A hurricane had desolated the island on the 20th and 21st of February;

and on the 10th of this month a second came on, causing a repetition of

mischief in the port and upon the plantations. Several vessels were

driven on shore or blown out to sea, and more than one lost; the fruit

trees, sugar cane, maize, etc. were laid flat with the earth; the

different streams swelled to an extraordinary size, carrying away the

best of the vegetable soil from the higher habitations, mixed with all

kinds of produce, branches and trunks of trees, and the wrecks of bridges

torn away; and the huts of the slaves, magazines, and some houses were

either unroofed or blown down. All communication with the port was cut

off from the distant quarters, and the intercourse between adjoining

plantations rendered difficult; yet this chaotic derangement was said to

be trifling in comparison with what was suffered in the first hurricane

at Bourbon, where the vessels have no better shelter than open roadsteds,

and the plantations of cloves, coffee and maize are so much more

extensive. Some American vessels were amongst the sufferers, but as

domestic occurrences were not allowed to be published here, I learned

only a very general account from the different reports: happily for our

cruisers the last had quitted the island in January.

In the evening of Feb. 20, when the first hurricane came on, the

swift-passing clouds were tinged at sunset with a deep copper colour; but

the moon not being near the full, it excited little apprehension at the

Refuge. The wind was fresh, and kept increasing until eleven o'clock, at

which time it blew very hard; the rain fell in torrents, accompanied with

loud claps of thunder and lightning, which at every instant imparted to

one of the darkest nights the brightness of day. The course of the wind

was from south-west to south, south-east, east, and north-east, where it

blew hardest between one and three in the morning, giving me an

apprehension that the house, pavilions, and all would be blown away

together. At four o'clock the wind had got round to north and began to

moderate, as did the rain which afterwards came only in squalls; at nine,

the rain had nearly ceased, and the wind was no more than a common gale,

and after passing round to N. N. W. it died away. At the time the wind

moderated at Mauritius its fury was most exerted at Bourbon, which it was

said to have attacked with a degree of violence that any thing less solid

than a mountain was scarcely able to resist. The lowest to which the

mercury descended in the barometer at Vacouas. was 5½ lines below the

mean level of two days before and two days afterward; and this was at

daybreak, when the wind and rain were subsiding.

Soon after the violence of the hurricane had abated, I went to the

cascades of the R. du Tamarin, to enjoy the magnificent prospect which

the fall of so considerable a body of water must afford; the path through

the wood was strewed with the branches and trunks of trees, in the forest

the grass and shrubs were so beaten down as to present the appearance of

an army having passed that way, and the river was full up to its banks.

Having seen the fall in the nearest of the two arms, I descended below

their junction, to contemplate the cascade they formed when united, down

the precipice of 120 feet; the noise of the fall was such that my own

voice was scarcely audible, but a thick mist which rose up to the clouds

from the abyss, admitted of a white foam only being distinguished.

During these hurricanes in Mauritius, the wind usually makes the whole

tour of the compass; and as during this of February it made little more

than half, the apprehension of a second hurricane was entertained, and

became verified about a fortnight afterwards. The wind began at E. S. E.

with rainy weather, and continued there twenty-four hours, with

increasing force; it then shifted quickly to north-east, north,

north-west, and on the third evening was at W. S. W., where it gradually

subsided. This was not so violent as the first hurricane, but the rain

fell in torrents, and did great mischief to the land, besides destroying

such remaining part of the crops as were at all in an advanced state: at

Bourbon it did not do much injury, the former, it was said, having left

little to destroy. The wind had now completed the half of the compass

which it wanted in the first hurricane; and the unfortunate planters were

left to repair their losses without further dread for this year: maize

and manioc, upon which the slaves are principally fed, rose two hundred

per cent.

An opinion commonly entertained in Mauritius, that hurricanes are little

to be apprehended except near the time of full moon, does not seem to be

well founded. In 1805 indeed, there was a heavy gale on April 14 and 15,

a few days after the full; but the first of the two hurricanes

abovementioned took place a day or two before the new moon, and the

middle of the second within twenty-four hours of the last quarter; whence

it should appear that the hurricanes have no certain connexion with the

state of this planet. January, February, and March are the months which

excite the most dread, and December and April do not pass without

apprehension; for several years, however, previously to 1805, no

hurricane had been experienced; and the inhabitants began to hope, that

if the clearing of the country caused a dearth of rain at some times of

the year, it would also deliver them from these dreadful scourges; for it

was to the destruction of the woods that the dryness of preceding years

and the cessation of hurricanes were generally attributed.

On the 21st, His Majesty's ship Russel came off the island upon a cruise,

and chased into Port Louis La Piémontaise, a French frigate which had

sailed from Europe in December. By this opportunity a confirmation of

some, and an account of other victories gained over the Austrians were

received, as also of the great naval action off Cape Trafalgar; the

bulletins of the former were inserted in the gazette of the island, but

except a report from the officers of Le Redoubtable, not a word of the

naval action; amidst such events as these, the misfortunes of an

individual must be very striking to occupy even a thought.

In a visit to M. Plumet, and to M. Airolles, the proprietor of an

extensive plantation called Ménil, in his neighbourhood, I had an

opportunity of seeing a rivulet, which for some distance runs under

ground. The bed of this stream resembled a work of art, seeming to have

been nicely cut out of the solid rock; and close by the side of it was a

cavern, containing layers of a ferruginous stone like lava; their

combined appearance excited an idea that the canal might have been once

occupied by a vein of iron ore, which being melted by subterraneous fire,

found an exit, and left a place for the future passage of the waters.

About one mile from hence, and in a more elevated situation, is a large

and deep hole, of a form nearly approaching to a perfect circle, and its

upper part occupying, according to M. Airolles, the place of seventeen

arpents of land; I judged it to be two hundred feet deep, and that the

loose stones in its bottom formed a flat of four or five acres, the angle

of descent being nearly equal on all sides. The stones around, and at the

bottom of this vast pit are more honeycombed than is usual in other

parts, and much resemble those of the Grand Bassin, of whose nature they

seemed to partake in other respects.

Ménil comprehends a smaller plantation, formerly occupied by the

unfortunate La Pérouse, who was some time an inhabitant of this island. I

surveyed it with mixed sensations of pleasure and melancholy; the ruins

of his house, the garden he had laid out, the still blooming hedge-rows

of China roses--emblems of his reputation, every thing was an object of

interest and curiosity. This spot is nearly in the centre of the island,

and upon the road from Port Louis to Port Bourbon. It was here that the

man lamented by the good and well informed of all nations--whom science

illumined, and humanity, joined to an honest ambition, conducted to the

haunts of remote savages--in this spot he once dwelt, perhaps little

known to the world, but happy; when he became celebrated he had ceased to

exist. M. Airolles promised me to place three square blocks of stone, one

upon the other, in the spot where the house of this lamented navigator

had stood; and upon the uppermost stone facing the road, to engrave, LA

PÉROUSE.

APRIL 1806

My lame seaman having recovered from the accident of his broken leg,

colonel Monistrol granted a permission for his departure in the beginning

of April; and he was shipped on board the Telemaque -- Clark, bound to

Boston in America. His companion, the last of the Cumberland's crew, had

the same means offered of recovering his liberty; but he still refused to

leave me in Mauritius.

On the 15th I sent away two packets of letters, one for the Admiralty and

my friends in England, the other to France; the last contained a second

letter to M. de Fleurieu, and one to the French marine minister giving a

short account of my voyage and detention; it inclosed the extract from

captain Baudin (Chapter V., August.), and requested His Excellency would

direct general De Caen either to set me at liberty, or send me to France

with my books and papers for examination. These letters were accompanied

by duplicates of those written by my friend Pitot in March 1805, to

Messieurs De Bougainville, De la Lande, Chaptal, and Dupuis, and were

sent away by two different conveyances. The Society of Emulation, formed

in Mauritius the preceding year to promote literary and philosophical

pursuits, but especially to advance the agriculture, navigation, and

commerce of the two islands, wrote also to the National Institute in my

favour; and as its sentiments may be supposed analogous to those of the

most enlightened part of the inhabitants, I venture to give in the

original French a copy of that letter in a note, to show what those

sentiments were.*

[Not included in this ebook.]

MAY 1806

In May, my friend Pitot was accompanied in his monthly visit by M.

Baudin, an officer of the frigate last arrived from France, who had made

the voyage in Le Géographe with his name sake; and with liberality of

sentiment, possessed that ardent spirit of enterprise by which the best

navigators have been distinguished. He informed me that M. de Fleurieu

was acquainted with most of the circumstances attending my arrival in

this island, and took an interest in my situation, as did many others in

Paris; but could not say what might be the opinion or intentions of the

government.

On the 6th, colonel Monistrol sent me two open letters from rear-admiral

sir Edward Pellew, commander in chief in the East Indies; in the first of

which it was said, "The circumstances of your situation have impressed

themselves most strongly on my attention; and I feel every disposition to

alleviate your anxiety, without, I fear, the means of affording you any

present relief from your very unpleasant situation. I have transmitted

your letter to the Admiralty, that steps may forthwith be taken for your

release at home, by effecting your exchange for an officer of equivalent

rank; under an impression that at least it may insure your return to

Europe on parole, if that should be a necessary preliminary to your final

liberation." To give an officer of equivalent rank was probably the most

certain mode of obtaining my speedy release, but was not altogether

agreeable to justice. It seemed to me, that the liberation of an officer

employed on discovery, and bearing a passport, ought to be granted as a

matter of right, without any conditions; and accompanied with the

restitution of every thing belonging to his mission and himself, if not

with an atonement to the offended laws of good faith and humanity; but

this was only the _just_, the views of sir Edward were directed to the

_expedient_, and showed a better knowledge of mankind. His second letter,

dated January 15, 1806, contained sentiments nearly similar to the first,

without any new subject upon which to ground the hope of an early

release; that my situation, however, should have excited the attention

and interest of an officer of sir Edward Pellew's established character

and merit, if it did not much increase the prospect of a speedy return to

my country and occupations, was yet gratifying to the feelings, and a

consolation under misfortune.

In compliance with an invitation from M. Curtat, a friend of our good

family at the Refuge, I went to his plantation near the Baye du Tamarin,

which was within my limits; and had an opportunity of seeing his sugar

and cotton manufactories, as also the embouchure of the rivers du Tamarin

and du Rempart. The bay into which they are discharged is no more than a

sandy bight in the low land, partly filled up with coral; and it would

soon be wholly so, did not the fresh stream from the rivers keep a

channel open in the middle; it is however so shallow, that except in fine

weather fishing boats even cannot enter without risk.

Upon a plantation in the Plains of St. Piérre, about one mile from the

foot of the Montagne du Rempart, are some caverns which M. Curtat

procured me the means of examining. In the entrance of one is a perpetual

spring, from which a stream takes its course under ground, in a vaulted

passage; M. Ducas, the proprietor of the plantation, said he had traced

it upon a raft, by the light of flambeaux, more than half a mile without

finding its issue; but he supposed it to be in a small lake near the sea

side. The other caverns had evidently been connected with the first,

until the roof gave way in two places and separated them. The middle

portion has a lofty arch, and might be formed into two spacious

apartments; its length is not many fathoms, but the third portion, though

less spacious, runs in a winding course of several hundred yards. From

being unprovided with torches we did not pass the whole length of this

third cavern; but at the two extremities, and as far within as could be

distinguished, the roof admitted of standing upright, and the breadth was

eight or ten yards from side to side.

