You may say, and I shall admit, that if they
were placed on islands, and more liberty given them, that some might
desert; but is not this the case with your prisoners in our hands? And
could we not avoid this also, if we were to adopt the same rigid and
inhuman mode of confinement you do?
I beg, Sir, you will be pleased to consider this as addressed to you
officially, as the principal executive officer in the department of
naval prisoners, and not personally, and that you will attribute any
uncommon warmth of style that I may have been led into to my feeling
and animation on a subject with which I find myself so much
interested, both from the principles of humanity and the duties of
office. I am, Sir,
yr most obdt Srvt
Abraham Skinner
Letters full of recriminations continued to pass between the
commissaries on both sides. In Sproat's reply to the letter we have
just quoted, he enclosed a copy of the paper which he had induced the
thirteen sea captains and other officers to sign, obtained as we have
seen, in such a dastardly manner.
In the meantime the naval prisoners continued to die in great numbers
on board the prison and hospital-ships. We have already described the
cleansing of the Jersey, on which occasion the prisoners were sent on
board of other vessels and exposed to cold and damp in addition to
their other sufferings.
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