A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume II Part 37

The lapse of several years has enabled me to consider the transactions of this period under different views, to regard them with almost the coolness of an uninterested observer; and I see the possibility that a dispa.s.sionate reader may accuse me of taking too high a position, and using too warm a style--in rather giving way to the dictates of feeling than dwelling upon the proofs of my innocence; perhaps also, he may accuse me of vanity, in seeking to enhance my own zeal and claims.

Without attempting to controvert these censures, I beg him to consider all the circ.u.mstances of my situation: my voyage, shipwreck, and anxiety to pursue the steps of our celebrated navigators. Let him suppose himself to have executed so much of the same task, escaped the same dangers; and under the influence of powerful motives to reach England with expedition, to be arrested on the way, his misfortunes either not heeded or converted into proofs of delinquency, and himself treated as a spy; and this is done by the representative of a government which had promised a.s.sistance and protection, and moreover owed him a return for the kind treatment recently experienced by Frenchmen in the port from whence he came. Let him suppose himself writing to his oppressor with these various recollections crowding on his imagination; and the allowances he would then desire for himself, I request of him to make for me.

THURSDAY 22 DECEMBER 1803

On the day following the transmission of the letter, my servant was brought on sh.o.r.e from the prison ship, where he left Mr. Charrington and the seamen closely confined; but no answer was returned either on the 22nd or 23rd, nor did we hear any thing that could give an insight into what further was intended to be done. We suffered much from the heat of the weather and want of fresh air; for the town of Port Louis is wholly exposed to the rays of the sun, whilst the mountains which form a semicircle round it to the east and south, not only prevent the trade wind from reaching it, but reflect the heat in such a manner, that from November to April it is almost insupportable. During this season, the inhabitants whose affairs do not oblige them to remain, fly to the higher and windward parts of the island; and the others take the air and their exercise very early in the morning and late in the evening. We who were shut up in the middle of the town, and from having been three months confined to a vessel of twenty-nine tons were much in need of exercise, could not but feel the personal inconveniences of such a situation in their full rigour; and the perturbation of mind, excited by such unworthy treatment, did not tend to alleviate their effects on our health. But the heat and want of fresh air were not the worst evils. Our undefended pallet beds were besieged by swarms of bugs and musketoes, and the bites of these noxious insects upon bodies ready to break out with scurvy, produced effects more than usually painful and disagreeable. Being almost covered with inflamed spots, some of which had become ulcers on my legs and feet, I wrote to the captain-general, requesting the a.s.sistance of a surgeon; and also to know under what limitations he would allow me to write to the Admiralty of Great Britain, and to my family and friends; but the main subject was left untouched, in expectation of an answer to the former letter.

In the afternoon, one of the aides-de-camp said that His Excellency did not prevent me from writing to whom I pleased; but that my letters must be sent open to the town major, who would forward them to their address.

The same evening a surgeon, who did not speak English, came to our room; next morning [SAt.u.r.dAY 24 DECEMBER 1803] he returned with the interpreter, and finding the ulcers to be s...o...b..tic, ordered me, in addition to his dressings, to drink plentifully of lemonade and live upon fruit and vegetables. Their visit was repeated on the following day [SUNDAY 25 DECEMBER 1803]; but nothing transpired relative to the general's intentions, nor to any answer proposed to be given to my letter of the 21st; and I therefore wrote another in the following terms.

Sir,

From whatever cause it may be that I have received no answer to my letter of the 21st last, I shall yet continue to do my duty to my government and the cause of discovery, by pointing out every circ.u.mstance that may have a probability of inducing you to liberate my people, my vessel, and myself.

A former letter showed, that upon the principles adopted in voyages of discovery by your own nation, the plea for detaining me a prisoner was untenable; and also that independently of any pa.s.sport, it ill became the French nation to stop the prosecution of a voyage of discovery, especially one carried on with the zeal that mine has. .h.i.therto been. In this letter I shall endeavour to point out another circ.u.mstance, at least as important as the former, so far as regards the injustice of my detainer. In this point of view then, Sir, I shall admit, that to make any remarks upon a port which might enable either myself or others to come into it again with more facility, or which might give information concerning the refreshments and articles of commerce to be procured at it, is, although made in time of peace, a crime; and consequently, that if La Perouse executed his instructions, he was no better than a spy at the different ports where he put in. Let this, Sir, for the moment be admitted; and I ask what proofs you have that I have made such remarks?