About thirty years before, this part of the Plains de St. Piérre had been

covered with wood, and the caverns inhabited by a set of maroon negroes,

whose depredations and murders spread consternation in the neighbourhood.

Their main retreat in the third cavern was discovered by a man whom they

had left for dead; but having watched them to their haunt, he gave

information to the officers of justice, and troops were sent to take

them. After securing the further outlet, the soldiers crept to the

principal entrance, near which the maroons kept a sentinel with loaded

musket in the top of a tree; he was found nodding on his post, and having

shot him they rushed in a body to the mouth of the cavern. The poor

wretches within started from their beds, for they slept in the day time,

and flew to arms; a skirmish ensued, in which another of them was killed

and two soldiers wounded; but at length, finding their retreat cut off,

the sentinel, who happened to be their captain and chief instigator,

killed, and the force opposed to them too great to be overcome, they

yielded themselves prisoners to the number of fifty-one; and were marched

off, with their hands tied, to head quarters, to the great joy of the

district. Besides arms and a small quantity of ammunition, there was

little else found in the cavern than a bag of dollars, a case of wine,

some pieces of cloth, a slaughtered goat, and a small provision of maize

not more than enough for one day. The skull of their captain, who was

said to be possessed of much cunning and audacity, was at this time lying

upon a stone at the entrance of the cavern; and for narrowness of front

and large extent at the back part of the head, was the most singularly

formed cranium I ever saw. Little oblong inclosures, formed with small

stones by the sides of the cavern, once the sleeping places of these

wretches, also existed, nearly in the state they had been left; owing

apparently to the superstition of the black, and the policy and disgust

of the white visitants to these excavations.

The stone here is mostly of an iron-grey colour, heavy, and porous; and

there were marks upon the sides of the middle cavern which might have

arisen either from a sulphureous substance yielded by the stone when in a

state of ignition, or from an impregnated water draining through the roof

during a succession of time; upon the whole, though it seemed probable

that these caverns owe their origin to the same cause as the

subterraneous canal at Ménil, the marks of fire in them were neither

distinct nor unequivocal. The position of these long, winding

excavations, in a country nearly level and of small elevation, appeared

to be the most extraordinary circumstance attending them; but in this

island they are commonly so situate, particularly that remarkable one, of

which a detailed account is given in Grant's _History of Mauritius_ from

M. de St. Pierre.

Quitting Le Tamarin with M. Curtat, I went to the town of Port Louis, to

take up my residence for a few days with my friend Pitot, the

captain-general having granted a permission to that effect. One of the

objects for which I had asked the permission, was to obtain a further one

to visit La Poudre d'Or and Flacq, on the north-east side of the island;

but my application was refused after two or three days consideration, and

accompanied with an order to return immediately to Wilhems Plains. It

appeared that general De Caen had received a letter of reproach from

governor King of Port Jackson, inclosing, it was said, a copy of that I

had written to the governor in August 1804, wherein my reception and

treatment at Mauritius were described in colours not calculated to

gratify the general's feelings; it was even considered, and perhaps was

in him, a great act of forbearance that he did not order me to be closely

confined in the tower.

During this short residence in town, the attentions of my friend Pitot,

of captain Bergeret, and several other French inhabitants were such as

bespoke a desire to indemnify me for the ill treatment of their governor,

whose conduct seemed to be generally disapproved; my acquaintance with

major Dunienville of La Savanne was renewed, as also with M. Boand, the

good Swiss, whose anxiety to serve me when a prisoner in the Café

Marengo, had not lost any thing of its ardour. At the Garden Prison,

which I could not refrain from visiting, there was no one but the old

serjeant, the six or eight Englishmen in the island being kept at the

Grande Rivière. In returning to Wilhems Plains I made a tour by the

district of Mocha, both to see that part of the island and to visit M.

Huet de Froberville, with whom his intimacy with the good family at the

Refuge had brought me acquainted; this gentleman was nephew of Huetius,

the celebrated bishop of Avranches, and author of _Sidner, or the dangers

of imagination_, a little work published in Mauritius.

JUNE 1806

The usual season of arrivals from France expired with the month of May,

and the time elapsed since my first detention, without being otherwise

noticed by the French government than giving general De Caen its

temporary approbation, had exceedingly weakened my confidence in its

justice; it appeared moreover, that not only had no public application

been made by our government for my liberty and the restitution of my

charts and journals, but that the advancement I had been led to expect in

consequence of the voyage, was stopped. This could not be from

inattention, and therefore probably arose either from a want of

information, or from some misconceived opinions at the Admiralty; to

remove which, it seemed necessary to transmit an account of all the

circumstances attending my imprisonment, accompanied with the letters to

and from the captain-general, and such other pieces as were proper to the

authentication of the narrative.

JULY 1806

I was occupied in writing this account when the Warren Hastings, richly

laden from China, was taken by La Piémontaise and brought to Mauritius;

and captain Larkins having obtained permission to return to England, he

offered by letter to take charge of any thing I desired to transmit. The

narrative, completed to the time of leaving the Garden Prison, was

therefore conveyed to him; and in an accompanying letter to the

Admiralty, my hopes were expressed that their Lordships would not suffer

an imprisonment, contrary to every principle of justice and humanity, to

continue without notice--without such steps being taken to obtain my

release and the restitution of my remaining charts and papers, as in

their wisdom should seem meet. Captain Larkins had ineffectually sought

to obtain a permission to come to Wilhems Plains, and my request to go to

the town for a day or two was refused; he therefore sailed [AUGUST 1806]

without my being able to see him or any of his officers; and his

departure was preceded by that of my friend Pitot for Bourbon, and

followed by the embarkation of captain Bergeret for France.

In consequence of the many kindnesses conferred by M. Pitot on several of

our countrymen as well as myself, I had been induced to write some

letters at his request to the commanders of His Majesty's ships;

recommending to their favour, in case of being taken, such of his friends

as had a claim to it, either from services rendered to prisoners or from

their superior talents; and I did not let slip the occasion of his voyage

to Bourbon, to testify in this manner my sense of his worth. To soften

the rigour of confinement to deserving men, is a grateful task; I

conceived that a war between two nations does not necessarily entrain

personal enmity between each of their respective individuals, nor should

prevent us from doing particular acts of kindness where merit and

misfortune make the claim; and in the confidence that such were the

general sentiments of officers in the navy, I had no hesitation in

addressing myself to them. Possibly some would think these applications

unadvisably made; but no--to distinguish merit and repay the debt of

gratitude contracted by unfortunate brother officers or countrymen, are

too congenial to the hearts of Britons; to those who produced either, or

both of these titles an English seaman could not be deaf, and on no other

account was my suffrage obtained.

Captain Bergeret's name was too well known to need any recommendation

from me; but I wished to express my gratitude for his generous

proceedings to many English prisoners, and to have the advantage of his

influence in obtaining an order from his government for my liberty, or

otherwise for being sent to France to be examined. The letter transmitted

a short time before he sailed, expresses the state of a prisoner's mind

when suffering under injustice and wearied with disappointment; on this

account, the greater number of readers will be induced to excuse the

insertion of the following passages, which otherwise are without

importance, and perhaps without interest.

I need not at this time call to your recollection what my situation is in

this place. I have been so long pressed under the hand of injustice, and

my confidence in the French government is so much exhausted, that I am

reduced to asking as a favour what ought to be demanded as a right. On

your arrival in France then, my dear Sir, forget not that I am here--that

my prayer is, to be examined, to be tried, to be condemned, if I have in

action, intention, or thought, done any thing whilst employed in my

voyage of discovery, against the French nation or its allies--if in any

way I have infringed upon the line of conduct prescribed by the passport

of the first consul of France. To have the best years of my life, the

essence of my existence thus drained away without any examination into

the affair; to have the fruits of my labours and risks thus ravished from

me--my hopes of advancement and of reputation thus cruelly blasted, is

almost beyond what I am able to support. Use then, I conjure you, Sir,

your best endeavours with those men in France who have it in their power

to forward my wish; with those men for whom a voyage of discovery, the

preservation of national faith, and the exercise of humanity have still

attractions. With such men, in spite of the neglect which my

extraordinary situation here has undergone, now near three years, I will

not believe but that the French empire abounds; a Fleurieu, a

Bougainville, a Lalande, a Delambre, and numberless others--can such men

be strangers to national honour and humanity? Has a man reduced to

misfortune by his ardent zeal to advance geography and its kindred

sciences, no claims upon men like these? It cannot be. However unworthy

an instrument I am in the hands of our literary British worthies, my

employment, if not my misfortunes, give me a claim upon their assistance

in obtaining, at least, an examination into my crimes or my innocence;

and this claim I now make. See these celebrated men, Sir, explain to them

the circumstances of my situation, tell them the plain tale, and that it

is towards them, though so distant, that my looks are directed; your own

name will give you an introduction, and the cause you undertake will not

disgrace it.

Adieu, worthy Sir, may the winds be propitious, and may you never be

reduced to the bitterness of sighing after justice in vain.

CHAPTER VIII.

Effects of repeated disappointment on the mind.

Arrival of a cartel, and of letters from India.

Letter of the French marine minister.

Restitution of papers.

Applications for liberty evasively answered.

Attempted seizure of private letters.

Memorial to the minister.

Encroachments made at Paris on the Investigator's discoveries.

Expected attack on Mauritius produces an abridgment of Liberty.

Strict blockade.

Arrival of another cartel from India.

State of the public finances in Mauritius.

French cartel sails for the Cape of Good Hope.

[AT MAURITIUS. WILHEMS PLAINS]

SEPTEMBER 1806

News of negotiations at Paris for peace formed the principal topic of

conversation at Mauritius in September, and no one more than myself could

desire that the efforts of Lord Lauderdale might be crowned with success;

a return to England in consequence of such an event was of all things

what I most desired, but the hope of peace, before national animosity and

the means of carrying on war became diminished, was too feeble to admit

of indulging in the anticipation.

NOVEMBER 1806

The state of incertitude in which I remained after nearly three years of

anxiety, joined to the absence of my friends Bergeret and Pitot, brought

on a dejection of spirits which might have proved fatal, had I not sought

by constant occupation to force my mind from a subject so destructive to

its repose; such an end to my detention would have given too much

pleasure to the captain-general, and from a sort of perversity in human

nature, this conviction even brought its share of support. I

reconstructed some of my charts on a larger scale, corrected and extended

the explanatory memoir, and completed for the Admiralty an enlarged copy

of the Investigator's log book, so far as the materials in my hands could

admit; the study of the French language was pursued with increased

application, and many books in it, particularly voyages and travels, were

read. But what assisted most in dispelling this melancholy, was a packet

of letters from England, bringing intelligence of my family and friends;

and the satisfactory information that Mr. Aken had safely reached London,

with all the charts, journals, letters and instruments committed to his

charge.

