“When General Buonaparte leaves the Bellerophon to go on board the
Northumberland, it will be the properest moment for Admiral Cockburn to
have the effects examined which General Buonaparte may have brought with
him. The Admiral will allow the baggage, wines, (_the wines!_ an
observation truly worthy of the English Ministers,) and provisions which
the General may have brought with him, to be taken on board the
Northumberland. Among the baggage his table-service shall be understood
as included, unless it be so considerable as to seem rather an article
to be converted into ready money than for real use. His money, his
diamonds, and his saleable effects (consequently bills of exchange
also), of whatever kind they may be, must be delivered up. The Admiral
will declare to the General that the British Government by no means
intends to confiscate his property, but merely to take upon itself the
administration of his effects, to hinder him from using them as a means
to promote his escape.
“The examination shall be made in the presence of a person named by
General Buonaparte, the inventory of the effects to be retained shall be
signed by this person as well as by the Rear-admiral, or by the person
whom we shall appoint to draw up the inventory. The interest or the
principal (according as his property is more or less considerable) shall
be applied to his support, and in this respect the principal arrangement
is to be left to him. For this purpose he can from time to time signify
his wishes to the Admiral, till the arrival of the new Governor of St.
Helena, and afterwards to the latter; and, if no objection is made to
his proposal, the Admiral or the Governor can give the necessary orders,
and the disbursement will be paid by bills on his Majesty’s Treasury. In
case of death, (_what foresight!_) he can dispose of his property by a
last Will, and may be assured that the contents of his testament shall
be faithfully executed. As an attempt might be made to make a part of
his property pass for the property of the persons of his suite, it must
be signified that the property of his attendants is subject to the same
regulations.
“The Admiral is not to take any person on board for St. Helena, without
the consent of such person, to whom he is previously to explain the
necessity of being subjected to all the regulations which it may be
thought proper to establish for securing the person of the General. It
must be made known to the General that, if he make any attempt to
escape, he will expose himself to close imprisonment; and that any of
his suite who may be discovered in endeavouring to facilitate his escape
will incur the same punishment. (Afterwards the Act of Parliament made
the latter offence death.)
“All letters which shall be addressed to him, or to any of his suite,
are to be delivered in the first place to the Admiral or the Governor,
who is to read them previously to transmitting them: the same regulation
is to be observed with respect to letters written by the General, or
those of his suite.
“The General is to be informed that the Governor and the Admiral have
received positive orders to forward to his Majesty’s Government any
request or representation he may think proper to make: nothing is left
to their discretion on this point; but the paper on which such
representations shall be written is to remain open, in order that they
may subjoin such observations as they may think expedient.”
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It would not be easy to conceive the intensity and nature of our
feelings at this decisive moment, in which outrage, violence, and
injustice, were accumulated on our heads.
Constrained to reduce his suite to three persons, the Emperor selected
the Grand Marshal, M. de Montholon and myself. Gourgaud, in despair at
the idea of being left behind, entered into a negotiation on the
subject, and succeeded. As the instructions only allowed Napoleon to
take three officers, it was agreed that I should be considered purely in
a civil capacity, and to admit a fourth by the aid of this
interpretation.
CONVERSATION WITH LORD KEITH.—EXAMINATION OF THE EMPEROR’S EFFECTS.—HE
QUITS THE BELLEROPHON.—SEPARATION.—WE SAIL FOR ST. HELENA.
7th.—The Emperor addressed to Lord Keith a species of new protest,
against the violence done to his person in forcibly removing him from
the Bellerophon. I took it on board the Tonnant. Admiral Keith, a
fine-looking old man, of highly polished manners, received me with great
politeness, but he carefully avoided touching on the subject of the
protest, observing that he would give an answer in writing.
This did not stop me. I stated the situation of Napoleon, who was very
unwell, his legs being much swelled; and pointed out to his lordship how
desirable it was for the Emperor not to be sent off so suddenly. He
replied that I had been a sailor, and must therefore see that the
anchorage was unsafe, which was certainly true.
I explained the Emperor’s repugnance to have his effects searched and
tossed about, as proposed; assuring him that Napoleon would infinitely
prefer seeing them thrown into the sea. The Admiral answered that as
this was a positive order, he must obey it. Finally I enquired whether
it was probable that those appointed to search would go so far as to
deprive the Emperor of his sword. He said that it would be respected,
but that Napoleon was the only person exempted, as all his followers
would be disarmed. I shewed him that I was already so: my sword having
been taken from me before I left the Bellerophon. A secretary who was
writing near us, observed to Lord Keith, in English, that the order
stated that Napoleon himself was to be disarmed; upon which the Admiral
drily replied, also in English, as well as I could comprehend, “Mind
your own business, Sir, and leave us to ours.”
Still continuing the conversation, I went over all that had occurred
from the commencement. I had been the negotiator, I said, and ought
therefore to feel most acutely; and had the greater right to be heard.
