captives sleep for once in the citadel.[1] At Bitche some of them cut their names indelibly on the outer walls of the barrack, and a recent visitor has noticed well-known British patronymics.[2] Verdun, it should be mentioned, contained in 1804 700 Englishmen, 400 of them hostages, the rest soldiers and sailors, but by the end of 1805 only 150 hostages remained. They had two clubs, and in 1807 invited the townspeople to a masked ball. Some of the captives, as well civilians as soldiers, were without means, and had to be assisted by their comrades. At Valenciennes, Lord Barrington gave a good meal once a day at his house to his poor countrymen, and Lord Elgin subscribed 100 guineas to a fund for their relief. In 1807 the Birmingham Quakers started a subscription, and in 1811 London followed suit, but this was mainly, if not exclusively, for the prisoners proper. General Lord Blayney, captured in an engagement in Spain, was also commissioned to watch over their interests, and he travelled about France for this purpose.[3]
Sturt, at first confined in the Temple, escaped from Meaux in 1810, and published in London his "Real State of France," which exposed the rapacity of General Wirion, commandant of Verdun. This pork-butcher's son levied blackmail on all indul-
- ↑ "Memoirs of Myles Byrne," Paris, 1863.
- ↑ Mr. Childers, in Nineteenth Century, May 1888.
- ↑ "Narrative of a Forced Journey through France," 1810–14.
