and the resolve of the allied
sovereigns to leave Vienna on the 20th, he heard news of the highest
importance from France. On that day one of his former officials,
Fleury de Chaboulon, landed in Elba, and informed him of the hatching
of a plot by military malcontents, under the lead of Fouche, for the
overthrow of Louis XVIII.[463] Napoleon at once despatched his
informant to Naples, and ordered his brig, "L'Inconstant," to be
painted like an English vessel. Most fortunately for him, Campbell on
the 16th set sail for Tuscany--"for his health and on private
affairs"--on the small war-vessel, "Partridge," to which the British
Government had intrusted the supervision of Napoleon. Captain Adye, of
that vessel, promised, after taking Campbell to Leghorn, to return and
cruise off Elba. He called at Porto Ferrajo on the 24th, and to
Bertrand's question, when he was to bring Campbell back, returned the
undiplomatic answer that it was fixed for the 26th. The news seems to
have decided Napoleon to escape on that day, when the "Partridge"
would be absent at Leghorn. Meanwhile Campbell, alarmed by the news of
the preparations at Elba, was sending off a request to Genoa that
another British warship should be sent to frustrate the designs of the
"restless villain."

But it was now too late. On that Sunday night at 9 p.m., the Emperor,
with 1,050 officers and men, embarked at Porto Ferrajo on the
"Inconstant" and six smaller craft. Favoured by the light airs that
detained the British vessel, his flotilla glided away northwards; and
not before the 28th did Adye and Campbell find that the imperial eagle
had flown. Meanwhile Napoleon had eluded the French guard-ship,
"Fleur-de-Lys," and ordered his vessels to scatter. On doubling the
north of Corsica, he fell in with another French cruiser, the
"Zephyr," which hailed his brig and inquired how the great man was.
"Marvellously well," came the reply, suggested by Napoleon himself to
his captain. The royalist cruiser passed on contented. And thus,
thanks to the imbecility of the old Governments and of their servants,
Napoleon was able to land his little force safely in the Golfe de
Jouan on the afternoon of March 1st.[464] Is it surprising that
foreigners, who had not yet fathomed the eccentricities of British
officialdom, should have believed that we connived at Napoleon's
escape? It needed the blood shed at Waterloo to wipe out the
misconception.

"I shall reach Paris without firing a s