Having so expressed himself, he wrote a second letter to the Prince Regent, which was forwarded through Lord Keith.  It was the opinion of Generals Montholon and Gourgaud that Bonaparte would sooner kill himself than go to St. Helena.  This idea arose from his having been heard emphatically to exclaim, “I will not go to St. Helena!” The generals, indeed, declared that were he to give his own consent to be so exiled they would themselves prevent him.  In consequence of this threat Captain Maitland was instructed by Lord Keith to tell those gentlemen that as the English law awarded death to murderers, the crime they meditated would inevitably conduct them to the gallows.

Early on the morning of the 4th of August the ‘Bellerophon’ was ordered to be ready at a moment’s notice for sea.  The reason of this was traced to a circumstance which is conspicuous among the many remarkable incidents by which Bonaparte’s arrival near the English coast was characterised.  A rumour reached Lord Keith that a ‘habeas corpus’ had been procured with a view of delivering Napoleon from the custody he was then in.  This, however, turned out to be a subpoena for Bonaparte as a witness at a trial in the Court of King’s Bench; and, indeed, a person attempted to get on board the Bellerophon to serve the document; but he was foiled in his intention; though, had he succeeded, the subpoena would, in the situation wherein the ex-Emperor then stood, have been without avail.

On the 5th Captain Maitland, having been summoned to the flag-ship of Lord Keith, acquainted General Bertrand that he would convey to the Admiral anything which Bonaparte (who had expressed an urgent wish to see his lordship) might desire to say to him.  Bertrand requested the captain to delay his departure until a document, then in preparation, should be completed:  the “Protest of his majesty the late emperor of the French, etc.”

Captain Maitland denied that any snare was laid for Bonaparte, either by himself or by the English Government, and stated that the precautions for preventing the escape of Napoleon from Rochefort were so well ordered that it was impossible to evade them; and that the fugitive was compelled to surrender himself to the English ship.

On the 7th of August Bonaparte, with the suite he had selected, was transferred from the ‘Bellerophon’ to the ‘Northumberland’.  Lord Keith’s barge was prepared for his conveyance to the latter vessel, and his lordship was present on the occasion.  A captain’s guard was turned out, and as Napoleon left the ‘Bellerophon’ the marines presented arms, and the drum was beaten as usual in saluting a general officer.  When he arrived on board the Northumberland the squadron got under weigh, and Napoleon sailed for the place of his final exile and grave.’

   —­[For the continuation of Napoleon’s voyage see Chapter XIII.]—­