of protection from the French
authorities. Then it was arranged that he should travel overland to Port
Louis, while Aken took round the ship. But finally Bolger allowed
Flinders to sail round in the Cumberland, under the guidance of a pilot.
He was hospitably entertained at dinner by Major Dunienville, who invited
a number of ladies and gentlemen to meet him; and on the morning of
December 16th he sailed, with the major on board, for Port Louis, where
he was to confront General Decaen.

The character and position of the Captain-General of Ile-de-France are so
important in regard to the remainder of Flinders' life, that it will be
desirable to devote a chapter to some account of him.

CHAPTER 21. GENERAL DECAEN.

Charles Mathieu Isidore Decaen was born at Caen, the ancient and
picturesque capital of Normandy, on April 13th, 1769. Left an orphan at
the age of twelve, his education was superintended by a friend of his
father, who had been a public official. At the end of his schooldays he
studied law under an advocate of local celebrity, M. Lasseret. Though his
juristic training was not prolonged, the discipline of the office gave a
certain bent to his mind, a certain lawyer-like strictness and method to
his mode of handling affairs, that remained characteristic during his
military career, and was exceedingly useful to him while he governed
Ile-de-France. Very often in perusing his Memoires* the reader perceives
traces of the lawyer in the language of the soldier. (* The Memoires et
Journaux du General Decaen were prepared for publication by himself, and
the portion up to the commencement of his governorship has been printed,
with notes and maps, by Colonel Ernest Picard, Chief of the Historical
Section of the Staff of the French Army (2 volumes Paris 1910). Colonel
Picard informed me that he did not intend to print the remainder,
thinking that the ground was sufficiently covered by Professor Henri
Prentout's admirable book L'Ile de France sous Decaen. I have, therefore,
had the section relating to Flinders transcribed from the manuscript, and
used it freely for this book.) Thus, when during the campaign of the
Rhine he found that his superior officer, General Jourdan, was taking
about with him as his aide-de-camp a lady in military attire, Decaen,
with a solemnity that seems a little un-French under the circumstances,
condemned the breach of the regulations as conduct "which was not that of
a father of a family, a leg