JANUARY 1807

No occurrence more particular than the departure in January of a prisoner

of war, which furnished an opportunity of writing to England, took place

for several months. In April [APRIL 1807] the season for the arrival of

ships from France was mostly passed, and the captain-general had still

received no orders; being than at the town, I requested of him an

audience through the intervention of M. Beckmann, who engaged, in case of

refusal, to enter into an explanation with His Excellency and endeavour

to learn his intentions. On his return, M. Beckmann said that the general

had expressed himself sensible of the hardship of my situation, and that

he every day expected to receive orders from France; but being unable to

do any thing without these orders, it was useless to see me, and he

recommended waiting with patience for their arrival.

MAY 1807

In acknowledgment for the letter written to the National Institute by the

Society of Emulation, I sent to it a description of Wreck Reef, with my

conjectures upon the place where the unfortunate La Pérouse had probably

been lost; and this letter, as also a succeeding one upon the differences

in the variation of the magnetic needle on ship-board, was transmitted by

the Society to the Institute at Paris.

JUNE 1807

The effect of long protracted expectation, repeatedly changing its object

and as often disappointed, became strongly marked in my faithful servant.

This worthy man had refused to quit the island at the general exchange of

prisoners in August 1805, and also in the following year when his

companion, the lame seaman, went to America, because he would not abandon

me in misfortune; but the despair of our being ever set at liberty had

now wholly taken possession of his senses. He imagined that all the

inhabitants of the island, even those who were most friendly, were

leagued with the captain-general against us; the signals on the hills

communicated my every step, the political articles in the gazettes

related in a metaphorical manner the designs carrying on, the new laws at

that time publishing showed the punishments we were doomed to suffer,

persons seen in conversation, every thing in fine, had some connexion

with this mysterious league; and the dread of some sudden and

overwhelming blow left him no peace, either by day or night. This state

of mind continued some months, his sleep and appetite had forsaken him,

and he wasted daily; and finding no other means of cure than persuading

him to return to England, where he might still render me service, a

permission for his departure was requested and obtained; and in the

beginning of July [JULY 1807] he embarked on board an American brig, for

Baltimore. I gave into his charge some remaining charts and books, and

many letters; and had the satisfaction to see him more easy, and almost

convinced of the folly of his terrors on finding he was really allowed to

go away, which till then, had appeared to him incredible.

On the 18th, arrived the Hon. Company's ship Marquis Wellesley, as a

cartel from Madras, with French prisoners; and four days afterward

colonel Monistrol transmitted me a letter from the secretary of sir

Edward Pellew, containing the extract of a despatch to the

captain-general, and two letters of a more recent date from the admiral

himself. One of these, addressed upon His Majesty's service, was as

follows.

H. M. ship Duncan, Madras Roads, 21st June, 1807.

Sir,

Two days ago I renewed my application to the captain-general De Caen in

your favour, requesting that His Excellency would permit of your

departure from the Isle of France, and suggesting the opportunity now

offered by His Majesty's ship Greyhound.

I have since received despatches from England, containing the letter of

which a copy is now inclosed, from Mr. Marsden, secretary of the

Admiralty,* therewith transmitting instructions for your release under

the authority of the French minister of marine, to the captain-general of

the French establishments.

I congratulate you most sincerely on this long protracted event; and I

trust, if your wishes induce you to proceed to India, that you may be

enabled to embark with captain Troubridge, for the purpose of proceeding

to England from hence by the first opportunity.

(Signed.) Edward Pellew.

[* COPY.

The accompanying letter is understood to contain a direction from the

French government for the release of captain Flinders. It has already

been transmitted to the Isle of France in triplicate; but as it may be

hoped that the vessels have been all captured, you had better take an

opportunity of sending this copy by a flag of truce, provided you have

not heard in the mean time of Flinders being at liberty.

Admiralty, 30th Dec. 1806.

(Signed) William Marsden.]

The admiral's second letter was a private one, inviting me to take up my

residence in his house at Madras, until such time as the departure of a

King's ship should furnish an opportunity of returning to England; and

was accompanied by one from captain Troubridge, expressing the pleasure

he should have in receiving me; but the Greyhound had already been sent

away two days! and nothing announced any haste in the general to put the

order into execution. I then wrote to request His Excellency would have

the goodness to confirm the hopes produced by these letters; or that, if

they were fallacious, he would be pleased to let me know it. It was seven

days before an answer was given; colonel Monistrol then said, "His

Excellency the captain-general has charged me to answer the letter which

you addressed to him on the 24th of this month; and to tell you that, in

effect, he has received through the medium of His Excellency sir Edward

Pellew, a despatch from His Excellency the minister of the marine and the

colonies of France, relative to you. I am also charged to send you the

copy, herewith joined, of that letter; and to inform you that so soon as

circumstances will permit, you will fully enjoy the favour which has been

granted you by his Majesty the Emperor and King." This long expected

document from the marine minister was literally as follows.*

[* The document, in French, is not included in this ebook.]

It appeared from this letter, that so long before as July 1804, the

council of state had come to a decision upon my case; which was, _to

approve of the conduct of general De Caen, and from a pure sentiment of

generosity, to grant my liberty and the restitution of the Cumberland_.

This decision had lain over until March 1806, before it was made

efficient by the approval of the French emperor; it had then been sent in

triplicate by French vessels; and it seemed very extraordinary that in

July 1807, the quadruplicate sent from England in December, round by

India, should first arrive, when two or more vessels had come from France

in the preceding twelve months.

Colonel Monistrol's letter gave me to understand that the order would be

executed, but the time when, and the manner, were left in uncertainty; I

therefore requested a permission to go to town for the arrangement of my

affairs, hoping there to learn some further particulars; this however was

refused, the answer being, "that when the time of my departure should be

fixed," a permission would be granted for as many days as were necessary.

Whence this delay in executing the minister's order could arise, I knew

not; but having heard that the Cumberland had been removed from her usual

place, and fearing that her reparation and refitment might be the cause,

a letter was sent to inform colonel Monistrol, [AUGUST 1805] "that the

impossibility of obtaining any better vessel for a direct passage to

England could alone have induced me to undertake it in the Cumberland;

and that unless His Excellency denied me any other means of quitting the

Isle of France, it was not my intention to re-embark in her. If therefore

it were His Excellency's desire that she should be restored to me, rather

than her value, I hoped he would admit of her being sold; and allow me to

take a passage on board some ship bound to America or India;" a request

for the restitution of my books and papers was also made, that the

intervening time might be employed in arranging them from the disorder

into which they had been thrown at the shipwreck, four years before. At

the end of three weeks, a letter from the colonel invited me to go to

town, that he might restore the books and papers, with the other objects

relating to my voyage of discovery; and on presenting myself at his

office, the trunk into which they had been put was given up; my sword and

spy-glasses were to be returned at the time of departure, as also the

amount of the schooner and her stores, which had been valued soon after

my arrival. On asking for the two boxes of despatches, the colonel said

they had long been disposed of, and he believed that something in them

had contributed to my imprisonment; and to an application for the

remaining journal, he replied that it was wanted for the purpose of

making extracts, at which I expressed surprise, seeing that it had been

in the general's possession near four years, and the French government

had made its decision. On requesting to know if it were intended to let

me embark in the Wellesley cartel, then in port, it appeared that this

had not been thought of; and the colonel hinted, that the order for my

liberation had been given at a moment when England and France were in

better intelligence than usual, and perhaps would not be granted to an

application made at the present time; and it appeared from his

conversation, that the restitution of my papers was not to be considered

an assurance of a speedy departure.

After quitting colonel Monistrol, I examined the condition of the papers,

and then sent him the following note and receipt.

I have the honour to inclose a receipt for the books and papers received

yesterday. The rats have made great havock amongst them, and many papers

are wholly destroyed; but so far as I have yet examined, those which are

of the most importance seem to have wholly, or in part escaped their

ravages. I shall return immediately within the limits of my parole,

according to the directions of His Excellency the captain-general; to

wait the time when he shall be pleased to execute the orders which his

Imperial and Royal Majesty thought proper to give on March 11, 1806, for

my liberation; and I have the honour to be, etc.

Received from colonel Monistrol, _chef de l'état-major-général_ in the

Isle of France, one trunk containing the remainder of the books, papers,

etc. taken from me in Port North-West on Dec. 17, 1803, and Dec. 21 of

the same year; which books and papers, with those received at two

different times in 1804, make up the whole that were so taken, with the

following exceptions.

1. Various letters and papers either wholly or in part destroyed by the

rats, the remains of which are in the trunk.

2. The third volume of my rough log book, containing the journal of

transactions and observations on board the Investigator, Porpoise, the

Hope cutter, and Cumberland schooner, from sometime in June to Dec. 17,

1803, of which I have no duplicate.

3. Two boxes of despatches. The one from His Excellency governor King of

New South Wales, addressed to His Majesty's principal secretary of state

for the colonies; the other from colonel Paterson, lieutenant-governor of

Port Jackson, the address of which I cannot remember.

In truth of which I hereunto sign my name, at Port Napoleon,* Isle of

France., this 24th day of August 1807.

Matthew Flinders.

Late commander of H. M. sloop Investigator,

employed on discoveries to the South Seas with a French passport.

[* Port Louis, after having been changed to Port de la Montagne, Port

North-West, and I believe borne one or two other names, was now called

Port Napoleon; Port Bourbon and Isle Bourbon underwent similar changes:

such was the inflexibility of French republicanism.]

Messrs Le Blanc and Stock, the commander and commissary of the Wellesley

cartel, having a house in the town, I took this opportunity of seeing

them; and it was agreed between us, that when the cartel was allowed to

sail, Mr. Stock should make an official request for my embarkation with

him. As, however, there was much reason to apprehend a refusal, I

arranged a great part of the books and papers just received, with all the

Port-Jackson letters, and sent them on board the Wellesley; writing at

the same time [SEPTEMBER 1807] to Sir Edward Pellew my suspicion, that

general De Caen would not execute the order he had received from the

marine minister. This precaution was not useless, for in the beginning of

October the Wellesly was sent away suddenly; and although she had been

detained three months, not a prisoner was given in exchange for those

brought from India. Mr. Stock left a copy of the letter he had written,

as was agreed, and of the answer from the general's secretary; this said,

"the captain-general is very sorry that he cannot allow captain Flinders

to embark in the cartel Wellesley. So soon as circumstances will permit,

that officer will be set at liberty, and to that effect be sent to

London." The most direct means of conveyance to London in time of war,

was assuredly by the way of France; but two vessels, the first of which

was commanded by the brother of the captain-general, had sailed a short

time before for that destination; so that this answer, if not false, was

at least equivocal. My opinion of the general's unfair dealing had

induced me to write by the last of these French vessels to the minister

of the marine, representing the little probability there was of his order

being executed; but this vessel was captured, and my letter most probably

thrown overboard.

An attempt to gain some knowledge of what were the captain-general's

intentions was made in the following letter, written on the 16th, to

colonel Monistrol.

