Egalité.

Liberté.

1

Basse-Terre, Guadaloupe, le 5 Pluvoise (24th Jan. 1797), an 5 de la Republique Française, Une et Indivisible.

Nous avons reçu, Monsieur, vos lettres insignificantes écrites au Citoyen Peyré, nous en avons informé le Directoire Exécutif, et nous esperons que le Séquestre levé sur les propriétés Anglaises sera remis immédiatement, pour nous répondre des FRIPONNERIES commises sur nos proprietés à la MARTINIQUE.

Vous et tous vos pareils me connaissent assez pour savoir que j'ai en mains de quoi ûser de représaille, et vous pouvez être assurés qu'elle sera TERRIBLE ET PARTICU

LIEREMENT SUR VOUS ET TOUTES

LES PERSONNES

ATTACHÉS A VOTRE GOUVERNEMENT, qui ne peut être consideré que comme un composé DE FRIPONS, de COQUINS, et de LACHES.

Celle-ci est la derniere que nous vous écrivons; l'honneur du Gouvernement que nous REPRESENTONS nous defend de Traiter avec vous.

WILLIAM KEPPEL, Chef des REBELLES FRANÇAIS, pour Sa Majesté Britannique à la Martinique.

1

VICTOR HUGUES,

immediately restored, as an indemnification for the ROGUERIES committed upon our Property at MARTINIQUE.

You and your Fellows know me well enough, to be assured that I have it in my fower to retaliate, and you may be assured that my retaliation will be terrible, and especially upon you and all persons attached to your Government, which can only be considered as a composition of Rogues, Scoundrels, and Cowards.

The Honour of the Government

This is the last Letter we shall write to you. which we represent, prescribes to us to have no communication with you.

(Signed)

To WILLIAM KEPPEL, Chief of the
French Rebels, on the part of His
Britannic Maiesty, at Martinique.

VICTOR HUGUES.

The

The Correspondence referred to in this Letter, originated in a preposterous demand from VICTOR HUGUES, that the produce of all Estates sequestered or managed for the benefit of the Crown in Martinique, should be remitted to him at Guadaloupe, for the use and benefit of the French Republic.

The attempts of our Government to afford relief to our Prisoners in France in their confinement, or by partial exchanges to procure their liberation, having been ineffectual, Sir FREDERIC EDEN was sent to that Country, in March, 1795, for the purpose of proposing a General Cartel between the two Countries: the offer was rejected in such a manner as to render all expectation of success distant, if not desperate. And it was not till the beginning of 1796, that a communication was received from the French Government through M. CHARRETIE, expressing a wish that some principle of Exchange of Prisoners might be established between the two Nations. This first expression, on their part, of a desire to meet the disposition manifested by our Court in the preceding year, was followed by a proposal, which, in its discussion, soon afforded sufficient ground to apprehend, that, having reluctantly complied with public opinion, in bringing forward the measure in any shape, the Directory was de termined to thwart and prevent its success, by multiplying obstacles and difficulties in the course of the Negotiation. Many of these, however, were removed by the spirit of forbearance and conciliation with which their proposals were met on our side, when the Directory took advantage of an accidental occurrence to put a stop to the Negotiation altogether.

On the 18th of March, 1796, Captain Sir SIDNEY SMITH was obliged to surrender himself a Prisoner of

War at Havre.-The first intelligence of this event received in England, was accompanied with an assurance from the Commandant of Havre, that Sir SIDNEY Would be treated with every indulgence due to his rank. * Notwithstanding which, he was ordered by the French Government into close and solitary confinement. We shall not attempt to prove what the Directory has never been able to deny, that his conduct was in strict conformity to the Laws and Usages of War. What then could induce them to deprive him of those privileges of War to which, by his rank, and by the terms on which he surrendered himself, he was entitled, except a wish to frustrate the object of the Cartel, by creating this obstacle to its conclusion?

