Books: Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte, v16
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Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne >> Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte, v16
Napoleon read a libel on himself, and contrasted the compliments which
had passed between him and the Queen of Prussia with the brutal-
behaviour ascribed to him in the English newspapers. On the other hand,
two common sailors had at different times, while he was at Longwood and
at the Briars, in spite of orders and at all risks, made their way
through the sentinels to gain a sight of Napoleon. On seeing the
interest they took in him he exclaimed, "This is fanaticism! Yes,
imagination rules the world!"
The instructions of the English Ministers with regard to the treatment of
Napoleon at St. Helena had been prepared with the view completely to
secure his person. An English officer was to be constantly at his table.
This order, however, was not carried into effect. An officer was also to
accompany Napoleon in all his rides; this order was dispensed with within
certain prescribed limits, because Napoleon had refused to ride at all on
such conditions. Almost everyday brought with it some new cause of
uneasiness and complaint. Sentinels were posted beneath Napoleon's
windows and before his doors. This order was, however, doubtless given
to prevent his being annoyed by impertinent curiosity. The French were
certainly precluded from all free communication with the inhabitants of
the island; but this precaution was of unquestionable necessity for the
security of the Emperor's person. Las Cases complains that the passwords
were perpetually changed, so that they lived in constant perplexity and
apprehension of being subjected to some unforeseen insult. "Napoleon,"
he continues, "addressed a complaint to the Admiral, which obtained for
him no redress. In the midst of these complaints the Admiral wished to
introduce some ladies (who had arrived in the Doric) to Napoleon; but he
declined, not approving this alternation of affronts and civilities."
He, however, consented, at the request of their Colonel, to receive the
officers of the 53d Regiment. After this officer took his leave.
Napoleon prolonged his walk in the garden. He stopped awhile to look at
a flower in one of the beds, and asked his companion if it was not a
lily. It was indeed a magnificent one. The thought that he had in his
mind was obvious. He then spoke of the number of times he had been
wounded; and said it had been thought he had never met with these
accidents from his having kept them secret as much as possible.'
It was near the end of December. One day, after a walk and a tumble in
the mud, Bonaparte returned and found a packet of English newspapers,
which the Grand-Marshal translated to him. This occupied him till late,
and he forgot his dinner in discussing their contents. After dinner had
been served Las Cases wished to continue the translation, but Napoleon
would not suffer him to proceed, from consideration for the weak state of
his eyes. "We must wait till to-morrow," said he. A few days afterwards
the Admiral came in person to visit him, and the interview was an
agreeable one. After some animated discussion it was arranged that
Napoleon should henceforth ride freely about the island; that the officer
should follow him only at a distance; and that visitors should be
admitted to him, not with the permission of the Admiral as the Inspector
of Longwood, but with that of the Grand-Marshal, who was to do the
honours of the establishment. These concessions were, however, soon
recalled. On the 30th of this month Piontkowsky, a Pole; who had been
left behind, but whose entreaties prevailed upon the English Government,
joined Bonaparte. On New-Year's Day all their little party was collected
together, and Napoleon, entering into the feelings of the occasion,
begged that they might breakfast and pass it together. Every day
furnished some new trait of this kind.
On the 14th of April 1816 Sir Hudson Lowe, the new Governor, arrived at
St. Helena. This epoch is important, as making the beginning of a
continued series of accusations, and counter-accusations, by which the
last five years of Napoleon's life were constantly occupied, to the great
annoyance of himself and all connected with him, and possibly to the
shortening of his own existence.
It would be tedious to detail the progress of this petty war, but, as a
subject which has formed so great a portion of the life of Napoleon, it
must not be omitted. To avoid anything which may appear like a bias
against Napoleon, the details, unless when otherwise mentioned, will be
derived from Las Cases, his devoted admirer.
On the first visit of the new Governor; which was the 16th of April,
Napoleon refused to admit him, because he himself was ill, and also
because the Governor had not asked beforehand for an audience. On the
second visit the Governor, was admitted to an audience, and Napoleon
seems to have taken a prejudice at first sight, as he remarked to his
suite that the Governor was "hideous, and had a most ugly countenance,"
though he allowed he ought not to judge too hastily. The spirit of the
party was shown by a remark made, that the first two days had been days
of battle.
