Gourgaud going out, said to me significantly, and with an appearance
of embarrassment and vexation, “So you do not intend to return to
Longwood? It may be presumed you have good reasons for refusing to do
so.” A bow was my only reply; and I begged that the Governor would
immediately proceed to seal up the papers, the only thing that now
remained to be done. Some days previously, I had demanded that an
authentic inventory of my papers should be made out: this was done;
and I obtained a copy of it, signed by Sir Hudson Lowe. All that was
now to be done was to affix the seals. The Governor delayed this
formality until the last moment, and he concluded it in a way
perfectly characteristic of his disposition. He told me, in very fair
words, but with an appearance of constraint, that, out of respect for
the Emperor, as well as from personal consideration for me, he would
willingly permit me to affix my seal to the papers, provided I would
consent that he should break it, during my absence, if he thought
necessary. I smiled at this proposal, and declined it; upon which he
walked with hasty strides up and down the room for some time, and
then, as if coming to a sudden determination, he exclaimed, “I will
take the whole upon myself; I will dispense with your seal.” He called
in the Government Secretary, and the seals of the island were affixed
to the papers in my presence. I requested that he would furnish me
with a declaration of his refusal to permit me to seal them with my
arms, or the singular condition he had attached to my doing so. This
was a new subject of hesitation; but the point was at length settled,
by the Governor furnishing me with a declaration, in the following
terms:—
DECLARATION OF SIR HUDSON LOWE TO COUNT
DE LAS CASES.
“In consequence of what was stated in the Governor’s decision relative
to the affair of Count de Las Cases, a great number of the Count’s
papers are now, at the moment of his departure from the island,
detained.
“The Governor, whose special duty it is to suffer no papers whatever
coming from Longwood to leave the island, without being previously
examined, has, however, for private reasons, hitherto abstained from
noticing all that were sent by Count Las Cases. The Governor has
determined that the papers belonging to the Count, which have been
detained (and of which Sir Hudson Lowe knows only the general tenour),
shall be put into two separate packets, and deposited in the treasury
of the island, until orders be received from Government respecting
them.
“Count de Las Cases may affix his seal to each of these packets, with
the understanding that the seal may be broken, either in case it
should be necessary to convey the packets from the island, in
conformity with orders from Government; or in case the interest of the
service should require the packets to be opened.
“Thus, the affixing of this seal is merely a moral guarantee, which
the Governor offers to Count Las Cases for his own satisfaction, to
afford him the assurance of the packets not being opened, except for
one of the urgent reasons above specified.
“If, under these circumstances, Count Las Cases should decline
affixing his seals to the packets, or refuse to accede to the
condition on which the affixing of his seal is permitted, the
Governor, who cannot permit any sealed packet, or any papers whatever,
coming from Longwood, to pass from his hands, without examination,
considers as necessary every precaution calculated to assure his
Government that he has adopted proper measures for the security of the
papers that are detained, until he shall receive orders respecting
them.
“Count Las Cases having refused to affix his seal on the conditions
above mentioned, the papers, divided into two distinct packets, have
been deposited in two boxes, sealed with the seals of the Government
and the Island.
(_Signed_) “H. LOWE.”
“DEC. 31, 1816.”
All business being now settled between us, Sir Hudson Lowe, by a
characteristic turn of behaviour, which he had oftener than once
exhibited since I had been his prisoner, either from motives of
civility or calculation, immediately wrote for me several letters of
introduction to his private friends at the Cape, who, he assured me,
would prove very agreeable to me. I had not the courage to refuse
these letters, such was the sincerity with which they appeared to be
offered. At length, the long looked-for moment of departure arrived.