That the Negotiation for this purpose could no longer be entertained on our part, until some satisfactory explanation was given respecting Sir S. SMITH, cannot be contested, without contesting also his title to the protection of his Country, which he had so gallantly served. This explanation having been sought for in various shapes, and by various representations, to which no answer was returned, the Negotiation of the Cartel was suspended until February 1797, when a Projet presented by Mr. SwINBURNE, our Agent at Paris, to the Commissioners ap

The following is an Extract of the Letter from the Commandant:

Havre, 29th Germinal, 4th Year of the
French Republic.

"Sir SIDNEY SMITH is a Prisoner of War,

"every mark of attention due to his rank.

and will be treated with

In this respect you may

"be assured that he and his Companions will find, in the generosity of "France, every indulgence consistent with their present situation.

pointed to treat with him, was agreed to by the latter. In this agreement it was stipulated, among other conditions, that all British Prisoners then in France should forthwith be sent back to England. Whether Mr. SWIN BURNE, when he signed this Projet, had any or sufficient reasons to suppose that, under these general words, Sir SIDNEY SMITH would not be considered as an exception, we profess not to know; but the fact is, that he signed it, subject to the ratification of his Government, without requiring any specific assurance on this point.

It could not, however, be left in doubt; and therefore at the same time that Mr. SwINBURNE was instructed to inform the French Commissioners, that the Agreement, however favourable to France in several respects, would be confirmed and carried into effect in this Country, he was directed to inquire whether it was distinctly understood on their part to extend it to Sir SIDNEY SMITH. After several months delay, the Directory came to a resolution upon this demand, as will appear by the following Arrêté:

Extract from the Register of the Deliberations of the Executive Directory.

"Captain Sir SIDNEY SMITH shall be considered AS A PRISONER OF WAR, and AS SUCH, HE MAY BE EXCHANGED FOR ANY FRENCH OFFICER OF EQUAL "RANK; but his Exchange shall not take place until the "French Agent in London shall have sent back to France "at least FOUR THOUSAND French Prisoners, to be se

* A balance of upwards of 7,000 Men, due to England on the partial Exchanges which had previously taken place, was remitted by this Cartel, without any return or compensation on the part of France. lected

"lected by him from the whole number now in England, over and above whatever number may be sent back in "return for an equal number of English Prisoners now "in France."

This Resolution was communicated to Mr. SWINBURNE on the 4th of September last, accompanied with an explanation, that until that part of it which requires the restoration of Four Thousand Men, was fulfilled, Sir SIDNEY SMITH would not be allowed the privilege of Parole. It is scarcely necessary to add, that this preposterous

This Resolution accords so entirely with the spirit uniformly manifested by the French Republic, to set aside and disregard all the principles which constitute and determine the Laws and regulate the usages of Independent Nations, both in Peace and War, and in their place to substitute its own arbitrary Decrees and Measures, that our Readers, who have seen this same spirit brought forward in every successive Negotiation for Peace with this Country, will be the less astonished to find it introduced in subversion of the Regulations and Duties which the interests of humanity prescribe to Nations in the state of War.In this instance, indeed, it appears to us that the Directory, considering its pretensions in other points, has shown great moderation. — Why not, as in the Negotiations for Peace, recur to the Constitution and to the Laws of the Republic? Is it not therein declared, that all Frenchmen are free? And by this Declaration, is not the Directory bound to insist upon the liberation of all Frenchmen detained in England, as a Preliminary to any Cartel ? — In their principles, it appears to us to have been neither consistent nor constitutional, to have told our Government on what conditions Sir SIDNEY SMITH, or any other British Prisoner, would be released, without previously obtaining our consent to this Preliminary.

But to consider the Resolution of the Directory as it now stands :In the first place, it begins by a Declaration that Sir S. SMITH is a Prisoner of War. How then are they justified in confining him, and having him brought a short time after his captivity before a Court of Justice, as a Prisoner of State?

Acknowledging