A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume II Part 44

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 a.s.surances 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 pa.s.sage 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 pa.s.s 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 pa.s.sport; 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 circ.u.mstances 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 pa.s.sengers. 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 circ.u.mstances 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 inst.i.tute; 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 circ.u.mstances 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 ma.n.u.script 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 a.n.a.lytical 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 pa.s.sed 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 Geographe 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 c.u.mberland; 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 Napoleon 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 a.s.serted, that no voyage _ever_ made by the English nation could be compared with that of the Geographe 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 pa.s.sed 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 Napoleon." 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 circ.u.mstances, 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 circ.u.mspection 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 donnee) 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 circ.u.mstances 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, pa.s.sed 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 Canonniere 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 r.e.t.a.r.ded 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 Piemontaise 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 pa.s.sengers 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 Canonniere 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.

Pa.s.sage 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 a.s.signed 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. .h.i.therto 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 a.s.surance 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 Sat.u.r.day 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 princ.i.p.al of those more distant inhabitants, whose kindness demanded my grat.i.tude. 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.