“In order to re-establish my health entirely, I was anxious to remove into a milder climate; I was also very desirous of procuring a residence for my family, at a distance from the general depôt, where much of the society was very exceptionable, and where we were constantly unsettled, by the multitude of reports daily in circulation, suggested without any foundation by the hopes and fears of our fellow prisoners, or from mere idleness. With this view I solicited permission to pass the winter at Tours. The Minister of Marine, M. Decrés again stood my friend, and after some delay, in consequence of Buonaparte being at Berlin, he at length succeeded, and informed me in the kindest manner of my request being granted. We made our preparations with almost as much pleasure, as though it had been for a journey to England. I employed myself during the remainder of our stay at Verdun, in concluding all my affairs relative to the prisoners at that depôt. The French government had recently forbidden any further supplies being given to the British prisoners, by their own country; declaring that each nation should support its own prisoners. The fact was, that whilst the Englishmen were so liberally provided for by their own government, there was no hope of inducing them to desert; and all intrigues carried on by the French to seduce them from their allegiance proved fruitless. In consequence of this new arrangement, my presence was no longer necessary at Verdun. I settled all my affairs relative to the prisoners, and this was rendered less complicated by an order recently issued by the French Government, that all supplies sent from England to her people should cease, and each nation support their own prisoners. I had nothing therefore now to do, but to close my accounts previous to my departure. The situation of the prisoners of inferior rank, became in consequence wretched in the extreme. They were now deprived of the comforts to which they had been accustomed; they neither saw nor heard of their officers; they knew nothing of the continued solicitude of their truly paternal government, and of the efforts it had made in their behalf. All hopes of exchange had died away, and complete despair seemed to have taken possession of the sufferers. Numbers attempted to make their escape, and some few succeeded; but many were intercepted and cruelly treated; whilst additional measures of severity were adopted to prevent further attempts at desertion. All who were taken at this time, were sent off, as close prisoners to the fortress of Bitche, and confined in the dark and gloomy souterrain. It was at this time that Mr. Wolfe, finding that the principal objects of his solicitude, the children, were all removed to the distant depôts, and that none would be permitted to reside at Verdun, came forward in a manner most creditable to himself, as a volunteer to reside at Givet, a depôt in which there were twelve hundred prisoners, but no officers.