"the subject of a General Cartel for the Exchange of "Prisoners of War," resolves,

ART. I.

Captain JAMES COTES, to whom a Passport has been sent, authorizing him to come to Paris, as Agent for the British Prisoners, shall be entitled, upon his arrival, to the same privileges and indulgences as are enjoyed by the French Agent in London.

II. - As soon as possible after the arrival of Capt. COTES, the Commissioners for the Exchange of Prisoners of War, shall enter into a Negotiation with him for a General Exchange of Prisoners, upon the basis of the Preliminary Convention agreed upon on the 29th of Pluviose, 5th year (17th Feb. 1797), between the respective Commissioners of the two Nations.

III. IN CONFORMITY TO THE PROPOSAL MADE BY THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, that each Nation should defray, through its respective Agents, every charge relative to its own Prisoners, the Minister of the Marine is authorized to direct the Agent of the French Republic in London, to provide the necessary Clothing, Subsistence, and Medicines, for the French Prisoners of War in England.

IV. Upon the arrival of the British Agent at Paris, he shall be informed that the British Prisoners in France are to be provided for by him in the same manner, to commence from the day the Agent of the Republic shall enter upon this duty in England,

The Minister of the Marine is directed to attend to the execution of this Arrêté, which shall not be printed.

(Signed) The President of the Executive Directory,

P. BARRAS.

LA GARDE, Secretary-General.

(An exact Copy.)

G. J. COTTREAU.

PLEVILLE LE PELLEY.
Our

Our Readers will observe, that there exists a material difference between the grounds on which the Directory has formed its Resolutions, and those to which they are ascribed in the Official Statement of the Rédacteur. The third Article of the Arrêté is distinctly founded upon. a Proposal ORIGINATING WITH OUR GOVERNMENT, and assented to by the Directory, and has no reference to the consideration stated in the Rédacteur.

We think it necessary to give some account of the general conduct of the two Countries with respect to Prisoners during the present War, and of the steps which led to this proposal on the part of our Government.

From the breaking out of the War until a considerable time after the fall of ROBESPIERRE, the English Prisoners, without distinction of rank or other circumstances, were considered and treated in France as victims devoted to destruction. By a decree of the Convention, indeed, they were ordered to be put to death as soon as taken; but this atrocious Law not meeting with its literal execution, they were reserved for a fate scarcely less severe. In the damp and putrid air of loathsome dungeons, and with an allowance of food either detrimental in quality, or inadequate in quantity, to the support of life, want and disease soon became substitutes for the Fusillade and the Guillotine. IN THIS MANNER nearly Thirteen Hundred OUT OF Two Thousand BRITISH PRISONERS WERE DESTROYED AT Quimper ALONE.

Among these unfortunate Victims of French atrocity, were the Masters and Crews of several British CARTELS, sent from the West Indies during the Summer of 1794, with French Prisoners, who, on their surrender at Martinique and the other French Islands, had obtained, from the unsuspecting generosity of the British Commanders,

leave

leave, and the requisite means, to return to France, on condition of not bearing Arms against this Country until they should have been regularly exchanged. On their arrival, these Prisoners were removed from the British CARTELS to French Transports, and immediately SENT BACK to the West Indies, where they were compelled to bear arms against us under the infamous VICTOR HUGUES. With respect to our CARTEL Ships, they were seized, and the English on-board sent to share the fate at that time intended for all British Prisoners in France. Such a violation of all that is held more sacred in War, we believe is not to be found in the Annals of any People. It is one of the many instances the French Republic affords, of Human and National Depravity in its last and worst stage, unknown in the History of Man or Nations, before the introduction of what, in the cant of Revolutionists, is called Modern Philosophy.

It is unnecessary to state the particulars of the numerous, but well-authenticated instances of cruelty experienced by our Countrymen during the Winter of 1794-5, a season of severity almost unparalleled in these climates. In no case were they allowed either clothing or fuel, and in some places express orders were given to afford them no other subsitence THAN THE OFFALS THAT MIGHT

BE COLLECTED IN THE STREETS. Neither Age or Rank, Wounds or Infirmities, could procure any mitigation of these shocking severities, from which even Women and Infants were not exempted.

The sufferings and insults to which General O'HARA* was exposed; the long and severe confinement of Lady ANNE

There is every reason to believe that the French Government, after exposing General O'HARA (notwithstanding his wounds) on his

arrival

ANNE FITZROY and Colonel WESLEY, taken as Passengers on board a Packet coming from Lisbon, where they had gone to attend Mr. FITZROY (Lady ANNE'S husband) in his last moments*; the hardships endured by Capt. COTES and Rear-Admiral BLIGH, cannot be effaced from the recollection of our Readers.

The system pursued in the West Indies was no less atrocious than in Europe. The Troops sent back from France to that quarter, we have already observed, had forfeited, by the terms of submission granted them but a few months before, all right to bear arms against us until exchanged. What, on their first success at Guadaloupe, was their conduct to our Army, in return for the' humane and liberal treatment they had so lately experienced? The British were obliged to lay down their arms at Ber

arrival at Paris, as a public Spectacle, to the scoffs and taunts of the mob, seriously entertained at that moment the design of sending him to the Guillotine, and that they were deterred from it only by a vigorous Remonstrance and threat of retaliation on the part of our Government. In his confinement, however, he was treated (during fifteen months) with all the severity and precautions usually practised with respect to condemned Criminals, and frequently told, from authority, that his execution would speedily take place.

In contrast to this act of cruelty, we cannot but recal to our Readers a case somewhat similar, in which the claims to compassion, though comparatively weak, immediately found access to the generous feelings of a British Officer. We cannot state the circumstance better than by quoting Sir EDWARD PELLEW'S Public Dispatch to the Admiralty.

"The Wife of the Governor of the Port of Rochefort, Madame Le "LARGE, AND HER FAMILY, were on board, whom, with her Son, an Ensign in the Ship, I suffered to return to France in a Neutral Vessel, taking the Parole "of the young man not to serve until exchanged."

See Sir EDWARD PELLEW's account of the Capture of the Unité, in the London Gazette, 26th April, 1796.

ville Camp, in that island, on the 6th of October, 1794. Their Capitulation in one point was the same as they had so recently granted, and so honourably fulfilled towards those very persons to whom, by a reverse of fortune, they were then obliged to surrender, namely, "That "they should be sent back without delay to Great Bri"tain." But how was this condition fulfilled? Both Officers and Men were indiscriminately crowded into Prison Ships moored in Basse-terre Roads, where, with the exception of a very few who escaped about eighteen months afterwards, they fell victims to the contagion with which those floating dungeons were infected.

At Grenada, the conduct of the French was still more horrible. Lieutenant Governor HOME, and about forty principal Planters of the Island, having surrendered themselves Prisoners of War in the month of March, 1795, were SHOT a few days afterwards, by order of VICTOR HUGUES, in front of the French Camp.

The following Letter tends to shew that his designs against the Governor of Martinique are no less sanguinary, should he, by the unfortunate chance of War, fall into his hands. We give this curious specimen of the style and language of this worthy Representative of the Directory, in its original language *.

Egalité.

We offer the following as an inadequate translation:

Basse-Terre, Guadaloupe, 5th Pluvoise, (24th Jan, 1797) 5th Year of the French Republic, One and Indivisible.

We bave duly received, Sir, your contemptible Letters, addressed to Citizen Peyré, the contents of which we have transmitted to the Executive Directory, in the hope that the Sequestration which has been taken off English Property will be immediately