty of their guards; 

 but even this small indulgence has been denied them on the pretext, 

 that it would interfere with the occupations of the jailer." 



The situation of the prisoners was shortly afterwards considerably 

 alleviated by the benevolence of an inhabitant of Perpignan, who not 

 only liberally supplied them from his own purse with many necessaries 

 of which they stood in need, but also opened a correspondence with 

 their friends with the view of obtaining their release. The influence 

 thus exerted was so powerful, chiefly it is supposed through the in- 

 terposition of the Baron de Damas, the French general who signed 

 the capitulation, and whose good opinion Carrel, at an earlier period 

 of his life, had'acquired, that a proposal was soon after made by the 

 agents of government, offering to release the prisoners provided]they 

 supplicated the clemency of the king as deserters. This offer was 

 embraced by many of them ; but Carrel, feeling that it involved his 

 honour, rejected it with disdain. He was accordingly removed from 

 his prison at Perpignan to another at Toulouse, and subjected to 

 even harsher treatment, and, what he felt still more, to grosser 

 indignities. He was thrown into the common gaol of the town, and 

 lodged in the same apartment with the felons and most abandoned 

 characters. But even here the innate dignity of his nature protected 

 him ; and retiring to a corner of the cell he passed his time in 

 perusing the few books he had brought with him from France, his 

 privacy being respected even by the lawless ruffians by whom he 

 was surrounded. Carrel indeed possessed the secret of keeping 