Sir,

You will do me a favour in transmitting the log book which was detained

for the purpose of making extracts from it, as they have doubtless been

made long since. At the same time, Sir, you would relieve me from much

inquietude, if you could inform me of the time at which it is the

intention of His Excellency the captain-general to grant me the liberty

which His Imperial and Royal Majesty was pleased to accord in March 1806.

BY your letter of July 27 last, I was led to hope from the expression,

"vous jouirez pleinement de la faveur," etc., that this long desired

period would soon arrive. What the circumstances are to which you allude

in that letter, it is impossible for me to know; nor is it within my

imagination to conceive the circumstances which permit vessels to sail

for India or America, but which cannot allow of my departure.

The desire expressed by His Excellency to captain Bergeret and M.

Beckmann, to receive orders relating to me, and to the latter that he was

sensible of the hardship of my situation, led me to hope that he would

have taken into consideration the length of time that my detention had

continued, the misfortune which preceded it, and the time elapsed since

the date of the marine minister's letter; and I still intreat him to take

them into his consideration. I have suffered much, Sir, in the Isle of

France, and the uncertainty in which I have ever been kept has been one

of the bitterest ingredients in the cup; I thought it exhausted when you

favoured me with the copy of the letter from His Excellency the minister;

but the dregs remained, and it seems as if I must swallow them to the

last drop.

If the means of my return to England cause any part of the delay, I beg

to inform you of my readiness to embrace any means, or any route, in the

Cumberland even, if it will save time, or in any other vessel of any

nation. A passage on board the finest ship one month hence, would not

indemnify me for one month longer of suffering, such as the last

forty-six have been.

I am fully persuaded that no representation of mine can change the

arrangements of the captain-general; if therefore the time and manner of

my return be absolutely fixed, I have only to request that he will have

so much charity as to impart them; or even the time only, when I may

expect to see myself out of this fatal island; for the manner, when

compared to the time, becomes almost indifferent. To know at what period

this waste of the best years of my life was to end, would soften the

anguish of my mind; and if you would favour me with the return of my log

book, I should have an occupation which would still further tend to

diminish it.

I request you to accept the assurances of consideration with which I have

the honour to be, etc.

The answer received eight days afterward, said not a word of the log

book; but simply that "so soon as a convenient opportunity for my

departure presented itself, the captain-general would order it to be

communicated;" which was evidently no more than an evasion, for vessels

had gone to France, and others were at that very time sailing every week,

either to India or America, in any one of which a passage might have been

obtained. I was now induced to enter into the examination whether, in

justice and honour, my parole ought to continue to be a restraint from

quitting the island; it had been given to general De Caen as the

representative of the French government--that government had ordered me

to be set at liberty--and nothing was alleged for not putting the order

into execution, other than the want of a convenient opportunity; had I

not then a right to seek that opportunity for myself, since the

captain-general had let pass so many without indicating any one of them?

This question was debated a long time, and under every point of view,

before deciding upon the line of conduct which duty to my country, my

family and myself prescribed to be right.

Many letters for India, and a copy of my narrative for sir Edward Pellew

had been confided to my Swiss friend, M. Boand, who was to have embarked

in the Wellesley; but at the moment of sailing, the captain-general gave

an order to prevent his going on board; the good man went immediately to

ask an audience of His Excellency, and after discussing his own case,

spoke of my imprisonment and tried to learn when it would cease. That he

could obtain nothing decisive, was to be expected; but that the general

should preserve his temper during this conversation, and even answer

gaily, though equivocally, to several closely-put questions, was contrary

to what usually happened when my name had been mentioned before him. M.

Boand was permitted to embark in a Danish ship, which sailed early on the

24th; but late in the evening before, some police officers went on board,

searched his trunk, and took away all the letters they could find,

telling him he might then sail, they had got what they wanted. This

transaction explained the general's views in preventing M. Boand's

departure in the cartel, where a search could not decently have been

made; also why the cartel had been sent off so suddenly that my letters

could not be put on board, and the cause of his moderation when speaking

of my imprisonment. He was not deceived in supposing this friend would be

the bearer of many letters, though very much so if he hoped to find

therein proofs of my having acted, or intending to act contrary to the

passport; he however missed his aim altogether, as I learned some months

afterward; the cautious Swiss had separated my letters from those he had

received from other persons, and these last only were found; but it was

not less evident, that general De Caen was seeking all means to fortify

himself with pretexts to avoid setting me at liberty.

DECEMBER 1807

This year finished in the same manner as the preceding, without the least

change in my situation; but if I had reason to complain of the want of

justice, humanity, and good faith in the captain-general, there was, on

the other hand, great cause to be satisfied with the sustained attentions

of the inhabitants in my small circle, especially of those in the house

where I still continued to dwell; and it was some consolation to see,

that the interest generally taken in my liberation increased with every

fresh act denoting perseverance in rigorous measures.

JULY 1808

Six other months had elapsed when two vessels came from France, and it

was known that the captain-general's brother had safely reached Paris; he

had sailed two months after the order for my liberty had arrived, and as

the general had probably communicated his intentions to the marine

minister, he might have received fresh directions; I therefore wrote to

the chief of the staff, requesting to know whether the despatches

contained any thing to give me hopes of early liberty, and repeating my

readiness to embark in any vessel of any nation; but it was answered,

that nothing in the despatches related to this subject.

SEPTEMBER 1808

Several ships being in preparation to depart for France in September, a

memorial containing the circumstances previous to and attending my

imprisonment was made out, with authenticating papers annexed, to be

transmitted to the minister of the French marine; in this, I explained

the late conduct of the captain-general, and earnestly entreated that His

Excellency would direct him to send me to France, by an order couched in

such terms as should leave no room for evasion; declaring at the same

time, perhaps incautiously, that I considered his previous order to have

released me from parole. Two copies of this memorial were confided to

gentlemen who promised to deliver them in person to the minister; or in

case of being taken, to the captain of the English man of war who would

forward them to the Admiralty. There still remained La Semillante, an old

frigate sold to the merchants, on board of which two officers of the

French navy were to go as passengers. This afforded the most desirable

opportunity of sending me to France, if such had been the general's

intention; and to do away all after pretext of not knowing it to be my

wish, another request was made to that effect [OCTOBER 1808]; with a

proposition to engage, "in case La Semillante should not arrive at her

destination, to take the most direct means that could be found of

reaching France, and giving myself up into the hands of the government;

should it be judged expedient to require from me such a parole." In

answer to this letter, it was then said for the first time, fifteen

months after receiving the order for my liberty, that the

captain-general, "having communicated to His Excellency the marine

minister the motives which had determined him to suspend my return to

Europe, he could not authorise my departure before having received an

answer upon the subject." Thus the frequently expressed desire of general

De Caen to receive orders, and the promise, when they arrived, that I

should be set at liberty so soon as circumstances would permit, were

shown to be fallacious; and the so long expected order to be of none

effect. The reasoning of the inhabitants upon this suspension was, that

having been so long in the island, I had gained too much knowledge of it

for my departure to be admitted with safety; but if this were so, the

captain-general was punishing me for his own oversight, since without the

detention forced by himself, the supposed dangerous knowledge could not

have been acquired. In calling it an oversight I am probably wrong. When

the general suffered me to quit the Garden Prison, he expected the order

which afterwards arrived; and what appeared to be granted as an

indulgence, was perhaps done with a view to this very pretext of my too

extended knowledge of the island; a pretext which could scarcely have

been alleged so long as I remained shut up in prison.

NOVEMBER 1808

One of the naval officers who embarked in La Semillante had served in the

expedition of captain Baudin; he took charge of a triplicate of my

memorial to the marine minister, and promised to use his efforts in

obtaining for it a powerful support. This triplicate was accompanied by

many letters, addressed to distinguished characters in the ministry, the

senate, in the council of state and the national institute; as well from

myself as from several worthy persons who interested themselves in the

issue of my detention. By this and another opportunity, I stated to the

Admiralty and the president of the Royal Society the circumstances

attending the order which had arrived; and from these various steps

united, my friends in Mauritius conceived the hope of a success almost

certain; but from having been so often deceived I was less sanguine, and

saw only that if this memorial and these letters failed, there was little

hope of being restored to liberty before the uncertain epoch of peace.

1809

Constant occupation was, as usual, my resource to beguile the time until

the effect of the memorial and letters could be known. Being furnished by

some friends with several manuscript travels and journals in the

interior, and along the coasts of Madagascar, I constructed a chart of

the northern half of that extensive island, accompanied with an

analytical account of my materials; and in this employment, reading

various French authors, mathematical studies, and visiting occasionally

some of the inhabitants within my circle, this time of anxious suspense

passed not unprofitably. In the month of March [MARCH 1809] arrived the

frigate La Venus, captain Hamelin, the same who had commanded Le

Naturaliste at Port Jackson. His affairs, or some other cause, prevented

him from seeing or writing to me; but he told M. Pitot that many persons

took an interest in my situation, and that several officers of Le

Géographe and Naturaliste had made applications to the marine minister.

The answers they received had constantly been, that orders were sent out

to Mauritius to set me at liberty and restore the Cumberland; yet it was

known in France before captain Hamelin sailed, that these orders had not

been executed, and the future intentions of the government were unknown.

The publication of the French voyage of discovery, written by M. Peron,

was in great forwardness; and the emperor Napoléon considering it to be a

national work, had granted a considerable sum to render the publication

complete. From a Moniteur of July 1808, it appeared that French names

were given to all my discoveries and those of captain Grant on the south

coast of Terra Australis; it was kept out of sight that I had ever been

upon the coast; and in speaking of M. Peron's first volume the newspapers

asserted, that no voyage _ever_ made by the English nation could be

compared with that of the Géographe and Naturaliste. It may be

remembered, that after exploring the South Coast up to Kangaroo Island,

with the two gulphs, I met captain Baudin, and gave him the first

information of these places and of the advantages they offered him; and

it was but an ill return to seek to deprive me of the little honour

attending the discovery. No means were spared by the French government to

enhance the merit of this voyage, and all the officers employed in it had

received promotion; but the Investigator's voyage seemed to obtain as

little public notice in England as in France, no one of my officers had

been advanced on their arrival, and in addition to so many years of

imprisonment my own promotion was suspended. It would ill become me to

say that in one case there was an ostentatious munificence, or in the

other, injustice and neglect; but the extreme difference made between the

two voyages could not but add to the bitterness of my situation, and

diminish the little remaining hope of being speedily and honourably

liberated.

A vessel from St. Malo arrived in May, and gave information that one of

the ships which carried a duplicate of my memorial to the marine

minister, had reached France; and in a few days La Bellone, a frigate in

which the brother of the captain-general was an officer, got into Port

Louis; she had sailed in the end of January and brought despatches, but

if the general received any new order by this or the former vessel, it

was kept to himself. In June the English cruisers sent in a flag of truce

with a French lady, taken in L'Agile from St. Malo; this lady brought

many letters, in some of which the arrival in France of La Semillante was

mentioned; also that Bonaparte was at Paris when L'Agile sailed, and that

the naval officer who carried the last copy of my memorial had been

promoted and made a member of the legion of honour. I did now certainly

entertain hopes that general De Caen would have received an order to set

me at liberty, and that no further pretext for prolonging my detention

would be admitted; but week after week passed as before, without any

intimation of this so much desired event.

