The "military career" of Napoleon Bonaparte having ended at Waterloo, but little remains to be added here. Other writers, especially those noble self-sacrificing friends who shared with the Exile his life at St. Helena, have told in detail of his weary hours on the rocks in the Atlantic Ocean, and a brief summary of the events which finally ended in Napoleon becoming a prisoner of England for life will only be recited.

The arrival of the Emperor at Paris had been preceded by the news—received on June 19th, of the victories at Charleroi and Ligny, and one hundred cannon had been fired in honor of his successes. On the morning of the 21st it became known that the Emperor had arrived the night before, at the ElysÉe. When he stopped at the flight of steps leading to the palace General Druot, who had accompanied him exclaimed, "All is lost!" "Except honor," answered Napoleon quickly. He had not spoken before since leaving Laon.

Immediately on his arrival the Emperor was received by Caulaincourt—his censor in prosperity and real friend in adversity. To him he said, with head bowed by grief and fatigue, "The army performed prodigies; a panic seized it, and all was lost. Ney conducted himself like a madman; he got my cavalry massacred. I can say no more—I must have two hours' rest, to enable me to prepare for business"; "I am choking here!" he exclaimed a moment later, laying his hand upon his heart. After ordering a bath, and a few moments silence he said: "My intention is to assemble the two Chambers in an imperial sitting and demand the means of saving the country."

He was then informed that the deputies appeared hostile towards him, and were little disposed to grant his requests. While he remained in his bath the ministers and great officers of state hastened towards the ElysÉe. When they arrived, his clothes were still covered with dust, as he had left the field of Waterloo; yet, exhausted by the fatigues of three battles, and the dreadful events of his flight and the hurry of his journey being still vivid in his mind, he gave a rapid but distinct view of the resources of the country, the strength already organized for resistance, and the far greater power still capable of development. Among his listeners were his brothers Joseph and Lucien.

While consulting with his ministers, presided over by Joseph, on the morning of the 21st, as to what manner he should inform the Chambers of his great misfortune, news was received that both assemblies had met on learning of his defeat and resolutions passed,—one of which declared the State to be in danger, and the other that their own sittings be made permanent. Thus the Chamber of Representatives overturned the new constitution, and put aside the authority of the Emperor. These resolutions were also adopted by the Chamber of Peers. Lucien Bonaparte, and some of Napoleon's more intimate friends, wished him to instantly put himself at the head of 6,000 of the Imperial Guard, who were then in the capital, and dissolve the Senate, which was unfriendly to him. The Emperor, however, was undecided; as Lucien said of him ever after that, "the smoke of Mont St. Jean had turned his brain."

Late in the evening of the 21st Napoleon held a council to which the presidents and vice presidents of both Chambers were admitted, but no decision was arrived at. Lafayette, the friend of Washington, declared that nothing could be done until "a great sacrifice could be made." The Emperor heard all in silence and broke up the meeting without having come to any decision.

"I have often asked myself," said Napoleon to Las Casas at St Helena, "whether I have done for the French people all that they could expect of me—for that people did much for me. Will they ever know all that I suffered during the night that preceded my final decision? In that night of anguish and uncertainty, I had to choose between two great courses; the one was to save France by violence, and the other to yield to the general impulse." He finally decided that abdication was the only step he could adopt, and his determination was taken.

Early next morning—the 22d—the Chambers again met, and the necessity of the Emperor's abdication was discussed with vigor. It was demanded on all hands, and without any reservation or condition whatever. Finally, Lafayette instructed that word should be sent Napoleon that he would be given an hour in which to abdicate, and be told if he had not done so by that time he would be deposed. Between noon and 1 o'clock the abdication was signed and carried by Carnot to the Chamber of Peers, and by FouchÉ to the Chamber of Deputies.

