So then, it must be taken as proved that in this one case certain officers of the Falmouth Service sold their honour and betrayed their country. One naturally asks whether any of the other captures mentioned in the previous pages were due to a similar treason. Since the war broke out thirty-two Packets had been captured, and of these twenty-one were taken on the homeward voyage. It may be said at once that, as far as the now existing records show, no such misconduct as was proved against the officers of the “Duke of York” was ever alleged against any others. Doubts may have been raised in the minds of Lord Auckland or of Mr. Freeling; but if so, they were allowed to slumber again, and, after the lapse of well-nigh a hundred years, it cannot be necessary to reawaken them. In order to bring out more clearly the nature of these charges, and to show precisely how far they were well-grounded, the proper sequence of events has been somewhat neglected. During the four years which elapsed between the first rumour of the scandals and the capture of the “Duke of York,” considerable progress had been made in limiting the trade. Early in 1800 complaint of the existence of an illegal trade at Falmouth was made to Mr. Pitt by a private individual. Who this person was, on what grounds he objected to the trade, or by what influence he prevailed on the Treasury to issue a prohibition for which successive Postmasters General had appealed in vain,—these are inquiries on which the records throw no light. The fact however is that he did prevail, and an order was issued prohibiting the private trade on the West India Packets, though for the present it was permitted to continue on the Lisbon boats. In looking back on these events one cannot but suppose that in thus vitally altering the ancient conditions of service on the Falmouth station the Government were actuated by some motive much more potent than the desire to gratify a single individual. It must have been foreseen that the sailors would resent the loss of their large profits; that the chief attraction of the Service in their eyes was about to be destroyed, and this in the midst of a dangerous and costly war.