any intelligence whatsoever could be obtained, either of Lieutenant Wood or of those under his orders.
From St. Maloes our officer was transferred to Paris; and after undergoing an examination by the Committee of Public Safety, who, it appears, suspected the men brought by him to France were royalists, was consigned to the Abbaye, in which, and various other prisons, he was confined for many months. Being at length liberated on his parole of honor, he exerted himself most warmly in behalf of his suffering countrymen, and with no inconsiderable degree of success, as will appear from the following letter addressed by General O’Hara, who had been taken prisoner at the siege of Toulon (and with whom he formed an intimacy during his captivity), to the late Viscount Melville, at that time Principal Secretary of State for the War Department:–
“Paris, Prison Du Dreneux, April 6, 1795.
“Sir, – Give me leave to present to you Lieutenant Wood, of the Royal Navy, whose long confinement in a common jail, where our acquaintance began, renders him highly deserving your protection, as the unexampled severities he experienced arose from his manly endeavours to oblige those faithless people to carry into execution the object of his mission to this country.
“Lieutenant Wood will, I am fully persuaded, Sir, have a further claim to your good offices, when you are acquainted that several English families who had languished for many months in the prisons of this town, the mansions of despair and accumulated cruelties, are indebted to his friendly interference for their liberty; and that likewise the exchange of several officers of the royal navy have been in a great measure brought about by his unremitting exertions.
“I trust, Sir, you will have the goodness to forgive the liberty I take of endeavouring to contribute my feeble aid to be useful to an officer, whose sufferings have been so great, and fortunes so deeply wounded from a spirited discharge of his duty.
“I have the honor to be, Sir, with the greatest respect,
“Your most obedient, and most humble Servant,
(Signed)
“Charles O’Hara
“Right Hon. Henry Dundas,
&c. &c. &c.”
Among the Englishmen then in the power of France was Captain Cotes, late of the Thames frigate; from whom, previous to his departure from Paris, Lieutenant Wood, although personally unknown to him, received a letter, dated at Gisors,
