Note 28 — Chapter XXIX

I feel bound, before quitting the subject, to declare it as my opinion that the bread was not actually poisoned; the materials of which it was made, no doubt, were of the worst description, of which the colour, which was of the most disheartening black, gave every proof; when two days old it would be as hard almost as wood, and in another similar lapse of time, it would mildew, and become green as old copper. The men, however, who were not taken ill, always fed upon it, from necessity; while most of the officers, who were served with good white bread (but at a less ration), were equally attacked by the sickness. The baker, therefore, in this respect, did no more than what our own contractors would have done, and which the abominable quality of almost everything sent us went to testify. That he conspired to favour Don Carlos’s cause I have no doubt, and the punishment was necessary, and a wholesome one.