You will probably say, I _intended_ to make them. True, but intention is not action. I might have altered my intentions on coming into the port, and finding our two nations to be at war: you cannot know what alteration a knowledge of the war might have made in my sentiments. We do indeed judge much of the merit or demerit of an action by the intention with which it is performed; but in all cases there must be an action performed to const.i.tute any certain merit or demerit amongst men. Now in my case there appears to have been intention only; and even this intention I have before shown to be consistent with the practice of your own nation, and I believe of all nations.

As it appears that Your Excellency had formed a determination to stop the c.u.mberland, previously even to seeing me, if a specious pretext were wanting for it, it would have been more like wisdom to have let me alone until the eve of sailing, and then to have seized my journal; where it is possible something better than _intention_ might have been fixed upon as a cause for making me a prisoner. This would have been a mean action, and altogether unworthy of you or your nation; but it might have answered your purpose better than the step now taken. I say there appears to have been a previous determination to stop the c.u.mberland, and from this cause; that on the first evening of my arrival, and before any examination was made into my papers (my commission and pa.s.sport excepted), you told me impetuously that I was _imposing upon you_. Now I cannot think that an officer of your rank and judgment could act either so ungentlemanlike, or so unguardedly, as to make such a declaration without proof; unless his reason had been blinded by pa.s.sion, or a previous determination that it should be so, _nolens volens_. In your order of the 21st last it is indeed said, that the captain-general has acquired conviction that I am the person I pretend to be, and the same for whom a pa.s.sport was obtained by the English government from the First Consul; it follows then, as I am willing to explain it, that I _am not_ and _was not_ an impostor. This plea was given up when a more plausible one was thought to be found; but I cannot compliment Your Excellency upon this alteration in your position, for the first, although false, is the most tenable post of the two.

Trusting that upon a due consideration of all the circ.u.mstances, you will be pleased to fulfil the intention for which the pa.s.sport was given, I have the honour to be,

From my confinement, Your Excellency's obedient servant, Dec. 25, 1803.

Matthew Flinders.

In the evening, a letter was brought me by a soldier from general De Caen, and the haste with which it had been sent inspired favourable hopes; I did not expect the visit of the interpreter until the following day, and therefore attempted to decipher the letter by the help of a French dictionary, with a degree of anxiety which its contents were but little calculated to satisfy: it was as follows.

I did not answer your letter of the 21st December, Sir, because it was useless to commence a debate here between you and me, upon the motives well or ill founded from which I took upon myself to stop the c.u.mberland until further orders. On the other hand, I should have had too much advantage in refuting your a.s.sertions, notwithstanding the reasonings and quotations with which you have adorned them.

I was still willing to attribute the unreserved tone you had used in that letter, to the ill humour produced by your present situation. I was far from thinking that after having seriously reflected upon the causes and circ.u.mstances, you should take occasion from a silence so delicate to go still further; but your last letter no longer leaves me an alternative.

Your undertaking, as extraordinary as it was inconsiderate, to depart from Port Jackson in the c.u.mberland, more to give proof of an officious zeal, more for the private interests of Great Britain than for what had induced the French government to give you a pa.s.sport, which I shall unfold at a proper opportunity, had already given me an idea of your character; but this letter overstepping all the bounds of civility, obliges me to tell you, until _the general opinion judges of your faults or of mine_, to cease all correspondence tending to demonstrate the justice of your cause; since you know so little how to preserve the rules of decorum.*

[The text of the letter, in French, was set out in the book, but is not set out in this ebook.]

The accusation of not preserving the rules of decorum, seemed not a little extraordinary from one who had kept me above two hours in the street when I had gone to wait upon him, and who had qualified me with the t.i.tle of impostor without examination; but it seemed that any act of aggression on the part of the general was to meet only with submission and respect. Embarra.s.sment sheltering itself under despotic power, was evident in this letter; but it gave no further insight into the reasons for making me a prisoner, and consequently no opportunity of vindicating my innocence. It therefore seemed wisest, seeing the kind of man with whom I had to deal, to follow his directions and leave the main subject to the operation of time; but to take off my mind from dwelling too intensely upon the circ.u.mstance of being arrested at such a conjuncture, I determined to employ it in forwarding my voyage, if an application for the necessary papers should be attended with success.

