INCARCERATION OF MATTHEW FLINDERS

The Hull Packet and Original Weekly Commercial, Literary and General Advertiser

22 August 1815

Reflections on the Situation of Bonaparte

The case of Bonaparte is rather a puzzling one, and one that can be determined by circumstances of necessity only. It is quite clear that were he an enemy's General merely, he has a claim to be considered a prisoner of war and treated accordingly. But for obvious reasons he cannot be dealt with according to ordinary forms. He has by his conduct forfeited all the rights even of a prisoner; and though he had not, yet his character and pretensions are such, that the security and tranquillity of Europe require that he should be treated differently It is said that he objects to being sent to St. Helena, - very likely, but before he can do so with effect, so as to be listened to by our Government he should call to mind, whether he himself ever regarded the murmurings the remonstrances, or the heavy sufferings of others.

.........And here we cannot help bringing to the recollection of our readers, the misfortunes of Capt. Matthew Flinders of the British navy; the case of that excellent officer deserves to be more generally known than it seems to be. Endowed with an enthusiastic spirit of enterprize and a desire to extend the boundaries of nautical science, this able and lamented officer, at the beginning of the present century, was sent out on a voyage of maritime discovery and survey, which he partly accomplished under the most difficult and disheartening circumstances. On his return home to procure the means of extending and completing his object, he was under the necessity of putting into the Isle of France. There, in violation of the humanity and hospitality of civilized nations, in open breach of the faith of a passport granted to him, and signed by Bonaparte himself, he was by Decaen, governor-general of the island, immediately put into confinement, and with circumstances the most cruel and harassing detained a prisoner for a period of no less than seven years. Thus baffled in the great and glorious object of his life, his gallant spirit drooped, his health declined, and after having survived but a year, after return to his native land, during which he scarcely had time to finish his publication of the results of his interesting voyage, he sunk in the prime of life a victim to a system of barbarity and brutality, which has no parallel in the history of modern times. Thus was a brave officer, engaged in an undertaking which had in view the general interests and happiness of the world, and whose services went to save to present and future generations more lives than even the bloody ambition of Bonaparte has destroyed, sacrificed to the exercise of the wanton and unfeeling tyranny of that man who now, forsooth, is struck with horror at the thoughts of being transported to a distant island.