When FouchÉ appeared, the Deputies were about to declare the Emperor deposed, and he saved them that trouble by producing the following proclamation, in the handwriting of Joseph Bonaparte, to whom it had been dictated, and addressed to the French people:

"Frenchmen! When I began war for the maintenance of the national independence, I relied upon the union of all efforts, all wills and all the national authorities. I had reason to hope for success, and I braved all the declarations of the powers against my person. Circumstances appear to be changed. I offer myself as a sacrifice to the hatred against France. May they prove sincere in their declarations, and to have aimed only at me! My political life is ended. I proclaim my son under the title of Napoleon II., Emperor of the French. The present ministers will provisionally form the council of the Government. The interest which I take in my son induces me to recommend the Chambers should immediately enact a law for the organization of a Regency; unite together for the general safety, and to the end of securing your national independence. Done at the Palace of the ElysÉe, June the 22d, 1815.—Napoleon."

The Chambers had awaited this reply in a state of the greatest impatience in both houses. In the Chamber of Peers, Carnot, having received some exaggerated accounts of the force and success of Grouchy, endeavored to persuade the Assembly that the marshal must ere then have added 60,000 men at Laon to Soult, the relics of Waterloo, thus forming an army capable, under proper guidance, of yet effectually retrieving the affairs of France.

Ney, who had arrived in Paris the same morning, declared otherwise. "Grouchy" said he, "cannot have more than twenty, or at most, more than twenty-five thousand men; and as to Soult, I myself commanded the Guard in the last assault—I saw them all massacred before I left the field. Be assured there is but one course,—negotiate and recall the Bourbons. In their return I see nothing but the certainty of being shot as a deserter. I shall seek all I have henceforth to hope for in America. Take you the only course that remains for France."

Ney's prophecy was soon to be fulfilled, for on the return of the Bourbons to the throne he was shot as a traitor to France, although, as has been frequently said of him, he fought more than five hundred battles for his country and never raised arms against her!

A deputation from the Senate waited on the Emperor at the ElysÉe, and in respectful terms thanked him for the sacrifice he had made, but he was unable to exact from them the avowal that his abdication necessarily carried with it the immediate proclamation of Napoleon II.

The Emperor, for the last time clothed in imperial garb, and surrounded by his great officers of state, received the deputation with calmness and dignity. "I thank you for the sentiments which you express," he said, "I desire that my abdication may produce the happiness of France; but I cannot hope it; the State is left by it without a chief, without a political existence. The time lost in overturning the Empire might have been employed in placing France in a position to crush the enemy. I recommend that the Chamber promptly reinforce the armies; whoever wishes for peace must be ready for war. Do not place this great nation at the mercy of strangers. Beware of being deceived in your hopes. This is the real danger. In whatever position I may be placed, I shall always be satisfied, if France is happy."

He perceived clearly that there was no hope for his son. Thus ended the second reign—the "Hundred Days" of Napoleon. His public career was ended. The council of ministers broke up, and the palace of the ElysÉe soon presented the appearance of being deserted. Napoleon, surrounded only by a few friends, had now become a private individual. When Caulaincourt advised him to seek safety from the Allies in flight to the United States, he replied; "What have I to fear? I have abdicated—it is the business of France to protect me!"

The repeated protestations of Napoleon and his friends, that unless Napoleon II. was recognized the abdication of his father was null, and that the country that could hesitate about such an act of justice was worthy of nothing but slavery, began to produce a powerful effect among the soldiery in Paris, and Napoleon was called upon to signify to the army that he no longer claimed any authority over them, to which he complied.

