the name of the _Great Nation_. “And certainly,” said he, “she justified
the distinction in the eyes of the prostrate world.” Then, after a short
pause, he added: “And she will yet deserve and retain that proud title,
if her national character should again rise to a level with her physical
advantages and her moral resources.”
On another occasion, speaking of a person to whom he was much attached,
he said, “His character resembles that of the _cow_; gentle and placid
in all things, except where his children are concerned. If any one
meddles with them, his horns are immediately thrust forward, and he may
be roused to a pitch of fury.”
Speaking of another, who had passed his thirtieth year, and whom he
happened to say was too young, he observed, “And yet, at that age, I had
made all my conquests, and I ruled the world. I had laid the
revolutionary storm, amalgamated hostile parties, rallied a nation,
established a government and an empire; in short, I wanted only the
title of Emperor. I have, it must be confessed,” added he, “been the
spoiled child of fortune. From my first entrance into life, I was
accustomed to exercise command; and circumstances and the force of my
own character were such that, as soon as I became possessed of power, I
acknowledged no master, and obeyed no laws, except those of my own
creating.”
THE EMPEROR’S HEALTH DECLINES VISIBLY.—THE DOCTOR
EXPRESSES ALARM.—FRENCH PRISONERS IN ENGLAND, &C.
Friday, November 1st.—To-day, the weather being very fine, the Emperor
went out about two o’clock. After walking a little in the garden, he
felt fatigued, and called at Madame Bertrand’s to rest himself. He sat
there, upwards of an hour, in an arm-chair, without saying a word, and
apparently suffering much from pain and weakness. He then returned
languidly to his chamber, where he threw himself on his sofa, and fell
into a slumber, as he did on the preceding day. I was very much
distressed to observe the state of extreme debility to which he was
reduced. He endeavoured to overcome his drowsiness; but he could neither
converse nor read. I withdrew, in order that he might take a little
rest.
An English frigate arrived from the Cape, on her way to Europe. This
circumstance has afforded us an opportunity of writing to our friends. I
have, however, denied myself the happiness of doing so; for the repeated
complaints of the Governor, together with the consequences with which I
was threatened, amount to an absolute prohibition of all correspondence
with Europe. Perhaps a more favourable moment may arrive. At all events,
I must be patient.
Doctor O’Meara called to see my son, who continued in a very precarious
state. He was again bled yesterday, and fainted three or four times in
the course of the day.
The Doctor took the opportunity of speaking to me on the subject of the
Emperor’s health, and he assured me that he was by no means free from
alarm as to the consequences of his confinement. He said that he was
continually urging the necessity of exercise; and he begged that I would
endeavour to prevail on the Emperor to go out more frequently. It was
obvious that an alarming change had taken place in him. The Doctor did
not hesitate to affirm that such complete confinement, after a life of
activity, would be attended with the worst consequences; since any
serious disorder, produced by the nature of the climate, or any accident
to which he might be exposed, would infallibly prove fatal to him. These
words, and the tone of anxiety in which they were uttered, deeply
affected me. From that moment, I observed the sincere interest which the
Doctor felt for Napoleon, and of which he has since afforded so many
proofs.
The Emperor sent for me about six o’clock. He was taking a bath; and he
appeared to be worse than when I had last seen him: this he attributed
to going out yesterday. He, however, experienced some benefit from the
bath; and he took up Lord Macartney’s Embassy to China, which he
continued reading for some time, making various observations as he
proceeded.
When he laid aside the book, he began to converse; and the situation of
the French prisoners in England was one of the subjects that happened to
come under discussion. I will here put together some remarks on this
subject that fell from the Emperor on the present and other occasions.
The sudden rupture of the treaty of Amiens, on such false pretences, and
with so much bad faith on the part of the English Ministry, greatly
irritated the First Consul, who conceived that he had been trifled with.
