The Pennsylvania packet, or, The general advertiser — Lancaster, Pa.;Philadelphia, Pa., 1779-11-11 00:00:00, page 1

NARRATIVE of Col. Ethan Allen's
treatment during bis Captivity.
(Continued from our lafl.)
I BOUr the fame time a Lieutenant among
A the tories, insulted me in a grievous manner,
faying, that I ought to have been executed for my
rebellion against New-York, and spit in my face;
upon which (though I was hand-cuffed) I sprang at
him with both hands, and knocked him partly down,
but he scrambled along into the cabbin, and I after
him ; there he got under the protection of fame men
with fixed bayonets, who were ordered to make rea
dy to drive me into the place afore mentioned. I
challenged him to fight, notwithstanding the impedi
ments that were on my hands, and had the exalted
pleasure to fee the rascal tremble for fear; his name
I have forgot, but Watson ordered his guard to get
me into the place with the other prisoners, dead or a
live ; and ( had almost as leave die as do it, hand
ing it out till they environed me round with bayonets;
and brutish, prejudiced, abandoned wretches they
were, from whom I could expe& nothing but death
or wounds: However 1 told them, that they were
good honest fellows; that I could not blame them ;
that I was only in a dispute with a calicoe merchant,
who knew not how to behave towards a gentleman of
the military establishment. This was spoke rather
to appease tlaem for my own preservation, as well as
to treat Watson with contempt; but hill I found
that they were determined to force me into the
wretched circumflances, which their prejudiced,
and depraved minds had prepared for me: There
fore, rather than die, I submitted totheir indig
nities, being drove with bayonets into the filthy
dungeon, with the other prisoners, where we were
denied frefh water, except a small allowance
which was very inadequate to our wants; and in
confluence of the flench of the place, each of us
was soon followed with a diarrhoea and fever, which
occasioned an intolerable third. When we aiked for
water, we were most commonly (instead of obtain
ing it) insulted and derided; and add to all the hor
rors of the place, it was so dark that we could not
fee each other, and were overspread with body lice.
We bad (notwithstanding these severities) full allow
ance of fait provisions, and a gill of rum per day ;
the latter of which was of the utmost service to us,
and (probably) was the means of saving several of
our lives. About forty days we exifled in this man
ner, when the land's end of England was difeovered
from the mad head; soon after which the prisoners
were taken from their gloomy abode, being permit
ted to fee the light of the fun, and breath frefh air,
which to us was very refreshing. The day follow
ing we landed at Falmouth.
A few days before I was taken prisoner, I drifted
my cloaths, by which I happened to be taken in a
Canadian dress, viz. a short swan skin jacket, double
breasted, an under vest and breeches of fagathy,
worsted flockings, a decent pah of shoes, two plain
shirts, and a red worked cap: This was all the eloath
ing 1 had, in which I made my appearance in Eng
land.
When the prisoners were landed, multitudes of
thecitizens of Falmouth (excited by curiofity)crowd
ed together to fee us, which was equally gratifying
to ns. I saw numbers of people on the tops of boufes,
and the rising adjacent grounds were covered with
them of both sexes: The throng was so great, that
the king's officers were obliged to draw their swords,
and force a passage to Pendennis cable which was near
a m ; lc from the town, where we were closely con
fined, in consequence of orders from Gen. Carlton,
who then commanded in Canada.
The rascally Brook Watson then set out for Lon
don in great haste, expecting the reward of his zeal ;
but the Ministry received him (as I have been since
informed) rather coolly ; for the Minority in Parlia
ment took advantage, arguing that the opposition of
America to Great-Britain, was net a rebellion : If it
is, (fay they) why do you not execute Col. Allen,
according to law? but the Majority argued, that I
ought to be executed, and that the opposition was
really a rebellion, but that policy obliged them not
to do it, inasmuch as the Congress had then meft
prisoners in their power; so that my being sent to
England, for the purpose of being executed, and ne
cessity retraining them, was rather a foil on their
laws and authority, and they consequently difap-
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proved of my being sent thither: But I never had
heard the least hint of those debates, (in Parliament)
or of the working of their policy, till fame time af
ter I left England.
Consequently the reader will readily conceive I
was anxious about my preservation, (knowing that I
was in the power of a haughty and cruel nation, con
sidered as such.) Therefore the firft proportion
which I determined in my own mind was, that
humanity and moral faafion would not be con
sulted in the determining of my fate : And those that
daily came in great numbers, out of curiosity to fee
me, both gentle and simple, united in this, that I
would be hanged. A gentleman from America, by
the name of Temple, (and whoßvas friendly to mej
just whispered me in the ear, and told me, that bets
were laid in London, that I would be executed ; he
likewise privately gave me a guinea, but durfl fay but
little to me.
However, agreeable to my firft negative propor
tion, that moral virtue would not influence my de
stiny, 1 had recourse to stratagem, which I was in
hopes would move in the circle of their policy. I
requeued of the commander of the castle the privi
lege of writing to Congress, who, after consulting
with an officer that lived in town, of a superior rank,
permitted me to write. I wrote, inthe fore part of
my letter, a short narrative of my ill treatment ; but
withal let them know, that though I was treated as a
criminal in England, and continued in irons, toge
ther with those taken with me, yet it was in conse
quence of the orders which the commander of the
castle received from General Carlton; and therefore
desired Congress to desist from matters of retaliation,
till they should know the result of the Government
at England, refpefting their treatment towards me,
and the rest of the prisoners with me, and govern
themselves accordingly, with a particular request,
that if retaliation should be found necessary, that it
might be exercised not according to the smallness of
my character in America, but in proportion to the
importance of the cause for which I Buffered. —This
is, according to my present recolledion, the fubftanca
of the letter fubferibed To the illuflrious Continental
Congress. This letter was wrote with a view that it
should be sent to the Minihry at London, rather than
to Congress, with a design to intimidate the haughty
English Government, and screen my neck from the
halter.
