uld be so at Rochefort
itself on the instant, were his person removed. Under such
circumstances, to attempt a journey into the interior of France, with
the view of rejoining Soult, now marching on the Loire, or with any
other purpose, must needs expose Napoleon to every chance of falling
into the hands of the Bourbons; and at length, since it was impossible
to sail out of Rochefort without the consent of the English, it was
resolved to open a negotiation with their commander.

On the 19th of July, Savary and Count Las Cazes came off with a flag of
truce, and began their conversation by stating that the Emperor had been
promised a safe-conduct for America, and asking if the document were in
Captain Maitland's hands? No safe-conduct of any kind had been promised
or contemplated by any English authority whatever; and the captain could
only answer that, as far as concerned himself, his orders were to make
every effort to prevent Buonaparte from escaping, and if so fortunate
as to obtain possession of his person, to sail at once with him for
England. Savary and Las Cazes made great efforts to persuade Maitland
that Napoleon's removal from France was a matter of pure voluntary
choice; but this the British officer considered as a question wherewith
he had nothing to do. The utmost the Frenchmen could extract from him
was, that he, as a private individual, had no reason to doubt but that
Buonaparte, if he sailed for England in the _Bellerophon_, would be well
treated there.

The same personages returned on the 14th, and another conversation,
longer, but to the same purpose, was held by them with Maitland, in the
presence of Captain Sartorius and Captain Gambier, both of the royal
navy. These gentlemen have corroborated completely the statement of
Maitland, that he, on the second as on the first interview, continued to
guard the Frenchmen against the remotest conception of his being
entitled to offer any pledge whatever to Napoleon, except that he would
convey him in safety off the English coast, there to abide the
determination of the English government. Savary and Las Cazes, on the
contrary, persisted in asserting that Maitland, _on the 14th July_, gave
a pledge that Napoleon, if he came on board the _Bellerophon_, should be
received there not as a prisoner of war, but as a voluntary guest, and
that it was solely in consequence of this pledge that Napoleon finally
resolved to embark. But there is one piece of evidence in cont