Charles Tristan, Count of Montholon (1783–1853), a general, accompanied Napoleon into captivity.

On the subject of NAPOLEON’s abdication and the role played by LA FAYETTE. This draft is heavily crossed out and corrected. ‘One must have the power of voice of Emperor Napoleon to dare speak of Lafayette’s treason, and I would recount my memories of the role played by Mr de Lafayette in those sad days, were they, in my mind, to constitute an accusation of treason. In 1815, Mr de Lafayette was what he had been at the start of the Revolution. He allowed himself to be carried away by grand illusions, which were the dream of his life; without realising it, he became the instrument of political intrigues that his virtues refused to comprehend, and this time too he was the dupe. The fate of the Empire depended on the stance taken by the legislative chambers, the Chamber of Deputies in particular. The men of the Restoration were aware of the people’s resentment; they silenced their hatred of the Regicide and called upon the full tide of liberal passions within the National Assembly to rise up against the Emperor”… Lafayette persuaded the deputies to pass measures that ‘were flagrant infringements upon the Emperor’s legal authority, but this was still not enough for the party driving Lafayette; they needed him to utter the word “abdication”, and Lafayette let it slip in the heat of his liberal convictions’…