MONDAY 26 DECEMBER 1803

Having obtained a translation of the general's letter from the interpreter, who came next morning in company with the surgeon, I wrote to request,

1st. My printed books from the schooner.

2nd. My private letters and papers out of the secretary's office.

3rd. To have two or three charts and three or four ma.n.u.script books, for the purpose of finishing the chart of the Gulph of Carpentaria; adding in explanation, that the parts wanting were mostly lost in the shipwreck, and I wished to replace them from my memory and remaining materials before it were too late. For these a receipt was offered, and my word that nothing in the books should be erased or destroyed; but I wished to make additions to one or two of the books as well as to the charts, and would afterwards be ready to give up the whole.

4th. I represented a complaint from my seamen, of being shut up at night in a place where not a breath of air could come to them; which, in a climate like this, must be not only uncomfortable in the last degree, but very destructive to European const.i.tutions. Also, that the people with whom they were placed were affected with that disagreeable and contagious disorder the itch; and that their provisions were too scanty, except in the article of bread, the proportion of which was large, but of a bad quality.

An answer was given on the same day by one of the general's aides-de-camp, who said that orders had been given for the delivery of the books and papers; that the place where the seamen were kept was very wholesome; and as to the provisions, that orders had been given on my arrival for the people of the c.u.mberland to be treated as French seamen in actual service; that he would inquire whether any thing contrary had been done, which he did not think, but in that case it should be set right.

TUESDAY 27 DECEMBER 1803

At noon next day colonel Monistrol and M. Bonnefoy called, and a trunk was brought from on board the schooner, containing a part of my printed books. The colonel seemed to be sorry that my letters to the general had been couched in a style so far from humble, and to think that they might rather tend to protract than terminate my confinement; on which I observed, believing him to be in the general's confidence, that as my demand was to obtain common justice, an adulatory style did not seem proper, more especially when addressed to a republican who must despise it: my rights had been invaded, and I used the language natural to a man so circ.u.mstanced. Had favours been wanted, or there had been any thing to conceal, my language would probably have been different; but of all things I desired that the strictest scrutiny should be made into my papers, and that it should be confronted with any examination they might choose to make of myself or people. The colonel and interpreter, either from politeness or conviction, did not disagree with these sentiments, but repeated that a different mode of writing might have answered better; it appeared indeed, from their conversation, that French republicanism involved any thing rather than liberty, justice, and equality, of which it had so much boasted.

So soon as the two gentlemen were gone, I took out my naval signal book from the trunk and tore it to pieces; the private signals had been lost in the shipwreck, so that my mind was now freed from apprehensions which had given much inquietude.

WEDNESDAY 28 DECEMBER 1803

On the 28th, M. Chapotin, the surgeon, called as usual with the interpreter. He said that air and exercise were necessary to the re-establishment of my health, and that so soon as I should be able to walk out, it would be proper to apply to the general for a permission; and on my objecting to ask any thing like a personal favour, he promised with some degree of feeling to take the application on himself.

No mention was made this day of the books and papers, to be delivered from the sealed trunks; but next morning [THURSDAY 29 DECEMBER 1803] I was conducted to the government house, and took out all my private letters and papers, the journals of bearings and astronomical observations, two log books, and such charts as were necessary to completing the Gulph of Carpentaria; for which a receipt was required, without any obligation to return them. The third log book, containing transactions and remarks in different vessels during the preceding six months, was important to me on many accounts, and especially for the observations it contained upon Torres' Strait and the Gulph; but it was said to be in the hands of the general, who could not be disturbed, and two boxes of despatches from governor King and colonel Paterson had been taken away. All the other books and papers, including my pa.s.sport, commission, etc., with some accounts from the commissary of New South Wales and many private letters from individuals in that colony, were locked up in a trunk and sealed as before.

SAt.u.r.dAY 31 DECEMBER 1803

On the 31st. I sent to the town major's office an open letter addressed to the secretary of the Admiralty, giving a short account of my embarkation and shipwreck in the Porpoise, voyage in the c.u.mberland, and situation in Mauritius; with two private letters, and a request that they might be forwarded by the first opportunity. Next day [SUNDAY 1 JANUARY 1804] the receipt of them was acknowledged, and a promise given to inform me of the means by which they should be sent, and it was done accordingly; but not one of the letters, or of their duplicates, was ever received.