The Governor saw Napoleon again on the 30th April, and the interview was
stormy. Napoleon argued with the Governor on the conduct of the Allies
towards him, said they had no right to dispose of him, who was their
equal and sometimes their master. He then declaimed on the eternal
disgrace the English had inflicted on themselves by sending him to St.
Helena; they wished to kill him by a lingering death: their conduct was
worse than that of the Calabrians in shooting Murat. He talked of the
cowardliness of suicide, complained of the small extent and horrid
climate of St. Helena, and said it would be an act of kindness to deprive
him of life at once. Sir H. Lowe said that a house of wood, fitted up
with every possible accommodation, was then on its way from England for
his use. Napoleon refused it at once, and exclaimed that it was not a
house but an executioner and a coffin that he wanted; the house was a
mockery, death would be a favour. A few minutes after Napoleon took up
some reports of the campaigns of 1814, which lay on the table, and asked
Sir H. Lowe if he had written them. Las Cases, after saying that the
Governor replied in the affirmative, finishes his account of the
interview, but according to O'Meara, Napoleon said they were full of
folly and falsehood. The Governor, with a much milder reply than most
men would have given, retired, and Napoleon harangued upon the sinister
expression of his countenance, abused him in the coarsest manner, and
made his servant throw a cup of coffee out of the window because it had
stood a moment on a table near the Governor.
It was required that all persons who visited at Longwood or at Hut's Gate
should make a report to the Governor, or to Sir Thomas Reade, of the
conversations they had held with the French. Several additional
sentinels were posted around Longwood House and grounds.
During some extremely wet and foggy weather Napoleon did not go out for
several days. Messengers and letters continually succeeded one another
from Plantation House. The Governor appeared anxious to see Napoleon,
and was evidently distrustful, although the residents at Longwood were
assured of his actual presence by the sound of his voice. He had some
communications with Count Bertrand on the necessity that one of his
officers should see Napoleon daily. He also went to Longwood frequently
himself, and finally, after some difficulty, succeeded in obtaining an
interview with Napoleon in his bedchamber, which lasted about a quarter
of an hour. Some days before he sent for Mr. O'Meara, asked a variety of
questions concerning the captive, walked round the house several times
and before the windows, measuring and laying down the plan of a new
ditch, which he said he would have dug in order to prevent the cattle
from trespassing.
On the morning of the 5th of May Napoleon sent for his surgeon O'Meara to
come to him. He was introduced into Napoleon's bed-chamber, a
description of which is thus given: "It was about fourteen feet by
twelve, and ten or eleven feet in height. The walls were lined with
brown nankeen, bordered and edged with common green bordering paper, and
destitute of skirting. Two small windows without pulleys, one of which
was thrown up and fastened by a piece of notched wood, looked towards the
camp of the 53d Regiment. There were window-curtains of white long-
cloth, a small fire-place, a shabby grate and fire-irons to match, with a
paltry mantelpiece of wood, painted white, upon which stood a small
marble bust of his son. Above the mantelpiece hung the portrait of Maria
Louisa, and four or five of young Napoleon, one of which was embroidered
by the hands of his mother. A little more to the right hung also the
portrait of the Empress Josephine; and to the left was suspended the
alarm chamber-watch of Frederick the Great, obtained by Napoleon at
Potsdam; while on the right the Consular watch, engraved with the cipher
B, hung, by a chain of the plaited hair of Maria Louisa, from a pin stuck
in the nankeen lining. In the right-hand corner was placed the little
plain iron camp-bedstead, with green silk curtains, on which its master
had reposed on the fields of Marengo and Austerlitz. Between the windows
there was a chest of drawers, and a bookcase with green blinds stood on
the left of the door leading to the next apartment. Four or five cane-
bottomed chairs painted green were standing here and there about the.
room. Before the back door there was a screen covered with nankeen, and
between that and the fireplace an old-fashioned sofa covered with white
long-cloth, on which Napoleon reclined, dressed in his white morning-
gown, white loose trousers and stockings all in one, a chequered red
handkerchief upon his head, and his shirt-collar open without a cravat.
