goes off Cape Finisterre, where the Swiftsure is also gone; and many ships are looking out in the Channel and about the latitude of Ushant.

Buonaparte is certainly not yet gone; I presume he would naturally await the answer from our Government, which only left London on the 1st; my own opinion is, that he will either go with a force that will afford him some kind of security, or in a merchant vessel to avoid suspicion.

"The orders from the Admiralty, received last evening, are, that the ships which are looking out for him, should remain on that service till further orders, or till they know he is taken, and not regard the time of ten days or a fortnight, which they first named: therefore you will govern yourself by that, and keep any ship you have with you till one of those events occurs, without attending

to the ten days I specified in my letter to you by the Opossum yesterday, and make the same known to any ship you may communicate with. The information you sent me, which had been transmitted to you from Bourdeaux, is now proved to have been erroneous, by our knowing that Buonaparte was at Paris as late as the 30th of June, and that paper must have been written on the 29th, as you received it on the 30th. The Eridanus will not rejoin you; she has been stationed, by Lord Keith, off Brest.

"Let me know by the return of the chasse-marée, particularly, what ships you have with you, and where the other ships are, as far as you know, and what position you keep in. If you had ships enough to guard Basque Roads, and the Channel between Isle d'Oleron and the long sand (where a frigate may pass), you would be sure of keeping them in, by anchoring; but

that would afford you little chance of taking Buonaparte, which is the thing to be desired; therefore I think you would be better off the light-house, where I dare say you keep yourself; and on that particular subject I do not think it necessary to give you any instructions, as I depend on your using the best means that can be adopted to intercept the fugitive; on whose captivity the repose of Europe appears to depend. If he should be taken, he is to be brought to me in this bay, as I have orders for his disposal; he is to be removed from the ship in which he may be found, to one of his Majesty's ships."

Nothing of consequence occurred on the 9th; but on the 10th of July, at day-light, the officer of the watch informed me that a small schooner was standing out from the French squadron towards the ship: upon which I ordered every thing to be ready for making sail in chace, supposing she might be sent

for the purpose of reconnoitring. On approaching, she hoisted a flag of truce, and joined us at seven A. M. She proved to be the Mouche, tender to the ships of war at Isle d'Aix, and had on board, General Savary Duc de Rovigo, and Count Las Cases, chamberlain to Buonaparte, charged with a letter from Count Bertrand (Grand Marechal de Palais) addressed to the Admiral commanding the British Cruisers before the port of Rochefort.

Soon after the Mouche arrived, I was joined by the Falmouth, bringing me a letter and secret orders from Sir Henry Hotham, some extracts from which I shall insert for the better understanding what follows, previous to entering into what passed with Buonaparte's attendants.

Extract of a letter from Rear Admiral Sir Henry Hotham, K. C. B. addressed to Captain Maitland, of H. M. S. Bellerophon; not dated, but must have been written on the 8th of July, 1815.

"I sent a chasse marée to you yesterday with a letter, and you will now receive by the Falmouth, officially, the orders which I therein made you acquainted with.

"I send you four late and very interesting French papers, by which you will see all that has been done and said on the subject of providing for Buonaparte's escape from France: you will see that the Minister of the Marine had been directed to prepare ships of war for that purpose; that they were placed at Buonaparte's disposal; and that two frigates in particular had been provided for him also that it was announced to the two Chambers, that he left Paris at four o'clock on the 29th; likewise that it was