The third and last victim selected for vengeance by the ultra-Royal party was General Lavalette, a relation by marriage of the Emperor, and Director of Posts, who was convicted of having misused his power in favour of Napoleon, when the latter reached Fontainebleau in March. Having been in civil employ, he was condemned to death by the guillotine; and the sentence, in spite of appeals to the mercy of the King, was to be carried out on December 21st. In this case, however, the Government were baulked of their prey, and the prisoner made good his escape by the courage and devotion of his wife, with the assistance of three Englishmen. His wife having exchanged dresses with him, Lavalette got out of prison; but he remained in hiding in Paris for more than twelve days, not being able to leave the closely guarded city until the 8th of January; when, by the co-operation of Mr. Bruce, and Captain Hutchinson, Grenadier Guards (afterwards Earl of Donoughmore), he drove to Compiègne in an open carriage, disguised as a British Officer, and accompanied by General Sir Robert Wilson. It was with difficulty that the latter piloted him out of France, but this was at last managed successfully. Sir Robert then returned to Paris on the 10th, and the police, having received information of the facts of the case, he, Captain Hutchinson, and Mr. Bruce were immediately arrested and confined, awaiting trial, till the 22nd of April, 1816, when they were condemned to be imprisoned for three months. That a distinguished Officer of high rank in the British army, and well known in Europe for his personal animosity against Napoleon, should have actively interfered to save the life of one of the latter’s best friends, was a sufficient reason to put a stop to further acts of the bloodshed, which cast so unnecessary a shadow over the first months of the restoration of King Louis.[72] ----- Footnote 72: _Ibid._ , ii. 527; Gronow, _Reminiscences_ , i. 100. See also _Supplementary Despatches_ , _etc._, xi. 275, 279, 333, 341; and _Annual Register_ , 1816, “Appendix to Chronicle,” p. 329. ----- The negotiations which had been going on continually between the Allied Sovereigns and Louis XVIII., ever since they and their counsellors arrived in Paris, terminated at last by a treaty of peace, dated November 20th. There were matters of considerable difficulty to be discussed, before a general agreement could be arrived at between so many independent nations, whose interests were not all identical. The situation, moreover, was somewhat complex, and this is shown by Lord Liverpool who, writing to Mr. Canning, on the 4th of August, says:—