Still continuing the conversation, I went over all that had occurred from the commencement. I had been the negotiator, I said, and ought therefore to feel most acutely; and had the greater right to be heard. Lord Keith listened to me with marked impatience; we were standing, and his frequent bows were evidently intended to make me retire. When I told him that Captain Maitland said he had been authorised to bring us to England, without exciting a suspicion in our minds that we were to be prisoners of war; that the Captain could not deny that we came on board voluntarily and in confidence; that the letter of the Emperor to the Prince of Wales, which I had previously communicated to Captain Maitland, must necessarily have created tacit conditions, since he made no remarks on it: at length the Admiral’s ill-humour and even anger broke forth, and he replied sharply, that if such were the case, Captain Maitland must have been a fool, for his instructions contained nothing of the kind; and he was quite sure of this, for it was from himself they had emanated. “But, my Lord,” said I, “permit me to observe, in defence of Captain Maitland, that your Lordship speaks with a degree of severity for which you may become responsible; for not only Captain Maitland, but Admiral Hotham and all the other officers whom we saw at the time, conducted and expressed themselves in the same way towards us; would it have been thus, if their instructions had been so clear and positive?” Saying this, I relieved the Admiral of my presence: he made no attempt to prolong a subject which, perhaps, his Lordship’s conscience rendered somewhat painful to him.
Admiral Cockburn, aided by an officer of the customs, examined the effects of the Emperor: they seized four thousand Napoleons, and left fifteen hundred to pay the servants: this was all the Emperor’s treasure. They were assisted, or rather impeded, in the operation by Marchand, the valet-de-chambre of his Majesty: this appeared to mortify the Admiral excessively; though requested to attend, not one amongst us would lend his presence to, or witness, an act which we regarded as being at once mean and insulting.
Meanwhile, the moment of quitting the Bellerophon arrived. The Grand Marshal had been some time closeted with the Emperor; during which we remained in the outer cabin: on the door being opened, the Duke de Rovigo, bursting into tears, threw himself at the feet of Napoleon, and kissed his hands. The Emperor, still calm and collected, embraced the Duke, and continued his way towards the accommodation-ladder, graciously saluting all those who happened to be on the quarter-deck. The whole of our party whom we left behind were in a state of the deepest anguish; nor could I help observing to Lord Keith, who stood near me at the time, “You see, my Lord, that the only persons who shed tears are those who are to remain.”