in submitting such a partial and exaggerated statement of all that had taken place, as might be expected from men whose passions and whose interests were so materially involved. Captain Jones, therefore, for the purpose of becoming better informed upon this subject, sailed round without delay to Reikevig Bay, where, among the first objects he saw, was the dark blue flag, with three white stockfish on the upper quarter, waving upon one of the warehouses in the town. Immediately upon his arrival, Count Tramp, a prisoner in the Margaret and Anne, in which he had been confined ever since his

Per

There appears to me to be no just reason for the severe treatment which Count Tramp states that he received during his imprisonment in the Margaret and Anne. A love of truth and a desire to make the present narrative an impartial one, urges me to the insertion of the count's own relation of these circumstances. haps an apology for indignities offered at the period of the seizure of his person may be found in the hurried manner in which it was done, and the inflamed state of the minds of the persons concerned in it, in consequence of the suspected ill conduct of the governor, but no such excuse can be made in the more tranquil time of the imprisonment, for a filthy cabin and an uninterrupted confinement of nine weeks. With regard to the count's general fare, I always thought that he

capture, solicited an interview with him, when he stated how ill he had been himself personally used, and how contrary to all the laws of nations; adding, that Mr. Jorgensen

was allowed a supply of every necessary from the Landfogued, Mr. Frydensberg, or from his factor, Mr. Simmonsen; and, indeed, I feel almost confident of it. Yet he says, "Bent down under the weight of so much grief and affliction united, it now became my lot to be kept confined in a narrow and dirty cabin, and sometimes, when Captain Liston took it into his head, even shut up in a small room, or rather closet*, where I was deprived of the light of the day. Constantly I was obliged to put up with the society of drunken and noisy mates, and with them for my companions, I was reduced to subsist on fare which even the men complained of as being more than commonly indifferent; in short, I was deprived for the space of nine weeks of every convenience and comfort of life to which I had been used, and subjected to all the sufferings which the oppressor had it in his power to inflict. His contempt of decorum and humanity even went so far as to refuse a request that was made on my behalf by one of my friends, Bishop Videlin, that I might be allowed to take exercise on a small uninhabited island near which the ship was lying. I would even have submitted to be

* This circumstance happened only once or twice, when the great number of Danes, and the refractory conduct of some of them, called for the assistance of many of the crew from the Margaret and Anne: at such times it was thought the appearance of the count upon deck might encourage the insurrection.

was not only a traitor to his own country (Denmark), but equally so to Great Britain, which he had first served and then fought against; and was now acting in rebellion to both, by hoisting the above-mentioned flag and by declaring the island free, neutral and independent, and at peace with all nations. Captain Jones, in consequence of this information, felt it incumbent upon him to require from Mr. Phelps an explanation of his conduct, and received in answer a brief account of the various transactions which had taken place since his landing in the island, with the motives which had urged

under an armed escort of the ship's crew, if it had been thought necessary, whom I offered to pay for the trouble; yet this request Mr. Phelps refused through Jorgensen, of whose letter to that purpose I have the honor to add a translation. It is remarkable in particular for the assurance it contains that Mr. Phelps could not justify his conduct to his own government, were he to adopt any other measures than those which had been taken."-Even supposing it to be true, as here stated by the count, that he was reduced to live upon the fare of the common sailors, I will not dery that it might appear hard to him who was used to a different mode of living, but I am fully persuaded that such was far from being the case with the sailors, who never had any cause for complaint, nor expressed any.

him to the measures he had adopted *. Having thus far obtained from all parties the most correct information upon the affairs of the island, and having understood from Mr. Jorgensen himself how he was situated with regard to England, Captain Jones considered himself called upon by his official situation to interfere in a business in which the honor of his country appeared to him to be implicated, and he accordingly issued orders that the new Icelandic flag should be taken down; that Mr. Phelps should no longer leave the command of the island in the hands of Mr. Jorgensen, but should, till the will of the British government could be known, either restore the former authorities, or commit the supreme command to some of the most respectable among the inhabitants; that the battery should be destroyed, and the guns taken off the island; that the natives

* A copy of Captain Jones' letter to Mr. Phelps, and the reply of the latter, which contains a more detailed account of what transpired at this time than I have thought necessary to insert in the narrative, will be found in the Appendix B., Nos. 6 and 7. No. 8 of the same Appendix is the copy of a letter from Captain Jones to Admiral Sir Edmund Neagle, explaining in few words his motives for having interfered in the manner he did,

should be no longer trained to the use of arms; that an account of the proceedings should be prepared and dispatched to the British government; and that Mr. Jorgensen and Count Tramp should be forthwith sent to England.

These conditions were accordingly complied with, and an agreement* concluded between Captain Jones and Mr. Phelps on one part, and the Etatsroed Stephensen and the Amptman his brother on the other, in which it was stipulated, that the latter gentlemen, being the next in rank to Count Tramp, should take upon them the government of the island, and be responsible for the persons and property of British subjects, Mr. Phelps, therefore, together with Count Tramp and Lieutenant Stewart of the Talbot (the latter charged with dispatches from Captain Jones) embarked in the Margaret and Anne, and Mr. Jorgensen in the Orion, for England. On the third day of the voyage, however, the Danish prisoners, as is detailed in the journal, set fire to the Margaret and

* See Appendix B., No. 9.