compel Lord Keith and Captain Maitland to produce the
person of Napoleon Bonaparte for attendance in London as witness in a
trial for libel then pending. It appears that some one was to be sued
for a libel on a naval officer, censuring his conduct in the West
Indies; and it was suggested that if he (the defendant) could get
Napoleon's evidence to prove that the French ships were at that time
unserviceable, his case would be strengthened. An attorney therefore
came down to Plymouth armed with a subpoena, with which he chased
Keith on land and chased him by sea, until his panting rowers were
foiled by the stout crew of the Admiral's barge. Keith also found
means to let Maitland know how matters stood early on the 4th,
whereupon the "Bellerophon" stood out to sea, her guard-boat keeping
at a distance the importunate man with the writ.

The whole affair looks very suspicious. What defendant in a plain
straightforward case would ever have thought of so far-fetched a
device as that of getting the ex-Emperor to declare on oath that his
warships in the West Indies had been unseaworthy? The tempting thought
that it was a trick of some enterprising journalist in search of "copy
"must also be given up as a glaring anachronism. On the other hand,
it is certain that Napoleon's well-wishers in London and Plymouth were
moving heaven and earth to get him ashore, or delay his
departure.[540] In common with Sieyes, Lavalette, and Las Cases, he
had hoped much from the peculiarities of English law; and on July 28th
he dictated to Las Cases a paper, "suited to serve as a basis to
jurists," which the latter says he managed to send ashore.[541] If
this be true, Napoleon himself may have spurred on his friends to the
effort just described. Or else the plan may have occurred to some of
his English admirers who wished to embarrass the Ministry. If so,
their attempt met with the fate that usually befalls the efforts of
our anti-national cliques on behalf of their foreign heroes: it did
them harm: the authorities acted more promptly than they would
otherwise have done: the "Bellerophon" put to sea a few days before
the Frenchmen expected, with the result that they were exposed to a
disagreeable cruise until the "Northumberland" (the ship destined for
the voyage in place of the glorious old "Bellerophon") was ready to
receive them on board.[542]

Dropping down from Portsmouth, the newer ship met the "Bellerophon"
and "Tonnant," Lord Keith's ship