1807.
October.
not then a right to seek that opportunity for myself, since the captain-general had let pass so many without indicating any one of them? This question was debated a long time, and under every point of view, before deciding upon the line of conduct which duty to my country, my family and myself prescribed to be right.
Many letters for India, and a copy of my narrative for sir Edward Pellew had been confided to my Swiss friend, M. Boand, who was to have embarked in the Wellesley; but at the moment of sailing, the captain-general gave an order to prevent his going on board; the good man went immediately to ask an audience of His Excellency, and after discussing his own case, spoke of my imprisonment and tried to learn when it would cease. That he could obtain nothing decisive, was to be expected; but that the general should preserve his temper during this conversation, and even answer gaily, though equivocally, to several closely-put questions, was contrary to what usually happened when my name had been mentioned before him. M. Boand was permitted to embark in a Danish ship, which sailed early on the 24th; but late in the evening before, some police officers went on board; searched his trunk, and took away all the letters they could find, telling him he might then sail; they had got what they wanted. This transaction explained the general's views in preventing M. Boand's departure in the cartel, where a search could not decently have been made; also why the cartel had been sent off so suddenly that my letters could not be put on board, and the cause of his moderation when speaking of my imprisonment. He was not deceived in supposing this friend would be the bearer of many letters, though very much so if he hoped to find therein proofs of my having acted, or intending to act contrary to the passport; he however missed his aim altogether, as I learned some months afterward; the cautious Swiss had separated my letters from those he had received from other persons, and these last only were found; but it was not less evident, that general De Caen was seeking all means to fortify himself with pretexts to avoid setting me at liberty.
