Newspaper cuttings from 1811
Hereford Journal, 9 January 1811
In consequence of the prisoners at Dartmoor frequently making their escape, on Wednesday last a general search took place, when a quantity of ball-cartridges, knives and other offensive weapons, were discovered ; from which it is supposed some desperate attempt was in agitation ; but by the activity and vigilance of the Agent and the military it has thus been happily frustrated.
In consequence of the prisoners at Dartmoor frequently making their escape, on Wednesday last a general search took place, when a quantity of ball-cartridges, knives and other offensive weapons, were discovered ; from which it is supposed some desperate attempt was in agitation ; but by the activity and vigilance of the Agent and the military it has thus been happily frustrated.
Kentish Gazette, 11 January 1811
On the 26th ult. as Mr. Hutton, contractor for supplying Dartmoor prison with butcher's meat was returning from Tavistock market, in the evening, having dismounted to refresh his horse at a rivulet, it being dark, the animal escaped from him, and in endeavouring to to recover it Mr. H. missed his way, and was precipitated into an old lead shaft ; upwards of 68 feet deep, but there being several feet of water in the bottom, it in some measure broke its violence. On rising to the surface, Mr. H. had hold of one of the cross-pieces, on which he supported himself ; and he plainly heard the passengers conversing on the turnpike-road, but his efforts to make known his situation proving ineffectual, he endeavoured, by means of a pair of scissors, to dig holes in the side of the pit to facilitate his ascension, and had got within a few feet of the surface, but the earth giving way, he was again plunged into the dark abyss. He remained in this dreadful situation until the Friday following, when he was discovered by a labourer, who was passing by ; ropes were immediately procured by which he was soon realised from his perilous situation, and we are happy to state he is now perfectly recovered. In his endeavours to extricate himself he lacerated his toes and fingers in a shocking manner. - The danger to which travellers are often exposed from the old pits being left without any kind of fence, ought to be a matter of strict investigation, and we hope steps will be taken to prevent the recurrence of a similar accident.
On the 26th ult. as Mr. Hutton, contractor for supplying Dartmoor prison with butcher's meat was returning from Tavistock market, in the evening, having dismounted to refresh his horse at a rivulet, it being dark, the animal escaped from him, and in endeavouring to to recover it Mr. H. missed his way, and was precipitated into an old lead shaft ; upwards of 68 feet deep, but there being several feet of water in the bottom, it in some measure broke its violence. On rising to the surface, Mr. H. had hold of one of the cross-pieces, on which he supported himself ; and he plainly heard the passengers conversing on the turnpike-road, but his efforts to make known his situation proving ineffectual, he endeavoured, by means of a pair of scissors, to dig holes in the side of the pit to facilitate his ascension, and had got within a few feet of the surface, but the earth giving way, he was again plunged into the dark abyss. He remained in this dreadful situation until the Friday following, when he was discovered by a labourer, who was passing by ; ropes were immediately procured by which he was soon realised from his perilous situation, and we are happy to state he is now perfectly recovered. In his endeavours to extricate himself he lacerated his toes and fingers in a shocking manner. - The danger to which travellers are often exposed from the old pits being left without any kind of fence, ought to be a matter of strict investigation, and we hope steps will be taken to prevent the recurrence of a similar accident.
I am yet to find out exactly where this "old lead shaft" might be. Somewhere near Wheal Lucky perhaps?
Hereford Journal, 23 January 1811
Two French prisoners made their escape from the Prison at Dartmoor last Thursday night, and have not yet been taken.
Two French prisoners made their escape from the Prison at Dartmoor last Thursday night, and have not yet been taken.
Royal Cornwall Gazette, 26 January 1811
PLYMOUTH, Jan. 20
Two detachments of the Royal Cornish Militia, have marched into this place from Kingsbridge Barracks, on their route to Dartmoor prison, to relieve the Lancashire Militia now doing duty there.
PLYMOUTH, Jan. 20
Two detachments of the Royal Cornish Militia, have marched into this place from Kingsbridge Barracks, on their route to Dartmoor prison, to relieve the Lancashire Militia now doing duty there.
Lancaster Gazette, 2 March 1811
Military Punishment. - At ten o'clock this forenoon, a Captain's guard from every regiment in the garrison here, with Gen. England and his staff, attended at Frankfort Barracks, Plymouth, to hear the sentence of the three men, Keeling, Smith, and Marshall, belonging to the Nottinghamshire Militia, who were tried by a General Court-martial, some time since. They were sentenced to receive 900 lashes each ; but Smith and Marshall were forgiven ; and Keeling had half his sentence remitted ; he received 450 lashes in presence of the different picquets. He had, it seems, procured a brace of pistols for two of the French officers.
Military Punishment. - At ten o'clock this forenoon, a Captain's guard from every regiment in the garrison here, with Gen. England and his staff, attended at Frankfort Barracks, Plymouth, to hear the sentence of the three men, Keeling, Smith, and Marshall, belonging to the Nottinghamshire Militia, who were tried by a General Court-martial, some time since. They were sentenced to receive 900 lashes each ; but Smith and Marshall were forgiven ; and Keeling had half his sentence remitted ; he received 450 lashes in presence of the different picquets. He had, it seems, procured a brace of pistols for two of the French officers.
450 lashes? Can a human being take that many lashes and live I wonder? I have seen no report of this unfortunate soldiers death however.
Kentish Gazette, 19 March 1811
A few days since a discovery was made at the prison at Dartmoor, of a forged 2l. Bank of England note, executed by some of the French prisoners in so masterly a manner, that nothing looked suspicious but the paper not being fine enough.
A few days since a discovery was made at the prison at Dartmoor, of a forged 2l. Bank of England note, executed by some of the French prisoners in so masterly a manner, that nothing looked suspicious but the paper not being fine enough.
Royal Cornwall Gazette, 30 March 1811
The First Royal Cornwall Militia, have removed from Dartmoor to Kingsbridge, and expect shortly to march into Plymouth.
The First Royal Cornwall Militia, have removed from Dartmoor to Kingsbridge, and expect shortly to march into Plymouth.
The Examiner, 16 June 1811
FRENCH PRISONERS.
LORD COCHRANE said, that he had at first been refused admittance into the prison at Dartmoor, where he saw through the gratings many prisoners without shoes and stockings, and some even without shirts. He was informed that they were in a similar state during the most inclement season of the year. He was astonished that the spot should have been chosen for a prison. He thought that there had been great mismanagement, and he enquired what became of the soil of the prison? He was told that it went down the waste. After discovering the waste, instead of its going down the highest declivity, it was in a winding direction, conveying the manure into certain grounds. What would our people have said of Louis Bonaparte, had he acted on such a plan at Watcheren? The mortality in such a miserable place was great ; he had heard the average, but had forgotten whether it was a daily or a weekly one. The part of Devonshire was the most inclement in England, and the prisoners were obliged to fetch the water from the neighbouring hills, while the officers were indulged with a spring. The prisoners ought not to be so treated. The deaths exceed those in the Return tenfold. As a remedy for these evils, a Board ought to be appointed to superintend the treatment of the prisoners.
MR. PERCEVAL observed, that at the time alluded to by the Noble Lord, the crews of some French vessels from the West Indies had been lodged in Dartmoor prison, whilst afflicted with a pestilential fever, which spread throughout the prison, and certainly increased the number of deaths. All the Noble Lord's observations went to shew a former mis-management ; but if the system had now been altered what good would an inquiry produce?
MR. WHITEHEAD had taken pains to inquire into the condition of the Prisoners, and he must say that his inquiries were answered in a very satisfactory manner. In his correspondence with the Transport Board, he had been answered with the upmost celerity, and received the most minute information respecting the Prisoners. He had seen, in one of his visits, that there was a want of clothing amongst the Prisoners ; but the reply was tolerably satisfactory. Some of them might not have a sufficient supply, but it was very well known that they would gamble away their last rags. To him it appeared that the situation of the Prisoners at Dartmoor was as comfortable as the situation of Prisoners could be.
MR. ROSE said, that the malignant fever was in January, and in April, out of 5000 prisoners, only 60 were sick.
MR. CRIBBS affirmed that the water at Dartmoor was excellent, to his certain knowledge; and MR. STEPHEN reprobated the careless spirit in which the Noble Lord had hazarded his assertions.
FRENCH PRISONERS.
LORD COCHRANE said, that he had at first been refused admittance into the prison at Dartmoor, where he saw through the gratings many prisoners without shoes and stockings, and some even without shirts. He was informed that they were in a similar state during the most inclement season of the year. He was astonished that the spot should have been chosen for a prison. He thought that there had been great mismanagement, and he enquired what became of the soil of the prison? He was told that it went down the waste. After discovering the waste, instead of its going down the highest declivity, it was in a winding direction, conveying the manure into certain grounds. What would our people have said of Louis Bonaparte, had he acted on such a plan at Watcheren? The mortality in such a miserable place was great ; he had heard the average, but had forgotten whether it was a daily or a weekly one. The part of Devonshire was the most inclement in England, and the prisoners were obliged to fetch the water from the neighbouring hills, while the officers were indulged with a spring. The prisoners ought not to be so treated. The deaths exceed those in the Return tenfold. As a remedy for these evils, a Board ought to be appointed to superintend the treatment of the prisoners.
MR. PERCEVAL observed, that at the time alluded to by the Noble Lord, the crews of some French vessels from the West Indies had been lodged in Dartmoor prison, whilst afflicted with a pestilential fever, which spread throughout the prison, and certainly increased the number of deaths. All the Noble Lord's observations went to shew a former mis-management ; but if the system had now been altered what good would an inquiry produce?
MR. WHITEHEAD had taken pains to inquire into the condition of the Prisoners, and he must say that his inquiries were answered in a very satisfactory manner. In his correspondence with the Transport Board, he had been answered with the upmost celerity, and received the most minute information respecting the Prisoners. He had seen, in one of his visits, that there was a want of clothing amongst the Prisoners ; but the reply was tolerably satisfactory. Some of them might not have a sufficient supply, but it was very well known that they would gamble away their last rags. To him it appeared that the situation of the Prisoners at Dartmoor was as comfortable as the situation of Prisoners could be.
MR. ROSE said, that the malignant fever was in January, and in April, out of 5000 prisoners, only 60 were sick.
MR. CRIBBS affirmed that the water at Dartmoor was excellent, to his certain knowledge; and MR. STEPHEN reprobated the careless spirit in which the Noble Lord had hazarded his assertions.
This report of proceedings in the House of Commons was to initiate a very long-running debate both inside and outside of Parliament on the conditions that French Prisoners of War were undergoing at Dartmoor.
Morning Post, 17 June 1811
PRISONERS OF WAR.
The statement given into the House of Commons on Friday respecting the conditions of the French prisoners of war in this country, was such as not only to refute the assertions that had been made, that those prisoners were exposed to ill treatment, but to place the humanity of this country in the most honourable point of view. It appears, that out of 49,531 French prisoners in this country, there are at present only 321 sick, that is to say, not quite one man to one hundred and fifty-four. We believe, if an equal number of persons were taken indiscriminately out of any description of persons in this Country, the proportion of the sick to those in health would be as great, if not greater, than it is among the French prisoners. Lord COCHRANE, upon a former occasion, complained of the situation of the prisoners at Dartmoor, and said that they were dying very fast; but it appeared that at the period to which his Lordship alluded, some prisoners had arrived from the West Indies, in a most filthy state, who had brought the fever with them ; it was, however, soon subsided. Lord Cochrane admitted on Friday night that the circumstances had been altered since the period to which he had alluded. Though we may be induced to give the Noble Lord credit for the best motives into examining into the state of that prison, we cannot but lament that he did not investigate the subject more thoroughly before he made such a public complaint upon it, because such statements, though they are easily refuted at home, are yet expected to to cause serious mischief abroad. Mr. WHITREAD acted in a manner highly creditable to him upon this occasion ; he said, the situation of the prisoners in Dartmoor was as comfortable as the situation of prisoners could be, and he bore testimony to the readiness with which the Transport Board communicated every information, even of the most minute kind, respecting the prisoners when he had applied to them. We should be very happy if Lord COCHRANE, instead of rendering himself ridiculous by this species of unworthy conduct, would confine himself to the element and the profession of which he is so distinguished an ornament.
