Leaving matters in this state of uncertainty, Joseph retired from Rochefort to the country-seat of a friend, at the distance of a few leagues. He left his secretary behind, to keep him informed of all that transpired. Two days after he received a letter announcing that the Emperor had taken the fatal resolution to surrender himself to the British Government. Joseph could no longer be of any assistance to his brother, and he decided to leave France as soon as possible. Under the assumed name of M. Bouchard, he embarked at Royan on the 29th of July, with four of his suite, on board the bark _Commerce_, bound for the United States. The vessel was visited several times by the British cruisers without his being recognized. On the 28th of August, 1815, Joseph landed at New York. Captain Misservey, of the bark, was not aware of the illustrious rank of his passenger, but supposed him to be General Carnot. The Mayor of New York, under the same impression, called upon him as General Carnot, to congratulate him upon his safe passage. There were at the time two English frigates cruising before the harbor of New York, to search all vessels coming from Europe. One of these frigates bore down upon the _Commerce_, but the wind, and the skill of the American pilot, saved the ship from a visit. If the English had succeeded in seizing the person of Joseph, they would have taken him back to England, and thence to Russia, where the Allies had decided to hold him in captivity. It was not known in America until Joseph's arrival that Napoleon had confided himself to the English. The illustrious exile, much broken in health by care and sorrow, assumed the title of the Count of Survilliers, the name of an estate which he held in France, and sought the retreat of a quiet, private life, as a refuge from the storms by which he had so long been tossed. After having travelled through many of the States of the Union, and having visited most of the principal cities, he purchased in New Jersey, upon the banks of the Delaware, a very beautiful property, called _Point Breeze_. Here he lived the sad life of an exile, reflecting upon the ruin and dispersion of his family, and exposed to every species of contumely from the European press, then controlled by the triumphant dynasties of the old feudal oppression. It was for the interest of all these regal courts to convince the world that the Bonapartes were the enemies, not the friends of humanity; that they were struggling, not for the rights of mankind, but to impose upon the world hitherto unheard-of despotism; and that in principles and practice they were the most godless and dissolute of men. In this they succeeded for a time, and there are thousands who still adhere to the senseless calumny. Terrible indeed is the condition of a family when it is for the vital interests of all the crowns of Europe to consecrate their influence, and lavish their money to blacken the character of all its members.