FISHES AND FISHING. 177 



came, without this official's signature on their pass- 

 ports, and he was invisible during several days : thus 

 all who had arrived in the town were entrapped. 

 Early one morning, the beginning of May, 1803, the 

 Town Sergeant, accompanied by a drummer, went 

 round the town, beating the drum at certain places, 

 then the usual way of notifying anything in France, 

 and commanded all Englishmen to attend at the 

 house of the Commandant of Calais, at a time speci- 

 fied, that morning. "When they went there, they 

 were told that, **As the English government had 

 made prizes of many French vessels, previous to their 

 having declared war against the republic, the French 

 government had decreed that all Englishmen, between 

 the ages of eighteen and sixty, were prisoners of war ; 

 that at present Calais was their prison, but they must 

 not presume to pass any of its gates, or they would 

 be made close prisoners." As the General did not 

 speak English, through the interest of my partner, I 

 was appointed his interpreter, and a very unpleasant 

 position it was, (though it eventually enabled me to 

 escape,) for I was placed by the General in communi- 

 cation with any of the rich detenues who petitioned 

 him for leave to go through the Netherlands to Eng- 

 land, or any other concession they might require; 

 and was instructed to intimate to them that the only 

 way to obtain the favour of the General, was to gain 