Morning Post, 19 June 1811
Mr. Christy, from the Transport Office, presented at the Bar of the House, an account of the number of Prisoners of War confined in the prison at Dartmoor.
Mr. ROSE said, that those papers were brought up in consequence of the representations of a Noble Lord on a former night, whom he was sorry not to see now in his place (Lord Cochrane). According to the Noble Lord's statement, it would appear that the prisoners were dying to the number of from 35 to 50 in the week ; but the documents now before them would prove, that the Noble Lord's information was so far from being correct, that the proportion of deaths in the last year was iv the ratio of two to 100, a proportion he believed under the estimate of ordinary mortality. The situation of the prison would also appear to he extremely advantageous, and it would be found, that human ingenuity could not contrive a building of the kind better calculated to preserve the health of its inhabitants. There was a stream of pure water running through the middle of it, and every care was taken to make the accommodations as comfortable as possible.
Mr. TYRWIT declared, that so far from making a job of the prison, for the accommodation or profit of any individual, the sum of 40,660l. was saved lo the public by building it in that place; and so far from any inconvenience or injury arising to the prisoners themselves, from being placed in such a situation, he would venture to state that there was no part of this country more healthy than the spot on which if stood.
Sir CHARLES POLE thought that some Resolution should be proposed, stating the facts mentioned by the Right Hon. Gent. (Mr. Rose) and the Hon. Gentleman behind him (Mr. Tyrwhitt), and also containing some acknowledgement of the good conduct of those to whom the care of the French prisoners was committed. If any motion to that effect should come from the opposite side, it should have his most cordial support.
Mr. ROSE said the statement was of importance, as a wrong impression on this subject might operate to the disadvantage of our own prisoners in France, and it was in order to prevent such an impression, and not for the purpose of any triumph over an individual, the papers were thought necessary to be made public.
Sir F. BURDETT expressed his satisfaction at the account which Ministers were able to give; but was sure the Noble Lord would never have made the charge, if he did not think that he had some ground to support it.
Mr. WHITBREAD said, that since the first introduction of this subject, he had received a letter from the Member for Plymouth denying that he had ever exerted any influence for the building of the prison in that situation, or received any benefit from it.
The papers were then ordered to lie on the table and to be printed
Cheltenham Chronicle, 20 June 1811
HOUSE OF COMMONS, MONDAY.
Mr. ROSE presented some papers relative to the French prisoners, and stated that of 49,531 prisoners IN this country, there were now but 321 sick.—Messrs. Cripps and WHITBREAD in reply to some observations of Lord Cochrane, bore testimony to the careful treatment of the prisoners at Dartmoor, and the promptness of the Transport Board in answering communications.
Morning Chronicle, 20 June 1811
As many insinuations have gone abroad unfavourable to the conduct of Lord COCHRANE, in reference to the Prisoners and Prison of Dartmoor, on which subject the Noble Lord had given notice of a motion last session, we think it due in fairness, to give insertion to the answer of his Lordship to the remarks made by Mr. ROSE on his bringing forward, in the House of Commons, some nights ago, at a very unusual hour, and without previous intimation, a letter that had relation to that object: -
Sir – I do not know whether it is perfectly regular to make any observations on the production of these papers; but reproached as I am at this moment by the pointed address of the Right Honourable Gentleman, and goaded as I have been by his repeated assertions, that I am unable to prove facts which I have stated to this House, it is incumbent upon me to justify my conduct, in having given notice of a motion relative to the Prison in Dartmoor, but in which I did not persevere, for reasons very different to those assigned by the Right Honourable Gentleman, namely “an inability to prove facts” Sir, if facilities are afforded to investigate truth, the Right Honourable Gentleman will find, that neither within or out of this House have I ever asserted that which I am unable to establish. The time that has elapsed will sufficiently evidence my reluctance to bring this matter to the knowledge of the public, fearing that disclosure might add to the misfortunes of our countrymen in France. However, the defence of my character now compels me to say a few words in relation to it, and the Right Honourable Gentleman and his Colleagues have themselves alone to blame.
Having received many letters, stating the condition of the Prisoners of War at Dartmoor to be truly deplorable, I determined to investigate the subject; and having had occasion to go to Exeter, I proceeded to Launceston, and other depots, whence I obtained the intelligence, and being satisfied, that the complaints had some foundation, I went to Dartmoor, not doubting but that every facility would have been afforded to disprove the complaints, and invalidate the heavy charge made; but no, even in my capacity as a Member of Parliament [A great laugh.] Yes, I say in my capacity as a Member of Parliament which; whatever respect or consideration it merits in the opinion of the Honourable Gentlemen, who indulge themselves in laughing, it ought to entitle the Members of this House to admission there, or any prison in the Kingdom.
Having contributed to place many individuals into this Depot, I applied also for permission to see the interior, as a Captain of the Navy, but I was refused leave, except to look though a grating into the outer court-yard. This caution, I confess, produced a conviction in my mind that there existed some hidden motive for unusual secrecy. I asked for the authority which prevented my informing myself of the state of the Prisoners, and I was shewn an Order from the Transport Board; which increased my desire the more, as I found the climate of the Prison accurately and faithfully described in the complaints which had been made to me. It is exposed on the summit of the highest and most bleak range of mountains n Devonshire, where the winter winds pierce with all the keenness possible, increased by constant fogs and sleet, and rain; it is situated in the midst of a barren moor, on which no vegetable grows. I was told that the Prison wall had only been seen nine times from the Agent's house during the whole winter, although it is as near as it is from your chair, Sir, to that door, and in such a state of obscurity was Dart moor involved, by fog and rain, that when I was there I had a guide each time to conduct me.
Anxious to learn the reason for building a depot in so barren, elevated, and extraordinary a situation, I enquired the cause of various persons, and I was uniformly answered, that it was with a view to attract inhabitants to the Moor. A Moor, Sir, on which Englishmen since the creation never lived. A Moor on which Scotchmen refused to live. Saunders invited to take possession of it, some years ago, naturally inquired why English folk did not live there? And judging the answer, that it was high land, to be unsatisfactory, he asked if broom, whins, briers, or thistles grew on the highly recommended spot? And being answered in the negative, he said “keep it to yoursel' man, it wonna do for me at a'.” - I was certain, Sir, that attracting inhabitants to this desert could not be the real motive. So, unable to get satisfactory answers at Dart-moor, I proceeded to Plymouth, where I obtained a plan of the Prison, fully collaborating one complaint, that the health of the prisoners had suffered by exposure to heavy rain, whilst standing in an open space for several hours, receiving provisions issued at a single door; the cooking room being several hundred feet distant from the Prisons, which then contained six thousand prisoners, divided into messes of six; consequently one thousand were soaked through in the morning for their breakfast, and one thousand more at dinner. Thus a third were constantly wet, many without a shift of clothes. I was told however, that they gambled or sold them.
This being the sate of things, I felt it a duty to proceed further and investigate, as well as with a view to relieve those who had conveyed their complaints to me, as for the sake of our Prisoners in France, and the honour of our Country. At Plymouth I saw a return of sick and deaths – I concluded that the fever arose from the cause which I have assigned, wet clothes in close prisons. Whether the return was made up daily or weekly, I do not remember – I cannot charge my memory at this distance of time. I think the number of deaths were 49 [A great laugh.] Sir, my want of recollection cannot alter facts, which are or ought to be on record, and perhaps are contained in the very paper now presented by the Right Honourable Gentleman, if that paper is correct.
Here give me leave to observe, that the Transport Board, Sick and Hurt Board, and the Superintendence of Prisoners of War, are all preposterously and absurdly united, by which means material duties are confided to and and conducted by Clerks, this is one of our new savings. The country, however, would have no reason to regret the expence of a few thousand a year, to responsible persons, in order that these distinct duties might be properly executed. Is it rational that letters written about the hire of transports, should be referred to Medical Men – or the allowance of medicines depend on the judgement of these whose habits enable them to perform the office of Ship Brokers? If this is not the case, why unite them? I remember once getting an answer from this Board, that although our medicines were expended, we could not get any more until the twelvemonth expired.
But Sir, to return to the subject. On my second visit to Dart-moor, being again refused admittance, I began to explore the exterior, in the prosecution of which it occurred to me, that the manure of the prison, in a situation so distant from any town, might be an object to someone. On inquiry what became of it? The answer was, it was carried away by a common sewer. I asked if it ran straight down hill from the prison? And being answered in the negative, I thought it might lead to a discovery, if I followed the stercoraceous duct, which I found led diagonally nearly on a water level, meandering along the side of a hills. Mark, Sir, I do not ascribe any motives, but it is a strange coincidence or fact, that this prison should, by accident, have been placed on the only spot in Devon, whence the stercoraceous matter of the depot could, by the power of gravity alone, descend on a neighbouring and elevated estate belonging to the Secretary of His Royal Highness the Prince. It is a very extraordinary circumstance, and one, Sir, if it had happened in the Island of Walcheren, to the estate of Louis Napoleon, we should have been surprized at.
The Prison of Dart-moor stands in the most inclement part of all England [a laugh]. Yes; in the most inclement part, I speak not of the feelings of consumptive individuals protected by good houses, and comfortable warm clothing. But I speak of men ill cloathed, exposed as the French prisoners were, on the top of the highest mountain in Devonshire, involved in perpetual rains and eternal fog.
That the Prison was not built there on a principle of economy, may be seen, by inspecting the contracts for provisions, coals and necessaries, furnished at Dart-moor and at Plymouth. I think I calculated the difference at more than seven thousand pounds a year, on the provisions alone. It may be very proper that prisoners should not be collected in great numbers at Plymouth ; but I assert, without fear of disinterested contradiction, and without the possibility of the fact being disproved, that Dart-moor Depot ought not to have been placed at the top of the highest and most barren range of mountains in Devonshire, where it is involved in constant fog, and deluged with perpetual rain.
If the Right Honourable Gentleman thinks proper to go more at large into this subject at a future period, and to add to the papers which he had just placed on the Table the Reports of Medical Men and others, relative to the state of the Prison at the period alluded to, and the situation in which it is built I am prepared to meet him upon that point, which he has imprudently pitched upon as feature of my inconsistency; although it will be in the recollection of the House, that the notice I gave was solely, that T should move for papers.
I may add to my other reasons for relinquishing my intention, that I received assurances that the situation of the Prisoners would be immediately attended to.
I shall abstain from remarking on the manner in which the Right Honourable Gentleman has taken me by surprise, and wrested from me these facts in my own defence. Had I brought this matter forward voluntarily, I do assure this House that it was my intention to have cleared the Gallery, to prevent publicity.
PRISONERS OF WAR.
The statement given into the House of Commons on Friday respecting the conditions of the French prisoners of war in this country, was such as not only to refute the assertions that had been made, that those prisoners were exposed to ill treatment, but to place the humanity of this country in the most honourable point of view. It appears, that out of 49,531 French prisoners in this country, there are at present only 321 sick, that is to say, not quite one man to one hundred and fifty-four. We believe, if an equal number of persons were taken indiscriminately out of any description of persons in this Country, the proportion of the sick to those in health would be as great, if not greater, than it is among the French prisoners. Lord COCHRANE, upon a former occasion, complained of the situation of the prisoners at Dartmoor, and said that they were dying very fast; but it appeared that at the period to which his Lordship alluded, some prisoners had arrived from the West Indies, in a most filthy state, who had brought the fever with them ; it was, however, soon subsided. Lord Cochrane admitted on Friday night that the circumstances had been altered since the period to which he had alluded. Though we may be induced to give the Noble Lord credit for the best motives into examining into the state of that prison, we cannot but lament that he did not investigate the subject more thoroughly before he made such a public complaint upon it, because such statements, though they are easily refuted at home, are yet expected to to cause serious mischief abroad. Mr. WHITREAD acted in a manner highly creditable to him upon this occasion ; he said, the situation of the prisoners in Dartmoor was as comfortable as the situation of prisoners could be, and he bore testimony to the readiness with which the Transport Board communicated every information, even of the most minute kind, respecting the prisoners when he had applied to them. We should be very happy if Lord COCHRANE, instead of rendering himself ridiculous by this species of unworthy conduct, would confine himself to the element and the profession of which he is so distinguished an ornament.
Morning Post, 19 June 1811
Mr. Christy, from the Transport Office, presented at the Bar of the House, an account of the number of Prisoners of War confined in the prison at Dartmoor.
