-296 FLINDERS RELEASED, HIS PAPERS RETAINED, honour not to act in any service which might be considered as directly or indirectly hostile to France or its allies during the course of the present war," the generosity of Napoleon enabled Flinders to lea%^e for the Cape of Good Hope in the sloop Otter, which was cruising off the MaiiritiuB. Even then his letters and papers, a volume of his log-book, and two boxes of despatches were retained. The English Government applied for the missing documents, but neither^ originals nor copies could be obtained. B Against these injuries Flinders lived to fi*ame a stinging indictment in his account of his voyages. He sowed the truth, but saw neither blossom nor fruit. He died as his w^ork issued from the press, leaving a name cherished by all who knew him^ as that of a loyal Englishman, j enthusiastic in discovery as he was dutiful to his country, S The hardships of his career induced the legislatures of New ^ South Wales and Victoria to grant in after years peneions to some of his family. The fate of Flhiders makes more notable the entertain- ment of the French in Sydney. The Geoffraphe and NattiraUsti', after some investigations on the west coast of New Holland and in Van Dieraen's Land, were parted in a gale of wind. The Naturalkte went to Western Port
- without discovering the excellent watering-place at Phillip
Island;"^* the Oeoffraphe proceeded westward, without seeing indications of a harbour at Port Phillip, and met Flinders at Encounter Bay. Sickness was in both ships. On the 25th April 1B02, Captain Hamelin appeared off the coast at Sydney, with much misgiving as to the reception his vessel might meet. The French narrator declares:
- ]je8 inquietudes ne furent pas longues. Les Anglois
raccueiltneut des le premier instant avec cette generosite grande et loyale que le perfectionnement de la civilisation Europeenue pent seiil expliquer et que lui seul a pu produire.^ To Hamelin' b letter asking permission to
- Sir Josepli Banks wrote, Slat Aug, 1802 : ** Flindei's wUl, if he behaves
well, meet with the best encourftgement ; but he la not without enemies, who wiU find out his faults if he commits any." Again, April 1803 ; j^l* Flmders speaka warmly of your frien<3&hip, and I beg you will accept my at thanks for your goodness."
- Governor King. *2l8t Alay, 1802. Despatch,
" ** Peron," vol. I p. 364. I J
