SMITH WILLIAM SIDNEY: (1764-1840) British Admiral who served in the American and French Revolutionary Wars. An unusual Autograph Statement Signed, W. Sidney Smith, one page, 4to, n.p., n.d. Smith writes 'Lines written by Sir Sidney Smith on the inside of the door of his appartment in the prison of the Tower of the Temple at Paris in the year 1798 (the same in which Louis XVI, the Queen Marie Antoinette, the Dauphin afterwards Louis XVII & the rest of the Royal Family were confined previous to their execution, immediately before his escape from that tomb of the living, for the consolation of his successors therein…' and continues with four lines of French text, 'Qui a peur du mal/ a deja le mal de la peur/ Qui espere le bien/ a deja le bien de l'esperance'. Signed and inscribed by Smith at the foot, immediately beneath his statement and quotation. With a small newspaper obituary lightly affixed in the lower left corner. A couple of small tears to the upper and lower edges, only just affecting one word of text but not the signature, otherwise about VG

Smith was a specialist in inshore operations and, on 19 April 1796, he and his secretary John Wesley Wright were captured while attempting to cut out a French ship in Le Havre. Instead of being exchanged, as was the custom, Smith and Wright were taken to the Temple Prison in Paris where Smith was to be charged with arson for his burning of the fleet at Toulon. He was held in Paris for two years, despite a number of efforts to exchange him and frequent contacts with both French Royalists and British agents. Eventually in 1798, the Royalists, who pretended to be taking him to another prison, helped Smith and Wright to escape. The Royalists brought the two Englishmen to Le Havre, where they boarded an open fishing boat and were picked up on 5 May by HMS Argo on patrol in the English Channel, arriving in London on 8 May 1798.