Liverpool was desperate to get Napoleon away, to Malta, Gibraltar, St Helena, the Cape of Good Hope, or anywhere else. He was anxious lest the English tendency to make a hero out of a fallen man take on political dimensions. A group of sympathisers had already hired an eminent QC, who obtained a subpoena for Napoleon to appear at the Court of King’s Bench the following November, but the boat trying to serve it on the Emperor was threatened by Captain Maitland with being blown out of the water if it came any closer.