The seizure of several French merchant ships, even before war had been
declared, roused his indignation to the utmost. “To my urgent
remonstrances,” said the Emperor, “they coolly replied that it was a
practice they had always observed; and here they spoke truth. But the
time was gone by when France could tamely submit to such injustice and
humiliation. I had become the defender of her rights and glory, and I
was resolved to let our enemies know with whom they had to deal.
Unfortunately, owing to the reciprocal situation of the two countries, I
could only avenge one act of violence by another still greater. It was a
painful thing to be compelled to make reprisals on innocent men; but I
had no alternative.
“On reading the ironical and insolent reply that was returned to my
complaints, I, that very night, issued an order for arresting, in every
part of France, and in every territory occupied by the French, all
Englishmen, of every rank whatever, and detaining them as prisoners, by
way of reprisal for the unjust seizure of our ships. Most of these
English were men of rank and fortune, who were travelling for their
pleasure; but the more extraordinary the measure, the greater the
injustice, the better it suited my purpose. A general outcry was raised.
The English appealed to me; but I referred them to their own government,
on whose conduct alone their fate depended. Several of these individuals
proposed raising a subscription to pay for the ships that had been
seized, in the hope of thereby obtaining permission to return home. I,
however, informed them that I did not want money; but merely to obtain
justice and redress for an injury. Could it have been believed that the
English Government, as crafty and tenacious with respect to its maritime
rights as the Court of Rome is in its religious pretensions, suffered a
numerous and distinguished class of Englishmen to be unjustly detained
for ten years, rather than authentically renounce for the future an
odious system of maritime plunder.
“When I was first raised to the head of the consular government, I had
had a misunderstanding with the English Cabinet, on the subject of
prisoners of war; but I now carried my point. The Directory had been
weak enough to agree to an arrangement extremely injurious to France,
and entirely to the advantage of England.
“The English maintained their prisoners in France, and we had to
maintain ours in England. We had but few English prisoners; and the
French prisoners in England were exceedingly numerous: provisions were
to be had almost for nothing in France; and they were exorbitantly dear
in England. Thus the English had very trifling expenses to defray; while
we, on the other hand, had to send enormous sums into a foreign country;
and that at a time when we could but ill afford it. This arrangement,
moreover, required an exchange of agents between the respective
countries; and the English Commissioner proved to be neither more nor
less than a spy on the French Government; he was the go-between and
contriver of the plots that were hatched in the interior of France by
the emigrants abroad. No sooner was I made acquainted with this state of
things, than I erased the abuse by a stroke of the pen. The English
Government was informed that, thenceforward, each country must maintain
the prisoners it should make, unless an exchange were agreed upon. A
terrible outcry was raised, and a threat was held out that the French
prisoners should be suffered to die of starvation. I doubted not that
the English Ministers were sufficiently obstinate and inhuman to wish to
put this threat into execution; but I knew that any cruelty exercised
towards the prisoners would be repugnant to the feelings of the nation.
The English Government yielded the point. The situation of our
unfortunate prisoners was, indeed, neither better nor worse than it had
previously been; but, in other respects, we gained great advantages, and
got rid of an arrangement which placed us under a sort of yoke and
tribute.
