“I could not consider his abdication of a usurped power in favour of his son, and his handing over the government provisionally to five persons named by himself, to be that description of security which the allies had in view, which should induce them to lay down their arms; and therefore I continue my operations.... “WELLINGTON.” (_Gurwood_, vol. XII, page 508.) _To the French Commissioners._ “HEAD-QUARTERS, June 26th, 1815. ... “Since the 15th instant, when Napoleon Bonaparte, at the head of the French armies, invaded the dominions of the king of the Netherlands, and attacked the Prussian army the Field-Marshal has considered his sovereign, and those powers whose armies he commands, in a state of war with the government of France; and he does not consider the abdication of Napoleon Bonaparte of his usurped authority, under all the circumstances which have preceded and attended that measure, as the attainment of the object held out in the declarations and treaties of the allies, which should induce them to lay down their arms. “The Field-Marshal cannot consent therefore to any suspension of hostilities, however desirous he is of preventing the farther effusion of blood. “Their Excellencies ... will probably consider any interview with him a useless waste of their time.... “WELLINGTON.” (_Gurwood_, vol. XII, page 512.) It will appear, by the subjoined documents, that Wellington was tender of the life of Napoleon, who had not spared that of the duc d’Enghien, and who had declared that he would treat in the same way, that is, put to death, any Bourbon prince he should catch within the boundaries of his empire. Blücher was eager to put Bonaparte to death, as the guilty author of so much rapine and bloodshed; and to punish the Parisians by fines, the destruction of the bridge of Jena, and of their city itself, if they proved refractory. From this dreadful retaliation, it required all the influence of the Duke over Blücher to preserve them. Posterity should know, if the French will not pay attention to the fact, through whose intervention Napoleon’s life was spared, and Paris saved from dishonour, if not pillage and utter destruction. _To Sir Charles Stuart, G.C.B._ “ORVILLÉ, June 28th, 1815. “MY DEAR STUART, “I send you my dispatches, which will make you acquainted with the state of affairs. You may show them to Talleyrand if you choose.