Las Cases returned to the Bellerophon at four o’clock in the morning of the 14th, to inquire whether any reply had been received to the communication made by Napoleon.  Captain Maitland stated that he expected to receive it every moment, and added that, if the Emperor would then embark for England, he was authorized to convey him thither.  He added, moreover, that in his own opinion, and many other officers present concurred with him, he had no doubt Napoleon would be treated in England with all-possible attention and respect; that in England neither the King nor Ministers exercised the same arbitrary power as on the Continent; that the English indeed possessed generosity of sentiment and a liberality of opinions superior even to those of the King.  Las Cases replied that he would make Napoleon acquainted with Captain Maitland’s offer, and added, that he thought the Emperor would not hesitate to proceed to England, so as to be able to continue his voyage to the United States.  He described France, south of the Loire, to be in commotion, the hopes of the people resting on Napoleon as long as he was present; the propositions everywhere made to him, and at every moment; his decided resolution not to become the pretest of a civil war; the generosity he had exhibited in abdicating, in order to render the conclusion of a peace more practicable; and his settled determination to banish himself, in order to render that peace more prompt and more lasting.

The messengers returned to their Master, who, after some doubt and hesitation, despatched General Gourgaud with the following well-known letter to the Prince Regent:—­

Rochefort, 13th July 1815.

   Royal highness—­A victim to the factions which divide my country,
   and to the hostility of the greatest Powers of Europe, I have
   terminated my political career, and come, like Themistocles, to
   share the hospitality of the British people.  I place myself under
   the protection of their laws, and I claim that from your Royal
   Highness as the most powerful, the most constant, and the most
   generous of my enemies. 
               (Signed) Napoleon.

About four P.M.  Las Cases and Savory returned to the ‘Bellerophon’, where they had a long conversation with Captain Maitland, in the presence of Captains Sartorius and Gambler, who both declare that Maitland repeatedly warned Napoleon’s adherents not to entertain the remotest idea that he was enabled to offer any pledge whatever to their Master beyond the simple assurance that he would convey him in safety to the English coast, there to await the determination of the British Government.