Lord Keith listened to me with marked impatience; we were standing, and
his frequent bows were evidently intended to make me retire. When I told
him that Captain Maitland said he had been authorised to bring us to
England, without exciting a suspicion in our minds that we were to be
prisoners of war; that the Captain could not deny that we came on board
voluntarily and in confidence; that the letter of the Emperor to the
Prince of Wales, which I had previously communicated to Captain
Maitland, must necessarily have created tacit conditions, since he made
no remarks on it: at length the Admiral’s ill-humour and even anger
broke forth, and he replied sharply, that if such were the case, Captain
Maitland must have been a fool, for his instructions contained nothing
of the kind; and he was quite sure of this, for it was from himself they
had emanated. “But, my Lord,” said I, “permit me to observe, in defence
of Captain Maitland, that your Lordship speaks with a degree of severity
for which you may become responsible; for not only Captain Maitland, but
Admiral Hotham and all the other officers whom we saw at the time,
conducted and expressed themselves in the same way towards us; would it
have been thus, if their instructions had been so clear and positive?”
Saying this, I relieved the Admiral of my presence: he made no attempt
to prolong a subject which, perhaps, his Lordship’s conscience rendered
somewhat painful to him.
Admiral Cockburn, aided by an officer of the customs, examined the
effects of the Emperor: they seized four thousand Napoleons, and left
fifteen hundred to pay the servants: this was all the Emperor’s
treasure. They were assisted, or rather impeded, in the operation by
Marchand, the valet-de-chambre of his Majesty: this appeared to mortify
the Admiral excessively; though requested to attend, not one amongst us
would lend his presence to, or witness, an act which we regarded as
being at once mean and insulting.
Meanwhile, the moment of quitting the Bellerophon arrived. The Grand
Marshal had been some time closeted with the Emperor; during which we
remained in the outer cabin: on the door being opened, the Duke de
Rovigo, bursting into tears, threw himself at the feet of Napoleon, and
kissed his hands. The Emperor, still calm and collected, embraced the
Duke, and continued his way towards the accommodation-ladder, graciously
saluting all those who happened to be on the quarter-deck. The whole of
our party whom we left behind were in a state of the deepest anguish;
nor could I help observing to Lord Keith, who stood near me at the time,
“You see, my Lord, that the only persons who shed tears are those who
are to remain.”
We reached the Northumberland between one and two o’clock. The Emperor
remained on deck conversing familiarly and cheerfully with those of the
English who approached him. Lord Lowther and a Mr. Littleton had a long
conversation with him on politics and government. I heard nothing of
what passed; the Emperor seemed desirous that we should leave him to
himself. I employed this moment of leisure in writing a last adieu to my
wife and friends: indeed, I felt very unwell and much fatigued.
At the moment of getting under weigh, a cutter, that was plying round
the ship to keep off the people, ran down a boat full of spectators
close to us. Fatality seems to have brought them from a great distance
to become the victims of this accident: I understood that there were two
women amongst those who perished. Thus were we at length under sail for
St. Helena, thirteen days after our arrival at Plymouth, and forty from
our quitting Paris.
Those of the attendants whom Napoleon was not allowed to take with him
were the last to quit the ship, bearing with them mingled proofs of
satisfaction and regret. Their departure gave rise to a second scene,
not less affecting than the first. The Emperor retired to the cabin
allotted to him about seven o’clock.
The English Ministry warmly censured the respect which had been shewn to
the Emperor on board the Bellerophon, and issued fresh orders in
consequence; so that a totally different style of manner and expression
was affected in the Northumberland. The crew seemed to betray a
ridiculous anxiety to be covered before the Emperor: it had been
strictly enjoined to give him no other title than that of _General_, and
only to treat him as such. This was the ingenious contrivance, the happy
conception, engendered by the diplomacy of the English Ministers; and
the title they thought proper to confer on him whom they had recognised
as First Consul, whom they had so often styled head of the French
Government, with whom they treated as Emperor at Paris, when Lord
Lauderdale was employed to negotiate, and, perhaps, even signed articles
at Chatillon. Hence, in a moment of warmth, the Emperor, in allusion to
this regulation, observed: “They may call me whatever they choose, but
they cannot prevent me from being _myself_.” It was in fact no less
whimsical than ridiculous to see the Ministers of England attach such
importance to giving only the title of General to one who had governed
so large a portion of Europe, and made seven or eight kings, of whom
several still retained this title of his creation; who had been above
ten years Emperor of the French, and been anointed as well as
consecrated in that quality by the head of the Church; one who could
boast two or three elections of the French people to the sovereignty;
who had been acknowledged as Emperor by the whole of continental Europe;
had treated as such with all the sovereigns; concluding every species of
alliance both of blood and interest with them: so that he united in his
person every title, civil, political and religious, existing amongst
men: and which, by a singular though real coincidence, not one of the
reigning Princes of Europe could have shewn accumulated in an equal
degree, on the chief and founder of his dynasty. Nevertheless his
Majesty, who intended, had he landed in England, to assume the name and
title of Colonel Duroc or Muiron, no longer thought of it now that his
legitimate titles were obstinately disputed.