Page:Helen Leah Reed - Napoleons young neighbour.djvu/55

Rh he was too late. Up to the last he hoped to reach a vessel that would carry him safely to the United States. It is said that he gave up the plan proposed by the American shipping merchant because he would not desert his friends, and for the time there seemed to be no way of providing for them.

It takes strength of mind for a man to decide to live out his destiny rather than run away from life. Napoleon now decided to make the best of things. With British ships practically blockading the coast, he saw that to try to escape was hopeless. He heard with dismay that Paris had surrendered to the Allies, and that the Provisional Government, that might have helped him, had dissolved. His last effort was to suggest sending a flag of truce by Generals Savary and Las Cases to Captain Maitland, commander of the British squadron, asking to be allowed to pass out of the harbor. He gave his word of honor that he would then go directly to America. Captain Maitland replied that even if he himself could grant this request, Napoleon's vessel would be attacked as soon as it had left the harbor. Napoleon at last had to admit that