A provisional government was now proclaimed, consisting of FouchÉ, Carnot, Caulaincourt and Generals Grenier and Quinette, and installed in the Tuileries. FouchÉ declared that Napoleon's continued presence at the capital might produce disturbance, and Carnot was deputed to request him to withdraw to Malmaison, which he was compelled to do on the 25th. Arriving there he soon became aware of the fact that he was in effect a prisoner, for FouchÉ's police surrounded him on all sides—ostensibly "to protect his person." It was at Malmaison, in compliance with the suggestions of some members of the government, that Napoleon addressed his last proclamation to the army; "Soldiers!" he said, "When I yield to the necessity which forces me to separate myself from the brave French army, I take away with me the happy conviction that it will justify, by the eminent services which the country expects from it, the high character which our enemies themselves are not able to refuse to it. Soldiers! I shall follow your steps, though absent. I know all the corps, and not one among them will obtain a single advantage over the enemy that I shall not render homage to the courage which it will have shown. You, and I, have been calumniated. Men, incapable of appreciating your actions, have seen, in the marks of attachment which you have given me, a zeal of which I was the whole object; let your future success teach them that it was the country, above all, that you served in obeying me, and that if I have any part in your affection, I owe it to my ardent love of France, our common mother. Soldiers, some efforts more, and the coalition will be destroyed. Napoleon will know you by the blows that you will give to it. Save the honor, the independence of the French; be what I have known you for twenty years, and you will be invincible."

This address, however, although written at the instigation of the government, its representatives would not allow to be published in the "Moniteur."

The relics of Waterloo, and Grouchy's division, were now marching towards Paris under Soult, followed closely by Wellington and Blucher. The provisional government began to feel some anxiety concerning Napoleon, whom they feared might make his escape from Malmaison and place himself at the head of an armed force to take the field against the invaders, and in favor of Napoleon II.

General Becker, who had been appointed by FouchÉ to the unthankful office of guarding Napoleon, was prevailed upon to repair to Paris and convey a letter to the government, in which the ex-Emperor offered to assume the command of the army and beat the enemy, not with an intention of seizing the sovereign power, but agreeing to pursue his journey as soon as victory should give a favorable turn to the negotiations. In this letter, which was addressed to the Committee of Government, Napoleon said: "In abdicating the sovereign authority, I did not renounce the noblest right of a citizen, that of defending my country. The approach of the Allies upon the capital leaves no doubt of their intentions and bad faith. Under these weighty circumstances, I offer my service as general, still considering myself the first soldier of my country!"

FouchÉ read the letter aloud, and then exclaimed, "Is he laughing at us? Come, this is going too far." His proposal was of course rejected, although Carnot was desirous that his prayer should be granted.

General Becker was instructed to carry back to Malmaison this response; "The duties of the Committee toward the country do not permit it to accept the proposition and the active assistance of the Emperor Napoleon."

He found the Emperor in uniform, believing a favorable reply would be returned. When he had finished the missive Napoleon said: "These men are incapable of energy. Since that is the case, let us go into exile."

FouchÉ now urged his prisoner to consent to depart at once for some foreign port—naming the United States as a haven in which he might find relief from outside interference. If Napoleon had acted promptly, as he had all his life been accustomed to do, he might in all probability have made his escape to this country, as our vessels were in every French port—and he could have crossed the Atlantic; but he hesitated, and those golden moments, which meant so much to him, even liberty itself, were soon irretrievably lost. FouchÉ, who was extremely anxious to have the man who had made him all he was out of the way, did not hesitate to resort to questionable means of pressure to get Napoleon to leave France. One of these was the stimulating of the personal creditors of the dethroned Emperor, and his family, who repaired incessantly to Malmaison to torment him with their demands.

Meanwhile FouchÉ sent to the Duke of Wellington announcing that Napoleon had declared his intention of departing for America, and requesting for him a safe conduct across the Atlantic. The Duke replied that he had no authority to grant passports to Napoleon Bonaparte but the request, as FouchÉ hoped, had the effect of causing the English admirality to quicken their diligence and there was immediately stationed no less than thirty cruisers along the western coasts of France in order to intercept Napoleon should he attempt to depart. No one could be deceived as to the intention of this proceeding; it clearly denoted that the men, who, for the moment, possessed the government of France, had determined that the late Emperor should not leave the country freely. The fear that he might return to the capital, and to his throne, had made them take a step which was certain to place him in the power of the English government.