“During the whole of the war, I incessantly made proposals for an
exchange of prisoners: but to this, the English Government, under some
pretence or other, constantly refused to accede, on the supposition that
it would be advantageous to me. I have nothing to say against this. In
war, policy must take place of feeling; but why exercise unnecessary
cruelty? And this is what the English Ministers unquestionably did, when
they found the number of prisoners increasing. Then commenced, for our
unfortunate countrymen, the odious system of confinement in hulks; a
species of torture, which the ancients would have added to the horrors
of the infernal regions, had their imaginations been capable of
conceiving it. I readily admit that there might be exaggeration on the
part of the accusers; but was the truth spoken by those who defended
themselves? We know what kind of thing a report to Parliament is. We can
form a correct idea of it, when we read the calumnies and falsehoods
that are uttered in Parliament, with such cool effrontery, by the base
men who have blushed not to become our executioners. Confinement on
board hulks is a thing that needs no explanation: the fact speaks for
itself. When it is considered that men, unaccustomed to live on
shipboard, were crowded together in little unwholesome cabins, too small
to afford them room to move; that, by way of indulgence, they were
permitted, twice during the twenty-four hours, to breathe pestilential
exhalations at ebb tide; and that this misery was prolonged for the
space of ten or twelve years;—the blood curdles at such an odious
picture of inhumanity! On this point, I blame myself for not having made
reprisals. It would have been well had I thrown into similar
confinement, not the poor sailors and soldiers, whose complaints would
never have been attended to, but all the English nobility and persons of
fortune who were then in France. I should have permitted them to
maintain free correspondence with their friends and families, and their
complaints would soon have assailed the ears of the English Ministers,
and checked their odious measures. Certain parties in Paris, who were
ever the best allies of the enemy, would, of course, have called me a
tiger and a cannibal; but no matter, I should have discharged my duty to
the French people, who had made me their protector and defender. In this
instance, my decision of character failed me.”
The Emperor asked me whether the French prisoners had been confined in
hulks at the time when I was in England. I could not positively inform
him; but I replied that I did not think they were, because I knew there
were prisons for them in various parts of the country, where many of the
English visited them, and purchased the productions of their industry. I
added that they were, in all probability, but ill provided for, and
exposed to many hardships; for a story used to be told of a government
agent having visited one of the prisons on horseback, and no sooner had
he alighted from his horse, and turned his back, than the poor animal
was seized, cut to pieces, and devoured by the prisoners. I did not, of
course, vouch for the fact; but the story was related by the English
themselves, and the ignorant and prejudiced class did not regard it as a
proof of the extreme misery to which the prisoners must have been
reduced, but merely as an example of their terrible voracity. The
Emperor laughed, and said he considered the anecdote to be a mere
fabrication; observing that, if the fact were to be relied on, it was
calculated to make human nature shudder; for, that nothing but hunger,
urged to madness, could drive men to such a dreadful extremity. I was
the more inclined to believe that the plan of confinement on board the
hulks had not been introduced when I was in England, because I
recollected that a great deal had been said about establishing the
French prisoners in some small islands between England and Ireland. It
was proposed to convey them thither, and to leave them to themselves, in
a state of complete seclusion; and a few light vessels were to be kept
constantly cruising about to guard them. To this plan it was, however,
objected that, in case of a descent on the part of the enemy, his grand
object would be to land on these islands, distribute arms among the
prisoners, and thus recruit an army immediately. Perhaps, added I, this
idea might have led to the use of hulks; for the prisoners were rapidly
increasing in numbers, and it was not thought safe to keep them on shore
among the people, as the latter betrayed a strong disposition to
fraternize with the French. “Well,” said Napoleon, “I can very readily
conceive that there might be good grounds for rejecting the plan you
have just mentioned. Safety and self-preservation before all things. But
the confinement in the hulks is a stain on the English character for
humanity, an irritating sting, that will never be removed from the
hearts of the French prisoners.”
“On the subject of prisoners of war,” continued Napoleon, “the English
Ministers invariably acted with their habitual bad faith, and with the
Machiavelism that distinguishes the school of the present day. Being
absolutely determined to avoid an exchange, which they did not wish to
incur the blame of having refused, they invented and multiplied
pretences beyond calculation. In the first place, that I should presume
to regard as prisoners, persons merely detained, was affirmed to be an
atrocious violation of the laws of civilized nations, and a principle
which the English Government would never avow, on any consideration
whatever. It happened that some of the individuals detained, who were at
large on parole, escaped, and were received triumphantly in England. On
the other hand, some Frenchmen effected their escape to France. I
expressed my disapprobation of their conduct, and proposed that the
individuals of either country, who had thus broken their parole, should
be mutually sent back again. But I received for answer that persons
detained were not to be accounted prisoners; that they had merely
availed themselves of the lawful privilege of escaping oppression; that
they had done right; and had been received accordingly. After this, I
thought myself justified in inducing the French to escape; and the
English Ministers filled their journals with the most insolent abuse,
declaring me to be a man who scrupled not to violate moral principle,
faith, and law.
