Paris to treat with the allies for peace; they also adopted measures to provide for the defence of the capital. After a noisy and quarrelsome debate in the Chamber of Deputies, it was agreed that Napoleon II. should be proclaimed.

Buonaparte remained in Paris as long as was compatible with his personal safety: but Fouché had been deputed to acquaint him that even his presence in the French metropolis was an impediment to any pacific arrangement with the allies. He therefore consented to withdraw; and, after issuing an address to his soldiers, exhorting them to provoke a civil war, he departed June 29th for Rochefort. Fouché immediately communicated the important fact to the Chamber of Peers, observing," that the commission of government had authorised the minister of marine to arm two frigates for conveying Napoleon to the United States, and that General Becker was entrusted with the safety of his person during his journey."

The French still continued their preparations for the defence of Paris. The allies advanced, and on 1st July the British took up a position, with their right on the height of Rochebourg, and their left upon the Forest of Bondy, while the Prussian army had its third corps near St. Germain, on the left bank of the Seine, and its first on the right. The fourth also arrived during the night in that neighbourhood. Blucher was strongly opposed by the enemy, particularly on the heights of St. Cloud and Meudon; but the gallantry of the Prussian troops enabled them, not only to establish themselves upon the heights of Meudon, but also in the village of Issy. On the 3d July the latter place was attacked by the French, 10,000 strong; but they were, in the event, repulsed. Perceiving that a communication was established by a bridge between the two armies, which the Duke of Wellington had erected at Argenteuil, and that a British corps was moving towards Pont de Neuilly, they sent a flag of truce to desire the firing might cease on both sides of the Seine, with a view to the conclusion of a military convention.

The terms of the treaty were soon agreed upon. On the

7th, Paris was evacuated by the rebel troops; and the next day Louis XVIII. once more entered it.

Buonaparte arrived at Rochefort on 3d July, the day on which Paris capitulated. His avowed intention was to have emigrated to the United States; and to effect this object several schemes were resorted to, all of which, however, the vigilance of the British cruisers rendered abortive. When he heard of the capitulation of the French capital, Napoleon began to be alarmed for his personal safety. He applied to the British squadron for permission to pass, giving a solemn assurance that he intended to retire to the United States. This request was of course refused. His only alternative, therefore, was to surrender, (which he calls throwing himself upon the generosity of the English,) or to remain until he was seized upon by the agents of Louis XVIII. He preferred the former; and, after finding that he could obtain no other terms from Captain Maitland than that he should be conveyed to England, and remain there at the final discretion of the Prince Regent, he addressed his Royal Highness the following laconic epistle :

"ALTESSE ROYALE,

"Rochefort, 13 Juliet, 1815.

"En butte aux factions qui divisent mon pays, et à l'inimitié des plus grandes puissances de l'Europe, j'ai terminé ma carrière politique; et je viens, comme Themistocle, m'asseoir sur les foyers du peuple Brittanique. Je me mis sous la protection de ses lois, que je reclame de votre Altesse Royale, comme le plus puissant, le plus constant, et le plus genereux de mes amis.

"NAPOLEON."

Having achieved this celebrated composition, on July 15th, he was received on board the Bellerophon, (Captain Maitland,) which immediately set sail, and arrived at Torbay on 24th. The most urgent solicitations were made, to obtain for Buonaparte the privilege of remaining in England. These were, however, ineffective, and it was at length resolved, that

he should be conveyed to St. Helena. Against such a decision it was sufficiently natural for him to remonstrate: he desired to be considered as the guest of England, but this country refused to consider him in any other light than as a prisoner. After mature deliberation with her allies, she undertook to provide him an asylum, where his life at least would be secure. On October 1815, therefore, he was removed from the Bellerophon to the Northumberland, in which vessel he was immediately conveyed to St. Helena, where he arrived with his small suite on 17th October 1815.

Previously to his removal from the Bellerophon, Buonaparte was recommended to select three of his suite to accompany him to St. Helena. Count Bertrand was at that time supposed to be particularly proscribed; but Lord Keith took upon himself the responsibility of including him in the number of the exiled Emperor's attendants: the others were Count Las Casas, and General Count Montholon and Lieutenantgeneral Gourgaud, his two aides-de-camp, who were especially attached to his person.