JULY 1809

There was reason to believe that a direct application to know whether any

order had arrived, would obtain no answer; therefore after waiting a

month, I wrote to ask "whether His Excellency would permit my wife to

come and join me, should she present herself before Port Napoléon." It

was not in reality my intention that she should leave England, but I

hoped to draw the desired information from the answer; and in six weeks

[SEPTEMBER 1809], after another vessel had arrived from France, one was

given to the following effect: "The captain-general will not oppose the

residence of your wife in the colony; but with respect to a safe conduct,

it is necessary that Mrs. Flinders should apply to the ministers of His

Britannic Majesty, who should make the request to those of His Majesty

the Emperor and King;" which was equivalent to saying, either that no

fresh order to set me at liberty had been received, or that it would not

be put into execution.

At this time there was much talk of an attack upon the island, said to be

projected by the British government; and all the English officers,

prisoners of war, were taken from their paroles and closely shut up. In

the middle of the month our cruisers quitted the island unexpectedly, and

a fortnight afterwards it was known that they gone to Bourbon, and made

an attack upon the town of St. Paul; both the town and bay were then in

their possession, as also La Coraline frigate and two Indiamen her

prizes, upon which this government had counted for supplying its

deficiency of revenue. During the attack, great disorders had been

committed by the black slaves, and the humane care of commodore Rowley

and his captains had alone prevented greater excesses; this intelligence

put a stop to the raising of regiments of slaves for the defence of

Mauritius, which the captain-general had commenced under the name of

African battalions, much against the sense of the inhabitants. These

various circumstances, with the distress of the government for money,

caused much agitation in the public mind; and it was to be apprehended

that general De Caen would scarcely suffer me to remain with the usual

degree of liberty, whilst all the other prisoners were shut up. I

endeavoured by great circumspection to give no umbrage, in order to avoid

the numberless inconveniences of a close imprisonment; but in the

beginning of October [OCTOBER 1809] a letter came from colonel Monistrol,

saying that "His Excellency the captain-general having learned that I

sometimes went to a considerable distance from the habitation of Madame

D'Arifat, had thought proper to restrain my permission to reside in the

interior of the colony on parole, to the lands composing that

habitation." This order showed that the general had either no distinct

idea of a parole of honour, or that his opinion of it differed widely

from that commonly received; a parole is usually thought to be a

convention, whereby, in order to obtain a certain portion of liberty, an

officer promises not to take any greater; but general De Caen seemed to

expect me to be bound by the convention, whilst he withdrew such portion

of the advantages as he thought proper, and this without troubling

himself about my consent. If any doubts remained that the order of the

French government had in strict justice liberated me from parole, this

infraction by the captain-general was sufficient to do them away;

nevertheless the same reasons which had prevented me declaring this

conviction long before, restrained the declaration at this time; and I

returned the following answer to colonel Monistrol, written in French

that no pretext of bad translation might afterwards be alleged.

Sir,

Yesterday at noon I had the honour of receiving your letter of the 1st.

inst. It is true that I have sometimes profited by the permission

contained in the parole which I had given (que j'avais donnée) on Aug 23,

1805, by which I was allowed to go as far as two leagues from the

plantation of Madame D'Arifat; but since His Excellency the

captain-general has thought good to make other regulations, I shall

endeavour to conduct myself with so much prudence respecting the orders

now given, that His Excellency will not have any just cause of complaint

against me.

I have the honour to be, etc.

The two objects I had in view in giving this answer, were, to promise

nothing in regard to my movements, and to avoid close imprisonment if it

could be done without dishonour; had it been demanded whether I still

considered the parole to be in force, my answer was perfectly ready and

very short, but no such question was asked. Many circumstances had given

room to suspect, that the captain-general secretly desired I should

attempt an escape; and his view in it might either have been to some

extraordinary severity, or in case his spies failed of giving timely

information, to charging me with having broken parole and thus to throw a

veil over his own injustice. Hence it might have been that he did not

seek to know whether, being restricted to the plantation of Madame

D'Arifat, I still admitted the obligatory part of the parole to be

binding; and that the expression in my answer--_the parole which I had

given_, implying that it existed no longer, passed without question.

However this might be, I thenceforward declined accepting any invitations

beyond the immediate neighbourhood of the plantation; and until the

decisive moment should arrive, amused by solitude with instructing the

two younger sons of our good family in the elements of mathematical

science, with inventing problems and calculating tables that might be

useful to navigation, and in reading the most esteemed French authors.

After the evacuation of the town and bay of St. Paul at Bourbon, the

blockade of Mauritius was resumed by commodore Rowley with increased

strictness. The frigate La Canonnière and the prize formerly H. M. ship

Laurel, which the want of a few thousand dollars had induced the

government to let for freight to the merchants, were thus prevented

sailing; and a cartel fitted long before to carry the English prisoners

to the Cape of Good Hope, and waiting only, as was generally supposed,

for the departure of these two ships, was delayed in consequence. When

captains Woolcombe and Lynne of the navy had been desired in August to

keep themselves in readiness, I had committed to the obliging care of the

latter many letters for England, and one for admiral Bertie at the Cape;

but instead of being sent away, these officers with the others were put

into close confinement, and their prospects retarded until the hurricane

season, when it was expected the island would have a respite from our

cruisers.

DECEMBER 1809

In the beginning of December, despatches were said to have arrived from

France, and the marine minister having received my memorial in the early

part of the year, full time had been given to send out a fresh order; but

disappointment on such arrivals had been so constant during greater part

of the six years to which my imprisonment was now prolonged, that I did

not at this time think it worth asking a question on the subject. A

British cartel, the Harriet, arrived from India on the 12th, with the

officers of La Piémontaise and La Jena; the Harriet was commanded by Mr.

John Ramsden, formerly confined with me in the Garden Prison, and the

commissary of prisoners was Hugh Hope, Esq., whom Lord Minto had

particularly sent to negotiate an exchange with general De Caen. The

cartel had been stopped at the entrance of the port by the blockading

squadron, and been permitted to come in only at the earnest request of

Mr. Hope and the parole of the prisoners to go out again with him should

the exchange be refused. In a few days I received an open letter from Mr.

Stock, the former commissary; and having learned that Mr. Hope proposed

to use his endeavours for my release, a copy of all the letters to and

from colonel Monistrol, subsequent to the marine minister's order, was

transmitted, that he might be better enabled to take his measures with

effect; and towards the end of the month, a letter from the commissary

informed me of the very favourable reception he had met with from the

captain-general, of the subject of my liberty having been touched upon,

and of his entertaining hopes of a final success. The flattering

reception given to Mr. Hope had been remarked to me with surprise from

several hands; but a long experience of general De Caen prevented any

faith in the success of his application for my release: I feared that Mr.

Hope's wishes had caused him to interpret favourably some softened

expressions of the general, which he would in the end find to merit no

sort of confidence.

JANUARY 1810

La Venus frigate, after her exploit at Tappanouli, got into the Black

River on the first of January, notwithstanding the presence of our

cruisers; she had on board a part of the 69th regiment, with the officers

and passengers of the Windham, including five ladies, and announced the

capture of two other ships belonging to the East-India Company; and two

days afterward, the frigates La Manche and La Bellone entered Port Louis

with the United Kingdom and Charleston, the Portuguese frigate Minerva,

and His Majesty's sloop Victor (formerly La Jena). This was a most

provoking sight to commodore Rowley, whom baffling winds and his position

off the Black River prevented stopping them; whilst the joy it produced

in the island, more especially amongst the officers of the government who

had been many months without pay, was excessive. The ordinary sources of

revenue and emolument were nearly dried up, and to have recourse to the

merchants for a loan was impossible, the former bills upon the French

treasury, drawn it was said for three millions of livres, remaining in

great part unpaid; and to such distress was the captain-general reduced

for ways and means, that he had submitted to ask a voluntary contribution

in money, wheat, maize, or any kind of produce from the half-ruined

colonists. Promises of great reform in the administration were made at

that time; and it was even said to have been promised, that if pecuniary

succour did not arrive in six months, the captain-general would retire

and leave the inhabitants to govern themselves; and had the frigates not

returned, or returned without prizes, it seemed probable that such must

have been the case.*

[* According to information from various sources, the prizes brought to

Mauritius were disposed of in this manner. The proceeds went first into

the hands of the government, which took ten per cent. as a duty upon the

sales, and afterwards one-third of the remainder as its proper right.

Sixty per cent. remained for the captors, but the necessities of the

state being generally urgent, it took thirty more, giving bills for the

amount on the treasury of France; and for the remaining portion, it was

parted with so reluctantly that the inferior officers and seamen were

seldom able to obtain a dollar; but they were offered other bills, and

these they were glad to sell for almost any thing to the inhabitants.

This was the distribution to the frigates; the prizes brought in by

privateers were not so profitable to the government, its claims being

limited, I believe, to the ten per cent. duty and one-third of the

remainder.]

The hurricane season was now arrived; and the Canonnière and Laurel

having taken advantage of our cruisers being at a little distance to get

out at night, the British squadron abandoned the island. Expecting then

that the cartel for the Cape of Good Hope would be sent away, I augmented

the number of letters for England and the Cape in the hands of captain

Lynne; and transmitted to him the greater part of my books and clothes,

which he had the goodness to send on board with his own. So many vessels

had arrived from France, and amongst them two during this month of

January, without producing any fresh information, that almost all hope

from my memorial to the marine minister had ceased; and should the

captain-general send me in this cartel, contrary to expectation, then my

effects were already on board. She sailed on the 29th, with captains

Woolcombe and Lynne and the commanders of the Company's ships Windham,

Charleston and United Kingdom, and their officers; captain W. Owen of the

Sea Flower and the remaining English officers were reserved for the

Bengal cartel, commanded by Mr. Ramsden; and with respect to the seamen

and soldiers, a part only of the crews of the Laurel and Sea Flower, and

of the 69th regiment were left, many of them having been seduced from

their allegiance to enlist in the French service.

CHAPTER IX.

A prospect of liberty, which is officially confirmed.

Occurrences during eleven weeks residence in the town of Port Louis

and on board the Harriet cartel.

Parole and certificates.

Departure from Port Louis, and embarkation in the Otter.

Eulogium on the inhabitants of Mauritius.

Review of the conduct of general De Caen.

Passage to the Cape of Good Hope, and after seven weeks stay,

from thence to England.

Conclusion.

[AT MAURITIUS. WILHEMS PLAINS.]

JANUARY 1810

The French cartel for the Cape of Good Hope had sailed two days when a

packet boat arrived with despatches from Bayonne, and from the unusual

degree of secrecy observed respecting them, some persons were willing to

suppose that orders to set me at liberty formed part of their contents;

of this, the most prudent mode to gain information was to wait patiently

for the sailing of the English cartel for India, when my embarkation

therein or being again left the sole British prisoner in the island,

would afford a practical solution of the question. In the time of waiting

for this event, I revised some notes upon the magnetism of the earth and

of ships, and considered the experiments necessary to elucidate the

opinions formed from observations made in the Investigator; and I was

thus occupied when, on March 13th [MARCH 1810], a letter came from Mr.

