After a while came a letter from one of the detained Dutchmen, in these words: “A ship is arrived from Bengal. The captain’s name is Pellew; he asks for water and provisions.” The governor was little disposed to yield to this demand, and, about midnight, his secretary waited on Doeff to inform him that he was going to rescue the prisoners. Being questioned as to the manner how, he replied, “Your countrymen have been seized by treachery; I shall, therefore, go alone, obtain admission on board by every demonstration of friendship, seek an interview with the captain, and, on his refusal to deliver his prisoners, stab him first, and then myself.” It cost Doeff a good deal of trouble to dissuade the secretary and the governor from this wild scheme. The plan finally adopted was to manage to detain the ship till vessels and men could be collected to attack her. The next afternoon one of the detained Dutchmen brought on shore the following epistle from the English captain: “I have ordered my own boat to set Goseman on shore, to procure me provisions and water; if he does not return with such before evening, I will sail in to-morrow early, and burn the Japanese and Chinese vessels in the harbor.” The provisions and water were furnished, though the Japanese were very unwilling to have Goseman return on board. This done, the two Dutchmen were dismissed. The governor, however, was still intent upon calling the foreign ship to account. One scheme was to prevent her departure by sinking vessels, laden with stones, in the channel. The prince of Ōmura proposed to burn her, by means of boats filled with reeds and straw, offering himself to lead; but while these schemes were under discussion, the frigate weighed and sailed out of the harbor. The affair, however, had a tragical ending. Within half an hour after her departure, the governor, to save himself from impending disgrace, cut himself open, as did several officers of the harbor-guard. The prince of Hizen, though resident at Yedo at the time, was imprisoned a hundred days, for the negligence of his servants in the maintenance of the guard, and was also required to pay an annual pension to the son of the self-executed governor, whom Doeff, on again visiting Yedo in 1810, found to be in high favor at court.[87]