Mr. ROSE said, that those papers were brought up in consequence of the representations of a Noble Lord on a former night, whom he was sorry not to see now in his place (Lord Cochrane). According to the Noble Lord's statement, it would appear that the prisoners were dying to the number of from 35 to 50 in the week ; but the documents now before them would prove, that the Noble Lord's information was so far from being correct, that the proportion of deaths in the last year was iv the ratio of two to 100, a proportion he believed under the estimate of ordinary mortality. The situation of the prison would also appear to he extremely advantageous, and it would be found, that human ingenuity could not contrive a building of the kind better calculated to preserve the health of its inhabitants. There was a stream of pure water running through the middle of it, and every care was taken to make the accommodations as comfortable as possible.
Mr. TYRWIT declared, that so far from making a job of the prison, for the accommodation or profit of any individual, the sum of 40,660l. was saved lo the public by building it in that place; and so far from any inconvenience or injury arising to the prisoners themselves, from being placed in such a situation, he would venture to state that there was no part of this country more healthy than the spot on which if stood.
Sir CHARLES POLE thought that some Resolution should be proposed, stating the facts mentioned by the Right Hon. Gent. (Mr. Rose) and the Hon. Gentleman behind him (Mr. Tyrwhitt), and also containing some acknowledgement of the good conduct of those to whom the care of the French prisoners was committed. If any motion to that effect should come from the opposite side, it should have his most cordial support.
Mr. ROSE said the statement was of importance, as a wrong impression on this subject might operate to the disadvantage of our own prisoners in France, and it was in order to prevent such an impression, and not for the purpose of any triumph over an individual, the papers were thought necessary to be made public.
Sir F. BURDETT expressed his satisfaction at the account which Ministers were able to give; but was sure the Noble Lord would never have made the charge, if he did not think that he had some ground to support it.
Mr. WHITBREAD said, that since the first introduction of this subject, he had received a letter from the Member for Plymouth denying that he had ever exerted any influence for the building of the prison in that situation, or received any benefit from it.
The papers were then ordered to lie on the table and to be printed
Cheltenham Chronicle, 20 June 1811
HOUSE OF COMMONS, MONDAY.
Mr. ROSE presented some papers relative to the French prisoners, and stated that of 49,531 prisoners IN this country, there were now but 321 sick.—Messrs. Cripps and WHITBREAD in reply to some observations of Lord Cochrane, bore testimony to the careful treatment of the prisoners at Dartmoor, and the promptness of the Transport Board in answering communications.
Morning Chronicle, 20 June 1811
As many insinuations have gone abroad unfavourable to the conduct of Lord COCHRANE, in reference to the Prisoners and Prison of Dartmoor, on which subject the Noble Lord had given notice of a motion last session, we think it due in fairness, to give insertion to the answer of his Lordship to the remarks made by Mr. ROSE on his bringing forward, in the House of Commons, some nights ago, at a very unusual hour, and without previous intimation, a letter that had relation to that object: -
Sir – I do not know whether it is perfectly regular to make any observations on the production of these papers; but reproached as I am at this moment by the pointed address of the Right Honourable Gentleman, and goaded as I have been by his repeated assertions, that I am unable to prove facts which I have stated to this House, it is incumbent upon me to justify my conduct, in having given notice of a motion relative to the Prison in Dartmoor, but in which I did not persevere, for reasons very different to those assigned by the Right Honourable Gentleman, namely “an inability to prove facts” Sir, if facilities are afforded to investigate truth, the Right Honourable Gentleman will find, that neither within or out of this House have I ever asserted that which I am unable to establish. The time that has elapsed will sufficiently evidence my reluctance to bring this matter to the knowledge of the public, fearing that disclosure might add to the misfortunes of our countrymen in France. However, the defence of my character now compels me to say a few words in relation to it, and the Right Honourable Gentleman and his Colleagues have themselves alone to blame.
Having received many letters, stating the condition of the Prisoners of War at Dartmoor to be truly deplorable, I determined to investigate the subject; and having had occasion to go to Exeter, I proceeded to Launceston, and other depots, whence I obtained the intelligence, and being satisfied, that the complaints had some foundation, I went to Dartmoor, not doubting but that every facility would have been afforded to disprove the complaints, and invalidate the heavy charge made; but no, even in my capacity as a Member of Parliament [A great laugh.] Yes, I say in my capacity as a Member of Parliament which; whatever respect or consideration it merits in the opinion of the Honourable Gentlemen, who indulge themselves in laughing, it ought to entitle the Members of this House to admission there, or any prison in the Kingdom.
Having contributed to place many individuals into this Depot, I applied also for permission to see the interior, as a Captain of the Navy, but I was refused leave, except to look though a grating into the outer court-yard. This caution, I confess, produced a conviction in my mind that there existed some hidden motive for unusual secrecy. I asked for the authority which prevented my informing myself of the state of the Prisoners, and I was shewn an Order from the Transport Board; which increased my desire the more, as I found the climate of the Prison accurately and faithfully described in the complaints which had been made to me. It is exposed on the summit of the highest and most bleak range of mountains n Devonshire, where the winter winds pierce with all the keenness possible, increased by constant fogs and sleet, and rain; it is situated in the midst of a barren moor, on which no vegetable grows. I was told that the Prison wall had only been seen nine times from the Agent's house during the whole winter, although it is as near as it is from your chair, Sir, to that door, and in such a state of obscurity was Dart moor involved, by fog and rain, that when I was there I had a guide each time to conduct me.
Anxious to learn the reason for building a depot in so barren, elevated, and extraordinary a situation, I enquired the cause of various persons, and I was uniformly answered, that it was with a view to attract inhabitants to the Moor. A Moor, Sir, on which Englishmen since the creation never lived. A Moor on which Scotchmen refused to live. Saunders invited to take possession of it, some years ago, naturally inquired why English folk did not live there? And judging the answer, that it was high land, to be unsatisfactory, he asked if broom, whins, briers, or thistles grew on the highly recommended spot? And being answered in the negative, he said “keep it to yoursel' man, it wonna do for me at a'.” - I was certain, Sir, that attracting inhabitants to this desert could not be the real motive. So, unable to get satisfactory answers at Dart-moor, I proceeded to Plymouth, where I obtained a plan of the Prison, fully collaborating one complaint, that the health of the prisoners had suffered by exposure to heavy rain, whilst standing in an open space for several hours, receiving provisions issued at a single door; the cooking room being several hundred feet distant from the Prisons, which then contained six thousand prisoners, divided into messes of six; consequently one thousand were soaked through in the morning for their breakfast, and one thousand more at dinner. Thus a third were constantly wet, many without a shift of clothes. I was told however, that they gambled or sold them.
This being the sate of things, I felt it a duty to proceed further and investigate, as well as with a view to relieve those who had conveyed their complaints to me, as for the sake of our Prisoners in France, and the honour of our Country. At Plymouth I saw a return of sick and deaths – I concluded that the fever arose from the cause which I have assigned, wet clothes in close prisons. Whether the return was made up daily or weekly, I do not remember – I cannot charge my memory at this distance of time. I think the number of deaths were 49 [A great laugh.] Sir, my want of recollection cannot alter facts, which are or ought to be on record, and perhaps are contained in the very paper now presented by the Right Honourable Gentleman, if that paper is correct.
Here give me leave to observe, that the Transport Board, Sick and Hurt Board, and the Superintendence of Prisoners of War, are all preposterously and absurdly united, by which means material duties are confided to and and conducted by Clerks, this is one of our new savings. The country, however, would have no reason to regret the expence of a few thousand a year, to responsible persons, in order that these distinct duties might be properly executed. Is it rational that letters written about the hire of transports, should be referred to Medical Men – or the allowance of medicines depend on the judgement of these whose habits enable them to perform the office of Ship Brokers? If this is not the case, why unite them? I remember once getting an answer from this Board, that although our medicines were expended, we could not get any more until the twelvemonth expired.
But Sir, to return to the subject. On my second visit to Dart-moor, being again refused admittance, I began to explore the exterior, in the prosecution of which it occurred to me, that the manure of the prison, in a situation so distant from any town, might be an object to someone. On inquiry what became of it? The answer was, it was carried away by a common sewer. I asked if it ran straight down hill from the prison? And being answered in the negative, I thought it might lead to a discovery, if I followed the stercoraceous duct, which I found led diagonally nearly on a water level, meandering along the side of a hills. Mark, Sir, I do not ascribe any motives, but it is a strange coincidence or fact, that this prison should, by accident, have been placed on the only spot in Devon, whence the stercoraceous matter of the depot could, by the power of gravity alone, descend on a neighbouring and elevated estate belonging to the Secretary of His Royal Highness the Prince. It is a very extraordinary circumstance, and one, Sir, if it had happened in the Island of Walcheren, to the estate of Louis Napoleon, we should have been surprized at.
The Prison of Dart-moor stands in the most inclement part of all England [a laugh]. Yes; in the most inclement part, I speak not of the feelings of consumptive individuals protected by good houses, and comfortable warm clothing. But I speak of men ill cloathed, exposed as the French prisoners were, on the top of the highest mountain in Devonshire, involved in perpetual rains and eternal fog.
That the Prison was not built there on a principle of economy, may be seen, by inspecting the contracts for provisions, coals and necessaries, furnished at Dart-moor and at Plymouth. I think I calculated the difference at more than seven thousand pounds a year, on the provisions alone. It may be very proper that prisoners should not be collected in great numbers at Plymouth ; but I assert, without fear of disinterested contradiction, and without the possibility of the fact being disproved, that Dart-moor Depot ought not to have been placed at the top of the highest and most barren range of mountains in Devonshire, where it is involved in constant fog, and deluged with perpetual rain.
If the Right Honourable Gentleman thinks proper to go more at large into this subject at a future period, and to add to the papers which he had just placed on the Table the Reports of Medical Men and others, relative to the state of the Prison at the period alluded to, and the situation in which it is built I am prepared to meet him upon that point, which he has imprudently pitched upon as feature of my inconsistency; although it will be in the recollection of the House, that the notice I gave was solely, that T should move for papers.
I may add to my other reasons for relinquishing my intention, that I received assurances that the situation of the Prisoners would be immediately attended to.
I shall abstain from remarking on the manner in which the Right Honourable Gentleman has taken me by surprise, and wrested from me these facts in my own defence. Had I brought this matter forward voluntarily, I do assure this House that it was my intention to have cleared the Gallery, to prevent publicity.
Derby Mercury, 20 June 1811
HOUSE OF COMMONS.
EXCHANGE OF PRISONERS.
...Finding this ground slip under him, the French Negotiator complained of the ill-treatment of the Prisoners here. He had inquired into this subject, and of all the prisons, Dartmoor was the most favourable for the French statement. In that prisoner the number of prisoners was 5035, the number in the Hospital was 82, and the deaths in four months amounted in all to 24. Supposing the age of the prisoners between the ages of 30 and 40, there was here even a smaller mortality, than according to the Stockhold table in Dr. Price's Work. This ought more fully to be more fully to be inquired into.
HOUSE OF COMMONS.
EXCHANGE OF PRISONERS.
...Finding this ground slip under him, the French Negotiator complained of the ill-treatment of the Prisoners here. He had inquired into this subject, and of all the prisons, Dartmoor was the most favourable for the French statement. In that prisoner the number of prisoners was 5035, the number in the Hospital was 82, and the deaths in four months amounted in all to 24. Supposing the age of the prisoners between the ages of 30 and 40, there was here even a smaller mortality, than according to the Stockhold table in Dr. Price's Work. This ought more fully to be more fully to be inquired into.
Salisbury and Winchester Journal, 24 June 1811
HOUSE OF COMMONS.
Mr. Christie presented a return of the number of French Prisoners in Dartmoor.
Mr. Rose observed, that a Noble Lord (Cochrane) had stated, that from 35 to 40 prisoners died in this prison daily, or weekly, he could not tell which. It would be found, however, from these papers, that even at a time when a number of prisoners had been brought in sick from the West Indies, in 1810, the deaths did not exceed 37 in a month ; and since that time 12 only ; and at present did not amount to two in a hundred.
Mr. Tyrwhitt said, that if ever there was an instance in which humanity had been active, it was in case of the French prisoners in this prison ; and he was prepared to contend, that there was not a more healthy situation in the kingdom than Dartmoor prison.
Sir C. Pole said, there needed no greater proof of the attention we paid to the French prisoners, than that out of the 80,000 now in this country, only 360 were sick.