The Governor accompanied me to the gate of the castle, and ordered all
his officers to attend me to the place of embarkation; this, he said,
was intended as a mark of respect. I eagerly jumped into the boat
which was in readiness to receive me. I crossed the port, and passed
near a vessel which had just arrived from the Cape, on board of which,
to my surprise, I observed the Pole and the three servants, who had
been sent away from us, several months before, and who were now on
their way to Europe. They saluted me by gestures as I passed, and I
need not say how much I was astonished to see them. One of these
individuals was the bearer of the only document which escaped from the
island, namely, the letter on the subject of the allied Commissioners.
I doubted not but the discovery that had been made with respect to my
servant would furnish the Governor with an excuse for searching those
persons, who were far from suspecting such a thing. Fortunately,
however, no search took place, and the faithful Santini had the merit
of being the first to convey to Europe any authentic account of
Longwood.
At length I got fairly on board the brig; she weighed anchor; and I
thought my last wishes accomplished. But these vain illusions were
destined to be cruelly destroyed; and my ultimate experience of the
hearts of certain men proved that all the hopes I had formed were but
vain chimeras.... How could I so far deceive myself as to rely on the
sensibility of those very men, who, in defiance of all law, had
pronounced the sentence and ordered the execution?—Why did I not stay
to administer domestic consolation, rather than dream of rendering
remote services? I might have continued my daily attentions for some
time longer, and have obtained some additional marks of interest: and
when the fatal moment arrived, I should have had my share in the
general grief. I might have contributed to assuage the anguish of
Napoleon’s last moments; and have helped to close his eyes!... But
no!... Perhaps the effect of the climate operating on my feeble state
of health, would soon have hurried me from this world. I should,
probably, not have lived to witness the sad event.... I should have
been spared the grief that now presses upon my heart.... I should not
have had to struggle with the cruel infirmities brought from my place
of exile. My ashes would there have reposed in peace; and thus to have
closed my life might have been looked upon as an additional favour of
my happy star, or the last blessing of Heaven!
This perhaps ought to be the conclusion of my Journal since I am now
removed from St. Helena, and can no longer record the words of the
Emperor. However, the following pages are so intimately connected with
what concerns Napoleon that I am convinced I need offer no apology for
continuing.
PASSAGE FROM ST. HELENA TO THE CAPE, A SPACE
OF EIGHTEEN DAYS.—DETAILS, &C.
From Tuesday, Dec. 31st, 1816, to Friday, Jan. 17th, 1817.—When
daylight appeared, St. Helena no longer existed for us, except in our
hearts.—We were rapidly sailing away from that dear and accursed spot,
in the midst of the ocean, and at an immense distance from both the
old and the new world. The officers and the crew treated us with the
most marked kindness; their care, their attention, their deference,
the sympathy they expressed were such that, but for the language which
I heard spoken, I might have fancied myself on board a French vessel.
To the shyness and circumspection of St. Helena had succeeded a
complete freedom from restraint. I then learnt how much I was indebted
to Admiral Malcolm. It was he who had obtained for me the favour of a
brig of war, instead of the wretched transport with which I had been
threatened. As soon as he was apprized of Sir Hudson Lowe’s
determination, he hastened to offer him one of his ships, assuring him
that he could spare one, to save me from the inconveniences and the
privations to which I should otherwise be exposed; and, making a
signal, he ordered into the harbour the Griffin, the commander of
which was one of the officers whom he most liked. It has already been
seen that the Admiral brought him with him to see me.
My son devoted part of our passage to copying some papers which we had
purposely torn, and the fragments of which we had distributed in
various places amongst our baggage, or about our persons. Sir Hudson
Lowe had rendered the precaution necessary, by informing me a short
time before that he should again search my papers before my departure,
in order to see what I might have written during my captivity.
The most important of these papers, the document I valued most, was
what I have called a statement of our grievances at Longwood.
