doomed to suffer death by the hands of their republican countrymen in cold blood, in a manner hitherto, I believe, unheard of, at least unrecorded in the annals of the most savage and abandoned people.[66] Humanity must shudder at the idea; the republicans erected a guillotine, with which they struck off the heads of fifty of them. Thinking, however, this mode of proceeding too tedious, they invented a more summary plan; they tied the remainder of these unhappy men fast together, and placed them on the brink of the trenches which they had so gallantly defended; they then drew up some of their undisciplined recruits in front, who firing an irregular volley at their miserable victims, killed some, wounded others, and some, in all probability, were untouched; the weight however of the former dragged the rest into the ditch, where the living, the wounded, and the dead, shared the same grave, the soil being instantly thrown upon them. The English troops were to be allowed to march out with the honours of war, and to be embarked on board French ships, which were to sail for England within twenty-one days after the surrender,[67] on condition that they would not serve against the French during the war. A great quantity of arms and ammunition fell into the hands of the enemy at this camp, and at Petit Bourg. Immediately after the surrender of Berville, Victor Hughes moved towards the town of Basse Terre, now our last stake on this island, laying waste the plantations, and burning the beautiful seats of the royalists as he passed along. Sir John Jervis, who had made every attempt to succour General Graham's camp at Berville, and had been an unwilling spectator from the fleet, of the surrender of that camp to the enemy, now made sail for Basse Terre, to render every assistance in his power to General Prescott;[68] and on the 9th of October, anchored within half a cable's length of the town. General Prescott instantly came on board to consult with the Admiral on the best mode of procedure in this critical state of affairs; and it was determined that the whole force which the General could collect, should go into the fort, and the Admiral, in the Boyne, would render every assistance in his power to the garrison; a promise he performed in a manner that drew the warmest thanks and approbation of General Prescott and his officers. At this time the French royalists had entirely abandoned us, and the militia, who had demanded arms, positively refused to enter the fort, and soon after deserted to the enemy: a party in the town seemed also ready to rise upon our people; but by the vigilance and activity of General Prescott they were overawed, and he continued to ride into the town unattended as usual. The fort was in a miserable state, nothing having been done to it since the peace of 1783; and Clairfontaine,[69] a royalist, who had been appointed administrateur general, wanting either influence or ability to procure negroes for the purpose, the fort was