Mr. Rose and Mr. Whitbread supported the statement of Sir C. Pole and Mr. Tyrwhitt.
The papers were then received, and ordered to be printed.
HOUSE OF COMMONS.
Mr. Christie presented a return of the number of French Prisoners in Dartmoor.
Mr. Rose observed, that a Noble Lord (Cochrane) had stated, that from 35 to 40 prisoners died in this prison daily, or weekly, he could not tell which. It would be found, however, from these papers, that even at a time when a number of prisoners had been brought in sick from the West Indies, in 1810, the deaths did not exceed 37 in a month ; and since that time 12 only ; and at present did not amount to two in a hundred.
Mr. Tyrwhitt said, that if ever there was an instance in which humanity had been active, it was in case of the French prisoners in this prison ; and he was prepared to contend, that there was not a more healthy situation in the kingdom than Dartmoor prison.
Sir C. Pole said, there needed no greater proof of the attention we paid to the French prisoners, than that out of the 80,000 now in this country, only 360 were sick.
Mr. Rose and Mr. Whitbread supported the statement of Sir C. Pole and Mr. Tyrwhitt.
The papers were then received, and ordered to be printed.
Chester Courant, 2 July 1811
The number of prisoners of war in Dartmoor Prison, on the 15th instant, amounted to 6,577.
The number of prisoners of war in Dartmoor Prison, on the 15th instant, amounted to 6,577.
Cheltenham Chronicle, 4 July 1811
The North Gloucester goes to Kent; the South Gloucester is doing duty over the French prisoners at Dartmoor; and the Denbigh and Radnor have received orders to march to Bristol.
The North Gloucester goes to Kent; the South Gloucester is doing duty over the French prisoners at Dartmoor; and the Denbigh and Radnor have received orders to march to Bristol.
Exeter Flying Post, 25 July 1811
DARTMOOR PRISON.
TO be LET, for twelve months certain, to the Highest bidder, the SOIL or MANURE arising from the Prison of War at Dartmoor. The manure to be taken away by the purchaser at his own expence. The money to be paid quarterly.
Further particulars may be known on application to captain Isaac Cotgrave, R. N. Agent to the said Depot, who will be ready to receive SEALED TENDERS, addressed to “The Commissioners for conducting His Majesty's Transport Service, &c. &c. London.” The contract will commence from the seventh of this present month.
No tender will be received after the 31st instant.
Dated July 2, 1811.
DARTMOOR PRISON.
TO be LET, for twelve months certain, to the Highest bidder, the SOIL or MANURE arising from the Prison of War at Dartmoor. The manure to be taken away by the purchaser at his own expence. The money to be paid quarterly.
Further particulars may be known on application to captain Isaac Cotgrave, R. N. Agent to the said Depot, who will be ready to receive SEALED TENDERS, addressed to “The Commissioners for conducting His Majesty's Transport Service, &c. &c. London.” The contract will commence from the seventh of this present month.
No tender will be received after the 31st instant.
Dated July 2, 1811.
I wonder if the letting of this tender was prompted by the observation of Lord Cochrane that the manure from the Prison was being used to enrich the soil of a certain local estate for free?
Chester Courant, 06 August 1811
The Lancashire Militia have marched to Dartmoor, to relieve the Cheshire, in the prison duty of that depot.
The Lancashire Militia have marched to Dartmoor, to relieve the Cheshire, in the prison duty of that depot.
Exeter Flying Post, 22 August 1811
A COVERED CART,
From EXETER to PLYMOUTH and DOCK.
STARTS from Pooke's warehouse, and the White Horse, Moretonhampstead, at five o'clock every Monday morning; calls at the Greyhound, on the Forest of Dartmoor; at seven; at the Feathers, Dartmoor Prison, at eleven; at Jump, at two in the afternoon; and arrives at the Tavistock Inn, Dock, at five in the evening ; calls for parcels at the New Tree, Plymouth on, Tuesday, at two in the afternoon;. starts from the Tavistock Inn, at six on Wednesday morning; and, after calling at above, arrives. at Moreton in the evening; starts again at four Friday morning, for the Crown and Sceptre North-street Exeter and returns to Moreton in the evening.
J. Pooke is careful in the conveyance and the delivery of parcels, and trusts, by perseverance, to secure the future orders of his friends who have favoured him and to deserve those of the public.
N.B. No parcel or package whatsoever of the value of five pounds or upwards, will be made good, if lost, unless entered as such and paid for accordingly. Moretonhampstead, August 8th, 1811
A COVERED CART,
From EXETER to PLYMOUTH and DOCK.
STARTS from Pooke's warehouse, and the White Horse, Moretonhampstead, at five o'clock every Monday morning; calls at the Greyhound, on the Forest of Dartmoor; at seven; at the Feathers, Dartmoor Prison, at eleven; at Jump, at two in the afternoon; and arrives at the Tavistock Inn, Dock, at five in the evening ; calls for parcels at the New Tree, Plymouth on, Tuesday, at two in the afternoon;. starts from the Tavistock Inn, at six on Wednesday morning; and, after calling at above, arrives. at Moreton in the evening; starts again at four Friday morning, for the Crown and Sceptre North-street Exeter and returns to Moreton in the evening.
J. Pooke is careful in the conveyance and the delivery of parcels, and trusts, by perseverance, to secure the future orders of his friends who have favoured him and to deserve those of the public.
N.B. No parcel or package whatsoever of the value of five pounds or upwards, will be made good, if lost, unless entered as such and paid for accordingly. Moretonhampstead, August 8th, 1811
Public transport comes to Dartmoor! The Greyhound was an inn at Postbridge.
The Examiner, 25 August 1811
SIR. - Your publication of the 28th ult. contained a letter respecting Dartmoor Prison, intending to exculpate Lord Cochrane from the charge of rashness, so hastily made against him by Mr. Whitbread and others, in the house of Commons on his stating the prison to be insalubrious and not fit for the purposes for which it was designed.. The writer advances some exaggerated inconveniences, and asserts many things utterly false. I am not disposed to advocate Ministers at the expence of truth. l am not their admirer - no spirit of indignation is aroused into flame in my bosom by the impeachment of this Depot, for the consequent blame attaching to those who erected it : I would boldly support truth, and truth alone.
It is said Lord Cochrane objected to that part of Dartmoor as a Depot, because it was the most inclement in England. This is a gross mistake. Dartmoor, from being an elevated tract, 1000 or 1500 feet above the level of the sea will naturally be colder than the lower country upon the borders of the oceans the latter, owing to its proximity to the sea being much warmer than any inland tract, whether elevated or not - This accounts for many of the prejudices made against it by persons who reside within l0 or 12 miles; and who when visiting feeling a considerable change, ignorantly attribute such change to the inhospitality of the climate. Lord Cochrane's misinformation can be readily accounted for, from his not having resided on the spot; but the writer in your paper, stiled Humanitas, who rode over the moor in a fine, Autumnal day (perhaps a November one) contrasts the different sensations he experienced on Dartmoor, with the lower country: as if there wan no physical cause but inclemency to occasion the difference. Surely he never can have exercised his judgment; prejudice can have been his only guide in making him reason so preposterously .- The degree of cold felt on Dartmoor, is not more than is felt on any hilly traet in the kingdom, of equal elevation, though it is often great compared with the surrounding country. Humanitas asserts, that the fun is not seen for nine months in the year, and that the hills are enveloped in clouds, even on a partially cloudy day. One should have supposed Dartmoor from this description a perfect Erebus, wrapt in the shades of Stygian darkness and clothed in mists of eternal obscurity. The fact is, that the clouds arising from the sea are interrupted in their passage over the land by these hills, and occasion showers more frequently there, than in less hilly or lower situations: between these showers the sun shines with greater splendour than on the lower country. An increased degree of moisture is, however, the natural consequence, and the principal inconvenience felt.
The snow lies on the hills longer than on the lower country, but even on them for no considerable period, compared with the eastern and northern parts.
Humanitas states the days of rain in Devon to be as 4 ½ to I to that of Middlesex!! Consequently, if there be three months of rain in Middlesex in the year, in Devon we have fifteen months. How this computation is made am at a loss to find; had it originated with an Irish bogtrotter, the national propensity to blunder could have accounted for it - as it stands, the author alone can solve the problem.
It is untru that Government changes the military doing duty at the prison every two months, because of the severity of the spot. The military .are changed from policy. Still no regiment, particularly of militia, can be supposed to like a duty, when officers and men are cut off from the comforts of a populous town and neighbourhood and sent to a station where there is no variety of scene but one continued monotony. This is the ground of dislike the military have to the station; there has never been a complaint among them of its insalubrity. Would to God our brave armies, now in the Peninsula could repose as softly, as well sheltered, and as comfortably, as they might in the commodious and healthy barracks of Dartmoor.
The Socratic mode of asking questions to come at the truth, has been exemplifies most ingeniously in the above letter. The author asks, “was not the number of dead in the prison the first year estimated at 1000!!!! Did not 1500 die, and were there not 3000 sick three years ago, so that all the rooms have been occupied with patients and the hospital overloaded? Did not 500 or 600 perish the year before last?” By asking this string of questions, the author affirms nothing, and consequently does not appear to take any responsibility upon himself to prove their truth; while on the public mind the mischief is the same, and the inquisition equally injurious to the honour and feeling of the country.
I am compelled, Mr. Editor, to show, that the whole of these statements are false in every sense – are gross exaggeration – and bear in the forgery of them, marks of deliberate guilt. There have never been above 300 sick at one time, since the erection of the prison. The hospital has never been so full as to be obliged to fill all the rooms of the prison with an overplus of the sick. There have never died a hundred in one year; nor did the sixth part of the number stated, die the year before last. These assertions are facts, however unpleasant they may be deemed, and however dissimilar they may appear to Humanitas. Many complaints have been made respecting the prison by the prisoners; who, in the melancholy confinement they are doomed, may, oftentimes, feel impatience and irritation; when their state may be, for the state of captives, comfortable and convenient. If Dartmoor prison is allowed by Humanitas 'to be commodious, there is plenty of room for air, an healthy stream running through the centre, and the greatest care in the medical department,” what is to be said for other prisons, where there are, if we except the medical care, none of those comforts? - What is to be said of prison ships? With respect to persons being excluded from visiting the prison, it is solely from an order of the Secretary of State, and appertains to every prison of war without exception.
The ignorance of Humanitas is apparent, in his ascribing to the prisons the diseases which have occurred at Dartmoor. - He is not aware of, of has not penetration enough to discern, that a large proportion of the prisoners received at Plymouth, have arrived in a state of disease, owing to their treatment before, and on their passage to England. The prisoners received from the Spanish prison-ships, from Cadiz in particular, shamefully neglected as they had been by the Spaniards, hardly any of them bore a resemblance to human being, - diseased, famished, dying in the boats e'er they could be brought on shore, with epidemic disorders of the most fatal description, generated in the holds or rather nauseous dungeons of the Spanish men of war; the seeds of which they communicated to each other, and to the prisoners here; the mortality which took place, may rather be wondered at for its smallness.
The writer of this has seen them landed from that floating vehicle of pestilence, a Spanish line of battle ship; over the sides of which, both by day and night, the melancholy sound of the dead bodies of the neglected prisoners had been heard, plunged into the water at short intervals, during their voyage to England; thus buried with their diseases and their miseries in the bosom of the ocean. Some have expired on the beach the moment they have been landed; and others have died a few hours after in the hospital, soothed in their last moments by the unremitting attention bestowed by the medical attendants to alleviate their sufferings; and by the knowledge that the treatment their surviving fellow prisoners would receive in England, gave them a chance of returning, and hearing the news of their unhappy destiny to their friends and relatives.
I trust I have convinced you, Mr. Editor, how little founded in fact the assertions of Humanitas are; I have combated the objections in the temperature of Dartmoor; and have displayed to the view the real causes of what mortality did occur there. It must certainly be evident to the view, that an assimilation to the climate, where matters are as I have represented them, would soon take place; for it could not operate more to the prejudice of the prisoners, than of the British inhabitants among whom the marks of health and strength remain undiminished. There are now 7000 prisoners at Dartmoor, and scarcely a patient in the Hospital. This is truth; an incontrovertible fact; and a proof of what I have before urged respecting the deaths that have taken place. Before I conclude, I must bear testimony in the excellence of the medical department here. No British seamen are more taken care of than the French prisoners, who may be in the hospital; and the moment they arrive, they are stripped of their rags, cleaned in the bath from the vermin that may affect them; and the most unremitting assiduity, aided by first-rate abilities and practice, directed with unceasing attention to the diseased and sickly – it is not the attentions of medical practice in common, but the labour of transcendant genius, that owns not the cold ward duty, but spontaneously directs its energies to the accomplishment of its object, with the views of benevolence and the feelings of sympathy.
