In speaking of the "_Acte Additionel_" Mr. Alison says, "It excited unbounded opposition in both the parties which now divided the nation, and left the Emperor in reality no support but in the soldiers of the army." A few paragraphs later, when stating that the "_Acte_" was submitted to the people to be adopted or rejected by popular suffrage, he says truthfully, though in manifest contradiction to his former statement: "The '_Acte Additionel_' was approved by an immense majority of the electors; the numbers being fifteen hundred thousand to five hundred." After the disaster at Waterloo, Joseph was the constant companion of his brother during those few days of anguish in which he remained in Paris. On the 29th of June he left the metropolis to join his brother, who had preceded him, at Rochefort, where the two intended to embark for America in two different ships, the _Saale_ and the _Medusa_. After several days of necessary delay, at four o'clock in the afternoon of July 8th Napoleon was rowed out to the _Saale_, which was anchored at a distance from the quay. But the Bourbons and the Allies were now in power in France, and British guard-ships were doubled along the French coast. No vessel was allowed to leave. Joseph, who had received letters from his wife informing him of all that had transpired in Paris, proposed that the Emperor should return to land, place himself at the head of the Army of the Loire, summon the population of France to rise _en masse_, and again appeal to the fortunes of war. But the Emperor could not be persuaded to resort to a measure which would enkindle the flames of civil war in France, and which might also expose the kingdom to dismemberment, since the Allies already held a considerable portion of its territory. Joseph then urged his brother to embark in a small American vessel which chanced to be in the port, while Joseph, personating Napoleon, whom he strongly resembled, should surrender himself as the Emperor. It was thought that the British cruisers, thus deceived, would allow the American vessel to sail without a very rigid search. But the Emperor declined the offer to escape at the hazard of his brother's captivity. Neither would his pride of character allow him to seek flight in the garb of disguise. He therefore urged Joseph to leave him to his destiny, and to provide immediately for his own safety. During the whole of Napoleon's career there were always multitudes ready to lay down their lives at any time for his protection. The captain of the _Medusa_, a sixty-gun frigate, offered to grapple the English frigate _Bellerophon_, of seventy-four guns, and to maintain the unequal and desperate conflict until the _Saale_ could escape with the Emperor. But as this would be sacrificing many lives to his personal safety, Napoleon declined the magnanimous offer.