[PRISONERS]: An interesting manuscript D.S. by Sergeant John Garner of the 20th Regiment of Foot, three pages, folio, Almendra, 15th May 1813. The document is the witness statement of Garner, presented before a Portuguese court following his interrogation and states, in part, 'That about six or seven o'clock on the night of the seventeenth of December last he was sent for by Lieut. Falls whom he accompanied to the window of the jail where he found the cooks driven from the fires, by a man then a prisoner in the jail, by his pelting them with stones through a window; Lieut. Falls then enquired of an old Portuguese soldier how he could get into the jail, when the man rang a bell and an inhabitant came out with a bunch of keys….the man then took Lieut. Falls….to the trap door which led into the prison and which he unlocked, he there shewed them a ladder and assisted them in putting it through the trap door and desired them to descend into the prison and told them to "Romp Mollo" the prisoner who was much the rascal, and was confined for having stolen a mule. Lieut Falls then sent for a cord, evident for the purpose of tying the prisoners hands….they found the prisoner with stones in his hands, and also a large heap collected in the room, on seeing which Lieut. Falls ordered him to strip the prisoner which he did, and then gave him two dozen lashes with the cord…' The third page bears a holograph statement in Portuguese signed by Jose Bernardo Pegneno, a member of the jury. Together with a pair of A.Ls.S., Geo. Gardner Junr., six pages (total), n.p., (St. Petersburg?), 16th & 17th October 1806, both to Charles Stuart. Attractively penned in an elegant hand, although with spelling errors, Gardner announces, in his first letter, 'I am sorry that I am still under the dissagreeable nessessaty of troubling you but as I still remain a Prisoner and no appearance of being released I am under the nessassaty of applying to your Exselence to now the reason of my being kept here so long' and further refers to the long detention of his ship and cargo, which began seven weeks ago, and expresses his hope that Stuart will be able to use his authority and power to assist him. In his second letter Gardner acknowledges receipt of Stuart's letter of the 14th October and explains that he feels himself 'much hurt at giving you so much trouble but when I consider the contents of the Ministers letter to your Excelence I am under the necessaty of vindicating the impropriaty of the charge the Minister has laid against me as he writes I may attribute to myself my long detention as I made my escape from the Prison where I had been kept at first therefore for this reason I was put under Criminal judgement conformable to the laws of the Empire….' and continuing to claim that the court had made a mistake and urging Stuart to 'convince the minister of the impropriaty of such a false charge as it is of the greatest importance to my affair'. The first letter has an integral address leaf bearing the remnants of a red wax seal. Some light age wear to the edges, otherwise VG, 3 €125-150
Charles Stuart (1779-1845) British Diplomat, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Portugal and Brazil 1810-14, British Ambassador to France 1815-24, 1828-30 and British Ambassador to Russia 1841-44.