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