"I do not at all exaggerate, my lord, I speak the truth, and the
resemblance that this barbarity bears to the memorable Black Hole at
Calcutta, as a gentleman present on Saturday observed, strikes every
eye at the sight. All England ought to know that the same game is now
acting upon the Thames on board this privateer, that all the world
cried out against, and shuddered at the mention of in India, some
years ago, as practised on Captain Hollowell and other of the King's
good subjects. The putrid steams issuing from the hold are so hot and
offensive that one cannot, without the utmost danger, breathe over it,
and I should not be at all surprised if it should cause a plague to
spread.
"The miserable wretches below look like persons in a hot bath,
panting, sweating, and fainting, for want of air; and the surgeon
declares that they must all soon perish in this situation, especially
as they are almost all in a sickly state from bilious disorders.
"The captain and surgeon, it is true, have the liberty of the cabin
(if it deserves the name of a cabin), and make no complaints on their
own account. They are both sensible and well behaved young men, and
can give a very good account of themselves, having no signs of fear,
and being supported by a consciousness of the justice of their cause.
"They are men of character, of good families in New England, and
highly respected in their different occupations; but being stripped of
their all by the burning of towns, and other destructive measures of
the present unnatural war, were forced to take the disagreeable method
of making reprisals to maintain themselves and their children rather
than starve.
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