Immediately after this unfortunate event, it was represented to Captain Willoughby, that upon his signing a paper, pledging his word of honor to use every despatch in proceeding to France, by a route pointed out to him, he would be allowed to travel thither alone; but that if he refused to give such a pledge, he would be obliged to march with the other prisoners.
Although then possessed of only a few ducats, and with no prospect of being able to obtain money by bills or England until his arrival at Dantzic, Captain Willoughby readily signed the paper, thereby binding himself to proceed to Mayence in the department of Mont Tonnére:– our readers will readily conceive, how great must have been his astonishment and indignation, at finding that he was nevertheless ordered to march in company with the other prisoners. In vain did he complain of this shameful imputation on his honor; and equally fruitless was his demand, that the paper should be given up to him.
The limits of this work prevent us from giving a description of the extraordinary and heart-rending scenes, which Captain Willoughby witnessed during the retreat of the French from Moscow; neither are we able to enter into a detail of what he himself suffered from cold, fatigue, and hunger, while traversing the vast deserts of Russia and Poland, amid the dreadful storm of men and elements that accelerated Napoleon’s downfall.
After reaching Minsk, Captain Willoughby was conducted by a gen d’arme to Wilna, the capital of Lithuania, where he arrived in the same shirt which he had worn ever since he was taken prisoner, and the same outward garments in which he had daily fought with the enemy, whilst marching from Riga to Polotzk.
On his arrival at Wilna, Captain Willoughby, and the other prisoners of rank, were ordered to appear before the governor, Count Horgendorf, who accosted him rather rudely, and expressed his surprise at seeing a British naval officer serving with such a people as the Russians; to which he replied, that he did not care in what sort of company he fought, so long as
