he acted in this particular by the express order of
council. I then repeated my request, that whatever the council required
of me might be given me in writing, that the sense of it might be fixed
and certain, and that I might have time to consider of my reply; but he
gave me to understand, that he could not do this without an order from
the council, and I then absolutely refused to sign the paper, at the
same time desiring an answer to my letter, which they not being prepared
to give, we parted, not in very good humour with each other.

After this, I waited in a fruitless expectation till the 15th, when the
same three gentlemen came to me the third time, and said, they had been
sent to tell me that the council had protested against my behaviour at
Macassar, and my having refused to sign the certificate which had been
required of me, as an insult upon them, and an act of injustice to their
nation. I replied, that I was not conscious of having in any instance
acted contrary to the treaties subsisting between the two kingdoms,
unworthy of my character as an officer, honoured with a commission of
his Britannic majesty, or unsuitable to the trust reposed in me, though
I did not think I had been used by the governor of Macassar as the
subject of a friend and ally; desiring, that if they had any thing to
allege against me, it might be reduced to writing, and laid before the
king my master, to whom alone I thought myself amenable. With this
answer they again departed; and the next day, having not yet received
any answer to my letter, I wrote a second, directed like the first, in
which I represented that the ship's leaks were every day increasing, and
urged, in more pressing terms, my request that she might be repaired,
and that the use of wharfs and store-houses might be afforded me.

On the 18th, the shebander came again to me, and acquainted me, that the
council had given orders for the repair of the ship at Onrust; and as
there was no store-house empty, had appointed one of the company's
vessels to attend me, and take in my stores. I enquired whether there
was not an answer to my letter in writing; to which he answered in the
negative, adding, that it was not usual, a message by him, or some other
officer, having been always thought sufficient.

After this I was supplied, for my money, with every thing I could desire
from the company's stores, without any further difficulty.

A pilot was ordered to attend me, and on the 22