“In the impossibility of knowing who were in the interest of the Commandant, even among the men themselves, I had but one resource, I suspected nobody, and I trusted nobody. I never explained my views or intentions to any one, and said nothing that required the least secrecy. At one time, therefore, the men, when they could not have what they wished, suspected all was not right; at another when they complained of tyranny and knavery, the agents and subalterns of the Commandant declared, that I was at the bottom of it, and they would soon have me at the dungeons of Bitche; and, at a third, the Commandant himself would be influenced by his people, and suspect me of underhand dealing.[6] “In the end, however, what was done spoke for itself. The men saw that every means in the power of prisoners, like themselves, were used to prevent them from being oppressed. The Commandant felt that my being there was a great check upon the rapacity and avarice of his people; and they, and often he himself, were excessively enraged. But the moral and religious feeling which was manifested among the men, rendered them so much more peaceful and sober, more satisfied, and even cheerful in their conduct, and so much more faithful to their word and engagements, that I really think he felt it a sort of personal security to himself, and upon the whole, an advantage. “Thus exposed to many difficulties and personal dangers, as to the temporal wants of the poor men; in their spiritual concerns, and those immediately connected with them, I had abundant cause of thankfulness. On my first application for a place of worship, the Commandant expressed his readiness to do every thing in his power. But he had no place at his disposal larger than the ordinary sized room, which would not hold more than two hundred persons. This I obtained for the moment. But the Colonel-director of engineers was then with the army in Germany; and the grenier, the only place sufficiently large for the purpose, could only be obtained by a direct application to him. For the present, therefore, a room perhaps a little larger than the others, where was an oven for the purpose of baking bread for the barracks, was converted into a chapel. A small plain desk was made by one of the men, which served also for a pulpit; and the clerk made use of a common table and stool. What was wanting however in accommodation, was abundantly made up by the spirit which soon was manifested among the prisoners; and the Lord wrought powerfully among them. The place was crowded to excess, and the oven, which reached so near the top of the room, that the men could not sit upright upon it, was always covered with them, lying in a most painful position from want of room.