The next day the officer (from whom I obtained
licence to write) came to fee me, and frowned on me
on account of the impudence of the letter, (as he
phrased it) and further added, " Do you think that
we are fbols in England, and would fend your letter
to Congress, with inftru&ions to retaliate on our own
people. I have sent your letter to Lord North." —•
This gave me inward fatisfaftien, (though I carefully
concealed it with a pretended resentment) for I found
I had come Yankee over him, and that the letter had
gone to the identical person 1 designed it for. Nor
do I know (to this day) but that it had the desired
effe&, though I have not heard any thing of the let
ter since.
My personal treatment by Lieutenant Hamilton,
who commanded the castle, was very generous He
sent me every day a fine breakfaft and dinner from
his own table, and a bottle of good wine. Another
aged gentleman, whose name 1 cannot recollect, sent
me a good (upper: But there was no diftindion in
public support betwe< n me and the privates ; we all
lodged on a fort of Dutch bunks, in one common
apartment, and were allowed straw. The privates
were well supplied with frefh provision, and (with
me) took effectual measures to rid ourselves of lice.
1 could not but feel inwardly extreme anxious for
my fate. -This I however concealed from the pri
soners, as well as from the enemy, who were per
petually shaking the halter at me. I nevertheless
treated them with scorn and contempt; and having
sent my letter to the Ministry, could conceive of no
thing more in my power but to keep up my spirits,
behave in a daring soldier-like manner, that I might
exhibit a good sample of American fortitude. Such
a condu& (I judged) would have a more probable
tendency to my preservation than concession and ti
midity. This, therefore, was my deportment, and
1 had laflly determined, (in my own mind) that if a
cruel death must inevitably be my portico; I would
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face it undaunted, and though I greatly rejoice that
J have returned to my country and friends, and to
fee the power and pride of Great-Britain humbled ;
yet I am confident I could (then) die without the
lead appearance of dismay.
I now clearly recoiled that my mind was so refold
ed, that I would not have trembled or shewn the
least fear, as I was sensible it could not alter my fate,
nor do more than reproach my memory, make my
last aft despicable to my enemies, and eclipse the o
ther actions of my life. For I reasoned thir, that
nothing was more commop than for men to die, with
their friends round them, weeping and lamenting o
ver them, but not able to help them, which was in
reality not different in the consequence of it from such
a death as I was apprehensive of: And as death was
the natural consequence of animal life, to which the
laws of nature fubje& mankind,to be timerous and un«
eafv as to the event or manner of it, was inconsistent
with the character of a philosopher or foldter. The
cause I was engaged in, I ever viewed worth hazard
ing my life for, nor was I (at the mod critical mo
ments of trouble) sorry that I engaged in it; and as to
the world of spirits, tho' I knew nothing of the mode
or manner of it, expe&ed nevertheless, when I should
Arrive at such a world, that I should b^ as well treat
ed as other gentlemen of my merit.
Among the great numbers of people, who came
to the cattle to fee the prisoners, some gentlemen told
me, that they had come fifty miles on purpose to fee
me, and desired to afkme a number of questions,
and to make free with mein cenverfation. I gave for
answer, that I chose freedom in every sense of the
word: T hen one of them asked me, what my occu
pation in life had been? I anfwer^d him, that ia ray
younger days I had ftndied divinity, but was a con'
juror by profeffion. He replied, that I conjured
wrong at the time 1 was taken ; and I was obliged to
own, that I mistook a figure at that time, but that I
had conjured them out of Ticonderoga. This was
a place of great notoriety in England, so that the joke
seemed to go in my favour.
It was a common thing for me to be taken out of
close confinement, into a fpaciwus green in the cable,
or rather parade, where numbers of gentlemen and
ladies were ready to fee and hear me. I often enter
tained such audiences, with harangues on the imprac
ticability of Great-Britain's conquering the (then)
colonies of America. At one of these times I alked
a gentleman for a bowl of punch, and he ordered
his servant to bring it, which he did, and offered it
to me, but I refuted to take it from the hand of big
servant; he then gave it to me with his own hand
refufing to drink with me in consequence of my be^
ing a state criminal: However I took the punch and
drank it all down at one draught, and handed the
gentleman the bowl: This made the (peculators as
well as myfelf merry. I expatiated on American
freedom: This gained the resentment of a young
beardless gentleman of the company, who gave him
felf great airs, and replied, that he " knew the A
mericans very well, and was certain that they could
not bear the Imelj of powder." I replied, I accepted
it as a challenge, and was ready to convince him on
the spot, that an American could bear the smell of
powder; at which he answered, that he fhould'not
put himfelf On a par with me. I then demanded of
him to treat the chara&er of the Americans with due
refped: He answered that I was an Lifhman; but I
allured him, that I was a.full blooded Yankee, and in
fine, bantered him so much that he left me in pos
session of the ground, and the laugh went against
him. I'v/o clergymen came to fee me, and inas
much as they behaved with civility, I returned them
the fame: We difeourfed on several parts of moral
philof®phy and chritlianity ; and they seemed to be
furprized, that I should be acquainted with such to
pics, or that I should underhand a syllogism or re
gular mode of argumentation. I am apprehensive
my Canadian dress contributed not a little to the fur.
prize, and excitement of curiosity : To fee a gentle,
rnanin England, regularly dressed and well behaved,
would be no fight at all ; but such a rebel, as they
Were pleased to call me, it is probable was never be.
fore seen in England.
The prisoners were landed at Falmouth a few
4ays before Christmas, and ordered on board of the
(Continued in the fourth ,nge.)
NOVEMBER n, 1779.
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