The next move was to inform Napoleon of the Duke's reply and with it the declaration that two frigates, and some smaller vessels, awaited his orders at Rochefort. He was informed that "if he repaired thither on the instant" he would still be in time. For a moment he hesitated, wavering between hope and doubt. Baron Fleury then went to Paris and learned that the Prussians designed to carry off the Emperor; that Blucher had said, "If I can catch Bonaparte, I will hang him up at the head of my army," but that Wellington had strenuously opposed such a cowardly design. At half past 3 o'clock in the morning Napoleon was informed that Wellington had refused him safe conduct, and he was ordered to depart immediately from Malmaison. Preparations were hurriedly made, and on the 29th of June, eleven days after the battle of Waterloo, he left Malmaison, accompanied by Savary, Bertrand and Las Casas, and others of his attached servants, and attended by a guard of mounted men.

If one of his followers had not taken the precaution to have the bridges in front of Malmaison burned, Napoleon would have run a great risk of falling into the hands of the Allies, as three corps of Prussian cavalry appeared there in quest of him very soon after he started. They had arrived by a circuitous route, and must have been led by a guide well acquainted with the locality. Napoleon, however, had escaped this danger. He slept at Rambouillet the first night, at Tours on the 30th, and at Niort on the 1st of July. He was well received wherever he was recognized; but at the last named place the enthusiasm of the people and troops was extreme.

Rochefort was reached on the 3rd of July. Here Napoleon, who was joined by his brother Joseph, took up his residence in the prefect's house with the view of embarking immediately, but he was informed that a British line-of-battle ship, and some smaller vessels of war, were off the roads, watching the roadstead and harbor, and his departure was therefore impossible.

Meanwhile the French army had once more retired from before the walls of Paris under a convention, and Blucher and Wellington were about to enter the capital and reseat Louis on the throne. The only alternative, therefore, was to open negotiations with Captain Maitland, who commanded the Bellerophon, an English man-of-war which had taken up its station at Rochefort two days before the arrival of the ex-Emperor.

On being asked for a safe conduct to America the English commander replied that his orders were to make every effort to prevent "Bonaparte" from escaping, and if so fortunate as to obtain possession of his person, to sail at once with him for England. Savary and Las Casas, who conducted the negotiations, were unable to exact a definite promise from the captain, when they visited him on the 10th of July, or to learn from him if it was the intention of the British government to throw any impediment in the way of his voyage to the United States. In the course of the conversation, Captain Maitland, according to his own statement, threw out the suggestion, "Why not seek an asylum in England?" to which various objections were urged by Savary, and thus the interview terminated.

The succeeding days were passed by Napoleon in discussing various plans devised for his escape, but they were all abandoned by him. He saw no possible chance of success, for, as he himself said: "Wherever wood can float, there is the flag of England. I will throw myself into her hands—a helpless foe." Then, too, Napoleon was weary of strife, and had the feelings of one who had done with action, and whose part it was to endure. He at last rejected all such proposals, and once more dispatched Las Casas, accompanied by Lallemand, to Capt. Maitland, on the 14th of July, with instructions to inquire again whether the intentions of the British government were yet declared as to a passage to America, or if permission for Napoleon to pass in a neutral vessel could be obtained. The answer was in the negative; but Capt. Maitland again suggested his embarkation on board the Bellerophon, in which case he should be conveyed to England. The words of Captain Maitland, quoted by himself to Lord Keith were; "If he chooses to come on board the ship I command, I think, under the orders I am acting with, I may venture to receive him, and carry him to England." Upon this a negotiation took place, which terminated in Las Casas saying; "Under all circumstances, I have little doubt that you will see the Emperor on board the Bellerophon."

