Chapter II.



THE FRENCH NAVAL OFFICER.


Laperouse first obtained employment in the French navy in the CELEBRE,
from March to November, 1757. From this date until his death,
thirty-one years later, he was almost continuously engaged, during
peace and war, in the maritime service of his country. The official
list of his appointments contains only one blank year, 1764. He had
then experienced close upon seven years of continuous sea fighting and
had served in as many ships: the CELEBRE, the POMONE, the ZEPHIR, the
CERF, the FORMIDABLE, the ROBUSTE, and the SIX CORPS. But the peace of
Paris was signed in the early part of 1763. After that, having been
promoted to the rank of ensign, he had a rest.

It was not a popular peace on either side. In Paris there was a current
phrase, "BETE COMME LA PAIX," stupid as the peace. In England, the
great Pitt was so indignant on account of its conditions that, all
swollen and pinched with gout as he was, he had himself carried to the
House of Commons, his limbs blanketted in bandages and his face
contorted with pain, and, leaning upon a crutch, denounced it in a
speech lasting three hours and forty minutes. The people cheered him to
the echo when he came out to his carriage, and the vote favourable to