48 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF FRANCIS ARAGO. 



Government ; I am persuaded that it will do justice to 

 your remonstrance, and will not molest you.&quot; As I had 

 not the same persuasion as Captain George Eyre, I chose 

 to take no notice of his advice. 



I ought to mention that some time after having related 

 these particulars in England, at Sir Joseph Banks s, the 

 conduct of George Eyre was severely blamed ; but when 

 a man breakfasts and dines to the sound of harmonious 

 music, can he accord his interest to a poor devil sleeping 

 on straw and nibbled by vermin, even though he have 

 manuscripts under his shirt ? I may add that I (unfor 

 tunately for me) had to do with a captain of an unusual 

 character. For, som edays later, a new vessel, The Co 

 lossus, having arrived in the roads, the Norwegian, 

 Captain Krog, although he had not, like me, an Admi 

 ralty passport, made an application to the commander of 

 this new ship ; he was immediately claimed, and relieved 

 from captivity. 



The report that I was a Spanish deserter, and propri 

 etor of the vessel, acquiring more and more credit, and 

 this position being the most dangerous of all, I resolved 

 to get out of it. I begged the commandant of the place, 

 M. Alloy, to come to receive my declaration, and I an 

 nounced to him that I was French. To prove to him the 

 truth of my words, I invited him to send for Pablo 

 Blanco, the sailor in the service of the corsair who took 

 us, and who had returned from his cruise a short time 

 before. This was done as I wished. In disembarking, 

 Pablo Blanco, who had not been warned, exclaimed with 

 surprise : &quot; What ! you, Don Francisco, mixed up with 

 all these miscreants ! &quot; The sailor gave the Governor 

 circumstantial evidence as to the mission which I fulfilled 

 with two Spanish commissaries. My nationality thus 

 became proved. 