Such is the state of the Plymouth depot, of which Dartmoor is a branch, in which 14,080 prisoners are comprehended, and in which every abuse is remedied the moment the Transport Board are made acquainted with it. I have heard it is the intention to rebuild Mill Prison, which is much out of repair, nothing more is wanting to to render the state of the prisoners here, such as it reasonably ought to be, and, in point of comfort, superior to that of any other depot in the kingdom.
Plymouth, August 2, 1811. VERITAS.
SIR. - Your publication of the 28th ult. contained a letter respecting Dartmoor Prison, intending to exculpate Lord Cochrane from the charge of rashness, so hastily made against him by Mr. Whitbread and others, in the house of Commons on his stating the prison to be insalubrious and not fit for the purposes for which it was designed.. The writer advances some exaggerated inconveniences, and asserts many things utterly false. I am not disposed to advocate Ministers at the expence of truth. l am not their admirer - no spirit of indignation is aroused into flame in my bosom by the impeachment of this Depot, for the consequent blame attaching to those who erected it : I would boldly support truth, and truth alone.
It is said Lord Cochrane objected to that part of Dartmoor as a Depot, because it was the most inclement in England. This is a gross mistake. Dartmoor, from being an elevated tract, 1000 or 1500 feet above the level of the sea will naturally be colder than the lower country upon the borders of the oceans the latter, owing to its proximity to the sea being much warmer than any inland tract, whether elevated or not - This accounts for many of the prejudices made against it by persons who reside within l0 or 12 miles; and who when visiting feeling a considerable change, ignorantly attribute such change to the inhospitality of the climate. Lord Cochrane's misinformation can be readily accounted for, from his not having resided on the spot; but the writer in your paper, stiled Humanitas, who rode over the moor in a fine, Autumnal day (perhaps a November one) contrasts the different sensations he experienced on Dartmoor, with the lower country: as if there wan no physical cause but inclemency to occasion the difference. Surely he never can have exercised his judgment; prejudice can have been his only guide in making him reason so preposterously .- The degree of cold felt on Dartmoor, is not more than is felt on any hilly traet in the kingdom, of equal elevation, though it is often great compared with the surrounding country. Humanitas asserts, that the fun is not seen for nine months in the year, and that the hills are enveloped in clouds, even on a partially cloudy day. One should have supposed Dartmoor from this description a perfect Erebus, wrapt in the shades of Stygian darkness and clothed in mists of eternal obscurity. The fact is, that the clouds arising from the sea are interrupted in their passage over the land by these hills, and occasion showers more frequently there, than in less hilly or lower situations: between these showers the sun shines with greater splendour than on the lower country. An increased degree of moisture is, however, the natural consequence, and the principal inconvenience felt.
The snow lies on the hills longer than on the lower country, but even on them for no considerable period, compared with the eastern and northern parts.
Humanitas states the days of rain in Devon to be as 4 ½ to I to that of Middlesex!! Consequently, if there be three months of rain in Middlesex in the year, in Devon we have fifteen months. How this computation is made am at a loss to find; had it originated with an Irish bogtrotter, the national propensity to blunder could have accounted for it - as it stands, the author alone can solve the problem.
It is untru that Government changes the military doing duty at the prison every two months, because of the severity of the spot. The military .are changed from policy. Still no regiment, particularly of militia, can be supposed to like a duty, when officers and men are cut off from the comforts of a populous town and neighbourhood and sent to a station where there is no variety of scene but one continued monotony. This is the ground of dislike the military have to the station; there has never been a complaint among them of its insalubrity. Would to God our brave armies, now in the Peninsula could repose as softly, as well sheltered, and as comfortably, as they might in the commodious and healthy barracks of Dartmoor.
The Socratic mode of asking questions to come at the truth, has been exemplifies most ingeniously in the above letter. The author asks, “was not the number of dead in the prison the first year estimated at 1000!!!! Did not 1500 die, and were there not 3000 sick three years ago, so that all the rooms have been occupied with patients and the hospital overloaded? Did not 500 or 600 perish the year before last?” By asking this string of questions, the author affirms nothing, and consequently does not appear to take any responsibility upon himself to prove their truth; while on the public mind the mischief is the same, and the inquisition equally injurious to the honour and feeling of the country.
I am compelled, Mr. Editor, to show, that the whole of these statements are false in every sense – are gross exaggeration – and bear in the forgery of them, marks of deliberate guilt. There have never been above 300 sick at one time, since the erection of the prison. The hospital has never been so full as to be obliged to fill all the rooms of the prison with an overplus of the sick. There have never died a hundred in one year; nor did the sixth part of the number stated, die the year before last. These assertions are facts, however unpleasant they may be deemed, and however dissimilar they may appear to Humanitas. Many complaints have been made respecting the prison by the prisoners; who, in the melancholy confinement they are doomed, may, oftentimes, feel impatience and irritation; when their state may be, for the state of captives, comfortable and convenient. If Dartmoor prison is allowed by Humanitas 'to be commodious, there is plenty of room for air, an healthy stream running through the centre, and the greatest care in the medical department,” what is to be said for other prisons, where there are, if we except the medical care, none of those comforts? - What is to be said of prison ships? With respect to persons being excluded from visiting the prison, it is solely from an order of the Secretary of State, and appertains to every prison of war without exception.
The ignorance of Humanitas is apparent, in his ascribing to the prisons the diseases which have occurred at Dartmoor. - He is not aware of, of has not penetration enough to discern, that a large proportion of the prisoners received at Plymouth, have arrived in a state of disease, owing to their treatment before, and on their passage to England. The prisoners received from the Spanish prison-ships, from Cadiz in particular, shamefully neglected as they had been by the Spaniards, hardly any of them bore a resemblance to human being, - diseased, famished, dying in the boats e'er they could be brought on shore, with epidemic disorders of the most fatal description, generated in the holds or rather nauseous dungeons of the Spanish men of war; the seeds of which they communicated to each other, and to the prisoners here; the mortality which took place, may rather be wondered at for its smallness.
The writer of this has seen them landed from that floating vehicle of pestilence, a Spanish line of battle ship; over the sides of which, both by day and night, the melancholy sound of the dead bodies of the neglected prisoners had been heard, plunged into the water at short intervals, during their voyage to England; thus buried with their diseases and their miseries in the bosom of the ocean. Some have expired on the beach the moment they have been landed; and others have died a few hours after in the hospital, soothed in their last moments by the unremitting attention bestowed by the medical attendants to alleviate their sufferings; and by the knowledge that the treatment their surviving fellow prisoners would receive in England, gave them a chance of returning, and hearing the news of their unhappy destiny to their friends and relatives.
I trust I have convinced you, Mr. Editor, how little founded in fact the assertions of Humanitas are; I have combated the objections in the temperature of Dartmoor; and have displayed to the view the real causes of what mortality did occur there. It must certainly be evident to the view, that an assimilation to the climate, where matters are as I have represented them, would soon take place; for it could not operate more to the prejudice of the prisoners, than of the British inhabitants among whom the marks of health and strength remain undiminished. There are now 7000 prisoners at Dartmoor, and scarcely a patient in the Hospital. This is truth; an incontrovertible fact; and a proof of what I have before urged respecting the deaths that have taken place. Before I conclude, I must bear testimony in the excellence of the medical department here. No British seamen are more taken care of than the French prisoners, who may be in the hospital; and the moment they arrive, they are stripped of their rags, cleaned in the bath from the vermin that may affect them; and the most unremitting assiduity, aided by first-rate abilities and practice, directed with unceasing attention to the diseased and sickly – it is not the attentions of medical practice in common, but the labour of transcendant genius, that owns not the cold ward duty, but spontaneously directs its energies to the accomplishment of its object, with the views of benevolence and the feelings of sympathy.
Such is the state of the Plymouth depot, of which Dartmoor is a branch, in which 14,080 prisoners are comprehended, and in which every abuse is remedied the moment the Transport Board are made acquainted with it. I have heard it is the intention to rebuild Mill Prison, which is much out of repair, nothing more is wanting to to render the state of the prisoners here, such as it reasonably ought to be, and, in point of comfort, superior to that of any other depot in the kingdom.
Plymouth, August 2, 1811. VERITAS.
Royal Cornwall Gazette, 31 August 1811
TIN BOUNDS & MINE.
On DARTMOOR
To be SOLD by PRIVATE CONTRACT, all those TIN BOUNDS, called WHITE WORKS BOUNDS, in the Forest of Dartmoor ; on which a Mine has been of late working, and produced considerable quantities of Tin, including the whole interest of the present Proprietors in the Mine and Dues, and likewise all Erections thereon.
Applications for the same may be made to Mr. TAYLOR at Tavistock ; or to Captain TREWEEK at Chagford. Tavistock, Aug. 23, 1811.
TIN BOUNDS & MINE.
On DARTMOOR
To be SOLD by PRIVATE CONTRACT, all those TIN BOUNDS, called WHITE WORKS BOUNDS, in the Forest of Dartmoor ; on which a Mine has been of late working, and produced considerable quantities of Tin, including the whole interest of the present Proprietors in the Mine and Dues, and likewise all Erections thereon.
Applications for the same may be made to Mr. TAYLOR at Tavistock ; or to Captain TREWEEK at Chagford. Tavistock, Aug. 23, 1811.
The Examiner, 1 September 1811
DARTMOOR DEPOT.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE EXAMINER
I have the genuine feelings of an Englishman, and nothing but the honour of my country induced me to support Lord Cochrane in his enquiries on the state of the Dartmoor Depot. I appeal to your candour, whether my former letter did not tend to exculpate the Transport Board from all blame in the misfortunes that may have occurred in this prison and my grand conclusion was, that the causes of mortality among the prisoners were not attributable to Government, but to the spot unfortunately chosen for lhe Depot. I appeal to the Searcher of hearts that nothing vindictive entered into my spirit in proposing my questions; they were statements made to me; which I was unwilling to assert, but by enquiry, till I was more fully confirmed in the truth of them, but which the situation of Dartmoor Prison seemed to corroborate. If I have been instrumental in bringing tlese reports under discussion, and the replies to them should bc credited, I claim the merit of obliterating some odious impressions from many minds, and doing. much more I good than evil. Calm and temperate discussion is much better calculated to elicit truth and convince the understanding, than all the anathemas in the world, and my opponent Veritas cannot persuade one honest mind by angrily accusing me of deliberate guilt. As for T. H. I give him credit for more good humour, but I must still beg leave to differ from both my ideas of Dartmoor, and it seems, Sir, that my antipathy to this dreary spot is not singular -T. H. has indeed a happy knack of levelling. mountains, and fertilizing deserts ; at his presto, the snows of Siberia may melt into murmuring rills, or the sand of Arabia change their arid faces into fruitful verdure. I shall leave this gentleman to enjoy his magic powers ,only attend to the more honest confessions of Veritas. Yet, Sir, before I finally dismiss T. H. , I beg you to remark, that the whole of any statements respecting Dartmoor, for which I am only indebted to my own observations, which will be justified by degrees in the various confessions of its devoted advocates, T. H. says it is foggy but denies that it is cold ; Veritas grants that it is cold, being “1000 or 1300 feet above the level of the sea," but the degree of cold felt on Dartmoor is not more than is felt in any hilly tract in the kingdom of equal elevation, is often great, compared with the surrounding country;” says the writer in the Statesman, “when it is cultivated, its insalubrity will cease." Here then Sir, are confessions that Dartmoor is foggy, cold, and insalubrious. And Veritas, alluding to what he calls the showers of Dartmoor, acknowledges that an increased degree of moisture is the natural consequence, and the principal inconvenience felt. Yes, Sir, a tolerably increased degree, for I am informed from authority, which in other cases I should credit, that the walls of the prison are eternally streaming with wet in the winter and that it is everlastingly: raining there. My own eyes at least inform me almost every two or three days that they are always in clouds, or fogs, if you please, which are so much like them that I do not know the difference! Now, Sir, I leave you to judge how far this spot is adapted to maintain in existence the captives from the western tropic, or the unchanging climate of France.