His sir was melancholy and troubled. Before him stood a little round
table, with some books, at the foot of which lay in confusion upon the
carpet a heap of those which he had already perused, and at the opposite
side of the sofa was suspended Isabey's portrait of the Empress Maria
Louisa, holding her son in her arms. In front of the fireplace stood Las
Cases with his arms folded over his breast and some papers in one of his
hands. Of all the former magnificence of the once mighty Emperor of
France nothing remained but a superb wash-hand-stand containing a silver
basin and water-jug of the same metal, in the lefthand corner." The
object of Napoleon in sending for O'Meara on this occasion was to
question him whether in their future intercourse he was to consider him
in the light of a spy and a tool of the Governor or as his physician?
The doctor gave a decided and satisfactory answer on this point.
"During the short interview that this Governor had with me in my
bedchamber, one of the first things he proposed was to send you away,"
said Napoleon to O'Meara, "and that I should take his own surgeon in your
place. This he repeated, and so earnest was he to gain his object that,
though I gave him a flat refusal, when he was going out he turned about
and again proposed it."
On the 11th a proclamation was issued by the Governor, "forbidding any
persons on the island from sending letters to or receiving them from
General Bonaparte or his suite, on pain of being immediately arrested and
dealt with accordingly." Nothing escaped the vigilance of Sir Hudson
Lowe. "The Governor," said Napoleon, "has just sent an invitation to
Bertrand for General Bonaparte to come to Plantation House to meet Lady
Moira. I told Bertrand to return no answer to it. If he really wanted
me to see her he would have put Plantation House within the limits, but
to send such an invitation, knowing I must go in charge of a guard if I
wished to avail myself of it, was an insult."
Soon after came the Declaration of the Allies and the Acts of Parliament
authorising the detention of Napoleon Bonaparte as a prisoner of war and
disturber of the peace of Europe. Against the Bill, when brought into
the House of Lords, there were two protests, those of Lord Holland and of
the Duke of Sussex. These official documents did not tend to soothe the
temper or raise the spirits of the French to endure their captivity.
In addition to the misery of his own captivity, Napoleon had to contend
with the unmanageable humours of his own followers. As often happens
with men in such circumstances, they sometimes disagreed among
themselves, and part of their petulance and ill-temper fell upon their
Chief. He took these little incidents deeply to heart. On one occasion
he said in bitterness, "I know that I am fallen; but to feel this among
you! I am aware that man is frequently unreasonable and susceptible of
offence. Thus, when I am mistrustful of myself I ask, should I have been
treated so at the Tuileries? This is my test."
A great deal of pains has been taken by Napoleon's adherents and others
to blacken the character of Sir Hudson Lowe, and to make it appear that
his sole object was to harass Napoleon and to make his life miserable.
Now, although it may be questioned whether Sir Hudson Lowe was the proper
person to be placed in the delicate situation of guard over the fallen
Emperor, there is no doubt that quarrels and complaints began long before
that officer reached the island; and the character of those complaints
will show that at best the prisoners were persons very difficult to
satisfy. Their detention at the Briars was one of the first causes of
complaint. It was stated that the Emperor was very ill there, that he
was confined "in a cage" with no attendance, that his suite was kept from
him, and that he was deprived of exercise. A few pages farther in the
journal of Las Cases we find the Emperor in good health, and as soon as
it was announced that Longwood was ready to receive him, then it was
urged that the gaolers wished to compel him to go against his will, that
they desired to push their authority to the utmost, that the smell of the
paint at Longwood was very disagreeable, etc. Napoleon himself was quite
ready to go, and seemed much vexed when Count Bertrand and General
Gourgaud arrived from Longwood with the intelligence that the place was
as yet uninhabitable. His displeasure, however, was much more seriously
excited by the appearance of Count Montholon with the information that
all was ready at Longwood within a few minutes after receiving the
contrary accounts from Bertrand and Gourgaud. He probably perceived that
he was trifled with by his attendants, who endeavoured to make him
believe that which suited their own convenience. We may also remark that
the systematic opposition which was carried to such a great length
against Sir Hudson Lowe had begun during the stay of Admiral Cockburn.
