ration of Lieutenant Dillon and the boat’s crew; but, notwithstanding these circumstances, he was detained a prisoner upwards of four years, in defiance to the law of nations, and in open violation of every privilege in relation of flags of truce, as established and acknowledged by all civilized powers[1].
At the time this outrage was committed, there were lying in Helvoetsluys two French frigates, in addition to the Dutch squadron commanded by Commodore Valterbuck. After confining him for some time on board a dogger, where he flag of truce was kept flying as if in derision, the French Commodore removed Lieutenant Dillon to his own ship, the Furieuse; and whilst in her he caught a malignant fever, which nearly proved fatal to him. From that frigate he was sent on board la Libre; and after being kept for several weeks in a state of cruel suspense, it was at length intimated to him, that if he would sign a document in the shape of a parole of honor, he should be allowed to land and proceed into the interior of Holland. Worn out as he was by the nature of his imprisonment, and being hopeless of obtaining his liberation from the persons then at the head of affairs in France, he reluctantly assented; and took his departure for Rotterdam, from whence he was successively ordered to Breda, Antwerp, Brussels, Luneville, and Verdun.
In 1806, when the British government sent over Lords Yarmouth and Lauderdale to negociate for peace, these noblemen were instructed to apply for the liberation of Captain Dillon, and three other officers who had likewise been detained in an unjustifiable manner; but Napoleon Buonaparte gave his decided refusal to the request, thereby adding to the unmerited hardships they had already undergone. It is here proper to remark, that the subject of this memoir was promoted to the rank of Commander in the spring of the preceding year, and that his exchange was at length effected by his private friends in Sept. 1807.
On his return to England, Captain Dillon found that his
- ↑ Errata, Vol. II. Part I. p. 208, line 2 from the bottom, for the space of five years, read for more than four years.