As for my calculation of the proportion of rain in Middlesex and Devon, there will appear no Iricism in it, if you allow a little less quantity of rain in London in the year than Veritas has granted, and multiply your numbers with less blundering; for really, Sir, my Arithmetic does not teach me how three multiplied by 4 ½ can make fifteen. Surely Veritas was bewildered in the bogs or fogs of' Dartmoor when he made this product. Risum tenetis graici. But people will stretch a little sometimes to gain a point.
Now, Sir, to the questions. - Veritas makes here a sweeping assertion "that the whole of these statements are false in every sense. He declares that there have never been above 500 sick at one time, since the erection of the prison. The hospital has never been so full as to be obliged to fill all the rooms of the prison with an overplus of the sick. There have never died an hundred in one year; nor did the sixth part of the number stated die the year before last. " These assertions are facts, however unpleasant they may be deemed, and however dissimilar they may appear to the exaggerations of Humanitas." I will not print the language of some of my friends who have seen these counter statements, and lost their politeness on the occasion; but I will say, would to God that Veritas could in all that he has so roundly asserted, prove that he can merit the name that he has assumed. I am not resolved obviously to adhere to my opinions, or to say that he has faired satisfactorily answering my interrogations; and so far from it being unpleasant to me, I declare, Sir, from the bottom of my heart that I should feel no higher pleasure but to disprove the grounds
of. those questions, which I may well have disputed till they appeared to assume so unquestionable a shape. As I would not, unwittingly even hint a ?? on so important a topic, I have investigated it ??since I first wrote , before I would repIy to Veritas, supposing that such positive assertions must be made from the best authority; but although I found some mistakes had ?? through the medium from which I received my information, which I am free and glad to confess, do away with the propriety of ALL MY OTHER INQUIRIES, yet I have reason to believe that ONE INQUIRY OF IMPORTANCE is not satisfactorily answered by the Plymouth Correspondent. My informant was an eye witness to the transactions of the Prison for nearly a year; and he repeatedly asserts, and has done in the Presence ot another witness that during, that time the number of the sick and dead were about as heavy as before mentioned in my inquiry relative to the state of the prison three years ago. He vehemently vows that the Hospital, which holds about a thousand, was full, that heaps were sick out of it, to the amount of nearly double that number, and that considerably more than that died. For the last assertion he has, however, no ??, but says it was the calculation generally made upon the numbers that were continually buried. He moreover adds, that this mortality did not arise, as reported, form any malady introduced by prisoners which newly arrived with infection, but that the fogs and damp of the moor had produced a species of asthma and consumption throughout the Prison, accompanied with these dreadful effects, prior to the arrival of those men, so much talked of. Now, Sir, here is an eye witness to these facts opposed to the facts of Veritas and if the latter has not been on the spot at the same time for nearly a whole year, which we can, hardly suppose, how can he .so boldly contradict. the whole? -I am sorry that any of my other inquiries originated in mistake, though, after the statement, I have now repeated, the mistake, is very excusable : but I embrace the first opportunity to negative them myself as I have no ground of information to prove them false or true.
Now, Sir, after my own knowledge of Dartmoor, and after the above statement from an eye-witness, I leave you to judge whether I had not more than the shadow of reason for vindicating my Lord Cochrane? And had I been wholly mistaken with his Lordship, is it fair to throw out such ungenerous insinuations as are employed against me in the reply of Veritas ? I have pure British blood flowing in my veins as well as himself, and my heart beats as responsive as his can to the most earnest prayers for the honour and happiness of my country. .If I have been wrongly informed, let Veritas disprove it. from better authority than mere assertion, and the man who has unblushingly stated these things to me as truth, shall be branded with the epithet which in that case he would merit. But if Veritas should find himself mistaken, I hope he will be candid as myself in acknowledging his errors, and aid my Lord Cochrane in reporting these evils where I am sure they will meet with a speedy remedy. - I am, Sir, your.
HUMANITAS.
DARTMOOR DEPOT.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE EXAMINER
I have the genuine feelings of an Englishman, and nothing but the honour of my country induced me to support Lord Cochrane in his enquiries on the state of the Dartmoor Depot. I appeal to your candour, whether my former letter did not tend to exculpate the Transport Board from all blame in the misfortunes that may have occurred in this prison and my grand conclusion was, that the causes of mortality among the prisoners were not attributable to Government, but to the spot unfortunately chosen for lhe Depot. I appeal to the Searcher of hearts that nothing vindictive entered into my spirit in proposing my questions; they were statements made to me; which I was unwilling to assert, but by enquiry, till I was more fully confirmed in the truth of them, but which the situation of Dartmoor Prison seemed to corroborate. If I have been instrumental in bringing tlese reports under discussion, and the replies to them should bc credited, I claim the merit of obliterating some odious impressions from many minds, and doing. much more I good than evil. Calm and temperate discussion is much better calculated to elicit truth and convince the understanding, than all the anathemas in the world, and my opponent Veritas cannot persuade one honest mind by angrily accusing me of deliberate guilt. As for T. H. I give him credit for more good humour, but I must still beg leave to differ from both my ideas of Dartmoor, and it seems, Sir, that my antipathy to this dreary spot is not singular -T. H. has indeed a happy knack of levelling. mountains, and fertilizing deserts ; at his presto, the snows of Siberia may melt into murmuring rills, or the sand of Arabia change their arid faces into fruitful verdure. I shall leave this gentleman to enjoy his magic powers ,only attend to the more honest confessions of Veritas. Yet, Sir, before I finally dismiss T. H. , I beg you to remark, that the whole of any statements respecting Dartmoor, for which I am only indebted to my own observations, which will be justified by degrees in the various confessions of its devoted advocates, T. H. says it is foggy but denies that it is cold ; Veritas grants that it is cold, being “1000 or 1300 feet above the level of the sea," but the degree of cold felt on Dartmoor is not more than is felt in any hilly tract in the kingdom of equal elevation, is often great, compared with the surrounding country;” says the writer in the Statesman, “when it is cultivated, its insalubrity will cease." Here then Sir, are confessions that Dartmoor is foggy, cold, and insalubrious. And Veritas, alluding to what he calls the showers of Dartmoor, acknowledges that an increased degree of moisture is the natural consequence, and the principal inconvenience felt. Yes, Sir, a tolerably increased degree, for I am informed from authority, which in other cases I should credit, that the walls of the prison are eternally streaming with wet in the winter and that it is everlastingly: raining there. My own eyes at least inform me almost every two or three days that they are always in clouds, or fogs, if you please, which are so much like them that I do not know the difference! Now, Sir, I leave you to judge how far this spot is adapted to maintain in existence the captives from the western tropic, or the unchanging climate of France.
As for my calculation of the proportion of rain in Middlesex and Devon, there will appear no Iricism in it, if you allow a little less quantity of rain in London in the year than Veritas has granted, and multiply your numbers with less blundering; for really, Sir, my Arithmetic does not teach me how three multiplied by 4 ½ can make fifteen. Surely Veritas was bewildered in the bogs or fogs of' Dartmoor when he made this product. Risum tenetis graici. But people will stretch a little sometimes to gain a point.
Now, Sir, to the questions. - Veritas makes here a sweeping assertion "that the whole of these statements are false in every sense. He declares that there have never been above 500 sick at one time, since the erection of the prison. The hospital has never been so full as to be obliged to fill all the rooms of the prison with an overplus of the sick. There have never died an hundred in one year; nor did the sixth part of the number stated die the year before last. " These assertions are facts, however unpleasant they may be deemed, and however dissimilar they may appear to the exaggerations of Humanitas." I will not print the language of some of my friends who have seen these counter statements, and lost their politeness on the occasion; but I will say, would to God that Veritas could in all that he has so roundly asserted, prove that he can merit the name that he has assumed. I am not resolved obviously to adhere to my opinions, or to say that he has faired satisfactorily answering my interrogations; and so far from it being unpleasant to me, I declare, Sir, from the bottom of my heart that I should feel no higher pleasure but to disprove the grounds
of. those questions, which I may well have disputed till they appeared to assume so unquestionable a shape. As I would not, unwittingly even hint a ?? on so important a topic, I have investigated it ??since I first wrote , before I would repIy to Veritas, supposing that such positive assertions must be made from the best authority; but although I found some mistakes had ?? through the medium from which I received my information, which I am free and glad to confess, do away with the propriety of ALL MY OTHER INQUIRIES, yet I have reason to believe that ONE INQUIRY OF IMPORTANCE is not satisfactorily answered by the Plymouth Correspondent. My informant was an eye witness to the transactions of the Prison for nearly a year; and he repeatedly asserts, and has done in the Presence ot another witness that during, that time the number of the sick and dead were about as heavy as before mentioned in my inquiry relative to the state of the prison three years ago. He vehemently vows that the Hospital, which holds about a thousand, was full, that heaps were sick out of it, to the amount of nearly double that number, and that considerably more than that died. For the last assertion he has, however, no ??, but says it was the calculation generally made upon the numbers that were continually buried. He moreover adds, that this mortality did not arise, as reported, form any malady introduced by prisoners which newly arrived with infection, but that the fogs and damp of the moor had produced a species of asthma and consumption throughout the Prison, accompanied with these dreadful effects, prior to the arrival of those men, so much talked of. Now, Sir, here is an eye witness to these facts opposed to the facts of Veritas and if the latter has not been on the spot at the same time for nearly a whole year, which we can, hardly suppose, how can he .so boldly contradict. the whole? -I am sorry that any of my other inquiries originated in mistake, though, after the statement, I have now repeated, the mistake, is very excusable : but I embrace the first opportunity to negative them myself as I have no ground of information to prove them false or true.
Now, Sir, after my own knowledge of Dartmoor, and after the above statement from an eye-witness, I leave you to judge whether I had not more than the shadow of reason for vindicating my Lord Cochrane? And had I been wholly mistaken with his Lordship, is it fair to throw out such ungenerous insinuations as are employed against me in the reply of Veritas ? I have pure British blood flowing in my veins as well as himself, and my heart beats as responsive as his can to the most earnest prayers for the honour and happiness of my country. .If I have been wrongly informed, let Veritas disprove it. from better authority than mere assertion, and the man who has unblushingly stated these things to me as truth, shall be branded with the epithet which in that case he would merit. But if Veritas should find himself mistaken, I hope he will be candid as myself in acknowledging his errors, and aid my Lord Cochrane in reporting these evils where I am sure they will meet with a speedy remedy. - I am, Sir, your.
HUMANITAS.
Salisbury and Winchester Journal, 9 September 1811
A forgery of Bank-notes, to a considerable extent, is said to have been discovered in Dartmoor prison.
A forgery of Bank-notes, to a considerable extent, is said to have been discovered in Dartmoor prison.
Exeter Flying Post, 12 September 1811
DARTMOOR-PRISON, 3rd September, 1811
WHEREAS there are some New Buildings about to be erected at DARTMOOR PRISON, and TIMBER being WANTED for that purpose, all persons wanting to contract for the same, are desired to send sealed tenders, addressed “ To the Commissioners for conducting his Majesties Transport Service, &c. &c.” under cover to Captain Isaac Cotgrave, R. N. agent for prisoners of war, at Dartmoor, (who will transmit them to the Transport Board,) on which they will deliver at Dartmoor, either OAK, ASH, ELM, or FIR TIMBER, at per foot, superficial inch thick, or per foot cube, and in such scantlings as may be ordered from time to time. - Further particulars may be known by application at the Agent's Office, Dartmoor.
No tender will be received after the 30th instant, nor will they be forwarded to the Transport Board unless they are sealed as above directed.
ISAAC COTGRAVE, agent.
DARTMOOR-PRISON, 3rd September, 1811
WHEREAS there are some New Buildings about to be erected at DARTMOOR PRISON, and TIMBER being WANTED for that purpose, all persons wanting to contract for the same, are desired to send sealed tenders, addressed “ To the Commissioners for conducting his Majesties Transport Service, &c. &c.” under cover to Captain Isaac Cotgrave, R. N. agent for prisoners of war, at Dartmoor, (who will transmit them to the Transport Board,) on which they will deliver at Dartmoor, either OAK, ASH, ELM, or FIR TIMBER, at per foot, superficial inch thick, or per foot cube, and in such scantlings as may be ordered from time to time. - Further particulars may be known by application at the Agent's Office, Dartmoor.
