prisoner of war
in the strict sense, and the rigid application of the ordinary
regulations of service in his peculiar case seems to have been a rather
stiff measure. Besides, the Admiralty had evidence from time to time, in
the receipt of new charts and manuscripts, that Flinders was
industriously applying himself to the duties of the service on which he
had been despatched. But there was the regulation, and someone in
authority ruled that it had to apply in this most unusual instance. There
is some pathos in a letter written by Mrs. Flinders to a friend in
England (August, 1806) "The Navy Board have thought proper to curtail my
husband's pay, so it behoves me to be as careful as I can; and I mean to
be very economical, being determined to do with as little as possible,
that he may not deem me an extravagant wife."

CHAPTER 25. THE ORDER OF RELEASE.

The several representations concerning the case of Flinders that were
made in France, the attention drawn to it in English newspapers, and the
lively interest of learned men of both nations, produced a moving effect
upon Napoleon's Government. Distinguished Frenchmen did not hesitate to
speak plainly. Fleurieu, whose voice was attentively heard on all matters
touching geography and discovery, declared publicly that "the indignities
imposed upon Captain Flinders were without example in the nautical
history of civilised nations. Malte-Brun, a savant of the first rank,
expressed himself so boldly as to incur the displeasure of the
authorities. Bougainville, himself a famous navigator, made personal
appeals to the Government. Sir Joseph Banks, whose friendly relations
with French men of science were not broken by the war, used all the
influence he could command. He had already, "from the gracious
condescension of the Emperor," obtained the release of five persons who
had been imprisoned in France,* and had no doubt that if he could get
Napoleon's ear he could bring about the liberation of his protege. (*
Banks to Flinders, Historical Records 5 646.)

At last, in March, 1806, the affair came before the Council of State in
Paris, mainly through the instrumentality of Bougainville. Banks wrote to
Mrs. Flinders:* (* Flinders' Papers.) "After many refusals on the part of
Bonaparte to applications made to him from different quarters, he at last
consented to order Captain Flinders' case to be laid before the Council
of State."

On the first of March an order was directed to be s