his days in Paris, and whereas all biographical dictionaries represent him as a native of Newcastle-under-Lyme, his tomb at Père Lachaise, which ought not to lie, states that he was born at Manchester. A clergyman could not be logically detained as belonging to the militia, yet the Rev. W. H. Churchill, of Colliton, Dorset, was arrested while on a journey to Lyons, and brought back to Paris. Junot disdainfully tore up the certificate which he presented as a title to benefit of clergy, and the officials, Churchill tells us, were most uncivil and insulting to the English, though Frenchmen generally were quite the reverse, and even, as d'Allonville states, facilitated escapes, out of indignation at so unjust a detention. Some of the English in Paris were sent to Fontainebleau, and several who had expressed their feelings too warmly were kept under duress there. In December 1803 those still remaining in Paris were ordered to Verdun. Churchill, refused permission to accompany his invalid brother to England, was threatened with incarceration in the Temple if he did not start for Verdun, and he had to feign illness. A French doctor prescribed for an "ulcerated throat," and in January, not apparently without bribery, he was allowed to leave with his brother.[1] His fellow-traveller, less fortunate, died a captive a year or two afterwards.
- ↑ "Journal of Mary Frampton," 1884.
