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.