text:  The husbands better clothed and hardy would have infinitely preferred taking their chance with the troops; but where is the man who would prefer his own safety when he thought he could by his presence assist and console those near and dear to him? "It is not therefore wonderful that from persons so circumstanced the General's proposal should have met with little opposition although it was a matter of serious doubt whether the whole were not rushing into the very jaws of death by placing themselves at the mercy of a man who had so lately imbrued his hands in the blood of a British envoy whom he had lured to destruction by similar professions of peace and good-will