WITH THE "CUMBERLAND" 147 



hoped to sell her and get a passage to England by some other ship. 

 He arrived at Port Louis, MAURITIUS, on I7th December, 1803. 

 When he left Sydney, England had been at peace with France, but 

 WAR, unknown to him, had broken out soon after between the 

 two countries. 



The Governor, or Captain-General, of the island was GENERAL 

 DE CAEN, an old soldier, who had been, in fact, one of the most 

 conspicuously heroic figures in the battle of Hohenlinden, and was 

 violently anti-British ; and Flinders was unfortunate enough to 

 strike the wrong note with him from the first. In the prejudiced 

 eyes of the Governor, he appeared, to begin with, as an impostor ; 

 next as a spy ; and finally as an enemy who knew too much to be 

 safely set free ; and all the time as a person of arrogant and uncon- 

 ciliatory bearing, who demanded rights where he should have 

 sued for favours. This was very far indeed from being the true 

 character of Flinders ; but he was wounded by the hostile reception 

 he met with when he expected a sympathetic welcome and generous 

 assistance. On the other hand, it was undeniable that his passport 

 was three years old and was for the " Investigator " and not for the 

 " Cumberland" and he should have made allowance for the fact 

 that his mere presence at the Mauritius in a time of war would 

 naturally raise a suspicion that he was not engaged in the investiga- 

 tion covered by his French passport. Although when Flinders 

 left Sydney, Governor King had objected to his touching at the 

 Mauritius, he had foreseen the possibility of the " Cumberland " 

 being driven by stress of weather into French waters, and that, in 

 such a case, the necessity would arise for an explanation of her 

 presence there. Accordingly, he had provided Flinders with two 

 letters addressed to General Magallon, Governor of the Mauritius 

 (De Caen's predecessor), to be forwarded from the Cape, or by such 

 opportunity as might offer itself. These letters, together with 

 passports and commission, were actually sent ashore for the 

 Governor's inspection when Flinders found himself obliged to seek 

 shelter and assistance. The probability is that De Caen chose to 

 regard them as personal and not official letters and declined to 

 read them ; or if he did read them, considered them irrelevant, 

 and confined himself to the consideration of the passport and 

 commission. 



The details of FLINDERS' CAPTIVITY on the island, which grew, 

 as it did, out of a misunderstanding, are most distressing, but he 

 received much kindness from civilians and from some of the French 

 officers. His detention lasted till I3th June, 1810. Although, 

 on ist March, 1806, Napoleon, then Emperor, ordered Flinders' 

 release, the order did not reach Mauritius till July, 1807, and by 

 that time De Caen considered that the circumstances had altered, 

 and took the responsibility of disobeying the order, pending further 

 instructions. Britain had, in fact, gained the mastery of the sea ; 



