In Torbay troubles began to thicken upon the party.  Gourgaud rejoined them on the 24th:  he had not been allowed to land.  Orders came on the 26th for the “Bellerophon” to proceed to Plymouth; and the rumour gained ground that St. Helena would be their destination.  It was true.  On July 31st, Sir Henry Bunbury, Secretary to the Admiralty, and Lord Keith, Admiral in command at Plymouth, laid before him in writing the decision of our Government, that, in order to prevent any further disturbance to the peace of Europe, it had been decided to restrain his liberty—­“to whatever extent may be necessary for securing that first and paramount object”—­and that St. Helena would be his place of residence, as it was healthy, and would admit of a smaller degree of restraint than might be necessary elsewhere.

Against this he made a lengthy protest, declaring that he was not a prisoner of war, that he came as a passenger on the “Bellerophon” “after a previous negotiation with the commander,” that he demanded the rights of a British citizen, and wished to settle in a country house far from the sea, where he would submit to the surveillance of a commissioner over his actions and correspondence.  St. Helena would kill him in three months, for he was wont to ride twenty leagues a day; he preferred death to St. Helena.  Maitland’s conduct had been a deliberate snare.  To deprive him (Napoleon) of his liberty would be an eternal disgrace to England; for in coming to our shores he had offered the Prince Regent the finest page of his history.—­Our officials then bowed and withdrew.  He recalled Keith, and when the latter remarked that to go to St. Helena was better than being sent to Louis XVIII. or to Russia, the captive exclaimed “Russia!  God keep me from that."[536]

It is unnecessary to traverse his statements at length.  The foregoing recital of facts will have shown that he was completely at the end of his resources, and that Maitland had not made a single stipulation as to his reception in England.  Indeed, Napoleon never reproached Maitland; he left that to Las Cases to do; and the captain easily refuted these insinuations, with the approval of Montholon.  If there was any misunderstanding, it was certainly due to Las Cases.[537]

Indeed, the thought of Napoleon settling dully down in the Midlands is ludicrous.  How could a man who revelled in vast schemes, whose mind preyed on itself if there were no facts and figures to grind, or difficulties to overcome, ever sink to the level of a Justice Shallow?  And if he longed for repose, would the Opposition in England and the malcontents in France have let him rest?  Inevitably he would become a rallying point for all the malcontents of Europe.  Besides, our engagements to the allies bound us to guard him securely; and we were under few personal obligations to a man who, during the Peace of Amiens, persistently urged us to drive forth the Bourbons from our land, who at its close forcibly detained 10,000 Britons in defiance of the law of nations, and whose ambition added L600,000,000 to our National Debt.