Whilst I was in Sir Hudson Lowe’s power, our conversations led me, at
his own request, to make out a hasty statement enumerating our
grievances. My son’s ill health, and the state of my eyes, prevented
us from taking a fair copy of that statement for ourselves. I had
asked the Governor to let me have some person to copy for me, which
request he did not comply with, and I did not think it delicate to
insist; since it was to lay before him a statement, which must be very
unpleasant to him. On the other hand, as I was speaking without the
knowledge of my companions, and yet frequently in their names, it was
of great importance to me that they should be acquainted with what I
said, in order to set me right if I had made any errors.
At the moment of my departure, I told Sir Hudson Lowe that I had
completed the statement, and shewed him the parcel sealed, the
contents of which, I said, I proposed to have copied at the Cape, or
even on board the brig, and to send him two copies, one for himself
and one for Longwood. Sir Hudson appeared to value the offer very
much, but preferring, however, another arrangement, it was agreed that
I should immediately deposit my manuscript in the hands of a third
person, in order that each party might take a copy of it, and that the
original should afterwards be returned to me. I therefore sought some
person whose honourable disposition inspired me with confidence:
General Bingham, the second in command in the Island, was the first
person I thought of. To him I therefore addressed my manuscript, with
the Governor’s consent, and under the express condition that it should
be shewn at the same time to Sir Hudson Lowe and to Count Bertrand,
who was aware of the arrangement.
I heard no more of this statement until six years afterwards, and then
only through the medium of Dr. O’Meara’s work. The gentlemen of the
Emperor’s suite, on their return from St. Helena, informed me that it
had never been communicated to them, and that the Emperor was wholly
ignorant of its contents. It appears that, after my departure, Sir
Hudson Lowe, by the influence of his authority, and contrary to our
express conditions, had taken the manuscript exclusively into his own
possession, and had made it the subject of false interpretations or
wicked inventions.
Mr. O’Meara, in his account of the occurrences at St. Helena, observes
that Sir H. Lowe, availing himself of the information acquired by the
perusal of the manuscript (the grievances), had recourse to an
artifice well worthy of the system which he set on foot. He directed
Mr. O’Meara to inform Napoleon that, during my confinement, I had
confessed that the restrictions imposed on the French at Longwood were
merely matters of form; and that I, as well as the rest of the French,
had endeavoured to poison the mind of our Master, by means of calumny
and falsehood; adding that this fact was unquestionable, since he had
it stated in my own hand-writing. He even pretended to quote a
sentence of this manuscript, which he requested Mr. O’Meara to repeat
to the Emperor, and by which he wished to make it appear that I had
confessed that the French about the person of the Emperor had made him
view every thing through _a blood-stained veil_. On hearing this, the
Emperor observed: _Certainly, wherever one sees an executioner, one
sees blood_. And he added that he was convinced this was an invention
of Sir Hudson Lowe’s, or a misrepresentation of some passage in my
statement. On this occasion, Mr. O’Meara describes the Emperor to have
said, “Las Cases certainly was greatly irritated against him (Sir H.
Lowe), and contributed materially towards forming the impression
existing upon my mind, because Las Cases is a man of feeling, and
extremely sensible to the ill treatment practised towards me and
himself. But I had no occasion for the assistance of Las Cases towards
giving me that opinion, as the treatment I experienced was fully
sufficient in itself to create it.”
He observed that I had constantly spoken to him of the English nation
in terms of enthusiasm and admiration; though I certainly had
expressed myself candidly and energetically respecting the treatment
which the French had experienced at St. Helena, which I considered to
be entirely contrary to the generosity and liberal sentiments of the
English people.
In Mr. O’Meara’s work, entitled _Napoleon in Exile_, I find it
mentioned, under date of Dec. 4, 1816, that Sir Hudson Lowe said, “I
had much altered my opinion concerning him since the intercourse we
had had together;” and he added that the French who were with General
Bonaparte “only wanted to make an instrument of him, to aggrandize
themselves, without caring by what means they effected it,” &c. Sir H.
Lowe wished that Mr. O’Meara should signify this to the Emperor.
