The scars he carries are a proof of
his narrative, and a gentleman of New London who was several months
with him, was acquainted with part of his sufferings, though it was
out of his power to relieve him. He is a poor man with a wife and two
children. His employment is fishing and coasting. _Editor_."
Our readers may be interested to know what became of John Blatchford,
who wrote, or dictated, the narrative we have given, in the year
1788. He was, at that time, a married man. He had married a young
woman named Ann Grover. He entered the merchant marine, and died at
Port au Prince about the year 1794, when nearly thirty-three years of
age. Thus early closed the career of a brave man, who had experienced
much hardship, and had suffered greatly from man's inhumanity to man,
and who is, as far as we know, the only American prisoner sent to the
East Indies who ever returned to tell the story of the barbarities
inflicted upon him.
CHAPTER XVII
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS ON THE SUBJECT OF AMERICAN PRISONERS
When Benjamin Franklin and Silas Deane were in Paris they wrote the
following letter to Lord Stormont, the English Ambassador to France.
Paris, April 2nd, 1777.
My Lord:--
We did ourselves the honor of writing some time since to your Lordship
on the subject of exchanging prisoners: you did not condescend to give
us any answer, and therefore we expect none to this.
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