Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall sp2.djvu/206

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192
POST-CAPTAINS OF 1810.

organized army in Germany, having succeeded by extraordinary exertions in reviving the spirit, and calling forth the vast resources of his empire. Scarcely had he entered the town, when an order was issued for Captain Willoughby to be hurried off, and confined au secret in the Chateau de Bouillon, the birth place of Duke Godfrey, who first reigned over the principality of that name, and who commanded the crusaders at the taking of Jerusalem.

This vindictive mandate was immediately obeyed; and for nine months from that period, he was confined au secret in every respect, except being allowed to correspond with some friends, whom he had met with at Verdun, on condition that the governor of the chateau should always see the contents of his letters.

Bearing in mind the fate of poor Wright and many others, we shudder at the thought of what might have been Captain Willoughby’s destiny, had not the triumphant advance of the allies rendered it necessary for the enemy to remove all their prisoners further from the frontier, and thus proved the means of hi« deliverance from a French state prison.

On leaving the Chateau de Bouillon, Captain Willoughby was conducted to Peronne, in which city he continued till the arrival of the allies at Chalons, when he contrived to make his escape, and again join Earl Cathcart.

We next find Captain Willoughby at Paris, where he witnessed the entry of Louis XVIII., and was presented by Earl Cathcart to the Emperor Alexander, after which, he received an intimation that he was immediately to be honored with a Russian order; but which has never yet been conferred upon him. At a subsequent period, he received the following letter from Count Steinheil, in answer to one written some time after his return home, thanking that general for his kindness to him, while attached to the Finland corps, and acquainting the Count that he had conformed to the usual etiquette, in being introduced to the Emperor and the Minister of War, before he quitted his Imperial Majesty’s service:–

“Monsieur le Capitaine,– N’ayant pas reçu de vos nouvelles depuis le temps lorsque vous fûtes fait prisonnier, votre lettre du 5 Mars qui m’ap-