ter that, he came to inspect the prisoners, as soon as
they were paraded for that purpose. It was easy to perceive that the
prisoners had, in a great measure, conquered the hard hearted, and
vindictive Capt. Shortland.

The roof of the prison to which we were consigned, was very leaky; and
it rained on this dreary mountain almost continually; place our beds
wherever we could, they were generally wet. We represented this to
Capt. Shortland; and to our complaint was added that of the worthy and
humane Dr. M'Grath; but it produced no effect; so that to the ordinary
miseries of a prison, we, for a long time endured the additional one
of wet lodgings, which sent many of our countrymen to their graves.

We owe much to the humanity of Dr. M'Grath, a very worthy man, and a
native of Ireland. Was M'Grath commander of this Depot, there would be
no difficulty with the prisoners. They would obey him through
affection and respect; because he considers us rational beings, with
minds cultivated like his own, and susceptible of gratitude, and
habituated to do, and receive acts of kindness; whereas the great
Capt. Shortland considers us all as a base set of men, degraded below
the rank of Englishmen, towards whom nothing but rigor should be
extended. He acted on this false idea; and has like his superiors
reaped the bitter fruit of his own ill judged conduct. He might, by
kind and respectful usage, have led the Americans to any thing just
and honorable; but it was not in his power, nor all the Captains in
his nation, to force them to acknowledge and quietly submit to his
tyranny.

Dr. M'Grath was a very worthy man, and every prisoner loved him; but
M'Farlane, his assistant, a Scotchman, was the reverse; in dressing,
or bleeding, or in any operation, he would handle a prisoner with a
brutal roughness, that conveyed the idea that he was giving way to the
feelings of revenge, or national hatred.[Q] Cannot a Scotchman
testify his _unnatural_ loyalty to the present reigning family of
England without treating an American with cruelty and contempt.

Dr. Dobson, the superintendant physician of the Hospital-ship at
Chatham, was a very worthy and very skilful gentleman. We, Americans,
ought never to forget his goodness towards us. Some of us esteem him
full as high as Dr. M'Grath, and some more highly. They are both
however, worthy men, and deserve well of this country. There is
nothing men vary more in than in their opinion of and attachment