Las Casas returned to the Isle of Aix after his interview with Captain Maitland on the 14th. The result of his mission appeared to be "that Captain Maitland had authorized him to tell the Emperor if he decided upon going to England, he was authorized to receive him on board; and he accordingly placed his ship at his disposal." Napoleon then finally made up his mind to place himself on board the British vessel. On the same day Gourgaud delivered to Captain Maitland the following letter addressed to the Prince Regent of England:

The letter was received by the royal commander and sent to England, but no answer was returned.

On the 15th Napoleon and his friends decided to board the Bellerophon and were transported thither by a barge sent by Captain Maitland. The parting scenes with those left behind were most affecting. The English commander received his charge in a respectful manner, but without salute or distinguished honors; Napoleon uncovered himself, on reaching the quarter-deck, and said in a firm tone of voice, "I come to place myself under the protection of your prince and laws!"

The captain then led him into the cabin, which was given up to his use, and afterwards, by his own request, presented all the officers to him. He visited every part of the ship during the morning, conversing with much freedom with those on board, about naval and other affairs. About noon the ship got under weigh and made sail for England.

On the 23d of June the Bellerophon passed Ushant, and for the last time Napoleon gazed long and mournfully on his beloved country, but said nothing. At daybreak on the 24th they were close to Dartmouth, and when the ship was at anchor the captain was instantly admonished by the Lords of the Admiralty to permit no communication of any kind between his ship and the coast. On the 26th the commander was ordered to Plymouth Sound, where he was the object of great curiosity on the part of thousands of people who swarmed about the vessel in small boats, eager to behold the man who had had the attention of the world for so many years. Napoleon appeared on deck and was greeted with loud cheers, to which he bowed and smiled in return, and remarked to Captain Maitland: "The English appear to have a very large portion of curiosity." On one occasion the captain counted upwards of a thousand boats within view, each containing on an average eight people.

On the 31st of July Napoleon was visited by Sir Henry Bunbury, under-Secretary of State, and Lord Keith admiral of the channel fleet, who came on board and announced the final decision of the British government respecting him, and which was that "General Bonaparte," their prisoner, should not be landed on the shores of England, but removed forthwith to St. Helena, as being the situation which, more than any other at their command, the government thought safe against a second escape, and the indulgence to himself of personal freedom and exercise, and which might be reconciled with the "indispensable precautions which it would be necessary to employ for the security of his person." Secondly, with the exception of Savary and Lallemand, he was to be permitted to take with him any three officers he chose, besides one surgeon and twelve domestics, none of whom were to be allowed, however, to quit the island without the sanction of the British government.

Napoleon, on listening to the decree which sealed his fate for life, made no comment whatever until the reading of the decision had ended. He then solemnly protested against their cruel and arbitrary act. He protested, not only against the order, but against the right claimed by the English government to dispose of him as a prisoner of war. "I came into your ship" said he, "as I would into one of your villages. If I had been told I was to be a prisoner I would not have come. I asked him if he was willing to receive me on board, and convey me to England. Captain Maitland said he was, having received, or telling me he had received, special orders of government concerning me. It was a snare then, that had been spread for me. As for the Island of St. Helena, it would be my sentence of death. I demand to be received as an English citizen." He objected strenuously to the title given him, declared his right to be considered as a sovereign prince, that his father-in-law, or the Czar, would have treated him far differently, and concluded by expressing his belief that "if your government act thus, it will disgrace you in the eyes of Europe." "Even your own people will blame it," he added.

His protests were in vain, however, and at length, the interview having terminated, he was informed that Admiral Sir George Cockburn was ready to receive him on board the Northumberland to convey him to St. Helena. Napoleon then declared with animation, "No, no, I will not go there; I am not a Hercules; but you shall not conduct me to St. Helena. I prefer death in this place. You found me free—send me back again; replace me in the condition in which I was, or permit me to go to America." Still his protests were ignored and preparations were at last begun for departure. In a private conversation with Captain Maitland, Napoleon reverted to the painful subject in the following terms: "The idea is a perfect horror to me. To be placed for life on an island within the tropics, at an immense distance from any land, cut off from all communication with the world, and everything I hold dear to it! It is worse than Tamerlane's iron cage. I would prefer being given up to the Bourbons."