Hope, the commissary of prisoners, to inform me that he had obtained the

captain-general's promise for my liberty, and departure from the island

with him in the Harriet. This unhoped for intelligence would have

produced excessive joy, had not experience taught me to distrust even the

promises of the general; and especially when, as in the present case,

there was no cause assigned for this change in his conduct.

I dared not therefore allow my imagination to contemplate a meeting with

my family and friends as likely to soon take place, nor to dwell upon any

subject altogether English; the same preparation however was made for a

departure, as if this promise were expected to be fulfilled. It was

reported that the Harriet would sail within a fortnight after two

frigates and a sloop should have gone out upon a cruise; and as these

ships sailed on the 14th, the official information of my liberty, if

really granted, might be expected daily.

It will be believed that I sought on all hands to learn whether any thing

had transpired from the government to bespeak an intention of suffering

me to go in the cartel; but it was without success, and every person

endeavoured to discourage the hope, with a friendly design of softening

another probable disappointment. They argued, that for general De Caen to

let me go at this time, when I knew so much of the island and an attack

upon it was expected, would be to contradict all the reasons hitherto

given for my detention; and therefore, that unless he had received a new

and positive order, he could not with any degree of consistency set me at

liberty. This state of suspense, between hope and apprehension, continued

until the 28th, when an express from the town, sent by M. Pitot, brought

the following welcome information from colonel Monistrol.

His Excellency the captain-general charges me to have the honour of

informing you, that he authorises you to return to your country in the

cartel Harriet, on condition of not serving in a hostile manner against

France or its allies during the course of the present war.

Receive, I pray you, Sir, the assurance of the pleasure I have in making

you this communication, and of the sentiments of perfect consideration

with which I have the honour to be, etc.

P. S. The cartel is to sail on Saturday next (31st.)

Being then satisfied of the intention to permit my return to England,

though the cause of it was involved in mystery, I visited our immediate,

and still almost incredulous neighbours, to take leave of them; and wrote

letters to the principal of those more distant inhabitants, whose

kindness demanded my gratitude. Early next morning a red flag with a

pendant under it, showing one or more of our ships to be cruising before

the port, was hoisted upon the signal hills; this was an unwelcome sight,

for it had been an invariable rule to let no cartel or neutral vessel go

out, so long as English ships were before the island. I however took

leave of the benevolent and respectable family which had afforded me an

asylum during four years and a half; and on arriving at my friend Pitot's

in the town, was met by Messrs. Hope and Ramsden, neither of whom knew

any other reason for setting me at liberty than that the captain-general

had granted it to Mr. Hope's solicitations.

[AT MAURITIUS. PORT LOUIS.]

On waiting upon colonel Monistrol on the 30th, it appeared that nothing

had been done relative to the Cumberland, or to returning what had been

taken away, particularly the third volume of my log book so often before

mentioned; he promised however to take the captain-general's pleasure

upon these subjects, and to repeat my offer of making and signing any

extracts from the book which His Excellency might desire to preserve. In

the evening I had the pleasure to meet a large party of my countrymen and

women, at a dinner given by M. Foisy, president of the Society of

Emulation; and from the difficulty of speaking English after a cessation

of four years, I then became convinced of the possibility of a man's

forgetting his own language.

APRIL 1810

There were lying in port two Dutch and one American vessel, with a number

of Frenchmen on board, whom marshal Daendels, governor of the remaining

Dutch possessions in the East, had engaged to officer some new regiments

of Malays; these vessels waited only for the absence of our cruisers to

go to Batavia; and that we might not give information of them was the

alleged cause for detaining the cartel all the month of April, our

squadron keeping so close off the port that they dared not venture out.

MAY 1810

On May 2, captain Willoughby of the Néréide made a descent upon the south

side of the island, at Port Jacotet; where he cut out L'Estafette packet

boat, spiked the guns of the fort, carried off the officer with two field

pieces, and M. Etienne Bolger, commandant of the quarter of La Savanne,

the same who had acted so ungraciously on my arrival at the Baye du Cap.

This _sullying of the French territory_ produced a fulminating

proclamation from general De Caen, nearly similar in terms to that of the

emperor Napoléon after the descent at Walcheren; its effect on the

inhabitants, however, was not much, for on asking some of them what they

thought of this second-hand gasconade, the reply was, "Oh it is not to

us, it is to Bonaparte that the proclamation is addressed;" meaning that

it was a bait to catch his approbation. Three days afterwards a flag of

truce was sent out to negotiate an exchange for M. Bolger and the officer

who had commanded the fort, for whom twenty soldiers of the 69th regiment

were given; we afterwards learned that a proposal had been made to let

the cartel sail, provided the squadron would suffer her to pass without

being visited; but to this arrangement captain Pym, the then senior

officer, refused his consent.

An order was given on the 8th for all the British officers to embark in

the cartel, and we hoped to sail immediately; but the merchants of the

town presented a petition to the captain-general for a delay, lest we

might give information of the expected arrival of some ships from France.

Our cruisers were stationed purposely to stop every French vessel,

whether going in or out, and this petition therefore seemed to be

ridiculous; it appeared however to be complied with, for we not only were

prevented sailing, but denied all communication with the inhabitants for

several weeks; and the five ladies on board were as much subjected to

these restrictions as the officers. The French cartel returned from the

Cape of Good Hope on the 10th, with exchanged prisoners; and the former

reports of a projected attack on Mauritius and Bourbon were so strongly

revived that general De Caen made a tour of the island, in order, as was

said, to have batteries erected at all the landing places without

defence, and to strengthen the existing fortifications. On the 18th, an

exchange was made with the squadron of sixteen soldiers and people out of

the prison on shore, for the commander and some others of L'Estafette;

but nothing transpired relative to the sailing of the cartel.

JUNE 1810

June 2, a salute of twenty-one guns was fired to celebrate the marriage

of the French emperor with the princess Maria Louisa of Austria. This

intelligence, accompanied with that of the capture of La Canonniere, was

brought by a ship from Bourdeaux, which had succeeded in getting into the

Black River, as had L'Atrée frigate some weeks before. The entrance of

these vessels at the time that five or six of our ships were cruising

round the island, affords additional proof of the impossibility of

blockading it effectually, without a much more extensive force than so

small a spot can be thought to deserve. Mauritius owes this advantage

principally to its numerous hills; from whence vessels at sea are

informed by signal of the situation of the cruisers, and are thus enabled

to avoid them.

On the 7th, a parole made out by the English interpreter was brought on

board for me to sign; and at daylight of the 18th a pilot came to take

the cartel out of harbour, and we received forty-six seamen of the Sea

Flower and soldiers of the 69th; my sword was then delivered back, and

the following duplicate of the parole was given, with a certificate

annexed from colonel Monistrol.

I undersigned, captain in His Britannic Majesty's navy, having obtained

leave of His Excellency the captain-general to return in my country by

the way of Bengal, promise on my word of honour not to act in any service

which might be considered as directly or indirectly hostile to France or

its allies, during the course of the present war.

Matthew Flinders.

Je soussigné certifie que monsieur Mathieu Flinders, capitaine des

vaisseaux de Sa Majesté Britannique, a obtenu l'autorisation de Son

Excellence le capitaine-général De Caen de retourner dans sa patrie, aux

conditions énoncées ci-dessus, dont le double est resté entre mes mains.

Au Port Napoléon, Isle de France, le 7 Juin 1810.

L'adjutant commt., chef de l'état-major-gen.

(Signed) Monistrol.

I had much feared to be laid under the obligation of going to India, and

of thus losing some months of time and incurring a considerable and

useless expense; but although the parole expresses the "having obtained

leave to return by the way of Bengal," neither the part containing my

promise nor the certificate of colonel Monistrol specified any particular

route; and the officer of the staff who delivered this duplicate, said he

supposed I should not lose time in going to India, but proceed to the

Cape in the first vessel sent in by the squadron.

Frequent mention has been made of attempts to procure back the third

volume of my journal, the sole book remaining in the hands of the

captain-general. Twice during my residence in the town these attempts had

been renewed, but with no better effect than were my applications

respecting the Cumberland; nor would certificates be given of the refusal

either of these objects or of the Port-Jackson despatches. I therefore

requested Mr. Hope to certify the steps which had been taken, that the

Admiralty and Secretary of State might be satisfied of every thing in my

power having been done; and this he did in the following terms.

This is to certify to whomsoever it may concern, that after having

succeeded in executing that part of the instructions of His Excellency

lord Minto, governor-general of British India, relating to the liberation

of Matthew Flinders, Esq., late commander of His Majesty's ship

Investigator, who had been detained more than six years in the Isle of

France, I did, at the request of captain Flinders, make a personal

application to His Excellency general De Caen for the third volume of the

log book of his voyage of discovery, which that officer represented to be

still kept from him by His Excellency. That the answer to this was a

positive refusal, both of the book and of permission to take a copy of

it; and the reason given for this refusal was, that captain F. _not being

set at liberty in consequence of any orders from France_, every thing

relating to this log book and to his little schooner Cumberland must

remain to be settled between the French and British governments in

Europe.

I do further certify that captain Flinders did, in my presence, apply to

the chief of the staff in the Isle of France, for certificates of the

above log book and schooner being refused to be given up; and also for a

certificate of two boxes of despatches having been taken on his arrival

in this island, in December 1803, and that I have since made a similar

application to the same officer for the said certificates; but which have

been refused for the same alleged reason as before given to me by His

Excellency the captain-general De Caen.

Witness my hand on board the Harriet cartel, in Port Napoléon,

Isle of France, this 9th of June 1810.

(Signed) H. HOPE,

Commissary and agent of the British government in India

for the exchange of prisoners.

It may probably be asked, what could be general De Caen's object in

refusing throughout to give up this log book, or to suffer any copy to be

taken? I can see no other reasonable one, than that the statements from

it, sent to the French government as reasons for detaining me a prisoner,

might have been partial and mutilated extracts; and he did not choose to

have his accusations disproved by the production either of the original

or an authentic copy. Besides this book and the little schooner, I lost a

cask containing pieces of rock collected from different parts of Terra

Australis, the two spy-glasses taken in the Garden Prison, and various

small articles belonging to myself; but I was too happy at the prospect

of getting out of the island to make any difficulty upon these heads.

[OFF MAURITIUS.]

On the same morning that the pilot came on board, the anchors were

weighed; but in swinging out, the ship touched the ground, and hung till

past four in the afternoon. During this time we saw L'Estafette coming in

with a flag of truce from the squadron; and the boat that went to meet

her was returning when the cartel had floated off, and sail was made. We

were a good deal alarmed at what might be the subject of L'Estafette's

communication, and particularly anxious to get without side of the port

before any counter order should come from the general; at sunset it was

effected, the French pilot left us, and after a captivity of six years,

five months and twenty-seven days, I at length had the inexpressible

pleasure of being out of the reach of general De Caen.

