No. 31. London, 13 Brumaire, 9th Year of the The Commiffary of the French Republic in England, to the Gentlemen, I HAVE juft received the honour of your letter of the ift of November, in answer to mine of the 29th of October. I fhall immediately communicate it to my Government. In making mention of the deplorable fituation to which the prifoners are reduced, you appear to think that I have given no anfwer to the communications you made to me refpecting the very cenfurable practice of fuch of them as rifk the lofs of their rations in gambling. I request that you will refer to my letter of the 2d of May, in which you will find the following paragraph: "I entirely approve of the punishment you propofe to inflict upon thofe who, according to the information you have fent me, deal in provifions; and I beg that you will communicate to me a lift of the perfons guilty of this conduct. It even appears neceffary, in order that the punishment may be the more felt, to feparate them from their comrades, and to collect them in a depôt for this purpose." I have written to the fecretaries at the different depôts to the above effect; and I have procured authority from the minifter to treat with the utmost severity thofe who make a traffic of the rations of their comrades. I have done in this refpect every thing my fituation will admit of my doing; but, until I fhall know who are the guilty, it will be impoffible for me to punish I have the honour to be, &c. (Signed) them. Sir, No. 32. Отто. Transport Office, 5th November 1800. WE have received your letter of yesterday's date, on the fubject of that part of our letter of the 1ft inftant, in which we obferved, that you had taken no notice to us of our communications to you of the 22d of April and 20th of May, relative to the pernicious practice that had become fo prevalent among the prifoners, of gambling away their rations of provifions; and, in return, we readily acknowledge that, when we made that obfervation, your letter to us of the 2d of May, to which you now refer, had escaped our recollection; but notwithstanding your having then expreffed your approval of the manner in which we propofed to punith the prifoners who fhould be detected in trafficking or gambling for the prison rations, we had every reafon to believe that you had not taken any efficacious meafures in confequence; becaufe, fo late as the 20th of laft month, Captain Woodriff writes to us, that he daily threatened the purchasers and winners of rations with being put at the end of the lift for exchange; a punishment which he conceives the most severe that can be inflicted, and which he believes would have the intended effect, if it were confirmed by you. We fhall cause the names of all fuch prifoners as our officers have detected, or may hereafter detect in fuch practices, to be communicated to you; but at the same time we think it highly neceffary that you fhould communicate to the prifoners, not only through your fecretaries at the feveral depôts, but alfo through our refpective agents, your determination to deprive all offenders of the defcription above mentioned of their turn of exchange. We have no doubt, however, that you will have the candour to allow, that the inadvertency which has occurred on this fubject, as ftated in our letter of the ift inftant, does not in the leaft degree alter the general ftate of the cafe, relative to the caufe of the prefent diftreffed fituation of the French prifoners in this country; and, as a further proof that their distress is not owing to the scantinefs of their ration, but to their own imprudence in difpofing of it, and to the neglect of their Government in not fupplying them with the neceffary clothing, we herewith tranfmit to you a copy of a letter which we have this day received from Mr. Holmwood, our agent for prifoners of war at Portchester, intorming us, that he has difcovered at that place a prifoner who has purchafed the ration of meat of another prifoner for a month for the fum of eightpence, and that he finds it impracticable to prevent the prisoners from cutting up their bedding and converting it into clothing, to keep themselves from perifhing by the cold. We are, &c. (Signed) RUPERT GEORGE. M. Otto. W. A. OTWAY, No. 33. Gentlemen, Portchefter Caftle, 4th November 1800. I BEG leave to inform you, I have difcovered a French prifoner who has bought the ration of meat of another prifoner for one month for the fum of eight-pence. I fubmit to your confideration what kind of punishment should be inflicted on him for fo great a crime. I have done every thing in my power to prevent it, but it will be impoffible, unless fome further punishment be inflicted more than by putting them in the black hole, which they deem nothing, as frequently prifoners petition to be fent there. I alfo beg to reprefent, that I cannot poffibly prevent the pri foners foners from cutting up their bedding, on account of their ftate of nakedness; that they convert it into clothing to keep themselves from perishing by the cold. I have the honour, &c. JOHN HOLMWOOD. Sir, Admiralty Office, ift December 1800. The Commiffioners for conducting his Majefty's Transport Ser vice, and taking charge of Prisoners of War, having, in their letter of the 29th ultimo, tranfmitted to us one they had received from Captain Cotes at Paris, relative to the clothing for the French prifoners in this country, we fend you enclosed copies of the faid letters, with transcripts of the papers therein referred to, for his Majesty's information and commands. We are, &c. (Signed) Right Honourable Henry Dundas, &c. &c. &c. J. GAMBIER. R. MAN. No. 35. Sir, Tranfport Office, 29th November 1800. WE herewith tranfmit, for the information of the Right Honourable the