The Belmont chronicle, and farmers, mechanics and manufacturers advocate. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1848-1855, 1853-03-11
GUIANA.
Escape of Political Prisoners.


who arrived in this City a lew days sine
from Curacoa.
"You some time ago inserted letter spealt
ing Of the escape Of twelve political refugeeI
from the Isle de IN Mere, in French Guiana
This drama has now closed, and hope it i.
not too much to ask the insertion of anothet
letter, which will give to our friends in A.
merica, the particulars of the escape. A.
no hatfseis involved in my principles, shall
simply relate .he facts without comment.
"From the time of their departure from
France, the Cayenne exiles submitted with
difficulty to the bad treatment Of their keep
ers, but thanks to discreet counsels, no dis
order took place during the whole passage.
On their arrival at the Isle de la Mere, their
troubles were greatly increased. Not a day
passed, in which the Governor Of the island
NJ. Dubourg did not threaten that he would
put us IN irons or shoot Us, and that on the
most trivial prctences. Our hearts, which
had not yielded to cruel sui'erings, were a.
reused to rebellion by this conduct and we
determined either to perish or to regain ,ur
liberty. We formed several plans OF escape
1t was proposed to seize the Governor-G Gene
raj and his suite on one of their visits tD the
Island; with such important hostages, il would
have been easy for all to get on board
steamer and make our way tc America, where
we were certain oi being well received. a
few moments before acting on this plan, sew
eral of the principal conspirators refused 10
go on, fearing a serious resistance, and in
consequence, the eiiusiOn Of blood. Besides,
the hope OF returning to their families, which
depended on them for support, held back ma
ny of the married men. Another plan, on
larger scale, was conceiyed-this was to take
possession OF Guiana and join forces with the
blacks. | deem it my duty not to say any
thing more on this subject--my friends will
understand why.
The plans for general escape having .fal-
len through, twelve Of US combined on the
Sth of Sept, and formed plan for partial
escape. At ten o'clock in the evening, two
| OF our number went to the telegraph and
| broke down the signals. After the gendarmes
had gone the round of the barracks, the
! twelve refugees quietly left their chambers,
and, each with small parcel under his arm,
went to the-place Of rendezvous. There,
were concealed small sack of biscuit, some
boarding pixies, and carpenters tools Eve
rything was placed in a little boat, which
| was pushed out by the men swimming. While
this was being done, Barthelemy, one of our
best swimmers, went to take another boat
which was about pistol shot from the house
| OF the Governor and pilots; We then struck
| all together, some swimming, others pushing
the boats towards two large pilot-boats which
were in the ofinT. After unheard of pains,
Pthe anchors were weighed, the sails bent. and
we put off with both the small boats in tow.
An hour afterwards we threw overheard ev-
| erything which was of no use to us, and sail
| cd towards the West, without chart or COM
pass, and with no provisions but five pounds
OF biscuit, some raw potatoes which happen
| ed to be on board, four demiiohns of wine,
and two pots of mustard, but not a drop OF
water. Everything went pretty we'll through
the night, and at day-break, we were able to
| repair the defects in our sail. We then
made rapid headway, and thought we had al
ready reached the Dutch territory when we
perceived the Isles du SaIut. We lost some
precious time in attempting to reconnoitre
| these rocks-orders had already been sent
everywhere to stop US, and we were not a
| little surprised to hear the alarm-gun. We
then perceived our error, and were chased By
a gun-boat sent in pursuit of US by the officer
at the Isles du SalUt, with orders to shoot US
down without notice. We learned this fact
| from the engineer of the Foyageur and from
three of our comrades who escaped after US.
Our boat moved well and was double copper
ed throughout.
"We had got among the breakers of SYM
americ, where it was impossible for our ere
mics to follow us. The night put an end to
! the chase, and we thought We were safe,
when we were brought up short by the sand
banks; we then perceived the fire of schoon-
er which had also given US chase; it was the
gendarmcs, but they did not approach US at
| low water. At three o'clock in the morning,
the tide rose, delivering us from our prison OF
mud and from the gendarmes-we stood out
to sea for eight hours, and from that time
were not again disturbed. After keeping on
our course for twenty-four hours, we arrived
at Brandwarscht, the first Dutch post. On
making signal of distress, they came to US
We requested water and provisions, and sent
three men ashore to get supplies. The COM
mander OF the post was absent, and we were
received by Dutch resident. He found us
in condition which led him to suspect us
he thought that we were convcts escaped
from the isles da Salat, and told us that he
considered it his duty to place us in arrest
| / then made this declaration to him: 1--WE
are twelve prisoners OF war escaped from the
isle de Ia Mere-we can keep on in spite o
you-yoar post is too small-but | will in
form you that on account Of your suspicion:
we will not leave the place-we throw our
selves on the protection of Holland in virtue
of the law of nations" The resident tolt
as that ii We were really political refugees
we had nothing to fear from Holland, an,
that we might trust ourselves in his hands.
He gave me writtea declaration that VI
should not be delivered up, and | made m,
comrades disembark. The next day, NJ. Mo;.
? the commander, arrived. He is a French
im...a. lie cared for US Qs for brothers an