Three frigates and a sloop of war composed the squadron cruising before

the port; but instead of coming to speak us for information, as was

expected, we observed them standing away to the southward; a proceeding

which could be reconciled only upon the supposition, that commodore

Rowley had sent in an offer not to communicate with the cartel. This was

too important an affair to me to be let pass without due inquiry; my

endeavours were therefore used with Mr. Ramsden, the commander, to induce

him to run down to the ships; and this was done, on finding they

persisted in stretching to the southward. At nine o'clock Mr. Ramsden

went in a boat to the Boadicea, but was desired to keep off; a letter was

handed to him for the commissary, containing a copy of one sent in by

L'Estafette, wherein it was proposed, if general De Caen would suffer the

cartel to sail, that she should not be visited by any ship under the

commodore's orders. Mr. Hope replied that the cartel had not come out in

consequence of this proposal, nor had the boat reached the shore at the

time; and this point being clearly ascertained, a communication was

opened, and I applied for a passage to the Cape of Good Hope. It happened

fortunately, that the Otter sloop of war was required to go there

immediately with despatches; and the commodore having satisfied himself

that no engagement of the commissary opposed it, complied with my

request. Next day I took leave of Mr. Hope, to whose zeal and address I

owed so much, and wished my companions in the cartel, with her worthy

commander, a good voyage; and after dining with commodore Rowley,

embarked in the evening on board the Otter with captain Tomkinson.

On bidding adieu to Mauritius, it is but justice to declare that during

my long residence in the island, as a marked object of suspicion to the

government, the kind attention of the inhabitants who could have access

to me was invariable; never, in any place, or amongst any people, have I

seen more hospitality and attention to strangers--more sensibility to

the misfortunes of others, of what ever nation, than here--than I have

myself experienced in Mauritius. To the names of the two families whose

unremitting kindness formed a great counterpoise to the protracted

persecution of their governor, might be added a long list of others whose

endeavours were used to soften my captivity; and who sought to alleviate

the chagrin which perhaps the strongest minds cannot but sometimes feel

in the course of years, when reflecting on their far-distant families and

friends, on their prospects in life indefinitely suspended, and their

hopes of liberty and justice followed by continual disappointment; and to

the honour of the inhabitants in general be it spoken, that many who knew

no more than my former employment and my misfortunes, sought to render me

service by such ways as seemed open to them. The long continuation and

notorious injustice of my imprisonment had raised a sensation more strong

and widely extended than I could believe, before arriving at Port Louis

to embark in the cartel; when the number of persons who sought to be

introduced, for the purpose of offering their felicitations upon this

unexpected event, confirmed what had been before said by my friends; and

afforded a satisfactory proof that even arbitrary power, animated by

strong national prejudice, though it may turn aside or depress for a

time, cannot yet extinguish in a people the broad principles of justice

and humanity generally prevalent in the human heart.

Some part of my desire to ascertain the motives which influenced general

De Caen to act so contrary to the passport of the first consul, and to

the usages adopted towards voyages of discovery, may perhaps be felt by

the reader; and he may therefore not be displeased to see the leading

points in his conduct brought into one view, in order to deducing

therefrom some reasonable conclusion.

On arriving at Mauritius after the shipwreck, and producing my passport

and commission, the captain-general accused me of being an impostor; took

possession of the Cumberland with the charts and journals of my voyage,

and made me a close prisoner. On the following day, without any previous

change of conduct or offering an explanation, he invited me to his table.

All other books and papers were taken on the fourth day, and my

imprisonment confirmed; the alleged cause for it being the expression in

my journal of a desire to become acquainted with _the periodical winds,

the port, and present state of the colony_, which it was asserted were

contrary to the passport; though it was not said that I knew of the war

when the desire was expressed.

After three months seclusion as a _spy_, I was admitted to join the

prisoners of war, and in twenty months to go into the interior of the

island, on _parole_; I there had liberty to range two leagues all round,

and was unrestricted either from seeing any person within those limits or

writing to any part of the world. It might be thought, that the most

certain way of counteracting my desire to gain information alleged to be

contrary to the passport, would have been _to send me from the island_;

but general De Caen took the contrary method, and kept me there above six

years.

His feeling for my situation, and desire to receive orders from the

French marine minister had been more than once expressed, when at the end

of three years and a half, he sent official information that the

government granted my liberty and the restitution of the Cumberland; and

this was accompanied with the promise, that I, so soon as circumstances

would permit, I should fully enjoy the favour which had been granted me

by His Majesty the Emperor and "King;" yet, after a delay of _fifteen

months_, an application was answered by saying, "that having communicated

to His Excellency the marine minister the motives which had determined

him to suspend my return to Europe, he could not authorize my departure

before having received an answer upon the subject;" in twenty months

more, however, he let me go, and declared to Mr. commissary Hope that it

was _not in consequence of any orders from France_.

When first imprisoned in 1803, for having expressed a wish to learn the

present state of the colony, there was no suspicion of any projected

attack upon it; in 1810, preparations of defence were making against an

attack almost immediately expected, and there were few circumstances

relating to the island in which I was not as well informed as the

generalitv of the inhabitants; then it was, after giving me the

opportunity of becoming acquainted with the town and harbour of Port

Louis, that general De Caen suffered me to go away in a ship bound to the

place whence the attack was expected, and without laying any restriction

upon my communications.

Such are the leading characteristics of the conduct pursued by His

Excellency general De Caen, and they will be admitted to be so far

contradictory as to make the reconciling them with any uniform principle

a difficult task; with the aid however of various collateral

circumstances, of opinions entertained by well informed people, and of

facts which transpired in the shape of opinions, I will endeavour to give

some insight into his policy; requesting the reader to bear in mind that

much of what is said must necessarily depend upon conjecture.

After the peace of Amiens, general De Caen went out to Pondicherry as

captain-general of all the French possessions to the east of the Cape of

Good Hope; he had a few troops and a number of extra officers, some of

whom appear to have been intended for seapoy regiments proposed to be

raised, and others for the service of the Mahrattas. The plan of

operations in India was probably extensive, but the early declaration of

war by England put a stop to them, and obliged His Excellency to abandon

the brilliant prospect of making a figure in the annals of the East; he

then came to Mauritius, exclaiming against the perfidy of the British

government, and with a strong dislike, if not hatred to the whole nation.

I arrived about three months subsequent to this period, and the day after

M. Barrois had been sent on board Le Géographe with despatches for

France; which transaction being contrary to the English passport, and

subjecting the ship to capture, if known, it was resolved to detain me a

short time, and an embargo was laid upon all neutral ships for ten days.

It would appear that the report of the commandant at La Savanne gave some

suspicion of my identity, which was eagerly adopted as a cause of

detention; I was therefore accused at once of imposture, closely

confined, and my books, papers, and vessel seized. Next day another

report arrived from La Savanne, that of major Dunienville; from which,

and the examination I had just undergone, it appeared that the accusation

of imposture was untenable; an invitation to go to the general's table

was then sent me, no suspicion being entertained that this condescension

to an Englishman, and to an officer of inferior rank, might not be

thought an equivalent for what had passed. My refusal of the intended

honour until set at liberty, so much exasperated the captain-general that

he determined to make me repent it; and a wish to be acquainted with the

present state of Mauritius being found in my journal, it was fixed upon

as a pretext for detaining me until orders should arrive from France, by

which an imprisonment of at least twelve months was insured. The first

motive for my detention therefore arose from the infraction previously

made of the English passport, by sending despatches in Le Géographe; and

the probable cause of its being prolonged beyond what seems to have been

originally intended, was to punish me for refusing the invitation to

dinner.

The marine minister's letter admits little doubt that general De Caen

knew, on the return of his brother-in-law in January 1805, that the

council of state at Paris, though approving of his conduct, proposed

granting my liberty and the restitution of the Cumberland; and he must

have expected by every vessel to receive orders to that effect; but

punishment had not yet produced a sufficient degree of humiliation to

make him execute such an order willingly. When the exchange was made with

commodore Osborn in the following August, it became convenient to let me

quit the Garden Prison, in order to take away the sentinels; captain

Bergeret also, who as a prisoner in India had been treated with

distinction, strongly pressed my going into the country; these

circumstances alone might possibly have induced the captain-general to

take the parole of one who had been detained as a spy; but his subsequent

conduct leaves a strong suspicion that he proposed to make the portion of

liberty, thus granted as a favour, subservient to evading the expected

order from France, should such a measure be then desirable. At length the

order arrived, and three years and a half of detention had not produced

any very sensible effect on his prisoner; the execution of it was

therefore suspended, until another reference should be made to the

government and an answer returned. What was the subject of this reference

could not be known, but there existed in the island only one conjecture;

that from having had such a degree of liberty during near two years, I

had acquired a knowledge of the colony which made it unsafe to permit my

departure.

Extensive wars were at this time carrying on in Europe, the French arms

were victorious, and general De Caen saw his former companions becoming

counts, dukes, and marshals of the empire, whilst he remained an untitled

general of division; he and his officers, as one of them told me, then

felt themselves little better circumstanced than myself--than prisoners

in an almost forgotten speck of the globe, with their promotion

suspended. Rumours of a premeditated attack at length reached the island,

which it was said the captain-general heard with pleasure; and it was

attributed to the prospect of making military levies on the inhabitants,

and increasing his authority by the proclamation of martial law; but if I

mistake not, the general's pleasure arose from more extended views and a

more permanent source. If the island were attacked and he could repulse

the English forces, distinction would follow; if unsuccessful, a

capitulation would restore him to France and the career of advancement.

An attack was therefore desirable; and as the captain-general probably

imagined that an officer who had been six years a prisoner, and whose

liberty had been so often requested by the different authorities in

India, would not only be anxious to forward it with all his might, but

that his representations would be attended to, the pretexts before

alleged for my imprisonment and the answer from France were waved; and

after passing six weeks in the town of Port Louis and five on board a

ship in the harbour, from which I had before been debarred, he suffered

me to depart in a cartel bound to the place where the attack was publicly

said to be in meditation. This is the sole motive which, upon a review of

the general's conduct, I can assign for being set at liberty so

unexpectedly, and without any restriction upon my communications; and if

such a result to an attack upon Mauritius were foreseen by the present

count De Caen, captain-general of Catalonia, events have proved that he

was no mean calculator. But perhaps this, as well as the preceding

conjectures on his motives may be erroneous; if so, possibly the count

himself, or some one on the part of the French government may give a more

correct statement--one which may not only reconcile the facts here

brought together, but explain many lesser incidents which have been

omitted from fear of tiring the patience of the reader.

[CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.]

I thought it a happy concurrence of circumstances, that on the same day

we quitted Port Louis in the cartel, the arrival of a frigate from India

should require commodore Rowley to despatch the Otter to the Cape of Good

Hope. Captain Tomkinson took his departure on the 14th at nine in the

evening, from Cape Brabant, with a fresh trade wind and squally weather;

at noon next day the island Bourbon was in sight, and the breakers on the

south-east end distinguishable from the deck; but thick clouds obscured

all the hills. The winds from south-east and north-east carried us to the

latitude 27° and longitude 49°; they were afterwards variable, and

sometimes foul for days together, and we did not make the coast of Africa

until the 3rd of July [JULY 1810]. Being then in latitude 34° 52' and

longitude 25½°, the hills were descried at the distance of twenty leagues

to the northward; and the water being remarkably smooth, the lead was

hove, but no bottom found at 200 fathoms. A continuance of western winds

obliged us to work along the greater part of the coast, and Cape Agulhas

was not seen before the 10th; we then had a strong breeze at S. E., and

Cape Hanglip being distinguished at dusk, captain Tomkinson steered up

False Bay, and anchored at eleven at night in 22 fathoms, sandy bottom.

