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was permitted to see ; and he interested himself so much in my behalf, 

 that an old gentlewoman with whom he had formed an acquaintance, 

 determined, on hearing my story, to procure my liberation, and 

 never rested until she had procured two bondsmen to answer for my 

 appearance when called for. 



The treatment I experienced, while in prison, is one of the many 

 instances of oppression which disgraced the administration of the 

 governor, Pasqual Ruis Huidobro. It is well known that his political 

 conduct was entirely subservient to the interests of the French, and 

 that he lost no opportunity of evincing his attachment to their cause. 

 As a further proof of this, I may state, that he caused all the cap- 

 tured English seamen to be confined in the prison, and, although its 

 spacious court was doubly grated and guarded, he debarred them the 

 use of it, and ordered them to be shut up night and day in a small 

 room, the door of which was never opened except when victuals 

 were given them. 



Aware of his severity, and knowing that I was the only prisoner at 

 large, I was very circumspect, and strove to guard my conduct and 

 discourse against artful misconstruction ; but I had the misfortune to 

 incur his displeasure at a moment when I least suspected it, by a very 

 trivial, and certainly unintentional offence. Some written papers had 

 been stuck up in various parts of the town, by order of Government, 

 inviting foreign seamen to enter the service. Returning home at 

 midnight from a visit, I observed one of these placards ; the rain, 

 which was pouring very fast, had partly detached it from the wall, 

 and it was blown to and fro by the wind. Curious to examine the 

 contents of a paper that had attracted the attention of many per- 

 sons in the course of the day, I took it down and carried it home 

 with me ; this was observed by an old Spaniard of the name of 

 Dias, who gloried much in having it in his power to injure me, though 

 a perfect stranger to him, and unconscious of having done any thing 

 to excite his malice. At the instance of this man an order was issued 

 by the governor for my arrest ; I was roused from my bed by the 