Many objections have been started at various times, as to the banishment of the Ex-Emperor to this secure station. The following sensible remarks on this subject, from the Edinburgh Review, strike us as being particularly moderate, and in point:

"We have stated the necessity of dethroning Buonaparte: -the complete security of his person appears to be an unavoidable consequence of the same necessity. As long as he was at large, either in France or elsewhere, he became a rallying point to the disaffected and the discontented. While there was a possibility of his again mounting the throne, the great remains of his party never could be expected to disperse and form new connections. While he continued at large, no man could despair of his fortunes, after the extraordinary events of 1815. That he should remain quiet, was as impossible as that he should prove inoffensive if he moved. His residence must at all times be the focus of intrigue to the enemies of the restored government, both in France and in

foreign states. Then, if his confinement was absolutely necessary, his banishment seemed almost equally essential. A place of custody was required, which should not only be secure, but appear so. Not only must his escape be rendered impossible; but it must strike all mankind as hopeless. Nothing else could wean from him the attachment of his followers; nothing else could turn the minds of the French people towards their new condition, with undivided interest and affection; nothing else could deprive revolutionary faction of its resource and incentive, or ordinary political discontent of the tendency to degenerate into disaffection. While Buonaparte was expected and he was sure to live in men's hopes, as long as his return was not made physically impossible — no such thing as party, and consequently no free constitution could grow up in France; every opposition must be the faction of the Ex-Emperor, and its tendency must be rebellious. The rest of Europe, as well as France, had the same interest in his effectual confinement; and no country more than our own. To say nothing of the interest which we above all nations have in a peaceable neighbourhood being maintained, the progress of improvement at home was not merely checked, but nearly stopt, by the universal prevalence of alarm, while the greatest of all our dangers continued to menace from abroad. To every proposition of reform, how temperate soever, one answer was ready - The storm still without, threatening each moment to level all before it; this is no time for touching the beams in order to repair our house: let the hurricane pass away, and we shall then strengthen the building by removing what time has rotted.' Any attempt to secure Buonaparte's person, which did not manifestly render his liberation impracticable, would have left too much ground for men's fears, to get over this constant objection to all wise measures, and this standing defence of all misgovernment and abuse.

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rages

"It seems equally clear, that England was the power most fit to be entrusted with the custody of his person. Our interest in the public peace of Europe was less biassed by

selfish considerations; we were less likely to use our power over him as a means of annoyance to others: our high character for honour and humanity, gave a pledge that no unnecessary harshness would be used, and no ground afforded for the suspicions usually attendant upon the keepers of dethroned monarchs, when they pay the debt of nature before the accustomed time. The place chosen, admitted by all competent judges to be well adapted to the main object of perfect and manifest security, with no other drawbacks upon the comfort of the prisoner than its distance and its confined limits both of which are essentially necessary for fulfilling the conditions, both being required to render the confinement complete, and to make its completeness apparent. For these reasons, no opposition seems to have been offered in the House of Commons, and hardly any in the Lords, to the bills for enabling the government to detain Buonaparte."

We subjoin the following code of instructions, drawn up by the British minister, for the guidance of Admiral Sir George Cockburn, to whom the care of Buonaparte was entirely consigned, until the arrival at St. Helena of the new governor, Sir Hudson Lowe.

INSTRUCTIONS.

"When General Buonaparte leaves the Bellerophon to go on board the Northumberland, it will be the properest moment for Admiral Cockburn to have the effects examined which General Buonaparte may have brought with him.

"The Admiral will allow all the baggage, wine, and provisions which the General may have brought with him, to be taken on board the Northumberland.

"Among the baggage, his table-service is to be understood as included, unless it be so considerable as to seem rather an article to be converted into ready money than for real use.

"His money, his diamonds, and his valuable effects, (consequently bills of exchange also,) of whatever kind they may be, must be delivered up. The Admiral will declare to the General, that the British Government by no means intends to confiscate his property, but merely to take upon itself the administration of his effects, to hinder him from using them as a means to promote his flight.

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