Page:Narrative of a captivity and adventures in France and Flanders between the years 1803 and 1809.djvu/71

 *dained to betray the slightest indication of submission or complaint. My companions were secured round the middle, with the utmost violence and brutality; thus we were conducted to town, and when delivered over to the proper authorities, and interrogated, were released. The next morning, I waited on the senior officer, Captain Woodruff, who, with a promptitude which did honour to his feelings, and indignation worthy of a British officer, immediately represented the fact to General Wirion, who assured him the gendarmes should be ordered into solitary confinement.

It was known that General Wirion had made repeated applications to the minister of war, to remove the depôt to Mentz; but not succeeding, he contented himself with reducing it, as being the only way in which he could vent his spleen against the inhabitants, with whom he had long been at variance. In furtherance of these views, he was on the watch to prevent an accumulation of prisoners, and no longer allowed any, newly arrived, to remain in the