Bromley by name, pretended to speak broken Erench, and was exchanged without difficulty, whereupon he returned from England in disguise, and in concert with Philippeaux arranged Smith's escape. On the 5th May 1798 Tromelin and a confederate, dressed as French officers, presented themselves at the Temple with an order from the Minister of Marine to give up Smith and Wright that they might rejoin the other prisoners of war at Fontainebleau. Printed form, signature, and seal were genuine, but had been stolen by a Dalmatian, Wiskowich. Smith's affected reluctance to leave helped to throw the keeper off his guard, and the two prisoners, given up without demur, made their way to England, where Smith was enthusiastically received.[1]
What bribes were paid, and to whom, is unknown, but as Bonneville puts it, "the age of murderers has been succeeded by the age of thieves." The keeper, Boniface, was sentenced as a scapegoat to six months' imprisonment for remissness, albeit he had immediately notified the surrender of Smith to three of the ministers. These notices were apparently kept
- ↑ One of the confidants of the plot was Hyde de Neuville, a lineal descendant of Lord Chancellor Hyde, but whose Jacobite grandfather had settled in France. Out of regard for Tromelin's wife, Hyde hired a house adjoining the Temple, and made an underground passage from the cellar to the prison wall. A piece of the latter unexpectedly fell in, in broad daylight, under a sentry's eyes, and the conspirators had to flee from the house. Hyde was not personally concerned in the second and more successful attempt. He was a deputy and diplomatist after the Restoration.