No tender will be received after the 30th instant, nor will they be forwarded to the Transport Board unless they are sealed as above directed.
ISAAC COTGRAVE, agent.
Dartmoor Prison was obviously still being added to at this time.
The Examiner, 29 September 1811
TO THE EDITOR OF THE EXAMINER.
SIR, - A second letter from Humanitas having appeared in your paper a few days since, I beg leave to trespass am your goodness, desiring the insertion of this in reply. Humanitas has conceded several points. and from his last letter I judge, that on perusal of this he will be candid enough to own that he has been mistaken yet further. I will believe that Humanitas did not deliberately commence his attack upon the honour of his country. I will pass over his comments o the letter of T. H. and also the idea that French soldiers who have slept amid the snow of the Alps, and also the ice of the Vistula cannot exist on Dartmoor ; and though he may reply that some of the prisoners have been sent there from foreign regions under a torrid sun, as from Martinique for instance, yet the number is so small and an assimilation to the climate must take place so speedily, that 1 will not engross your attention by noticing this part of the subject any farther. I will allow a little less rain in Middlesex, and still say that the quantity asserted by Humanitas to fall annually in Devon is monstrously exaggerated.
But these are not the principal points of dispute. the mortality alleged to have taken place is the most important thing to disprove, which, I trust, I shall do to the satisfaction of Humanitas and of the public. Humanitas stated as follows ; - “Were not the number of the dead in this prison for the first three years of the war estimated at one thousand a year? Did not about fifteen hundred prisoners die, and were there not three thousand sick, so that all the rooms were occupied with patients, and the hospital was over-loaded three years ago? Were there not five or six hundred perished the winter before last ?" Now the ignorance of the informant of Humanitas is evident. Dartmoor prison has been built loss since the commencement of the present war, and the first prisoners sent there were sent May 22, 1809. What can therefore be meant by the first three years of the war? Four thousand and ninety-one prisoners were sent to Dartmoor depot that year; yet Humanitas asks, were there not three thousand sick at that period (three years ago) so that all the rooms were occupied with patients, and the: hospital overloaded - out off this number too 1500 died ; an excess of mortality greater than any known in Walcherea or the West Indies, - mores than one-third of the whole number of prisoners ! ! ! - The hospital must indeed have been overloaded, for it was built for two hundred and fifty patients only allowing a proper space betwixt each cradle, though Humanitas says for 100 but by putting the beds very close on an emergency, it might be made to hold three hundred, and this is the highest number it can possibly made to contain; here is a very prominent error. I will now shew Humanitas that Dartmoor had nothing to do with the sickness which did prevail in in the prison. The first appearance of the sickness took place in September 1809, when Dartmoor is as warm as it is in July; therefore the cold of the climate could not have been the cause. Previous to this period the greatest number that was ever in the hospital at any one time did not exceed 120 patients, who were chiefly affected with pneumonia, catarrh, and common fever affections, which did not assume any decided or specific charateristic and certainly altogether devoid of contagion. The disorder which subsequently occurred was not asthma and consumption, as has been ridiculously asserted, but typhus, and the cause principally arose from a great number of prisoners, having been sent to the depot, from a great variety of sources; many of them old and infirm, several in a valetudinary state from chronic complaints, and others not only diseased but predisposed to sickness, from the effects of protracted service in tropical climates. Without ascribing to it any inhospitable or deleterious quality in the climate of Dartmoor, this circumstance in itself is sufficient to account for the appearance of disease in the prison for it is a fact, incontrovertibly established that the junction of a number of strangers together, however healthy they may be, almost universally induces disease, until their habits &c. become assimilated. This is illustrated by every day's experience in the manning of our navy, under the strictest attention to health, and the greatest regard to the economy and the discipline of the ship. This was the true cause, of the disorder, and at this period between 500 and 600, when the contagion was at its height, were sick and a temporary hospital-was formed of a room in one of the neighbouring buildings, to accommodate the extra number of sick. - In the above numbers the surgical, medical, and convalescent cases, are all included; and of the former there were not a few. Cases of ulcer also confined many, and all assisted in promoting contagion. - By the unremitting exertions of the medical gentlemen employed the prison was in a few weeks restored to comparative health, and subsequent regulations have rendered it the most healthy depot in the Kingdom perhaps in the world. A week or two since, when I was at the prison last, there were 6570 prisoners, and only forty mine sick and convalescent; this stands as an unexampled instance in history of health. - The total number of the prisoners sent to Dartmoor, from May 22d, 1809, to the present time, is 7799; the number there now is 6570 consequently there are 1229 unaccounted for, this number therefore includes dead , invalided and sent home, or exchanged by cartel, for the last three years and half. These things are facts, and I feel pleasure communicating them to the world, I have every facility of enquiry; and aver the truth of my statement. When last in the prison, within ten days from the date of this, the establishment afforded me much satisfaction ;large numbers of prisoners with ticket on their person, were suffered to come out of the prison and work, 30 or 40 under the care of a single centinel - They receive pay for their labour, and are as healthy and as orderly as men can be.
Our soldiers who mount Guard day and night, four hours each by turns, in the open air, are always healthy and well; and surely the prisoners must be so, under a dry roof and in winter with stoves to warm their apartments, with every attention that can be bestowed for their comfort, in point of cleanliness and victualling, by the humane and good officers who superintend them.
There is no doubt that Lord Cochrane was influenced by good motives in bringing forward this subject, but a great error is with him, is that of not examining minutely into things himself, and not relying on the reports of others. - If Dartmoor were as Humanitas has been led to think it I would aid Lord Cochrane, with all my heart, in destroying an establishment which would dishonour my country. - I am Sir, your humble servant, &c.
Plymouth, September 9th, 1811. VERITAS
TO THE EDITOR OF THE EXAMINER.
SIR, - A second letter from Humanitas having appeared in your paper a few days since, I beg leave to trespass am your goodness, desiring the insertion of this in reply. Humanitas has conceded several points. and from his last letter I judge, that on perusal of this he will be candid enough to own that he has been mistaken yet further. I will believe that Humanitas did not deliberately commence his attack upon the honour of his country. I will pass over his comments o the letter of T. H. and also the idea that French soldiers who have slept amid the snow of the Alps, and also the ice of the Vistula cannot exist on Dartmoor ; and though he may reply that some of the prisoners have been sent there from foreign regions under a torrid sun, as from Martinique for instance, yet the number is so small and an assimilation to the climate must take place so speedily, that 1 will not engross your attention by noticing this part of the subject any farther. I will allow a little less rain in Middlesex, and still say that the quantity asserted by Humanitas to fall annually in Devon is monstrously exaggerated.
But these are not the principal points of dispute. the mortality alleged to have taken place is the most important thing to disprove, which, I trust, I shall do to the satisfaction of Humanitas and of the public. Humanitas stated as follows ; - “Were not the number of the dead in this prison for the first three years of the war estimated at one thousand a year? Did not about fifteen hundred prisoners die, and were there not three thousand sick, so that all the rooms were occupied with patients, and the hospital was over-loaded three years ago? Were there not five or six hundred perished the winter before last ?" Now the ignorance of the informant of Humanitas is evident. Dartmoor prison has been built loss since the commencement of the present war, and the first prisoners sent there were sent May 22, 1809. What can therefore be meant by the first three years of the war? Four thousand and ninety-one prisoners were sent to Dartmoor depot that year; yet Humanitas asks, were there not three thousand sick at that period (three years ago) so that all the rooms were occupied with patients, and the: hospital overloaded - out off this number too 1500 died ; an excess of mortality greater than any known in Walcherea or the West Indies, - mores than one-third of the whole number of prisoners ! ! ! - The hospital must indeed have been overloaded, for it was built for two hundred and fifty patients only allowing a proper space betwixt each cradle, though Humanitas says for 100 but by putting the beds very close on an emergency, it might be made to hold three hundred, and this is the highest number it can possibly made to contain; here is a very prominent error. I will now shew Humanitas that Dartmoor had nothing to do with the sickness which did prevail in in the prison. The first appearance of the sickness took place in September 1809, when Dartmoor is as warm as it is in July; therefore the cold of the climate could not have been the cause. Previous to this period the greatest number that was ever in the hospital at any one time did not exceed 120 patients, who were chiefly affected with pneumonia, catarrh, and common fever affections, which did not assume any decided or specific charateristic and certainly altogether devoid of contagion. The disorder which subsequently occurred was not asthma and consumption, as has been ridiculously asserted, but typhus, and the cause principally arose from a great number of prisoners, having been sent to the depot, from a great variety of sources; many of them old and infirm, several in a valetudinary state from chronic complaints, and others not only diseased but predisposed to sickness, from the effects of protracted service in tropical climates. Without ascribing to it any inhospitable or deleterious quality in the climate of Dartmoor, this circumstance in itself is sufficient to account for the appearance of disease in the prison for it is a fact, incontrovertibly established that the junction of a number of strangers together, however healthy they may be, almost universally induces disease, until their habits &c. become assimilated. This is illustrated by every day's experience in the manning of our navy, under the strictest attention to health, and the greatest regard to the economy and the discipline of the ship. This was the true cause, of the disorder, and at this period between 500 and 600, when the contagion was at its height, were sick and a temporary hospital-was formed of a room in one of the neighbouring buildings, to accommodate the extra number of sick. - In the above numbers the surgical, medical, and convalescent cases, are all included; and of the former there were not a few. Cases of ulcer also confined many, and all assisted in promoting contagion. - By the unremitting exertions of the medical gentlemen employed the prison was in a few weeks restored to comparative health, and subsequent regulations have rendered it the most healthy depot in the Kingdom perhaps in the world. A week or two since, when I was at the prison last, there were 6570 prisoners, and only forty mine sick and convalescent; this stands as an unexampled instance in history of health. - The total number of the prisoners sent to Dartmoor, from May 22d, 1809, to the present time, is 7799; the number there now is 6570 consequently there are 1229 unaccounted for, this number therefore includes dead , invalided and sent home, or exchanged by cartel, for the last three years and half. These things are facts, and I feel pleasure communicating them to the world, I have every facility of enquiry; and aver the truth of my statement. When last in the prison, within ten days from the date of this, the establishment afforded me much satisfaction ;large numbers of prisoners with ticket on their person, were suffered to come out of the prison and work, 30 or 40 under the care of a single centinel - They receive pay for their labour, and are as healthy and as orderly as men can be.
Our soldiers who mount Guard day and night, four hours each by turns, in the open air, are always healthy and well; and surely the prisoners must be so, under a dry roof and in winter with stoves to warm their apartments, with every attention that can be bestowed for their comfort, in point of cleanliness and victualling, by the humane and good officers who superintend them.
There is no doubt that Lord Cochrane was influenced by good motives in bringing forward this subject, but a great error is with him, is that of not examining minutely into things himself, and not relying on the reports of others. - If Dartmoor were as Humanitas has been led to think it I would aid Lord Cochrane, with all my heart, in destroying an establishment which would dishonour my country. - I am Sir, your humble servant, &c.
Plymouth, September 9th, 1811. VERITAS
Morning Post, 02 October 1811
The North Devon Regiment, now doing duty at Dartmoor French Prison, will be removed next week to their former station at Plymouth citadel.
The North Devon Regiment, now doing duty at Dartmoor French Prison, will be removed next week to their former station at Plymouth citadel.
The Examiner, 06 October 1811
DARTMOOR.