“When, at length, they determined to treat for an exchange of prisoners,
or, perhaps, I ought rather to say, when they took it into their heads
to trifle with me on this point, they sent a Commissioner to France. All
the great difficulties were waved; and, with a fine parade of sentiment,
conditions were proposed for the sake of humanity, &c. They consented to
include persons detained in the list of prisoners, and to admit, under
that head, the Hanoverian troops, who were my prisoners, but who were at
large on parole. This latter point had been a standing obstacle;
because, it was insinuated the Hanoverians were not English. Thus far
matters had proceeded smoothly, and there was every probability of their
being brought to a conclusion. But I knew whom I had to deal with: and I
guessed the intentions that were really entertained. There were
infinitely more French prisoners in England than English prisoners in
France; and I was well aware that, the English being once safely landed
at home, some pretence would be found for breaking off the exchange, and
the rest of my poor Frenchmen might have remained on board the hulks to
all eternity. I declared that I would accede to no partial exchange;
that I would be satisfied only with a full and complete one; and, to
facilitate matters, I made the following proposal. I admitted that there
were fewer English prisoners in France than French prisoners in England;
but, I observed, that there were among my prisoners, Spaniards,
Portuguese, and other allies of the English, who had been taken under
their banners and fighting in the same cause. With this addition, I
could on my part produce a far more considerable number of prisoners
than there were in England. I therefore offered to surrender up all, in
return for all. This proposition, at first, occasioned some
embarrassment; it was discussed and rejected. However, as soon as they
had devised a scheme, by which they thought they could secure the object
they had in view, they acceded to my proposition. But I kept a watchful
eye on them: I knew that, if we began by merely exchanging Frenchmen for
Englishmen, as soon as the latter should be secured, pretences would be
found for breaking off the business, and the old evasions would be
resumed; for the English prisoners in France did not amount to one-third
of the French in England. To obviate any misunderstanding on either
side, I therefore proposed that we should exchange by convoys of only
three thousand at a time; that three thousand Frenchmen should be
returned to me, and that I would send back one thousand English, and two
thousand Hanoverians, Spaniards, Portuguese, and others. Thus, if any
misunderstanding arose and put a stop to the exchange, we should still
stand in the same relative proportions as before, and without having
practised any deception upon each other: but if, on the contrary, the
affair should proceed uninterruptedly to a conclusion, I promised to
surrender up, gratuitously, all the prisoners that might ultimately
remain in my hands. My conjectures respecting the real designs of the
English Government proved to be correct: these conditions, which were
really so reasonable, and the principle of which had already been
adopted, were rejected, and the whole business was broken off. Whether
the English Ministers really sympathized in the situation of their
countrymen, or whether they were convinced of my firm determination not
to be duped, I know not; but it would appear that they were at length
inclined to come to a conclusion, when I subsequently introduced the
subject by an indirect channel. However, our disasters in Russia at once
revived their hopes, and defeated my intentions.”
The Emperor next remarked upon the treatment of prisoners of war in
France, which, he said, was as generous and liberal as it possibly could
be; and he thought that, on this subject, no nation could justly
reproach us. “We have,” said he, “in our favour the testimony and the
sentiments of the prisoners themselves; for, with the exception of those
who were ardently attached to their local laws, or, in other words, to
notions of liberty (and these were exclusively the English and
Spaniards), all the rest, namely the Austrians, Prussians, and Russians,
were willing to remain with us: they left us with regret, and returned
to us with pleasure. This disposition on the part of the Spaniards and
English has oftener than once influenced the obstinacy of their efforts
or their resistance.”
