Baffled by the vigilance of our cruisers in every attempt to escape from one of the western ports of France to America, Napoleon was at last compelled to surrender himself to a British squadron.

But, though he was our prisoner, the Prime-minister considered us, in all our dealings with him, as so bound by engagements to our allies, that he was to be regarded as "the common prisoner of all, so far that we should not give him up or release him without the joint consent of all." The question was full of difficulty.

There were, probably, very few persons in this or any other country who did not coincide in the impropriety of releasing him, and so putting it in his power once more to rekindle a war in Europe.

But it was a political view of the case, founded on a consideration of what was required by the tranquillity of Europe; and it was not easy to lay down any legal ground to justify the determination.
Some regarded him as a French subject, and, if that view were correct, he could hardly be detained by us as a prisoner of war after we had concluded a treaty of peace with France.

But, again, it seemed to some, the Lord Chancellor being among them, a questionable point whether in the last campaign we had been at war with France; whether, on the contrary, we had not assumed the character of an ally of France against him.