48 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF FRANCIS ARAGO. 



Government ; I am persuaded that it will do justice to 

 your remonstrance, and will not molest you." 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 : " What ! you, Don Francisco, mixed up with 

 all these miscreants ! " The sailor gave the Governor 

 circumstantial evidence as to the mission which I fulfilled 

 with two Spanish commissaries. My nationality thus 

 became proved. 