His visits were refused; he was accused of caprice, arrogance, and
impertinence, and he was nicknamed "the Shark " by Napoleon himself; his
own calmness alone probably prevented more violent ebullitions.
The wooden house arrived at last, and the Governor waited on Napoleon to
consult with him how and where it should be erected. Las Cases, who
heard the dispute in an adjoining room, says that it was long and
clamorous.
He gives the details in Napoleon's own words, and we have here the
advantage of comparing his statement with the account transmitted by Sir
Hudson Lowe to the British Government, dated 17th May 1816. The two
accounts vary but little. Napoleon admits that he was thrown quite out
of temper, that he received the Governor with his stormy countenance,
looked furiously at him, and made no reply to his information of the
arrival of the house but by a significant look. He told him that he
wanted nothing, nor would receive anything at his hands; that he supposed
he was to be put to death by poison or the sword; the poison would be
difficult to administer, but he had the means of doing it with the sword.
The sanctuary of his abode should not be violated, and the troops should
not enter his house but by trampling on his corpse. He then alluded to
an invitation sent to him by Sir Hudson Lows to meet Lady Loudon at his
house, and said there could not be an act of more refined cruelty than
inviting him to his table by the title of "General," to make him an
object of ridicule or amusement to his guests. What right had he to call
him "General" Bonaparte? He would not be deprived of his dignity by him,
nor by any one in the world. He certainly should have condescended to
visit Lady Loudon had she been within his limits, as he did not stand
upon strict etiquette with a woman, but he should have deemed that he was
conferring an honour upon her. He would not consider himself a prisoner
of war, but was placed in his present position by the most horrible
breach of trust. After a few more words he dismissed the Governor
without once more alluding to the house which was the object of the
visit. The fate of this unfortunate house may be mentioned here. It was
erected after a great many disputes, but was unfortunately surrounded by
a sunk fence and ornamental railing. This was immediately connected in
Napoleon's mind with the idea of a fortification; it was impossible to
remove the impression that the ditch and palisade were intended to secure
his person. As soon as the objection was made known, Sir Hudson Lowe
ordered the ground to be levelled and the rails taken away. But before
this was quite completed Napoleon's health was too much destroyed to
permit his removal, and the house was never occupied.
Napoleon seems to have felt that he had been too violent in his conduct.
He admitted, when at table with his suite a few days after, that he had
behaved very ill, and that in any other situation he should blush for
what he had done. "I could have wished, for his sake," he said, "to see
him evince a little anger, or pull the door violently after him when he
went away." These few words let us into a good deal of Napoleon's
character: he liked to intimidate, but his vehement language was received
with a calmness and resolute forbearance to which he was quite
unaccustomed, and he consequently grew more angry as his anger was less
regarded.
The specimens here given of the disputes with Sir Hudson Lowe may
probably suffice: a great many more are furnished by Las Cases, O'Meara,
and other partisans of Napoleon, and even they always make him the
aggressor. Napoleon himself in his cooler moments seemed to admit this;
after the most violent quarrel with the Governor, that of the 18th of
August 1816, which utterly put an end to anything like decent civility
between the parties; he allowed that he had used the Governor very ill,
that he repeatedly and purposely offended him, and that Sir Hudson Lowe
had not in a single instance shown a want of respect, except perhaps that
he retired too abruptly.
Great complaints were made of the scanty way in which the table of the
exiles was supplied; and it was again and again alleged by them that they
had scarcely anything to eat. The wine, too, was said to be execrable,
so bad that in fact it could not be drunk; and, of such stuff as it was,
only one bottle a day was allowed to each person--an allowance which Las
Cases calls ridiculously small. Thus pressed, but partly for effect,
Napoleon resolved to dispose of his plate in monthly proportions; and as
he knew that some East India captains had offered as much as a hundred
guineas for a single plate, in order to preserve a memorial of him, he
determined that what was sold should be broken up, the arms erased, and
no trace left which could show that they had ever been his. The only
portions left uninjured were the little eagles with which some of the
dish-covers were mounted. These last fragments were objects of
veneration for the attendants of Napoleon they were looked upon as
relics, with a feeling at once melancholy and religious. When the moment
came for breaking up the plate Las Cases bears testimony to the painful
emotions and real grief produced among the servants. They could not,
without the utmost reluctance, bring themselves to apply the hammer to
those objects of their veneration.