Having calculated with Mr. Aken the observations previously taken for the rate of the time keeper,* I now worked earnestly upon the chart of the Gulph of Carpentaria; and this employment served to divert my chagrin, and the indignation which, however useless it might be, I could not but feel at the author of our imprisonment. The want of my log book, however, was a great obstacle to laying down the parts seen in the c.u.mberland; and nothing more having been said of it, a short letter was written to general De Caen on the 5th, reminding him that the log was necessary to the construction of my charts, and that only a small part of the printed books had yet been delivered. A verbal answer was brought by the interpreter, and two days afterward the books came from the schooner; but respecting the log no answer was made.

[* The rate from December 19 to 25, was 36.9" losing, or only 0.16" more than that previously found at Coepang in Timor; but the longitude deduced from the first observation with the Coepang rate, was 57 40' 40.5", or 10' 43.5" greater than afterwards obtained from twenty-seven sets of lunar distances. In laying down the track from Timor, this error has been equally distributed throughout the thirty five days between November 14 and December 19, 1803.]

The sentinel placed at the door of our chambers (for we had a few days before obtained a second, with musketo curtains to our beds), became unusually strict at this time, scarcely allowing the master of the tavern, or even the interpreter or surgeon to see us; and one day, hearing me inquire the name of some dish in French from the slave who waited at dinner, the sentinel burst into the room and drove away the poor affrighted black, saying that we were not to speak to any person.

Previously to this, a Dutch, a Swiss, a Norwegian, and two American gentlemen had called; but except the Swiss, who found means to bid us good day occasionally without being noticed, not one came a second time, for fear of being held in a suspicious light by the government; and now, the surgeon and interpreter were not admitted without a written order.

Two applications had been made by the surgeon in my behalf, to walk in the fields near the town; the last was personally to the captain-general, but although he might have caused a sentinel to follow, or a whole guard if thought necessary, an unqualified refusal was given to M. Chapotin's humane request.

We were lodged and supplied with meals in the tavern at the public expense; but having lost part of our clothes in the shipwreck, and distributed some to those of our companions who had saved nothing, both Mr. Aken and myself were much in want of linen and other necessaries; and after the few dollars I chanced to have about me were gone, we knew not how to pay for our washing. All strangers being refused admittance took away the chance of negotiating bills, for the surgeon spoke no English and the interpreter always avoided the subject; one morning however, having previously ascertained that it would not give umbrage, the interpreter offered to attempt the negotiation of a bill drawn upon the commissioners of the navy; but the sentinel, seeing him take a paper, gave information, and M. Bonnefoy was scarcely out of the room when a file of soldiers made him prisoner; nor, although a public officer, was he liberated until it was ascertained that he acted with permission, and had received no other paper than the bill. In the evening he brought the full sum, at a time when bills upon England could obtain cash with difficulty at a discount of thirty per cent. It was the chevalier Pelgrom, who filled the offices of Danish and Imperial consul, that had acted thus liberally; and he caused me to be informed, that the fear of incurring the general's displeasure had alone prevented him from offering his a.s.sistance sooner.

Although Mr. Aken and myself were strictly confined and closely watched, my servant was left at liberty to go upon my commissions; and once a week I sent him on board the prison ship, to take Mr. Charrington and the seamen a basket of fruit and vegetables from the market. They had always been permitted to walk upon deck in the day time, and latterly been sometimes allowed to go into the town, accompanied by a soldier; and since from all we could learn, the final decision of the captain-general was yet in suspense, I augured favourably of the result from this relaxation towards the men. My hopes became strengthened on the 14th, by learning from M. Bonnefoy that it was believed we should be permitted to walk out, and perhaps depart altogether, so soon as three Dutch ships commanded by rear-admiral Dekker should have sailed. These ships were loaded with pepper from Batavia, and bound to Europe; and it seemed possible that one reason of our detention might be to prevent English ships gaining intelligence of them by our means; but this could be no excuse for close imprisonment and taking away my charts and journals, whatever it might be made for delaying our departure.

Finding it impossible to obtain the third volume of my log book, the charts of Torres' Strait and the Gulph of Carpentaria were finished without it; fortunately the journal kept by Mr. Aken in the c.u.mberland had not been taken away, and it proved of great a.s.sistance. Our time pa.s.sed on in this manner, hoping that the Dutch ships would sail, and that general De Caen would then suffer us to depart, either in the c.u.mberland or some other way; the surgeon came almost daily, on account of my s...o...b..tic sores, and the interpreter called frequently. I was careful not to send out my servant often, for it appeared that he was dogged by spies, and that people were afraid of speaking to him; the surgeon and interpreter were almost equally cautious with me, so that although in the midst of a town where news arrived continually from some part of the world, every thing to us was wrapped in mystery; and M.

