e 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 circumstances, 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 circumspection 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