OFF MARSEILLES. 75 



Scarcely had we arrived on board the vessel, when I 

 set myself to the work, and acted without scruple or re- 

 morse the part of an official of the black chamber, with 

 this sole difference, that the letters were unsealed without 

 taking any precautions. I found amongst them several 

 dispatches, in which Admiral Collingwood signified to the 

 Spanish Government the ease with which the prisoners 

 might be delivered. Immediately on our arrival at 

 Marseilles these letters were sent to the minister of 

 naval affairs, who, I believe, did not pay much attention 

 to them. 



I knew almost every one at Palma, the capital of Ma- 

 jorca. I leave it to be imagined with what curiosity I 

 read the missives in which the beautiful ladies of the 

 town expressed their hatred against los malditos cava- 

 chios, (French,) whose presence in Spain had rendered 

 necessary the departure for the Continent of a magnifi- 

 cent regiment of hussars ; how many persons might I not 

 have embroiled, if under a mask I had found myself with 

 them at the opera ball ! 



Many of the letters made mention of me, and were 

 particularly interesting to me ; I was sure in this instance 

 there was nothing to constrain the frankness of those who 

 had written them. It is an advantage which few people 

 can boast having enjoyed to the same degree. 



The vessel in which I was, although laden with bales 

 of cotton, had some corsair papers of the Regency, and 

 was the reputed escort of three richly laden merchant 

 vessels which were going to France. 



We were off Marseilles on the 1st of July, when an 

 English frigate came to stop our passage : " I will not 

 take you," said the English captain ; " but you will go 

 towards the Hyeres Islands, and Admiral Collingwood 

 will decide on your fate." 



