a half pounds
of flour, and two ounces of suet; Thursday was a repetition of
Sunday's fare; Friday, of Monday's; and Saturday, of Tuesday's.

"If this food had been of good quality and properly cooked, as we had
no labor to perform, it would have kept us comfortable, at least from
suffering; but this was not the case. All our food appeared to be
damaged. As for the pork, we were cheated out of it more than half the
time; and when it was obtained, one would have judged from its motley
hues, exhibiting the consistence and appearance of variegated fancy
soap, that it was the flesh of the porpoise or sea-hog, and had been
an inhabitant of the ocean rather than of the stye. The pease were
generally damaged, and, from the imperfect manner in which they were
cooked, were about as indigestible as grape-shot. The butter the
reader will not suppose was the real 'Goshen;' and had it not been for
its adhesive properties to hold together the particles of the biscuit,
that had been so riddled by the worms as to lose all their attraction
of cohesion, we should have considered it no desirable addition to our
viands."

But it is unnecessary to prolong the painful description of the
horrors of this floating charnel house. Its name and record must ever
rest as a dark stain upon the name of England. It is seldom possible
in war-time to house and care for the immense hordes of
prisoners-of-war with the same regard for their comfort which is shown
ordinarily to convicted felons. War is brutal; it is unfeeling, and
the weaker party must always suffer. But such sufferings as those of
the "Old Jersey" captives can be excused upon no ground. There was no
need to crowd hundreds of men into a space hardly large enough for a
few score. To starve her prisoners, should not be part of a great
nation's policy. The one plea which England can urge in extenuation of
the "Old Jersey" is that it had its day at a time when those broad
principles of humanity, now so generally accepted, had not yet been
applied to the rules of war.

With this chapter ends the narrative of the naval events of the war of
the Revolution. It was not a great naval war, for the belligerent
nations were not sufficiently well matched in naval strength. But it
brought forth Paul Jones and more than one other brave and able
commander. It established a new flag upon the seas, a flag that has
ever since held an honorable position among the insignia of the
foremost nations of the earth