Austria, or Prussia, who might have violated all justice and good faith with impunity; but by surrendering to the British nation, he threw himself on the justice of every individual. He stated it to be his resolution never again to meddle with politics, and that not another drop of blood should be shed on his account. Of Waterloo, he said that no battle was ever more severely contested. His troops had joined him in the sentiment that the fate of the campaign depended on the issue of that day, and they did their duty-but to that moment he reflected with astonishment on the firmness with which the British received and re pulsed their charges. He attributed his total rout to the treachery of some of his generals, and his having to contend with the bravest troops in the world. When asked his opinion of the military talents of Lord Wellington, he generally evaded the question; but in his communicative moments he is said to have frankly acknowledged, that he had proved himself to be the first general of the age. When he spoke of his former achievements, he said he should have died when he entered Moscow-he had then attained the pinnacle of his glory. "And yet," said he, "had I followed the dictates of my own mind, I might now have been great and happy. I would have made peace at Dresden, or at Chatillon, but Maret's well meaning but fatal zeal, persuaded me against it."

The future destination and treatment of Napoleon now became a subject of discussion in all the political circles in England. One class of reasoners, viewing his deserts, rather than the relation in which he stood to the English government, contended that he should be delivered up to the King of France, and capitally executed for the miseries he had inflicted upon Europe. But these reasoners seem to have forgotten, that by the Treaty of Fontainbleau, Napoleon was acknowledged as Emperor of Elba, and as an independent prince he had a right to conquer France, if he could, subject indeed to the moral guilt attendant upon all wars undertaken to gratify an unjust ambition. The Treaty of Fontainbleau, by recognizing him as an independent sovereign, had granted him an amnesty for the murders and tyranny which had been alleged against him; the King of France had, therefore, by the law of nations, no legal right to put him to death. Still less could Great Britain have possessed the right of delivering him up to undergo capital punishment, without incurring the guilt of the basest perfidy. His surrender to Captain Maitland implied at least a condition of personal security, and no true friend to England could wish to see her fair fame sullied by the blood even of this great offender against the lives and liberties of mankind.

Another class of politicians, with still less shew of reason, imagined that his arrival in Great Bri

tain had conferred upon him all the privileges of a British subject, and entitled him to fix his residence in England, and to claim the protection of her laws. But viewing Napoleon as a conquered enemy, who had been compelled to surrender as a prisoner of war, Great Britain had every right to guard against his escape; or considering his previous conduct in the most favourable light, the powers of Europe had the same authority to restrain him from doing further injury, that they would have to coerce a maniac whose mischievous propensities had become matter of public notoriety. In England he might have maintained a correspondence with the factions which still divided France. He offered indeed his word of honour, that his political life was closed; but that honour had been too often violated, not only in his own person, but in the encouragement which he had given to those officers who had broke that parole which has ever been held sacred by military men. In England also the surveillance necessary for his safe keeping must have been of that strict description as to be inconsistent with his comfort, and a source of continual irritation, while it must have proved ineffectual to quiet apprehensions for the repose of Europe. The British government, therefore, in conjunction with their allies, fixed on the island of St. Helena, for his future residence, as a place which combined in a singular degree the absolute security of his

person,

with facilities of exercise and domestic freedom. Situated in the middle of the Southern Atlantic, at a distance of twelve hundred miles from the coast of Africa, and eighteen hundred from South America, with an inaccessible coast, formed by an almost uninterrupted chain of rocks, rising in nearly a perpendicular direction from six to twelve hundred feet, it is absolutely impregnable either to surprise or regular attack; and so profuse has nature been in strengthening this station, that out of twenty-eight miles of coast, the fortified lines of defence collectively do not exceed eight hundred and fifty yards. The whole circumference affords but one harbour, which is rendered difficult of access both by art and nature; and the ocean is commanded by its rocky steeps to the extent of sixty miles in every direction.

The Northumberland man-of-war, commanded by Rear-Admiral Sir George Cockburn, was selected to convey Napoleon to his place of exile; and a letter was addressed by Earl Bathurst, Secretary of State, to the Lords of the Admiralty, containing all the instructions necessary for his safe detention and his personal comforts.* Napo

The Admiral was directed to allow all the baggage, (including his table service,) wine, and provisions of General Bonaparte to be taken on board the Northumberland. His money, bills of exchange, diamonds, and other valuable effects to be delivered up -not to be confiscated, but to be administered by the British Government in such a way as to prevent Napoleon from using them

leon first learned through the newspapers his ultimate destination, his rage and mortification seemed to be extreme; and in these feelings his suite strongly participated. On the 2d of August Sir Henry Bunbury, the commissioner appointed for the purpose, officially announced to Napoleon the determination of the British government, which he appeared to receive without surprise : but two days after he gave vent to his indignant feelings in a spirited protest, in which he arraigned the government of a breach of faith and hospitality; and denied that he was a prisoner of war, though it was well known that he had not surrendered to Captain Maitland till all other

as means of escape-the interest or principal, as the property might be more or less considerable to be applied to his support, and in case of his death, he had liberty to dispose of it by will. On his arrival at St. Helena, the General was to be constantly attended by an officer appointed by the Admiral or Governor; and when allowed to go beyond the bounds where the sentinels were placed, an orderly man was to attend the officer. While ships were at this island, or in sight, the General was to be confined to the limits guarded by the sentinels, and during such period was to hold no communication with the inhabitants. Any attempt on his part to fly was to subject him to close confinement; and any plot on the part of his attendants to aid his flight, was to subject them to similar punishment. All letters addressed to General Bonaparte or his suite were to be read by the Admiral or Governor before their delivery, and all letters written by the General or his suite were to be subjected to the same rule. The whole coast of the island and all the ships and boats that might visit it were placed under the strict surveillance of the Admiral.