it on his back, and was ready to answer to the roll call of
the turnkey. If any, through natural heaviness, or _indisposition_,
was dilatory, he was sure to feel the bayonet of the brutal soldier,
who appeared to us to have a natural antipathy to a sailor, and from
what I observed, I believe that in general little or no love is lost
between them.

This prison is swept out twice a week, by the prisoners.--The task is
performed by the respective messes in turns.--When the prison is
washed, the prisoners are kept out until it is perfectly dry. This, in
the wet seasons, and in the severity of winter, is sometimes very
distressing and dangerous to health; for there is no retiring place
for shelter; it is like a stable, where the cattle are either under
cover, or exposed to the weather, be it ever so inclement.

When we arrived here in May, 1813, there were about nine hundred
prisoners; but many died by the severity of the winter; for the
quantity of fuel allowed by the British government was insufficient to
convey warmth through the prison. The men were cruelly harrassed by
the barbarous custom of mustering and parading them in the severest
cold, and even in snow storms. The agent, _Miller_, might have
alleviated the sufferings of our people, had he been so disposed,
without relaxation of duty. But he, as well as the turnkey, named
_Grant_, seemed to take delight in tormenting the Americans. This man
would often keep the prisoners out for many hours, in the severest
weather, when the mercury was ten and fifteen degrees below zero,
under a pretext that the prison had been washed, and was not
sufficiently dry for their reception: when in fact every drop of water
used was in a moment ice. People in the southern states, and the
inhabitants of England and Ireland, can form no adequate idea of the
frightful climate of Nova Scotia. The description of the sufferings of
our poor fellows the past winter, was enough to make one's heart ach,
and to rouse our indignation against the agents in this business.

Our people are sensible to kind treatment, and are ready to
acknowledge humane and considerate conduct towards themselves, or
towards their companions; but they are resentful in proportion as they
are grateful. They speak very generally of the conduct of Miller, the
agent, and Grant, the turnkey, with disgust and resentment. A
complaint was made to him of the badness of the beef served out to the
prisoners, upon which he collecte