Napoleon's suite, as finally arranged, consisted of Counts Bertrand, Montholon and Las Casas, General Gourgaud, and Dr. O'Meara, an Irish naval surgeon. Bertrand and Montholon were accompanied by their ladies and children, and twelve upper domestics of the late imperial household, who desired to share in the fortunes of their master. The money, diamonds and salable effects Napoleon had with him he was deprived of. When the search of his belongings was in progress, Bertrand was invited to attend, but he was so indignant at the measure that he positively refused. Four thousand gold napoleons ($16,000) were taken from him; the rest of the money, amounting to about one thousand five hundred napoleons, were returned to enable the Exile to pay such of is servants as were about to leave him.

The Northumberland sailed for St. Helena on the 8th of August. After a voyage of about seventy days, without unusual incident, on the 15th of October, 1815, Napoleon had his first view of his destined retreat. He was then forty-six years of age, enjoyed fairly good health, and but for the repeated denials of many necessary comforts to which he was now to be subjected might, in a measure, have enjoyed the remaining years of his life. Here he found himself immured for life in a small volcanic island, in the southern Atlantic, measuring ten miles in length and seven in breadth, at a distance of two thousand leagues from the scenes of his immortal exploits in arms, and separated from the two great continents of Africa and America by the unfathomable ocean.

The admiral landed about noon with a view of finding a fitting abode for Napoleon and his suite, returning in the evening. On the 16th the imperial prisoner landed, and as he left the Northumberland the officers all assembled on the quarter-deck with nearly the whole of the crew stationed in the gangways. Before he stepped into the small boat to be taken ashore he took leave of the captain and desired him to convey his thanks to his officers and men. He then made off for the shore to take up his residence at "the Briars," a small cottage about half a mile from Jamestown, during the interval which must elapse before other quarters could be provided for him. On the 10th of December he took possession of his newly appointed abode at Longwood, a villa about six miles distant from Jamestown. At this latter place he died on the 5th of May 1821 at half past 5 o'clock in the evening, after an exile of nearly six years. His death was no doubt hastened by a succession of petty annoyances on the part of his "jailer," Sir Hudson Lowe, governor of the island, which began on his arrival, and were followed up during all the years of his exile, despite his repeated protestations. He had already lived much longer than he desired, and had completed all his preparations for death's coming, during his last year of bad health. In his final hours he was surrounded by Bertrand, Montholon and other devoted friends to whom he had given his final instructions.

Four days later, or on May 9th, with the cloak he had worn at Marengo thrown over his feet, and clothed in the uniform of the Chasseurs of his Guard, he was buried with military honors, surrounded by the sorrowing friends who had shared his long confinement. The only inscription permitted on the tablet over his body was "General Bonaparte."

Nineteen years later, at the request of the French government, England honored a request for his ashes, and his body was disinterred and conveyed to France to rest once more "on the banks of the Seine, among the French people whom he had loved so well." On December 15th 1840, in the midst of the most imposing and magnificent ceremonies Paris had ever witnessed, the body of the Emperor was borne to the Invalides where it lay for many days publicly exposed. On the 6th of February 1841 the coffin was taken from the imperial cenotaph and placed in the chapel of St. Jerome, in the Church of the Invalides where it was to remain till the completion of the mausoleum some years later. Beneath the golden dome which crowns the Invalides, and towards which the faces of all visitors to Paris are most frequently turned, there still rests all that is mortal of this most wonderful warrior and statesman. His magic name continues to defy even time itself, and as the years roll on each generation inquires of its predecessors what they knew of this man who was so great that his name fills more pages in the world's solemn history than that of any other mortal.