to each a private audience on the following
day.

Though Napoleon received with coldness the Commissioners whom he had
himself solicited, yet that coldness was far from being manifested in an
equal degree to all. He who experienced the best reception was Colonel
Campbell, apparently because his person exhibited traces of wounds.
Napoleon asked him in what battles he had received them, and on what
occasions he had been invested with the orders he wore. He next
questioned him as to the place of his birth, and Colonel Campbell having
answered that he was a Scotchman, Napoleon congratulated him on being the
countryman of Ossian, his favourite author, with whose poetry, however,
he was only acquainted through the medium of wretched translations.
On this first audience Napoleon said to the Colonel, "I have cordially
hated the English. I have made war against you by every possible means,
but I esteem your nation. I am convinced that there is more generosity
in your Government than in any other. I should like to be conveyed from
Toulon to Elba by an English frigate."

The Austrian and Russian Commissioners were received coolly, but without
any marked indications of displeasure. It was not so with the Prussian
Commissioner, to whom he said duly, "Are there any Prussians in my
escort?"--"No, Sire."--"Then why do you take the trouble to accompany
me?"--"Sire, it is not a trouble, but an honour."--"These are mere words;
you have nothing to do here."--"Sire, I could not possibly decline the
honourable mission with which the King my master has entrusted me." At
these words Napoleon turned his back on Count Truchess.

The Commissioners expected that Napoleon would be ready to set out
without delay; but they were deceived. He asked for a sight of the
itinerary of his route, and wished to make some alterations in it.
The Commissioners were reluctant to oppose his wish, for they had been
instructed to treat him with all the respect and etiquette due to a
sovereign. They therefore suspended the departure, and, as they could
not take upon themselves to acquiesce in the changes wished for by the
Emperor, they applied for fresh orders. On the night of the 18th of
April they received these orders, authorising them to travel by any road
the Emperor might prefer. The departure was then definitively fixed for
the 20th.

Accordingly, at ten on the morning of the 20th, the carriages were in
readiness, and the Imperial Guard was drawn up in the