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