466 
A VOYAGE TO 
[At Mauritius. 
1807. 
October. 
not then a right to seek that opportunity for myself, since the captain- 
general had let pass so many without indicating any one of them ? 
This question was debated a long time, and under every point of 
view, before deciding upon the line of conduct which duty to my 
country, my family and myself prescribed to be right. 
Many letters for India, and a copy of my narrative for sir 
Edward Pellew had been confided to my Swiss friend, M. Boand, 
who was to have embarked in the Wellesley; but at the moment of 
sailing, the captain-general gave an order to prevent his going on 
board ; the good man went immediately to ask an audience of His 
Excellency, and after discussing his own case, spoke of my imprison- 
ment and tried to learn when it would cease. That he could obtain 
nothing decisive, was to be expected ; but that the general should 
preserve his temper during this conversation, and even answer gaily, 
though equivocally, to several closely-put questions, was contrary 
to what usually happened when my name had been mentioned before 
him. M. Boand was permitted to embark in a Dapish ship, which 
sailed early on the 34th ; but late in the evening before, some police 
officers went on board, searched his trunk, and took away all the 
letters they could find, telling him he might then sail, they had got 
what they wanted. This transaction explained the general’s views 
in preventing M. Boand’s departure in the cartel, where a search 
could not decently have been made ; also why the cartel had been 
sent off so suddenly that my letters could not be put on board, and 
the cause of his moderation when speaking of my imprisonment. 
He was not deceived in supposing this friend would be the bearer of 
many letters, though very much so if he hoped to find therein proofs 
of my having acted, or intending to act contrary to the passport; he 
however missed his aim altogether, as I learned some months after- 
ward ; the cautious Swiss had separated my letters from those he 
had received from other persons, and these last only were found ; but 
it was not less evident, that general De Caen was seeking all means 
to fortify himself with pretexts to avoid setting me at liberty. 
