good hands for his service, one-fourth of
which would be at once intrusted to firms at New York, Boston,
"Philadelfi," and Charlestown, to provide means for effecting his
escape, and claiming again "le plus beau trone de l'univers." It begs
him to get his departure from Plymouth put off, for a plot had been
formed by discontented British officers to get rid of the Premier and
one other Minister. Napoleon must not build any hopes on the Prince
Regent: "Le Silene de cette isle.... Je fonds donc mon espoir avant
tout sur les navires marchands, Anglais comme autres, par l'apas du
gain." The writer's name is illegible: so is the original postmark:
the letter probably came from London: it missed Mme. Bertrand at
Plymouth, followed her to St. Helena, and was opened by Sir G.
Cockburn, who sent it back to our Government. I have published it _in
extenso_ in my volume, "Napoleonic Studies " (1904), as also an
accompanying letter from Miss McKinnon of Binfield, Berks, to
Napoleon, stating that her mother, still living, had known him and
given him hospitality when a lieutenant at Valence.]

[Footnote 541: Las Cases, "Memorial," vol, i., pp. 55, 65.]

[Footnote 542: I wish I had space to give a whole chapter to the
relations between Napoleon and the Whigs, and to show how their
championship of him worked mischief on both sides in 1803-21, enticing
him on to many risky ventures, and ruining the cause of Reform in
England for a generation.]

[Footnote 543: "F.O.," France, No. 123. Keith adds: "I accompanied him
to look at the accommodation on board the 'Northumberland,' with which
he appeared to be well satisfied, saying, 'the apartments are
convenient, and you see I carry my little tent-bed with me.'" The
volume also contains the letter of Maingaud, etc. Bertrand requested
permission from our Government to return in a year; Gourgaud, when his
duty to his aged mother recalled him; O'Meara stipulated that he
should still be a British surgeon on full pay and active service.]

[Footnote 544: "Extract from a Diary of Sir G. Cockburn," pp. 21, 51,
94.]

[Footnote 545: "Napoleon's last Voyages," p. 163.]

[Footnote 546: I found this return in "Admiralty Secret Letters,"
1804-16.

Lord Rosebery, in his desire to apologize for our treatment of
Napoleon at every point, says ("Nap.: last Phase," p. 64): "They [the
exiles] were packed like herrings in a barrel. The 'Northumberland,'
it was said, had been arrested on her way back from In