Such were the topics I used; but which I certainly urged with all the deference due to his situation, and to the person of the marquis Cornwallis, whom I always wished to respect. However, he interrupted me by advising me in the name of lord Cornwallis, as a friend, to present him a memorial, which he (lord Cornwallis) would undertake to forward to the lord lieutenant of Ireland; but that I should leave out every thing but what went to prove that I came involuntarily into France, and that I had not since I had been there joined in any hostility against the government of England. And colonel Littlehales added, that he himself would be in Ireland as soon as the memorial could be there. And he even advised me to apprise my wife of this, and to prevent her coming precipitately over, as I told him I had invited her to do after my fruitless applica tion to lord Pelham. He said that he could not take upon himself to promise; yet in his opinion it was likely to be, since my desire was to return home, a useless trouble and expense. He told me that in a few days the post-office would be open, and that I might write freely in that way; but as I feared the interception of my letters, that channel having long ceased to be inviolate, he charged himself with the care of forwarding a letter to my wife, to the effect abovementioned. In this letter I advised her to wait a little longer, until an answer to this application should be given. But above all, to be prepared for either event. This letter never reached her.

I then drew up and delivered the following memorial:

To his Excellency the Marquis Cornwallis, his British Ma

jesty's Minister Plenipotentiary in France.

The Memorial of William Sampson, native of Londonderry,

SHEWETH,

That your memorialist, upon the faith of an agreement entered into with your excellency's government, did go to Portugal for the recovery of his health, where he arrived in the month of February, 1799.

Upon the 22d of March in the same year, he was arrested in the city of Oporto, sent prisoner to Lisbon, and from thence transported by force to Bordeaux.

In this latter city he remained until the beginning of the last winter, when he was induced, by the rumor of peace and the advice of his friends, to come to Paris, in hopes of finding some means of reclaiming justice, such as your excellency's arrival in this country at length seemed to offer.

Immediately after his arrival in France, he took pains to apprise the government of his country of an outrage so flagrant, which was accordingly effected by Mr. Dobbs, a member of the Irish parliament, to whom he begs leave to refer your excellency.

Your memorialist also refers your excellency to his grace the duke of Portland, who was very early informed of this transaction, and who in consequence gave orders, that letters should pass between your memorialist and his wife, through the hands of Mr. Cotes; to which gentle. man he also refers.

Upon your excellency's arrival in Paris he requested an

audience, in order, if any doubt remained upon your mind, to remove it. That refused, he must necessarily, to avoid recrimination, pass over details which however mildly stated could only tend to excite horror, and shortly beg of your excellency to consider,

That, notwithstanding the inhuman manner of his being cast upon an enemy's shore, surrounded by the snares of perfidy and malice; under every circumstance of aggravated provocation; with precarious means of subsistence, and deprived of all knowledge of the destination or even existence of his family; he took counsel, not from his wrongs, but from his honor, so that it is absurd, if not impossible, to enter into any justification of a character so proudly unimpeached.

Your memorialist therefore requests, that all further persecution may cease. And though the world is not rich enough to make him any compensation for the injuries he has sustained, he may be allowed, as far as possible, to forget the past and to return to his country, in order to join his family after a separation of near four years, and take measures for his future establishment, &c. WILLIAM SAMPSON.

Paris, November 13, 1801.

It

Thus the matter stood when lord Cornwallis left Paris for Amiens. The memorial contained such facts, such proofs and such references, as left nothing to doubt. would have been insulting lord Cornwallis to have offered him proof, had it been possible, that I did not arrest myself in Portugal, and imprison myself in the house of the corrigidor of Oporto, and in the dungeons of Lisbon. But I had long ago referred to Mr. Walpole, who knew it all.

With respect to what I had not done in France, it was scarcely to be expected that I should have proofs of that. Yet fortune seemed to favor justice in that respect. For the general (Musnier) now sent to command in the city of Amiens, was an officer of unquestioned honor and a → man of high consideration in every respect: and this gentleman had commanded at Bordeaux when I was there. Having had the good fortune to form a friendship and intimacy with him, he knew my whole manner of life in that town, until his departure for the army of reserve; a short time before, I myself quitted Bordeaux. I therefore wrote a letter to general Musnier, and begged of him to testify what he knew: and I wrote also by the same post to colonel Littlehales to apprise him of this fact.

From this latter gentleman I received the answer sub. joined:

Sir,

I received the honor of your letter of the 8th. instant last night: and in answer to its contents, I have only to assure you, that I sealed and forwarded the letters, which you transmitted through me to Mrs. Sampson, the day they reached me.

In regard to your memorial to lord Cornwallis, I likewise submitted it to his lordship, and by his desire transmitted it to one of the under secretaries of state for the home department, to be laid before lord Pelham.

I shall enquire on my arrival in London, which will probably be very soon, whether or not your memorial has

been duly received: but it is not in my power, further to

interfere in your case.

I have the honor to be, Sir,

Your most obedient

Humble servant,

W. Sampson, Esq.

E. B. LITTLEHALES.

And from general Musnier, I had the following letter written in English:'

à Monsieur William Sampson,

Hotel Bourbon, Rue Jacob,

a Paris.

I delivered, dear sir, your letter to Col. Littlehales, and I have the satisfaction to tell you he received it in a very obliging manner, and assured me that the marquis Cornwallis had written to the Irish government in your favor. He promised me also to inform you of

the answer, and to continue his endeavors for the success of your desires. Be assured nothing on my side shall be wanting to prevent their forgetting to forward this affair. I am ever yours,

Amiens, 22d Frimaire, 10th year.

MUSNIER.

Thus things remained until the latter end of January, when I heard from my wife, that Mr. Dobbs had been told by Mr. Marsden, that I could not be permitted to return home; but that there was no objection to my family being permitted to come to me.

This Mr. Marsden is the same gentleman of the law, who so candidly arranged with lord Castlereagh the recog