n the country, where all the English officers
had been a short time confined. I ventured to send my servant to the
tavern, to inquire after my countrymen and women; and they obligingly
furnished me with magazines, newspapers, and a Steele's list of the navy,
up to August 1803, which in such a place, and after so long an ignorance
of what was passing in England, were highly acceptable.

MARCH 1804

On March 1, the interpreter made a personal application to general De
Caen concerning the books and charts mentioned in my last letter; to
which he received for answer, that so soon as the governor was a little
freed from business he would attend to this request. I asked M. Bonnefoy
to give me his opinion of what was likely to be done with us? He replied
that we should probably be kept prisoners so long as the war lasted, but
might perhaps have permission to live in some interior part of the
island, and liberty to take exercise within certain limits. This opinion
surprised me; but I considered it to be that of a man unacquainted with
the nature of a voyage of discovery, and the interest it excites in every
nation of the civilised world, and not the least in France. To be
liberated in an honourable manner by an order of the French government,
so soon as it should be informed of my detention, appeared to be certain;
for whatever colour general De Caen might give to his proceedings, it
could not be disguised that he had arrested the commander of a voyage
bearing a French passport, and had taken from him his charts, journals,
and vessel; but as yet I could not be persuaded that the general would
risk the displeasure of his government, and particularly of the first
consul Bonaparte, by whose order my passport had been given, and who had
professed himself to be a patron of science. A voyage of discovery
undertaken upon liberal principles, and carried on with zeal, tempered
with humanity towards the inhabitants of the countries visited, seemed to
me an object to interest every person, of whatever nation or profession.
The philosopher, or man of general science would see his knowledge of the
globe, and of man, its principal inhabitant, so much the object of such a
voyage, that he might consider it as undertaken for his gratification;
and he who professed a particular branch, whether of natural philosophy
or natural history, would expect so many new observations and discoveries
in his favourite pursuit, that the voyagers could not fail