480 
A VOYAGE TO 
[ Off Mauritius. 
1810 . 
June. 
and wished my companions in the cartel, with her worthy com- 
mander, a good voyage ; and after dining with commodore Row- 
ley, embarked in the evening on board the Otter with captain 
Tomkinson. 
On bidding adieu to Mauritius, it is but justice to declare that 
during my long residence in the island, as a marked object of sus- 
picion to the government, the kind attention of the inhabitants who 
could have access to me was invariable ; never, in any place, or 
amongst any people, have I seen more hospitality and attention to 
strangers, — more sensibility to the misfortunes of others, of what- 
ever nation, than here,— than I have myself experienced in Mauritius. 
To the names of the two families whose unremitting kindness 
formed a great counterpoise to the protracted persecution of their 
governor, might be added a long list of others whose endeavours 
were used to soften my captivity ; and who sought to alleviate the 
chagrin which perhaps the strongest minds cannot but sometimes 
feel in the course of years, when reflecting on their far-distant fami- 
lies and friends, on their prospects in life indefinitely suspended, and 
their hopes of liberty and justice followed by continual disappoint- 
ment ; and to the honour of the inhabitants in general be it spoken, 
that many who knew no more than my former employment and 
my misfortunes, sought to render me service by such ways as seemed 
open to them. The long continuation and notorious injustice of my 
imprisonment bad raised a sensation more strong and widely extended 
than I could believe, before arriving at Port Louis to embark in the 
cartel; when the number of persons who sought to be introduced, for 
the purpose of offering their felicitations upon this unexpected event, 
confirmed what had been before said by my friends; and afforded a sa- 
tisfactory proof that even arbitrary power, animated by strong national 
prejudice, though it may turn aside or depress for a time, cannot yet 
extinguish in a people the broad principles of justice and humanity 
generally prevalent m the human heart. 
Some part of my desire to ascertain the motives which influ- 
