lloughby of the Nereide made a descent upon the south
side of the island, at Port Jacotet; where he cut out L'Estafette packet
boat, spiked the guns of the fort, carried off the officer with two field
pieces, and M. Etienne Bolger, commandant of the quarter of La Savanne,
the same who had acted so ungraciously on my arrival at the Baye du Cap.
This _sullying of the French territory_ produced a fulminating
proclamation from general De Caen, nearly similar in terms to that of the
emperor Napoleon after the descent at Walcheren; its effect on the
inhabitants, however, was not much, for on asking some of them what they
thought of this second-hand gasconade, the reply was, "Oh it is not to
us, it is to Bonaparte that the proclamation is addressed;" meaning that
it was a bait to catch his approbation. Three days afterwards a flag of
truce was sent out to negotiate an exchange for M. Bolger and the officer
who had commanded the fort, for whom twenty soldiers of the 69th regiment
were given; we afterwards learned that a proposal had been made to let
the cartel sail, provided the squadron would suffer her to pass without
being visited; but to this arrangement captain Pym, the then senior
officer, refused his consent.

An order was given on the 8th for all the British officers to embark in
the cartel, and we hoped to sail immediately; but the merchants of the
town presented a petition to the captain-general for a delay, lest we
might give information of the expected arrival of some ships from France.
Our cruisers were stationed purposely to stop every French vessel,
whether going in or out, and this petition therefore seemed to be
ridiculous; it appeared however to be complied with, for we not only were
prevented sailing, but denied all communication with the inhabitants for
several weeks; and the five ladies on board were as much subjected to
these restrictions as the officers. The French cartel returned from the
Cape of Good Hope on the 10th, with exchanged prisoners; and the former
reports of a projected attack on Mauritius and Bourbon were so strongly
revived that general De Caen made a tour of the island, in order, as was
said, to have batteries erected at all the landing places without
defence, and to strengthen the existing fortifications. On the 18th, an
exchange was made with the squadron of sixteen soldiers and people out of
the prison on shore, for the commander and some others of L'Estafette;
but nothing transpired rel