great Marquess from India; partly, likewise, on account of the exaggerated opinion entertained in England of the strength of the islands and of the great difficulties which would attend an expedition, the idea was allowed for some years to drop. The British Government contented itself with spasmodic directions to blockade the islands — a measure, the effective carrying out of which was impossible, and which, even when attempted, did not affect the successful egress and ingress of the adventurous cruisers.
At length the damage done by those cruisers aroused a cry of indignation and despair to which it was impossible that the Government should remain longer deaf. Under the pressure thus excited the Governor-General, Lord Minto, urged upon the Home Government the necessity of adopting measures more effectual than that of a blockade by ships depending for their supplies on the Cape or on Bombay. Lord Minto was in consequence authorised to occupy Rodriguez, a small island about 300 miles to the eastward of the Isle of France. Still neither the English Government nor the Governor-General entertained any idea beyond gaining a base from which to supply blockading squadrons. In accordance with these views a small force, consisting of 200 Europeans and 200 natives, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Keating, was despatched in May, 1809, from Bombay, in H.M.'s ship Belliqueux, to occupy Rodriguez.
Rodriguez, used by the French as a garden to supply