Under date of the 12th of Dec., Sir Hudson Lowe is described as having
said that “Count Las Cases had not followed General Bonaparte out of
affection;” and that “General Bonaparte did not know what Las Cases
had written, or the expressions which had dropped from him.”
Again, under date of Jan. 14, 1817, Mr. O’Meara says: “His Excellency
began to inveigh against Count Las Cases, whom he accused of having
been the cause of much mischief between Bonaparte and himself. He said
the Count had asserted in his Journal that Bonaparte had declared he
abhorred the sight of the British uniform, or of a British officer;
that he held both in abomination, and that I had better take an
opportunity to tell him this, and add that I had heard him (the
Governor) say that he did not believe he had ever said so.”
Finally, on another occasion, the Governor charged Mr. O’Meara to
repeat, at Longwood that he had written to the English Ministers
respecting me in such a way as would for ever prevent my return to
France. What he could have written, Heaven knows! However, the result
proved that either the English Ministers were not much influenced by
his benevolent intentions, or that the French Ministers paid little
regard to the representations that were made to them. It will
hereafter be seen that, on my return to Europe, when I was prevented
from residing in England, and it was left at my own option to proceed
either to Calais or Ostend, I made choice of the latter place, for
reasons totally foreign from the alarm which Sir Hudson Lowe pretended
he had created. But, it would appear that he himself doubted the
efficacy of his denunciation, or he had recourse to two-fold
precautions, for he employed all his art and address to procure my
detention as a prisoner at the Cape of Good Hope. I have been informed
that, when speaking to his man of all-work respecting me, he said—“As
for him, he will trouble us no more. We have given him good
recommendations to the Cape: he will _rot_ in a dungeon there.” This
same man, with the gentle smile and honeyed voice which rarely forsook
him, wished, as Mr. O’Meara declares, that Napoleon should be put in
irons if he proved troublesome: and, on another occasion, he is stated
to have said, “That the Allies lost sight of a grand object in not
strangling young Napoleon!”
But to return to my former subject. How was I to reconcile the
Governor’s politeness, his protestations of kindness and good
intention when he was near me, with his false reports, the invented
language which he attributed to me, and the wicked suggestions which
he transmitted to Longwood, when I was no longer there? Let candid and
honest hearts decide this.
----------
The Cape of Good Hope is five hundred leagues from St. Helena; but,
even with the most favourable winds, the passage must be lengthened to
at least seven hundred, by the circuitous course which it is necessary
to take on account of the trade-winds. A vessel, on leaving St.
Helena, first stands well out to the south-west, in order to get as
speedily as possible out of the Zone of the trade winds. As soon as
the variable winds are attained, the ship steers towards the east, but
descending considerably to the south, several degrees of latitude
below the Cape, in order to guard against the south-easterly winds,
which blow with great violence at this season of the year.
We had a very good voyage, and fell in with the winds just as we
wished. Our passage was short and pleasant, though my son and I
occasionally suffered severely from sea-sickness. On the 6th or 7th we
got out of the trade winds, and fell in with the west wind, which
brought us to our place of destination in nine or ten days. It was not
until we were approaching the famous Cape of Storms that we
encountered a violent adverse wind, blowing from the south-east,
accompanied by a very rough sea. But this circumstance was adverse
only with respect to the instructions of our Captain; to me,
personally, it was extremely fortunate. Sir Hudson Lowe had directed
the Captain to land me beyond the Cape, at Simon’s Bay, which is
situated behind it. Probably he supposed that, by not entering the
town, I should attract the less attention, and that the injustice of
my captivity would be the less flagrant. Be this as it may, we were
threatened with a storm, and the Captain took upon himself the
responsibility of sailing for Cape Town, which was nearer at hand. We
arrived off the coast at two in the morning, precisely at the hour
which the Captain had foretold, without sounding or any other
preliminary measure. Captain Wright is an excellent seaman; he
possesses activity, zeal, regularity, and decision; and will, I doubt
not, one day rise to eminence. I have observed that this nautical
precision is now nearly general among the English. I know not what has
been done in our navy, which was so long celebrated for scientific
superiority; but I can affirm, from experience, that the English have
attained great perfection. Their calculations are so correct, and
their nautical instruments so perfect, that it is difficult to
conceive that science is susceptible of further improvement.
