Meanwhile, thanks to the energy of Cockburn and his sailors, Longwood was ready for the party (December 9th, 1815), and the Admiral hoped that their complaints would cease.  The new abode contained five rooms for Napoleon’s use, three for the Montholons, two for the Las Cases, and one for Gourgaud:  it was situated on a plateau 1,730 feet above the sea:  the air there was bracing, and on the farther side of the plain dotted with gum trees stretched the race-course, a mile and a half of excellent turf.  The only obvious drawbacks were the occasional mists, and the barren precipitous ravines that flank the plateau on all sides.  Seeing, however, that Napoleon disliked the publicity of Jamestown, the isolation of Longwood could hardly be alleged as a serious grievance.  The Bertrands occupied Hutt’s Gate, a small villa about a mile distant.

The limits within which Napoleon might take exercise unaccompanied by a British officer formed a roughly triangular space having a circumference of about twelve miles.  Outside of those bounds he must be so accompanied; and if a strange ship came in sight, he was to return within bounds.  The letters of the whole party must be supervised by the acting Governor.  This is the gist of the official instructions.  Napoleon’s dislike of being accompanied by a British officer led him nearly always to restrict himself to the limits and generally to the grounds of Longwood.

And where, we may ask, could a less unpleasant place of detention have been found?  In Europe he must inevitably have submitted to far closer confinement.  For what safeguards could there have been proof against a subtle intellect and a personality whose charm fired thousands of braves in both hemispheres with the longing to start him once more on his adventures?  The Tower of London, the eyrie of Dumbarton Castle, even Fort William itself, were named as possible places of detention.  Were they suited to this child of the Mediterranean?  He needed sun; he needed exercise; he needed society.  All these he could have on the plateau of Longwood, in a singularly equable climate, where the heat of the tropics is assuaged by the south-east trade wind, and plants of the sub-tropical and temperate zones alike flourish.[557]

But nothing pleased the exiles.  They moped during the rains; they shuddered at the yawning ravines; they groaned at the sight of the red-coats; above all, they realized that escape was hopeless in face of Cockburn’s watchful care.  His first steps on arriving at the island were to send on to the Cape seventy-five foreigners whose presence was undesirable.  He also despatched the “Peruvian” to hoist the British flag on the uninhabited island, Ascension, in order, as he wrote to the Admiralty, “to prevent America or any other nation from planting themselves [sic] there ... for the purpose of favouring sooner or later the escape of General Bonaparte.”  Four ships of war were also kept at St. Helena, and no merchantmen but those of the East India Company were to touch there except under stress of weather or when in need of water.