[48] The giving up of the colony did not take place till six months after our shipwreck.  It was not till the 25th of January, 1817, that we took possession of our settlements on the coast of Africa.

[49] What would our good Major have said if he had known that our Minister of the Marine, Mr. Dubouchage, had exposed himself in a far greater degree, to the embarrassment of the species of shame, attributed to him here, by confiding seven or eight expeditions to officers who do no more honour to his choice and discernment, than the expedition to Senegal has done.

Besides the Medusa, which was conducted so directly upon the bank of Arguin, by the Viscount de Chaumareys, Knight of St. Louis, and of the Legion of Honour, and in the intervals of his campaigns, receiver of the droits reunis, at Bellac, in Upper Vienne, every body knows that the Golo, bound from Toulon to Pondichery, nearly perished on the coast, by the unskilfulness of the Captain, Chevalier Amblard, Knight of St. Louis, and the Legion of Honour, who, in order not to lose sight of maritime affairs, had become a salt merchant, near Toulon.  Neither is the debut of the Viscount de Cheffontaine forgotten, who, on quitting Rochefort, whence he was to sail to the Isle of Bourbon, put into Plymouth to repair his masts, which he had lost after being three or four days at sea.  Who does not know that it would be in our power to mention more examples of this kind?

We spare the French reader these recollections, which are always painful; besides, what could our weak voice add to the eloquent expressions which resounded in the last session, in the chamber of deputies:  when a member, the friend of his country and of glory, pointed out the errors of the Minister of the Marine, and raised his voice against those shadows of officers whom favor elevated to the most important posts.  He represented, with reason, how prejudicial it was to government, that the command of ships and colonies should be given as caprice dictates, and to gratify the pretentions of vain pride, while experienced officers were overlooked, or disdainfully repulsed, condemned to figure on the lists of the half-pay, of the reforms, and even before the time, which would have called them to a necessary, or at least legal repose.  How burdensome to the State, are these retraites which render useless, men whose zeal and talents ought to insure no other than their vessel, who wished but to spend their life there in uninterrupted service, who would have found there a tomb, the only one worthy of a French sailor, rather than suffer any thing contrary to duty and honour.  Instead of that, we have seen titles take the reward of knowledge, repose of experience, and protection of merit.  Men proud of thirty years of obscurity, make them figure on the lists, as passed under imaginary colours, and this service of a novel description establishes for them the right of seniority.  These men, decorated