Bonnefoy afterwards acknowledged, in answer to a direct question put to him, that an order had been given to prevent us receiving any intelligence.

On the 29th, admiral Dekker sailed with his three ships; and whilst anxiously expecting some communication, the interpreter called to inform me that an order had been given for the schooner to be moved up the harbour, and the stores to be taken out; and he wished to know if Mr.

Aken should be present at making the inventory. I asked what was to be done with us--with my books and papers? To which he answered by a shrug of the shoulders: he had come only for the purpose of executing his order. On each of the two following days Mr. Aken was taken down to the schooner; for he accepted the proposition to accompany the officers for the sake of the walk, and in the hope of obtaining some intelligence. He found the poor c.u.mberland covered with blue mold within side, and many of the stores in a decaying state, no precautions having been taken to preserve her from the heat or the rains; the French inventory was afterwards brought to him to be signed, but he refused it with my approbation.

FEBRUARY 1804

This new proceeding seemed to bespeak the captain-general to have finally taken his resolution to keep us prisoners; and my disappointment at seeing it, instead of receiving back my books and papers and permission to depart, was extreme. In the hope to obtain some information I wrote a note on the 3rd, to solicit of His Excellency the honour of an audience; and five days having elapsed without an answer, the interpreter was requested to deliver a message to the same effect. He presently returned with the concise answer, _No_; but afterwards told me in conversation that the general had said, "captain Flinders might have known that I did not wish to see him, by not giving an answer to his note. It is needless for me to see him, for the conversation will probably be such as to oblige me to send him to the tower."

My intention in requesting the audience was to have offered certain proposals to the general's consideration, and if possible to obtain some explanation of the reasons for a detention so extraordinary, and now protracted beyond six weeks; and being disappointed in this, a letter was written on the 12th, containing the following propositions.

1st. If your Excellency will permit me to depart with my vessel, papers, etc., I will pledge my honour not to give any information of the Isle of France or any thing belonging to it, for a limited time, if it be thought that I can have gained any information; or if judged necessary, any other restrictions can be laid upon me. If this will not be complied with, I request,

2nd, to be sent to France.

3rd. But if it be indispensable to detain me here, I request that my officer and people may be permitted to depart in the schooner; as well for the purpose of informing the British Admiralty where I am, as to relieve our families and friends from the report which will be spread of the total loss of the Porpoise and Cato, with all on board. Mr. Aken can be laid under what restrictions may be deemed requisite; and my honour shall be a security that nothing shall be transmitted by me, but what pa.s.ses under the inspection of the officer who may be appointed for that purpose.

In case of refusing to adopt any of these modes, by which my voyage might proceed without possibility of injury to the Isle of France, I then reminded His Excellency that since the shipwreck of the Porpoise, six months before, my people as well as myself had been mostly confined either upon a small sand bank in the open sea, or in a boat, or otherwise on board the c.u.mberland where there was no room to walk, or been kept prisoners as at that time; and that I had not previously recovered from a s...o...b..tic and very debilitated state, arising from eleven months exposure to great fatigue, bad climate, and salt provisions. After noticing my s...o...b..tic sores, and his refusal of the surgeon's application for me to walk out, it was added--The captain-general best knows whether my conduct has deserved, or the exigencies of his government require, that I should continue to be closely confined in this sickly town and cut off from society; but of no part of this letter was any notice taken.

Two days before, I had been favoured with a visit from captain Bergeret of the French navy, who had commanded _La Virginie_ frigate when taken by Sir Edward Pellew, and of whose honourable conduct in the affair of Sir W. Sydney Smith's imprisonment, public mention had been made in England.

This gentleman sat some time conversing upon my situation, which he seemed desirous to ameliorate; he said that "the general did not consider me to be a prisoner of war, and that my confinement did not arise from any thing I had done." From what then did it arise? At this question he was silent. He regretted not to have been in town on my arrival, believing it would have been in his power to have turned the tide of consequences; and obligingly offered to supply me with money, if in want.