of officers in the navy, I had no hesitation in addressing myself to them.  Possibly some would think these applications unadvisably made; but no—­to distinguish merit and repay the debt of gratitude contracted by unfortunate brother officers or countrymen, are too congenial to the hearts of Britons; to those who produced either, or both of these titles an English seaman could not be deaf, and on no other account was my suffrage obtained.

Captain Bergeret’s name was too well known to need any recommendation from me; but I wished to express my gratitude for his generous proceedings to many English prisoners, and to have the advantage of his influence in obtaining an order from his government for my liberty, or otherwise for being sent to France to be examined.  The letter transmitted a short time before he sailed, expresses the state of a prisoner’s mind when suffering under injustice and wearied with disappointment; on this account, the greater number of readers will be induced to excuse the insertion of the following passages, which otherwise are without importance, and perhaps without interest.

I need not at this time call to your recollection what my situation is in this place.  I have been so long pressed under the hand of injustice, and my confidence in the French government is so much exhausted, that I am reduced to asking as a favour what ought to be demanded as a right.  On your arrival in France then, my dear Sir, forget not that I am here—­that my prayer is, to be examined, to be tried, to be condemned, if I have in action, intention, or thought, done any thing whilst employed in my voyage of discovery, against the French nation or its allies—­if in any way I have infringed upon the line of conduct prescribed by the passport of the first consul of France.  To have the best years of my life, the essence of my existence thus drained away without any examination into the affair; to have the fruits of my labours and risks thus ravished from me—­my hopes of advancement and of reputation thus cruelly blasted, is almost beyond what I am able to support.  Use then, I conjure you, Sir, your best endeavours with those men in France who have it in their power to forward my wish; with those men for whom a voyage of discovery, the preservation of national faith, and the exercise of humanity have still attractions.  With such men, in spite of the neglect which my extraordinary situation here has undergone, now near three years, I will not believe but that the French empire abounds; a Fleurieu, a Bougainville, a Lalande, a Delambre, and numberless others—­can such men be strangers to national honour and humanity?  Has a man reduced to misfortune by his ardent zeal to advance geography and its kindred sciences, no claims upon men like these?  It cannot be.  However unworthy an instrument I am in the hands of our literary British worthies, my employment, if not my misfortunes, give me a claim upon their assistance in obtaining, at least, an examination into my crimes or my innocence; and this claim I now make.  See these celebrated men, Sir, explain to them the circumstances of my situation, tell them the plain tale, and that it is towards them, though so distant, that my looks are directed; your own name will give you an introduction, and the cause you undertake will not disgrace it.