The Emperor also made the following observation:—“It was my intention to
have introduced into Europe a change with respect to the treatment of
prisoners. I intended to enrol them in regiments, and to make them
labour, under military discipline, at public works and buildings. They
should have received whatever money they earned, and would thus have
been secured against the misery of absolute idleness and the disorders
arising out of it. They should have been well fed and clothed, and have
wanted for nothing, without being a burden to the state. All parties
would have been benefited by this plan. But my idea did not meet the
approval of the Council of State, which, in this instance, was swayed by
the mistaken philanthropy that leads to so many errors in the world. It
was said that it would be unjust and cruel to compel men to labour. It
was feared lest our enemies should make reprisals; and it was affirmed
that a prisoner was sufficiently unfortunate in the loss of his liberty,
without being placed under restraint as to the employment of his time.
But here was the abuse of which I complained, and which I wished to
correct. A prisoner, said I, must and should expect to be placed under
lawful constraint; and that which I would impose on him is for his own
advantage, as well as that of others. I do not require that he should be
subject to greater misery or fatigue, but to less danger, than he is
exposed to in his present condition. You are afraid lest the enemy
should make reprisals, and treat French prisoners in the same manner.
Heaven grant it should be so! I wish for nothing better! I should then
behold my sailors and soldiers occupied in wholesome labour, in the
fields or the public roads, instead of seeing them buried alive on board
those odious hulks. They would return home healthy, industrious and
inured to labour; and in every country they would leave behind them some
compensation for the fatal ravages of war. By way of concession, the
Council of State agreed to the organization of a few corps of prisoners
as voluntary labourers, or something of the sort; but this was by no
means the fulfilment of the scheme I had in view.”
NAPOLEON’S DESIGNS WITH REGARD TO ANTWERP.—HIS REFUSAL TO SURRENDER THAT
CITY ONE OF THE CAUSES OF HIS FALL.—HIS GENEROUS SENTIMENTS IN
REJECTING THE TREATY OF CHATILLON.—MARITIME WORKS.—OFFICIAL REPORT OF
THE STATE OF THE EMPIRE IN 1813.—TOTAL AMOUNT OF EXPENDITURE IN PUBLIC
WORKS, DURING THE REIGN OF NAPOLEON.
2d.—The Emperor did not leave his chamber to-day. When I waited on him,
I found him very unwell from the effects of cold; and the secretion of
saliva still continued.
I remained with him the greater part of the day. He sometimes
endeavoured to converse, and sometimes tried to sleep. He was very
restless, and often drew near the fire. He was evidently feverish.
In the course of the day, the conversation turned upon Antwerp; its
arsenal, its fortifications, its importance, and the great military and
political views he entertained with respect to that favourably situated
place.
He remarked that he had done much for Antwerp, but that this was little
in comparison with what he had proposed to do. He intended to have
rendered it a fatal point of attack to the enemy by sea, and by land to
have made it a certain resource, and a point of national security in
case of great disasters. He would have rendered Antwerp capable of
receiving a whole army in its defeat, and holding out against a close
siege for the space of a year, during which time, he said, a nation
would be enabled to rally in a mass for its deliverance, and to resume
the offensive. Five or six places of this kind were, he added, to
constitute the new system of defence, which he intended to have
established. The works, which had been completed in so short a time at
Antwerp, the numerous dock-yards, magazines, and canals, were already
the subject of admiration; but all this the Emperor declared to be
nothing. Antwerp was as yet, he said, merely a commercial town; the
military town was to be constructed on the opposite bank of the river.
For this purpose, ground had been purchased at a low rate, and it was to
have been sold again at a high profit for the purpose of building; so
that by this speculation, the expenses attending the enterprise would
have been considerably diminished. The winter docks would have been
capable of admitting three-deckers with all their guns on board; and
covered dry docks were to have been constructed for laying up vessels in
time of peace.