MR. Editor - I beg permission to say a few words in reply to VERITAS, rather in a way of explanation than with a design to lengthen a discussion which has already been sufficiently protracted. The greatest part of his last letter is a reply to those questions which I have already disclaimed, he had therefore no need to set up a man of straw for the pleasure of showing his valour and skill in shooting at it, or, unlike a Briton, to fire his broadside when the enemy had struck. I am glad that a matter which has been so generally the subject of conversation has undergone so fair a discussion in a paper with so wide a circulation as the Examiner; and though I cannot exactly reconcile the two statements I have received from my informant and VERITAS, who seems to know something about the Prison, yet, making allowance for mistakes, I think they may approximate a little more towards each other, than at a glance we may be ready to allow. VERITAS says, that in two years and a quarter, from May 1809, at which time the prison was opened, to the present time, 1,229 prisoners are deficient, and these he tells us “include dead, invalided and sent home or exchanged." But he knows very well, that the numbers of the latter have been very trifling indeed ; I think if we take those over the thousand, we shall make a fair allowance. In two 2 years and a quarter there have then been a thousand lost by this calculation, but the greatest part of this number died the first year of the opening of the Prison, which I had mistakenly called the first year of the war, and probably from the malady that then reigned, eight hundred of the number so dead went their long home. If so many have died, how many more must have been sick, who have since recovered ! I therefore still maintain, that the calculations of VERITAS as much diminishes the number of diseased, according to his own statement, as my mistake might have exaggerated them. 1 am justified in stating matters as above, from the small number that are now said to be sick, being only 49 out of 6,570 prisoners, and as it is well known, that by far the greatest mortality, prevailed during the first year of the Prison being opened permit me, Sir, before I conclude, to vindicate my Lord Cochrane from the accusation of VERITA, who though he credits his benevolence in bringing forward the subject, blames him for "not examining minutely into things for himself, seeing for himself, and not relying an the reports of others." What more, Sir, could the Noble Lord do than go to the Prison, and request an entrance there? Surely this act was enough to exculpate him from the charge of rashness. And when he was denied admittance was not his conclusion natural, that what had been rumoured about the Prison was probably true in the fullest extent, and that there was a fear of enquiry? It may be replied, that if the rules of the Prison had been considered, Lord C. would not have been so hasty in drawing his conclusions; but without this, how was he to examine minutely, see for himself? The reports of others connected to the Prison, were the only sources of information ; and he had to determine which were most deserving of merit, - those, or more general rumours. I contend, then that he acted with caution, in first visiting the Prison, and with prudence, in afterwards bringing the business forwards for public enquiry ; and as secrecy in such cases always excites suspicion, I respectfully suggest to the Transport Boars, whether it would not be much better for the future to permit Naval and Military Officers, or at least Members of Parliament, to have an opportunity ot examining for themselves ,and of making a fair report.
With thanks to you, Sir. for obligingly lending your pages for this discussion, and to VERITAS for his candid communications, I subscribe myself, for the last time,
HUMANITAS.
P. S. I must still reserve my opinion unchanged respecting the situation of Dartmoor ; for, if the Prisoners now enjoy good health, it may rather be attributed to the care taken of them, than to the salubrity of spot, exposed to fogs and surrounded by swamps; nor do l see, that the breaking out of the sickness that prevail in the month of September alters my statement, as it is well known that the mornings and evenings of that month of exhale more than others the pestilential of bogs putrified by the Summer, while they are often very cold and are more keenly felt than Winter itself, just after the burning month of August.
DARTMOOR.
MR. Editor - I beg permission to say a few words in reply to VERITAS, rather in a way of explanation than with a design to lengthen a discussion which has already been sufficiently protracted. The greatest part of his last letter is a reply to those questions which I have already disclaimed, he had therefore no need to set up a man of straw for the pleasure of showing his valour and skill in shooting at it, or, unlike a Briton, to fire his broadside when the enemy had struck. I am glad that a matter which has been so generally the subject of conversation has undergone so fair a discussion in a paper with so wide a circulation as the Examiner; and though I cannot exactly reconcile the two statements I have received from my informant and VERITAS, who seems to know something about the Prison, yet, making allowance for mistakes, I think they may approximate a little more towards each other, than at a glance we may be ready to allow. VERITAS says, that in two years and a quarter, from May 1809, at which time the prison was opened, to the present time, 1,229 prisoners are deficient, and these he tells us “include dead, invalided and sent home or exchanged." But he knows very well, that the numbers of the latter have been very trifling indeed ; I think if we take those over the thousand, we shall make a fair allowance. In two 2 years and a quarter there have then been a thousand lost by this calculation, but the greatest part of this number died the first year of the opening of the Prison, which I had mistakenly called the first year of the war, and probably from the malady that then reigned, eight hundred of the number so dead went their long home. If so many have died, how many more must have been sick, who have since recovered ! I therefore still maintain, that the calculations of VERITAS as much diminishes the number of diseased, according to his own statement, as my mistake might have exaggerated them. 1 am justified in stating matters as above, from the small number that are now said to be sick, being only 49 out of 6,570 prisoners, and as it is well known, that by far the greatest mortality, prevailed during the first year of the Prison being opened permit me, Sir, before I conclude, to vindicate my Lord Cochrane from the accusation of VERITA, who though he credits his benevolence in bringing forward the subject, blames him for "not examining minutely into things for himself, seeing for himself, and not relying an the reports of others." What more, Sir, could the Noble Lord do than go to the Prison, and request an entrance there? Surely this act was enough to exculpate him from the charge of rashness. And when he was denied admittance was not his conclusion natural, that what had been rumoured about the Prison was probably true in the fullest extent, and that there was a fear of enquiry? It may be replied, that if the rules of the Prison had been considered, Lord C. would not have been so hasty in drawing his conclusions; but without this, how was he to examine minutely, see for himself? The reports of others connected to the Prison, were the only sources of information ; and he had to determine which were most deserving of merit, - those, or more general rumours. I contend, then that he acted with caution, in first visiting the Prison, and with prudence, in afterwards bringing the business forwards for public enquiry ; and as secrecy in such cases always excites suspicion, I respectfully suggest to the Transport Boars, whether it would not be much better for the future to permit Naval and Military Officers, or at least Members of Parliament, to have an opportunity ot examining for themselves ,and of making a fair report.
With thanks to you, Sir. for obligingly lending your pages for this discussion, and to VERITAS for his candid communications, I subscribe myself, for the last time,
HUMANITAS.
P. S. I must still reserve my opinion unchanged respecting the situation of Dartmoor ; for, if the Prisoners now enjoy good health, it may rather be attributed to the care taken of them, than to the salubrity of spot, exposed to fogs and surrounded by swamps; nor do l see, that the breaking out of the sickness that prevail in the month of September alters my statement, as it is well known that the mornings and evenings of that month of exhale more than others the pestilential of bogs putrified by the Summer, while they are often very cold and are more keenly felt than Winter itself, just after the burning month of August.
Hereford Journal, 9 October 1811
Our Militia have left Ottery Barracks for Dartmoor, where they are expected to remain about two months.
Exeter Flying Post, 10 October 1811
Also, the Hereford Regiment, from Ottery Barracks, to do duty at the Royal Prison, Dartmoor.
Exeter Flying Post, 17 October 1811
PLYMOUTH. October 15.
The North Devon regiment of militia marched in here this day, from Dartmoor, relieved from the duty there by the Hereford militia.
Our Militia have left Ottery Barracks for Dartmoor, where they are expected to remain about two months.
Exeter Flying Post, 10 October 1811
Also, the Hereford Regiment, from Ottery Barracks, to do duty at the Royal Prison, Dartmoor.
Exeter Flying Post, 17 October 1811
PLYMOUTH. October 15.
The North Devon regiment of militia marched in here this day, from Dartmoor, relieved from the duty there by the Hereford militia.
Morning Chronicle, 18 October 1811
There has been again a considerable forgery of Bank notes in Dartmoor prison, executed very well by some of the French prisoners.
There has been again a considerable forgery of Bank notes in Dartmoor prison, executed very well by some of the French prisoners.
Gloucester Journal, 4 November 1811
Caution. —Thos. Commeline, Esq. Mayor this city, has received a letter from Lieut-Col. Foley, the Herefordshire Militia, including the following description of a deserter from that regiment, who is supposed this neighbourhood; passing forged One Pound Notes of the Bank of England. - “ William Clarke, 25 years of age, five feet ten inches high, of a sallow complexion, with light brown hair, long nose and visage, a round chin and is marked with the king’s evil near the collar bone. He lived at Cheltenham, in the county of Gloucester, and is by trade a joiner and carpenter. - The day before his desertion, he bought a large quantity of forged Bank of England Notes from the French prisoners in Dartmoor Prison, which notes he has with him, and will of course put in circulation.”
Caledonian Mercury, 9 November 1811
A man has been apprehended and lodged in Plymouth prison, answering to the description of Johns, who murdered Christopher Snell a few days ago, near South Bovey, while Snell was assisting to secure some French prisoners who had broken their parole, and whom Johns was escorting to the sea coast. The man upon examination turns out to be a deserter from a military regiment, and not the person wanted. Several forged Bank of England notes, manufactured at Dartmoor prison, have been found upon him.
Caution. —Thos. Commeline, Esq. Mayor this city, has received a letter from Lieut-Col. Foley, the Herefordshire Militia, including the following description of a deserter from that regiment, who is supposed this neighbourhood; passing forged One Pound Notes of the Bank of England. - “ William Clarke, 25 years of age, five feet ten inches high, of a sallow complexion, with light brown hair, long nose and visage, a round chin and is marked with the king’s evil near the collar bone. He lived at Cheltenham, in the county of Gloucester, and is by trade a joiner and carpenter. - The day before his desertion, he bought a large quantity of forged Bank of England Notes from the French prisoners in Dartmoor Prison, which notes he has with him, and will of course put in circulation.”
Caledonian Mercury, 9 November 1811
A man has been apprehended and lodged in Plymouth prison, answering to the description of Johns, who murdered Christopher Snell a few days ago, near South Bovey, while Snell was assisting to secure some French prisoners who had broken their parole, and whom Johns was escorting to the sea coast. The man upon examination turns out to be a deserter from a military regiment, and not the person wanted. Several forged Bank of England notes, manufactured at Dartmoor prison, have been found upon him.
Morning Chronicle, 20 November 1811
Yesterday se'nnight, an Officer's guard, belonging to the Somerset Militia, proceeded to Launceston, for the purpose of escorting all the French prisoners of the rank of midshipman, on parole at that place, to the prison at Dartmoor. The number of persons so sent off amounted to 37.
Yesterday se'nnight, an Officer's guard, belonging to the Somerset Militia, proceeded to Launceston, for the purpose of escorting all the French prisoners of the rank of midshipman, on parole at that place, to the prison at Dartmoor. The number of persons so sent off amounted to 37.
Salisbury and Winchester, Journal 25 November 1811
PLYMOUTH, Nov. 22
The Hereford regiment, from Dartmoor Prison, is to take the duty of Mill-bay Barracks.
Manchester Mercury, 26 November 1811
All the French prisoners of the rank of Midshipman in this country, formerly on their parole, have been sent to Dartmoor prison, in consequence of the French Government having issued an order to imprison all the Midshipmen amongst the British prisoners of war in France.
All the French prisoners of the rank of Midshipman in this country, formerly on their parole, have been sent to Dartmoor prison, in consequence of the French Government having issued an order to imprison all the Midshipmen amongst the British prisoners of war in France.
Oxford Journal, 30 November 1811
It appears, from examinations lately taken at Plymouth Dock, that the venders of the forged notes, fabricated at Dartmoor Prison, are allowed, by the Frenchmen, 8s for every 1l. Note they get off, and a further 2l. If they pass 12 notes. Measures are about to be taken to prevent improper persons from having any communications with the prisoners.
The cold has set in so severely on Dartmoor, that the soldiers on duty are relieved every half hour. The centinels are posted on a wall surrounding the prison.
Most of the Germans and Italians, taken in the French service, have volunteered from Dartmoor and Mill Prisons into the British service, and are now at large at Plymouth.
It appears, from examinations lately taken at Plymouth Dock, that the venders of the forged notes, fabricated at Dartmoor Prison, are allowed, by the Frenchmen, 8s for every 1l. Note they get off, and a further 2l. If they pass 12 notes. Measures are about to be taken to prevent improper persons from having any communications with the prisoners.
The cold has set in so severely on Dartmoor, that the soldiers on duty are relieved every half hour. The centinels are posted on a wall surrounding the prison.
Most of the Germans and Italians, taken in the French service, have volunteered from Dartmoor and Mill Prisons into the British service, and are now at large at Plymouth.
Morning Chronicle, 12 December 1811
Nothing can be a better answer to the charges of the French Government, than the manner in which the French Prisoners are treated at Dartmoor Prison. They are allowed to work in the country surrounding the prison, and return at night in the most cheerful manner.
Nothing can be a better answer to the charges of the French Government, than the manner in which the French Prisoners are treated at Dartmoor Prison. They are allowed to work in the country surrounding the prison, and return at night in the most cheerful manner.