In this passage of twenty-six days from Mauritius, the error in dead

reckoning amounted to 1° 18' south and 2° 21' west, which might be

reasonably attributed to the current.

On the 11th we ran into Simon's Bay, and captain Tomkinson set off

immediately for Cape Town with his despatches to vice-admiral Bertie and

His Excellency the earl of Caledon; he took also a letter from me to the

admiral, making application, conformably to my instructions, for the

earliest passage to England; and requesting, if any circumstance should

place general De Caen within his power, that he would be pleased to

demand my journal from him, and cause it to be transmitted to the

Admiralty. I went on shore next morning and waited upon colonel sir

Edward Butler, the commanding officer at Simon's Town; and learning that

an India packet had put into Table Bay, on her way to England, made

preparation for going over on the following day. At noon, however, a

telegraphic signal expressed the admiral's desire to see me immediately;

and as the packet was expected to stop only a short time, I hoped it was

for the purpose of embarking in her, and hastened over with horses and a

dragoon guide furnished by the commandant; but to my mortification, the

packet was standing out of Table Bay at the time I alighted at the

admiral's door, and no other opportunity for England presented itself for

more than six weeks afterward.

During the tedious time of waiting at Cape Town for a passage, I received

much polite attention from His Excellency the earl of Caledon, and Mr.

Alexander, secretary to the colony; as also from the Hon. general Grey,

commander of the forces, commissioner Shield of the navy, and several

other civil and military officers of the Cape establishment. I made

little excursions to Constantia and in the neighbourhood of the town; but

feared to go into the interior of the country lest an opportunity, such

as that which the India packet had presented, might be lost. Towards the

latter end of August [AUGUST 1810], captain Parkinson of the army and

lieutenant Robb of the navy arrived from commodore Rowley's squadron,

with intelligence of the island Bourbon being captured; and a cutter

being ordered to convey them to England, I requested of the admiral and

obtained a passage in her.

SEPTEMBER 1810

We sailed from Simon's Bay on the 28th August, in the Olympia, commanded

by lieutenant Henry Taylor; and after a passage of fourteen days,

anchored in St. Helena road on the afternoon of September 11; and having

obtained water and a few supplies from the town, sailed again the same

night. On the 16th, passed close to the north side of Ascension, in the

hope of procuring a turtle should any vessel be lying there; but seeing

none, steered onward and crossed the Line on the 19th, in longitude 19½°

west. The trade wind shifted to the S. W. in latitude 5° north, and

continued to blow until we had reached abreast of the Cape-Verde Islands,

as it had done at the same time of year in 1801. At my recommendation

lieutenant Taylor did not run so far west as ships usually do in

returning to England, but passed the Cape-Verdes not further distant than

sixty leagues; we there met the north-east trade, and on the 29th Mr.

Taylor took the brig Atalante from Mauritius.

[IN ENGLAND]

OCTOBER 1810

On reaching the latitude 22¾° north and longitude 33° west, the

north-east trade veered to east and south-eastward, which enabled us to

make some easting; and being succeeded by north-west winds, we passed

within the Azores, and took a fresh departure from St. Mary's on the 15th

of October. Soundings in 75 fathoms were obtained on the 21st, at the

entrance of the English Channel; but it then blew a gale of wind from the

westward, and obliged us to lie to on this, as it did on the following

night; and it was greatly feared that the cutter would be driven on the

coast of France, near the Casket rocks. In the morning of the 23rd, the

wind being more moderate, we made sail to the northward, and got sight of

the Bill of Portland; and at five in the evening came to an anchor in

Studland Bay, off the entrance of Pool Harbour, after a run from St.

Helena of six weeks; which in an indifferent sailing vessel, very leaky,

and excessively ill found, must be considered an excellent passage.

Captain Parkinson and lieutenant Robb went off the same night with their

despatches; and next morning we ran through the Needles and came to at

Spithead, where the prize brig, from which we had been long separated,

had just before dropped her anchor. I went on shore to wait upon admiral

sir Roger Curtis, and the same evening set off for London; having been

absent from England nine years and three months, and nearly four years

and a half without intelligence from any part of my connexions.

The account of the Investigator's voyage, and of the events resulting

from it is concluded; but there is one or two circumstances which the

naval reader may probably desire to see further explained.

A regulation adopted at the Admiralty forbids any officer to be promoted

whilst a prisoner, upon the principle apparently, that officers in that

situation have almost always to undergo a court martial, which cannot be

done until they are set at liberty. My case was made subject to this

regulation, although it required no court martial; and was moreover so

different to that of prisoners in general, that nothing similar perhaps

ever occurred. In consequence of my French passport, not only was the

possibility of reaping any advantage from the war done away, but the

liberation on parole or by exchange, granted to all others in Mauritius,

was refused for years, the passport removing me from the class of

prisoners of war; yet one of the greatest hardships to officers of a

state of warfare was at the same time applied to me in England, and

continued throughout this protracted detention. So soon as it was known

that I had been released, and was arrived at the Cape of Good Hope, a

commission for post rank was issued; and on my representations to the

Right Hon. Charles Yorke, first lord commissioner of the Admiralty, by

whom I had the honour to be received with the condescension and feeling

natural to his character, he was pleased to direct that it should take

date as near to that of general De Caen's permission to quit Mauritius,

as the patent which constituted the existing Board of Admiralty would

allow. A more retrospective date could be given to it only by an order of

the King in council; unhappily His Majesty was then incapable of

exercising his royal functions; and when the Regency was established, my

proposed petition did not meet with that official encouragement which was

necessary to obtain success. It was candidly acknowledged, that my

services in the Investigator would have been deemed a sufficient title to

advancement in 1804, had I then arrived in England and the Admiralty been

composed of the same members; but no representation could overcome the

reluctance to admitting an exception to the established rule; thus the

injustice of the French governor of Mauritius, besides all its other

consequences, was attended with the loss of six years post rank in His

Majesty's naval service.

One of my first cares was to seek the means of relieving some relations

of my Mauritius friends, prisoners of war in England; and in a few

months, through the indulgence of the Admiralty and of the earl of

Liverpool, secretary of state for the colonies, I had the gratification

of sending five young men back to the island, to families who had shown

kindness to English prisoners.

The Board of Admiralty was pleased to countenance the publication of the

Investigator's voyage by providing for the charts and embellishments; and

a strong representation was made by its directions to the French

government, upon the subjects of my detained journal, the schooner

Cumberland, and the parole exacted on quitting Mauritius. A release from

the parole was transmitted in April 1812, after three applications; but

upon the other points it was answered, that "the vessel of captain

Flinders was at the Isle of France at the capitulation of that colony,

and returned in consequence to the power of the English government. With

respect to the journal of that navigator, as it did not make part of the

papers brought from the Isle of France by the prefect of that colony, a

demand has been made for it to the captain-general De Caen, who is with

the army. In default of an answer he will be again written to, and so

soon as it shall be remitted, my first object will be to send it." The

Cumberland had been seized in 1803, and the capitulation was made in

1810; in the interval, both vessel and stores, if not used, would be in

great part rotten; but I saw the Cumberland employed in the French

service, and believe that the stores were also. General De Caen, it

appeared, still kept the log book in his own hands; although, if

considered to be private property, it was undoubtedly mine, and if as a

public document it ought to have been given up at the capitulation, or at

least to have been deposited in the office of the marine minister. But

the captain-general had probably his reasons for not wishing even the

minister to see it; and up to this time, the commencement of 1814, he has

so far persevered against both public and private applications, that

neither the original nor a copy has been obtained.

APPENDIX I.

ACCOUNT OF THE OBSERVATIONS BY WHICH THE LONGITUDES OF PLACES ON THE

EAST AND NORTH COASTS OF TERRA AUSTRALIS HAVE BEEN SETTLED.

In the Appendix to Vol. I. a statement was made of the circumstances

under which the observations for settling the longitudes of places on the

South Coast were taken; as also of the method used in the calculations,

and the corrections applied more than what is usual in the common

practice at sea. That statement is equally applicable to the following

tables for the East and North Coasts, and the explanation of their

different columns is the same; a reference therefore to the former

Appendix will render unnecessary any further remark on these heads.

The first observations on the East Coast were taken at Port Jackson, and

the results would naturally form the first table of this Appendix; but

these observations being so intimately connected with those on the South

Coast that the time keepers could not receive their final corrections

without them, the Port-Jackson table became an indispensable conclusion

to the former series; and it is thought unnecessary to repeat it in this

place.

The following tables, set out in the book, are not reproduced in this

text version of _A Voyage to Terra Australis_--refer to the _html_

version, available from https://gutenberg.org.

Table I. (Reference from BOOK II Chapter I.)

LONGITUDE OF THE ANCHORAGE IN KEPPEL BAY.

Table II. (Reference from BOOK II Chapter III.)

LONGITUDE OF UPPER HEAD, IN BROAD SOUND.

Table III. (Reference from BOOK II Chapter VI.)

LONGITUDE OF SWEERS' ISLAND, GULPH OF CARPENTARIA.

Table IV. (Reference from BOOK II Chapter VII)

LONGITUDE OF OBSERVATION ISLAND, SIR E. PELLEW'S GROUP.

Table V. (Reference from BOOK II Chapter VIII.)

LONGITUDE OF FINCH'S ISLAND, IN N. W. BAY--GROOTE EYLANDT.

Table VI. (Reference from BOOK II Chapter VIII.)

LONGITUDE OF THE TENTS, IN CALEDON BAY.

Table VII. (Reference from BOOK II Chapter IX.)

LONGITUDE OF THE ANCHORAGE IN COEPANG BAY, TIMOR.

Table VIII. (Reference from BOOK III. Chapter II.)

LONGITUDE OF WRECK-REEF BANK, LYING OFF THE EAST COAST.

Table IX. (Reference from BOOK III. Chapter V.)

LONGITUDE OF THE GARDEN PRISON, 1' N. E. FROM PORT LOUIS--MAURITIUS.

APPENDIX II

ON THE ERRORS OF THE COMPASS ARISING FROM ATTRACTIONS WITHIN THE SHIP,

AND OTHERS FROM THE MAGNETISM OF LAND; WITH PRECAUTIONS FOR OBVIATING

THEIR EFFECTS IN MARINE SURVEYING.

[Not included in this ebook.]

APPENDIX III

GENERAL REMARKS, GEOGRAPHICAL AND SYSTEMATICAL, ON THE BOTANY OF TERRA

AUSTRALIS. BY ROBERT BROWN, F. R. S. ACAD. REG. SCIENT. BEROLIN.

CORRESP., NATURALIST TO THE VOYAGE.

A LIST OF PLANTS NATIVE BOTH OF TERRA AUSTRALIS AND OF EUROPE.

DESCRIPTION OF PLANTS FIGURED IN THE ATLAS.

[Not included in this ebook.]

END OF VOLUME II