t
my prayer is, to be examined, to be tried, to be condemned, if I have in
action, intention, or thought, done any thing whilst employed in my
voyage of discovery, against the French nation or its allies--if in any
way I have infringed upon the line of conduct prescribed by the passport
of the first consul of France. To have the best years of my life, the
essence of my existence thus drained away without any examination into
the affair; to have the fruits of my labours and risks thus ravished from
me--my hopes of advancement and of reputation thus cruelly blasted, is
almost beyond what I am able to support. Use then, I conjure you, Sir,
your best endeavours with those men in France who have it in their power
to forward my wish; with those men for whom a voyage of discovery, the
preservation of national faith, and the exercise of humanity have still
attractions. With such men, in spite of the neglect which my
extraordinary situation here has undergone, now near three years, I will
not believe but that the French empire abounds; a Fleurieu, a
Bougainville, a Lalande, a Delambre, and numberless others--can such men
be strangers to national honour and humanity? Has a man reduced to
misfortune by his ardent zeal to advance geography and its kindred
sciences, no claims upon men like these? It cannot be. However unworthy
an instrument I am in the hands of our literary British worthies, my
employment, if not my misfortunes, give me a claim upon their assistance
in obtaining, at least, an examination into my crimes or my innocence;
and this claim I now make. See these celebrated men, Sir, explain to them
the circumstances of my situation, tell them the plain tale, and that it
is towards them, though so distant, that my looks are directed; your own
name will give you an introduction, and the cause you undertake will not
disgrace it.

Adieu, worthy Sir, may the winds be propitious, and may you never be
reduced to the bitterness of sighing after justice in vain.

CHAPTER VIII.

Effects of repeated disappointment on the mind.
Arrival of a cartel, and of letters from India.
Letter of the French marine minister.
Restitution of papers.
Applications for liberty evasively answered.
Attempted seizure of private letters.
Memorial to the minister.
Encroachments made at Paris on the Investigator's discoveries.
Expected attack on Mauritius produces an abridgment of Liberty.
Strict blockade.
Arrival of another cartel from India.
State