1803.
December.
Tuesday 20.
punished for neglecting his orders; that one of the sailors, a Prussian, being found on shore had been put into the guard house, and that an answer would be given to my note in the morning. In effect, the interpreter then came with lieutenant-colonel Monistrol,Wednes. 21. and explained to me a paper to the following purport.
That the captain-general being convinced from the examination of my journal, that I had absolutely changed the nature of the mission for which the First Consul had granted a passport, wherein I was certainly not authorised to stop at the Isle of France to make myself acquainted with the periodical winds, the port, present state of the colony, &c. That such conduct being a violation of neutrality, he ordered colonel Monistrol to go on board the Cumberland, and in my presence to collect into one or more trunks all other papers which might add to the proofs already acquired; and after sealing the trunks, I was to be taken back to the house where my suspicious conduct had made it necessary to confine me from the instant of arriving in the port. It was further ordered, that the crew of the schooner should be kept on board the prison ship; and that an inventory should be taken of every thing in the Cumberland, and the stores put under seal and guarded conformably to the regulations.[1]- ↑ The following is a copy of the order, as given to me by the interpreter and certified by colonel Monistrol.
"Au quartier général de l'Isle de France, le 29 Frimaire, an 12 de la République.
"De Caen, capitaine-général des établissements Français à l'Est du Cap de Bonne Espérance. D'après l'examen qui a été fait du journal du commandant de la goelette Anglaise le Cumberland, ayant acquis la conviction que le commandant Flinders, précédemment capitaine de la corvette l'Investigator, envoyé par le gouvernement Anglais pour un voyage de découverte dans la Mer Pacifique, a dénaturé absolument sa mission pour laquelle il avait obtenu du Premier Consul le passeport signé du ministre de la marine sous la date du 4 Prairial, an 9. Par lequel passeport il n'était certainement pas autorisé à relâcher à l'Isle de France, pour pouvoir reconnoître les vents périodiques, le port, et l'état actuel de la colonie, &yc.; qu'ainsi par cette conduite il a violé la neutralité sous laquelle il hui avait été permis indirectement d'aborder en cette isle."
