474 
A VOYAGE TO 
[At Mauritius. 
1809. 
i October. 
December. 
After the evacuation of the town and bay of St. Paul at Bourbon, 
the blockade of Mauritius was resumed by commodore Rowley with 
increased strictness. The frigate La Canonniere and the prize for- 
merly H. M. ship Laurel, which the want of a few thousand dollars 
had induced the government to let for freight to the merchants, were 
thus prevented sailing ; and a cartel fitted long before to carry the 
English prisoners to the Cape of Good Hope, and waiting only, as 
was generally supposed, for the departure of these two ships, was 
delayed in consequence. When captains Woolcombeand Lynne of 
the navy had been desired in August to keep themselves in readi- 
ness, I had committed to the obliging care of the latter many letters 
for England, and one for admiral Bertie at the Cape ; but instead of 
being sent away, these officers with the others were put into close 
confinement, and their prospects retarded until the hurricane season, 
when it was expected the island would have a respite from our 
cruisers. 
In the beginning of December, despatches were said to have 
arrived from France, and the marine minister having received my 
memorial in the early part of the year, full time had been given 
to send out a fresh order ; but disappointment on such arrivals had 
been so constant during greater part of the six years to which my 
imprisonment was now prolonged, that I did not at this time think 
it W’orth asking a question on the subject. A British cartel, the 
Harriet, arrived from India on the 12th, with the officers of La 
Ptemontaise and La Jena ; the Harriet was commanded by Mr. John 
Ramsden, formerly confined with me in the Garden Prison, and the 
commissary of prisoners was Hugh Hope, Esq., whom Lord Minto 
had particularly sent to negotiate an exchange with general De 
Caen. The cartel had been stopped at the entrance of the port by 
the blockading squadron, and been permitted to come in only at the 
earnest request of Mr. Hope and the parole of the prisoners to go 
out again with him should the exchange be refused. In a few days 
I received an open letter from Mr. Stock, the former commissary ; 