We cast anchor at two o’clock in the afternoon on the 17th, after a
passage of eighteen days. The Captain politely apologized for the
necessity of detaining me on board, until he should go and receive the
Governor’s orders: such were his instructions. He returned, informing
me that I could not land until the 19th, as the residence which was
intended for me could not be prepared before that time. This was
rather a disappointment to me; for, after a sea voyage, one is
naturally eager to set foot on land.
Thus I had to remain two days in the harbour of the Cape, which is
extremely beautiful. The weather was delightful; excessively hot, it
is true, but the air was at the same time pure and refreshing.
In my youth, when I first entered the navy, I had frequently heard
officers who had served in India describe all the different points
which were at this moment before my eyes. I felt a pleasure in
reviving these old recollections; and all the places I mentioned were
immediately pointed out to me by the persons on board the ship.
Cape Town is a tolerably extensive place, and is built in a style of
beauty and regularity. It is situated on flat ground, very little
above the level of the sea, and is almost closely surrounded by huge
precipitous mountains. On my left was the Devil’s Mountain; before me
rose the Table Mountain; and on my right were the Sugarloaf, and the
Lion’s Rump, so called from their exact resemblance to the objects
after which they are named. The fortifications in front and on each
side of the town appeared to me to be in a very bad state, and
particularly ill situated, being commanded by several points, and
especially by the Lion’s Rump, which is itself easily accessible. I
was not at all surprised that the garrison should have yielded to
every attack of forces so little superior to its own. The most
effectual plan until this defect be remedied, would be to land at a
distance from the garrison, to the north, on an open part of the
beach, entirely defenceless, and thence to march and attack the town
by land. I recollected having heard it said that the clouds sometimes
suddenly cover the Table and Devil’s Mountain, even when the rest of
the sky appears perfectly serene. I had myself an opportunity of
observing this curious phenomenon, during the short time I remained in
the harbour. On these occasions, the mountains appear to be covered
with snow, of the most dazzling whiteness, and this is vulgarly called
_spreading the table-cloth_, which expression certainly conveys a very
accurate idea of the spectacle presented. In winter, this peculiar
appearance of the clouds is almost always the precursor of a storm.
The harbour is entirely exposed to the north-west winds, which are
frequent and violent in the bad season of the year. The shipping is
then liable to great danger; the only shelter is under Robbin Island,
at some distance from the entrance of the bay.
I mentioned to the persons on board an anecdote which I had often
heard our naval officers relate. Suffren, on returning from the
campaign of India, at the time of the peace, cast anchor at the Cape,
some days before the English squadron, by which he was closely
followed. The latter, on entering the harbour, had to tack, in order
to gain the anchorage. On observing one of the ships as she entered,
the French Admiral, at the very first glance, foretold that she would
infallibly be lost, and he immediately ordered a signal to be given
for all the boats belonging to his squadron to be in readiness to
render assistance. In a few moments, the English ship ran aground;
boats were sent off from all points: but the French had the glory of
being the first to arrive. It was described as being a singular and
affecting spectacle to see the two squadrons, which had lately been so
desperately intent on mutual destruction, now vieing with each other
in the benevolent task of succouring the distressed. The young English
officers, to whom I related this circumstance, informed me that they
had never before heard of it; so true it is that facts, which
powerfully occupy the attention of contemporaries, are lost to the
succeeding generation, when they are not of a nature to acquire
historical importance.
-------------------------
MY RESIDENCE AT THE CAPE.
--------------
An interval of upwards of Seven Months.
--------------
MY CONFINEMENT AT THE OLD CASTLE, &C.