The plan then adopted was substantially the same which was necessarily followed ever after.  Perhaps it was suggested by the necessity of sending him by water from Fort Adams and Orleans.  The Secretary of the Navy—­it must have been the first Crowninshield, though he is a man I do not remember—­was requested to put Nolan on board a government vessel bound on a long cruise, and to direct that he should be only so far confined there as to make it certain that he never saw or heard of the country.  We had few long cruises then, and the navy was very much out of favour; and as almost all of this story is traditional, as I have explained, I do not know certainly what his first cruise was.  But the commander to whom he was intrusted—­perhaps it was Tingey or Shaw, though I think it was one of the younger men—­we are all old enough now—­regulated the etiquette and the precautions of the affair, and according to his scheme they were carried out, I suppose, till Nolan died.

When I was second officer of the Intrepid, some thirty years after, I saw the original paper of instructions.  I have been sorry ever since that I did not copy the whole of it.  It ran, however, much in this way—­

WASHINGTON (with a date, which
must have been late in 1807).

Sir,

You will receive from Lieutenant Neale the person of Philip
Nolan, late a lieutenant in the United States army.

This person on his trial by court-martial expressed, with an
oath, the wish that he might never hear of the United States
again.

     The Court sentenced him to have his wish fulfilled.

     For the present, the execution of the order is intrusted by
     the President to this Department.

     You will take the prisoner on board your ship, and keep him
     there with such precautions as shall prevent his escape.

You will provide him with such quarters, rations, and clothing as would be proper for an officer of his late rank, if he were a passenger on your vessel on the business of his Government.

The gentlemen on board will make any arrangements agreeable to themselves regarding his society.  He is to be exposed to no indignity of any kind, nor is he ever unnecessarily to be reminded that he is a prisoner.

But under no circumstances is he ever to hear of his country or to see any information regarding it; and you will especially caution all the officers under your command to take care, that, in the various indulgences which may be granted, this rule, in which his punishment is involved, shall not be broken.

It is the intention of the Government that he shall never again see the country which he has disowned.  Before the end of your cruise you will receive orders which will give effect to this intention.

Respectfully yours,
W. SOUTHARD, for the
Secretary of the Navy.