“In addition to these discouragements, connected with the field of labour which I had undertaken; I now found, that there were difficulties in my own situation, which would probably involve me in personal danger, of a very serious nature; or at least, cause me to be sent away to the dungeons of Bitche. “The Commandant, and those that were under his orders, from the time I arrived at the depôt, viewed me with a very evil eye. They had all a share in the spoil of the poor prisoners; and my interference on their behalf, and the opportunities which I had of detecting their extortions, enraged them exceedingly against me. Whenever I made an attempt, as I frequently did, to put a stop to the exactions upon the money which was sent in to the men; or when any complaint was made of the meat, or the bread, these officers were loud in their threats of denunciations, and of sending me off to Bitche. And for the first two years of my stay in that place, I never went to bed, without the impression upon my mind, that, ere the morning, I might probably be thus suddenly marched off. “Before I left Verdun, I had been cautioned not to pay any money to the prisoners, which might be remitted to me, either from their friends in England, or from the charitable fund at Verdun, without express permission from the Commandant, a caution which proved most salutary. For, even though I obtained this permission, the marechal des logis came to me the next morning, in a great rage, reproached me with taking away his honest gains, and required me in future to send in the money through him. I complained to the Commandant, who inveighed against the avarice of this man; but I found that he was either unwilling, or afraid to redress this shameful abuse. And, although I subsequently made many attempts to pay the men their money without this abominable drawback, it was always without effect, and at the risk of being denounced, and sent away from the depôt. “The exertions which were made, during the long-continued detention of the English prisoners in France, for the relief of such among them as were in want, are known to every one. The sums so raised were contributed by benevolent individuals in London; to whom the collections made throughout the country, for the same charitable purpose, were also forwarded; and by them committed to the care of some of the most respectable persons in the depôt of Verdun, who had formed themselves into a committee for that effect. These gentlemen, who were themselves liberal contributors, dispensed to the necessitous, and sent to the different depôts such relief, as the exigencies of each required. And sometimes, in the hope of more effectually relieving the sufferings of those confined in distant places, individuals from this chief depôt, went to visit them, and even took up their temporary or permanent abode among them.