t did not call
until the 3rd of July, after having used his promised endeavours in vain,
as I had foreseen from the delay of his visit; for every good Frenchman
has an invincible dislike to be the bearer of disagreeable intelligence.

On the 5th, a letter came from Mr. Lumsden, chief secretary of the
government at Calcutta, acknowledging the receipt of mine addressed to
the marquis Wellesley in May 1804; he said in reply, "that although the
governor-general had felt the deepest regret at the circumstances of my
detention and imprisonment, it had not been in His Excellency's power to
remedy either before the present time. The ship Thetis," he added, "now
proceeds to the Isle of France as a cartel; and I have the honour to
transmit to you the annexed extract from the letter of the
governor-general to His Excellency general De Caen, captain-general of
the French establishments to the eastward of the Cape of Good Hope. The
governor-general entertains no doubt that the captain-general of the Isle
of France will release you immediately on receipt of that letter."

EXTRACT.--I avail myself of this opportunity to request your Excelleney's
particular attention to the truly severe case of captain Flinders; and I
earnestly request Your Excellency to release captain Flinders
immediately, and to allow him either to take his passage to India in the
Thetis, or to return to India in the first neutral ship.

Mr. Lumsden's letter and the above extract were inclosed to me by the
secretary of general De Caen, who at the same time said, "I wish with all
my heart that the captain-general could accede to the request of His
Excellency the marquis Wellesley; but the motives of your detention
having been of a nature to be submitted to the French government, the
captain-general cannot, before he has received an answer, change any
thing in the measures which have been adopted on your account." Thus
whatever hope had been entertained of liberation from the side of India
was done away, but I did not feel less gratitude to the noble marquis for
his attempt; after eighteen months of indignities, this attention, and
the previous arrival of the two relations of my friend Pitot, set at
liberty by lord William Bentinck, were gratifying proofs that my
situation was known and excited an interest in India.

An exchange of prisoners was soon afterwards agreed upon between
commodore Osborn and colonel Monistrol, with the exception of
post-captains and comma