n's) portrait set in diamonds. This the captain
very properly refused.[535]

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 m