forward muttering to himself--Do? I vow
Ebenezar, I don't know what we shall do any more than thyself!" When
fortunately one of our soldiers (who was a thorough bred seaman, and
had served several years on board a ship of war, and afterwards in a
privateer,) hearing and seeing the helpless state of mind which our
poor New Englandmen were under, and our sloop drawing towards the
shore, called out, "why, d--n your eyes and limbs, down with her
sails, and let her drive a--e foremost, what the devil signifies your
praying and canting now?" Ebenezar quickly taking the hint, called to
Jonathan to lower the sails, saying he believed that young man's
advice was very good, but wished he had not delivered it so
profanely!!--and the soldier took the helm and saved the sloop. If
captain John Knox should be living, the old gentleman would blush
should he read this extract.

I have frequently thought that the over-rated and highly boasted
British bravery and humanity, would find their graves in America. The
treatment these soldiers experienced has stigmatised the English
character, and deservedly so. It is not in the power of words, and
scarcely in the power of the painter's pencil, to convey an idea of
their wretchedness. They were covered with rags, dirt, and vermin.
They were, to us, objects of pity, but to all others, objects of
disgust; even we, their brothers, recoiled, at times, on approaching
them. _Was there any design in this?_ Did our enemies wish to impress
their countrymen with _an abhorrence of a yankee_? How else can we
account for a treatment which our people never experienced when
prisoners of the Indians? No--the savages never starve their
prisoners, nor deprive them the use of water. Dispirited, and every
way disheartened, our poor fellows had, generally speaking, the aspect
of a cowardly, low spirited race of men, and much inferior to the
British. We here saw how wretched circumstances, in a short time,
debases a brave and high spirited man. When people from the shore
visited our ship, and saw our miserable soldiers, we do not wonder
that they despised them. We sometimes had the mortification of hearing
remarks in the Scotch accent, to this effect: "So, these are samples
of the brave yankees that took the _Guerriere_ and _Java_; it proves
to a demonstration, that the American frigates were manned with
British deserters."

The sailors often tried to spirit up the soldiers, and to encourage
them to cleanliness; b