To Accept It, We
Have Not Merely To Disregard The Total Absence Of Evidence, But To
Believe That Spencer Was Befooled And That Otto Deceived Him.
The
application was, it was urged, "grounded on false pretences," and the
passports were "fraudulently obtained." It would have
Been a piece of
audacity of quite superb coolness for the French diplomatist to ask for
British protection for ships on ostensible grounds of research, had their
secret purpose been exactly opposite to the profession; and the British
Minister would have been guilty of grave dereliction of duty had he not
assured himself that Otto's representations were reliable.
The letter of instructions furnished by the Duke of Portland, Secretary
of State in Pitt's administration, to Grant, the commander of the Lady
Nelson, in February 1800, may be quoted as laying down the principle
observed by Great Britain in regard to an enemy's ships commissioned
purely for discovery. "As vessels fitted out for this purpose," wrote the
Duke, "have always been respected by the nations of Europe,
notwithstanding actual hostilities may at the time have existed between
them, and as this country has always manifested the greatest attention to
other nations on similar occasions, as you will observe by the letters
written in favour of vessels employed in discovery by France and Spain,
copies of which you receive enclosed, I have no apprehension whatever of
your suffering any hindrance or molestation from the ships of other
nations should you fall in with them...You are also, on pain of His
Majesty's utmost displeasure, to refrain on your part from making prizes,
or from detaining or molesting the ships of any other nation, although
they may be at war with His Majesty."* (* Historical Records of New South
Wales 4 57.)
It was on this enlightened principle that the British Government
furnished passports to Baudin's ships; but the Admiralty also took steps
to prevent the laurels of important discovery being won by foreign
efforts. Flinders returned home in the Reliance in August, vigorous,
eager for fresh work, and already, notwithstanding his youth, honourably
regarded by naval men as an intrepid and skilful navigator. Lord Spencer,
the head of a family eminently distinguished for the great administrators
whom it has furnished for the furtherance of British polity, did a far
wiser thing than attempting to block French researches, from suspicion,
jealousy, or fear of consequences. He entertained the suggestion of Sir
Joseph Banks, ordered the fitting out of the Investigator, and placed her
under the command of the one man in the Navy who knew what discovery work
there was to do, and how to accomplish it speedily. Pitt's consummate
judgment in the selection of men for crucial work has often been
eulogised, and never too warmly; but one can hardly over-praise the
sagacity of Pitt's colleague at the Admiralty, who especially commended
Nelson as the officer to checkmate Bonaparte in the Mediterranean in
1798,* (* See Mahan's Life of Nelson (1899 edition) page 275.) and, on
the more pacific side of naval activity, commissioned Matthew Flinders to
complete the discovery of Australia in 1800.
Baudin's expedition was ready to sail from Havre at the end of September,
but was delayed by contrary winds. The delay was considered by a friendly
contemporary to be fortunate, in that it enabled the officers and
scientific staff to become friendly, so that the most perfect harmony
existed amongst them.* (* Moniteur, 29th Vendemiaire, Revolutionary Year
8 (1800).) French readers of the official organ of the Government were
also assured that everybody on the two ships had merited confidence in
the talent of the chiefs; in which case their disappointment with later
developments must have been all the more profound. The public and the
journals took a lively interest in the enterprise; and the author of one
of the world's great stories, Bernardin de Saint Pierre, from his
experience of tropical life in the island where Paul and Virginia lived
and loved, lectured at the Institute on the dietetic regime which ought
to be observed by Captain Baudin and his men.* (* Moniteur, 16th
Vendemiaire.) But however valuable his advice may have been, it was sadly
disregarded.
A livelier function was a banquet given to Baudin at the Hotel de la
Rochefoucauld, in Paris, on the 7th Fructidor, by the Societe de
l'Afrique Interieure. It was attended by several leading members of the
Institute, and an account of it was accorded over a column of space in
the Moniteur.* (* 22nd Fructidor.) Baudin was seated between Bougainville
and Vaillant, an African traveller. There was music, and song, and a long
toast list, with many eloquent speeches. Baudin submitted the toast of
Bonaparte, "First Consul of the French Republic and protector of the
expedition"; Jussieu proposed the progress of the sciences; the company
drank to the "amelioration of the lot of savage races, and may their
civilisation result from the visit which the French are about to pay to
them"; and the immortal memory of La Perouse was honoured in silence. The
last toast appropriately expressed the wish that the whole company might
reassemble in the same place on the return of the expedition, "inspired
by the purest zeal for the progress of the sciences and of
enlightenment." A short poem was also recited, which it is worth while to
rescue from the inaccessibility of the Moniteur file: -
"Vous quittez aujourd'hui la France
Mais vous emportez tous nos voeux,
Et deja vos succes heureux
Partout sont applaudis d'avance.
Sur le coeur de tous les mortels
Votre gloire a jamais se fonde,
Il n'est pas de pays au monde
Ou le savoir n'ait des autels."
The poet who thus applauded success in advance, probably lived long
enough to realise that it is much easier to make fair verses than a true
prediction.
There was another banquet at Havre while the ships were awaiting a fair
wind, when again high hopes were expressed concerning the results to be
achieved by the expedition, and where one of the toasts was proposed by a
Chinese, Ah Sam, who had been found on board a captured English frigate,
and was, by Bonaparte's orders, being taken by Baudin to Mauritius,
whence he was to be shipped to his own country.
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