250 French Prisoners. 



for French prisoners. May repose and blessing attend the 

 ashes of the patriotic statesman, who, amongst his last ser- 

 vices to Scotland, interposed to prevent this profanation !" 

 There is no doubt that this statesman was Viscount Dundas, 

 who was then First Lord of the Admiralty. There was a 

 passing use of a part of Falkland Palace by prisoners en 

 route for Perth depot. 



Greenlaw mansion-house was acquired as a place of 

 imprisonment for the rank and file early in the nineteenth 

 century. Later, Perth depot was erected at much expense ; 

 and Valley field and Eskmills paper factories were converted 

 into dep6ts for the same purpose. The prisoners at these four 

 depots ranged from 10,000 to 13,000. It was contemplated 

 to send captives to Fort George, which would accommodate 

 1500; but although there were some prisoners at one time 

 there, the Fort was not used to any extent. The places for 

 the paroled officers were Dumfries, Lanark, Hawick, Lauder, 

 Kelso, Jedburgh, Selkirk, Cupar-Fife, Melrose, Peebles, 

 Biggar, Lockerbie, Lochmaben, and Sanquhar. The total- 

 number on parole at these places when full would be from 

 1500 to 2000. As the British prisoners would be about 60,000 

 to 65,000, it follows that Scotland had between one-fourth and 

 one-fifth of the entire number of prisoners in the country. 



A word might be said as to the humanity of the Govern- 

 ment in dealing with the sick prisoners. Those on parole 

 were allowed one-half more subsistence money while ill, and 

 they had the gratuitous services of their own surgeons and 

 the British medical men. Thousands of wounded and infirm 

 prisoners were sent back to France, always accompanied 

 by French surgeons to look after them. Captain Craig- 

 Brown, in looking through " Admiralty Medical Out-letters 

 — Scotland," in the Public Record Office, Chancery Lane, has 

 inter alia unearthed a letter which illustrates British con- 

 sideration for the wounded foe. It runs as follows : — 

 " Transport Office, 26th April, 1813. Mr William Hill, 

 Greenlaw, is directed to visit the following places for the pur- 

 pose of selecting French invalid prisoners who he considers 

 unfit in any capacity for further services: — Hawick, Jed- 

 burgh, Kelso, Lauder, Melrose, Selkirk, and Greenlaw.'" 



