P OETEE^ S J Q IJ R N A,L. 



177 



given me bj the inhabitants, as weii as by those of every 

 other place through which 1 passed, it becomes not mc to 

 record. It is suflicient to say, it has made an impressioa 

 on my mind, never to be elfaccd. 



The Essex Junior, after being detained the whole of the 

 day following my escape, and ransacked for money ; her 

 crew mustered on deck, under pretence of detecting de- 

 serters ; her officers insulted, and treated with shameful 

 outrage ; was at length dismissed, and arrived next day at 

 New- York, where she was condemned and sold. In 

 the language I used at that time and subsequently, with 

 regard to the character and conduct of British naval offi- 

 cers, some persons have found great cause of otfence. For 

 my full justification, I rest on the foregoing narrative, with 

 the documents by which it is supported. Years have 

 passed away since I first made these assertions ; but thej 

 have brought with them no experience but what confirms 

 my first impressions. 



My escape from unjustifiable detention by the captain of 

 the Saturn, was asserted to be a breach of parole ; and I 

 have the most undeniable evidence, that admiral Cochrane 

 mustered the officers of his fleet, on his quarter deck, de- 

 claring to them, that I was out of the pale of honour, and 

 must be treated accordingly. The correspondence between 

 the agents of the two governments, in the Appendix to this 

 volume, will show, by admiral Cochrane's own distinct ad- 

 mission, that his government, on being made fully ac- 

 quainted with the circumstances, declared me discharged 

 from my parole, and as free to serve in any capacity, as if 

 I had never been made prisoner." Yet, notwithstanding 

 all this, care has been taken to keep up the impression, 

 that I remain still under this imputation of a breach oif 

 parole, by withholding, on all occasions, the public recan- 

 tation of a charge publicly made, and— unanswerablv re- 

 futed. 



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