m A VISIT TO THE INDIAN AKCHIPELAGO. 



the honour of liis Sovcreigii, and of the flag which she 

 entrusts to him : and of this fia^ tlie greatest honour is 

 that, into whatever port it floats, there it becomes the 

 refiigc of the humblest individiuil wlio, bom to a share 

 of British liberty, has not tbrfeited it hy a positive 

 breach of any law to wliich he and his nation owe 

 respect. From what had transpired at my Lost interview 

 witli Senor Amaral, it must be evident that he dehberately 

 disconnected the point at issiic from any rehgious 

 question whatever. Nothing could be more studiously 

 arbitrary than the shape in wluch the Governor was 

 pleased to put it to mo — and this in the presence of 

 the representative of France : nor could I divoat myself 

 of the snspidon that, if h had not been present, 

 the Governor's bravado would have been wanting also. 

 As it was, however, he first forces upon me the conviction 

 that the liheration of Mr, Sunsmers is a r/ffJif, which 

 I could demmdy repudiating in his oflence that element 

 whidi had already enabled me to ask the *' favour of 

 liis pardon ; and then he says, ** Unless you ask it aa a 

 favour yt>« shall not have it. I care as little as you 

 do for the religious point ; but if / order any man 

 to take oft* his hat^ he shall do it, or go to prison — 

 E^'ttvth/ so" I sliould hfce to see the British officer 

 who would assent to Senor Amaral's ** exactly so." 

 I should like to see Mm make his bow at the 

 Admiralty, with the consciousness that, not long before 

 his return,, ho, being Captain of a British frigate, — repre- 