The island of St. Helena was regularly visited by East India ships on the
return voyage, which touched there to take in water, and to leave
gunpowder for the use of the garrison. On such occasions there were
always persons anxious to pay a visit to the renowned captive. The
regulation of those visits was calculated to protect Napoleon from being
annoyed by the idle curiosity of strangers, to which he professed a great
aversion. Such persons as wished to wait upon him were, in the first
place, obliged to apply to the Governor, by whom their names were
forwarded to Count Bertrand. This gentleman, as Grand-Marshal of the
household, communicated the wishes of those persons to Napoleon, and in
case of a favourable reply fixed the hour for an interview.
Those visitors whom Napoleon admitted were chiefly persons of rank and
distinction, travellers from distant countries, or men who had
distinguished themselves in the scientific world, and who could
communicate interesting information in exchange for the gratification
they received. Some of those persons who were admitted to interviews
with him have published narratives of their conversation, and all agree
in extolling the extreme grace, propriety, and appearance of benevolence
manifested by Bonaparte while holding these levees. His questions were
always put with great tact, and on some subject with which the person
interrogated was well acquainted, so as to induce him to bring forth any
new or curious information of which he might be possessed.
Captain Basil Hall, in August 1817, when in command of the Lyra, had an
interview with the Emperor, of whom he says: "Bonaparte struck me as
differing considerably from the pictures and busts' I had seen of him.
His face and figure looked much broader and more square--larger, indeed,
in every way than any representation I had met with. His corpulency, at
this time universally reported to be excessive, was by no means
remarkable. His flesh looked, on the contrary, firm and muscular. There
was not the least trace of colour in his cheeks; in fact his skin was
more like marble than ordinary flesh. Not the smallest trace of a
wrinkle was discernible on his brow, nor an approach to a furrow on any
part of his countenance. His health and spirits, judging from
appearances, were excellent, though at this period it was generally
believed in England that he was fast sinking under a complication of
diseases, and that his spirits were entirely gone. His manner of
speaking was rather slow than otherwise, and perfectly distinct; he
waited with great patience and kindness for my answers to his questions,
and a reference to Count Bertrand was necessary only once during the
whole conversation. The brilliant and sometimes dazzling expression of
his eye could not be overlooked. It was not, however, a permanent
lustre, for it was only remarkable when he was excited by some point of
particular interest. It is impossible to imagine an expression of more
entire mildness, I may almost call it of benignity and kindness, than
that which played over his features during the whole interview. If,
therefore he were at this time out of health and in low spirits, his
power of self-command must have been even more extraordinary than is
generally supposed, for his whole deportment, his conversation, and the
expression of his countenance indicated a frame in perfect health and a
mind at ease."
The manner assumed by Napoleon in the occasional interviews he had with
such visitors was so very opposite to that which he constantly maintained
towards the authorities in whose custody he was placed, that we can
scarcely doubt he was acting a part in one of those situations. It was
suggested by Mr. Ellis that he either wished, by means of his continual
complaints, to keep alive his interest in England, where he flattered
himself there was a party favourable to him, or that his troubled mind
found an occupation in the annoyance which he caused to the Governor.
Every attempt at conciliation on the part of Sir Hudson Lowe furnished
fresh causes for irritation. He sent fowling-pieces to Longwood, and the
thanks returned were a reply from Napoleon that it was an insult to send
fowling-pieces where there was no game. An invitation to a ball was
resented vehemently, and descanted upon by the French party as a great
offence. Sir Hudson Lowe at one time sent a variety of clothes and other
articles received from England which he imagined might be useful at
Longwood. Great offence was taken at this; they were treated, they said,
like paupers; the articles, ought to have been left at the Governor's
house, and a list sent respectfully to the household, stating that such
things were at their command if they wanted them.