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"AMIDST the horrors of the first French Revolution, when the palace of the monarch was sacked, and the guillotine ran with blood; when to be rich was treated as a crime, and the highest rank brought the deepest fall-a merciless mob of Jacobins were hurrying a citizen to his death. In vain, might he plead ignorance of his offence. In vain, might he claim justice, or cry for mercy. He saw but the fierce sans-culottes around him, dragging him forwards to the terrible guillotine!"
"In this fearful hour, who could save him? Who dare interpose to rescue the citizen from death? One man did dare, and that man was an Englishman! I never heard if he were impelled by feelings of friendship, or only a generous desire to help the defenceless, but with a courage that defied all danger, Nesham, a young officer of the British navy, who then happened to be near the spot, arrested the Jacobins in their murderous course, declared that their victim should not die without a trial, and that if they proceeded it should be over his body!"