Lords Commiffioners of the Admiralty, an extract of a letter which we have received this day from Captain Cotes at Paris, together with copies of the two letters therein referred to, relative to the clothing for the French prifoners in this country; and we request you will fignify to us their Lordships' inftructions on the subject. We are, &c. (Signed) RUPERT GEORGE. Evan Nepean, Efq. &c. &c. &c. W. A. OTWAY. No. 36. Extract of a Letter from Captain Cotes at Paris, to the Commiffioners for Tranfports, dated 24th November 1800. THE enclosed letter from the Minifter of the Exterior propofes, that the French prisoners fhould be clothed at the expense of the British government. As I always understood it was your intention to reserve to yourselves the right of clothing your prifoners in France, so I always thought that it was left to the French government to clothe theirs in England; in confequence of this opinion, I wrote him the letter of which I enclose a copy, and am very VOL. XI. E much much pleased that my answer entirely correfponds with the fentiments expreffed in your letter to M. Otto. So far back as the 11th Nivofe (1st January 1800), I wrote to the Minister of Marine, acquainting him with your intentions on this subject, and as a proof that it has not been difapproved, I have uninterruptedly furnished our prifoners with fuch articles as they stood in need of, and continue to do fo. Should any thing further occur on this fubject, I shall refer them to your letter to M. Otto, unless you should think proper to give me other inftructions. No. 37. Paris, 26th Brumaire, 9th Year (17th November 1800). The Minifter for Foreign Affairs, to Captain James Cotes, the Britifh Commiffary charged with the Exchange of English Prisoners of War. Sir, THE Minifter of the Marine, having laid before the First Conful your letter of the 5th of this month, wherein you invite him, in the name of your Government, to give orders for furnishing our prifoners in England with clothing, the First Conful has directed me to remind you, that by the arrêté of the 1ft Frimaire laft, communicated to your Government, the ufages which had prevailed in former wars, and even at the commencement of the prefent, have been re-established for the treatment of the prifoners of our refpective countries. Cuftom has established that each belligerent power fhould bear the charge of whatever became requifite for the perfons of the prifoners in cuftody, referving to be fettled at a general peace, the advances made for clothing; and the French government, in conformity to this practice, had reafon to expect a reciprocal attention on the part of the British government, as a matter of right, and which could not fail to be obferved between generous enemies. Receive, Sir, the affurances of my perfect confideration. (Signed) CH. M. TALLEYRAND. Citizen Minifter, No. 38. Paris, 20th November 1800. I HASTEN to reply to the letter you did me the honour of writing on the 26th Brumaire, by obferving that the arrêté of the Confuls, dated 1 Frimaire, to which you refer, with respect to the clothing of prifoners, makes no mention whatever, in any of its articles, of this part of the fubject, which is entirely diftin&t from that of their fubfiftence. I made the fame obfervation, on the 11th Nivofe laft, to the Minifter of the Marine, and I ap prized him that the British government had referved to itself, and would continue to clothe its prifoners in France. I have ftrictly adhered to the intention of my Government in this refpect as my duty prefcribed, by directing our prifoners to be provided with fuch articles of clothing as they might have occafion for. Accept, &c. To the Minifter for Foreign Affairs at Paris. - No. 39. JAMES COTES. My Lords, Downing Street, 4th December 1800. I HAVE received and laid before the King your letter of the ift inftant, enclosing a correfpondence between Captain Cotes and the Minister for Foreign Affairs at Paris, relative to the clothing of the French prifoners of war in this country, and I have received his Majefty's commands to defire that the following answer should be made, both through Captain Cotes and M. Otto, to the French government. The English government has feen with the greatest surprise that the Minister for Foreign Affairs, in his letter to Captain Cotes of the 17th November, fhould remind the latter of the arrété of the First Conful of the 21ft of November 1799, aud that, in answer to a representation refpecting the want of clothing for the French prifoners in England, he fhould think it fufficient to obferve, that by that arrêté the First Conful had determined (among other things)," that the faid prifoners fhould be clothed. by the British government." It can fearcely be neceffary to obferve to the Minifter for Foreign Affairs, that an arrêté of the French government pretending to prescribe and lay down a rule of conduct for the government of Great Britain, is not binding. upon the latter, and that fuch a mode of communicating the wishes of the First Conful was not the most likely to procure his Majefty's acquiefcence to an arrangement, which, however, he would have equally been obliged to withhold, had it come under his confideration in a form more ufually obferved between independent ftates. But this part of the fubject is the less material, as this Government did not leave to that of France to collect, either from its own experience or our filence, the determination of his Majefty refpecting the clothing of the French prifoners. Immediately on that arrêté being received in this country, fo far back as the 14th of December 1799, a communication of which the enclosed is a copy*, was made to the French government, both through Captain Cotes and M. Niou; and |