numerous grievances of which I have complained? Am I, above all, to
continue to be deprived of the papers which have now been detained at
St. Helena two years, notwithstanding the many protestations which I
made to Sir Hudson Lowe himself; notwithstanding the letter which I
had the honour of addressing to his Royal Highness the Prince Regent,
on that subject, from the Cape of Good Hope; the letter which I wrote
to one of your colleagues from the same place, and on the same
subject; and, lastly, notwithstanding the letter which I addressed to
Lord Bathurst from Frankfort? Can this obstinate and absolute silence,
to demands so just and so often reiterated, be intended as a formal
denial of justice? I cannot believe it, my Lord. I know the power and
superiority of your laws, and the respect which every Englishman is
bound to shew to them, whatever his rank or situation in life may be;
and I must therefore suppose that the fault lies with me, who, not
knowing how to act, transgress, in all probability, the established
rules and formalities. But, in that case, my Lord, would it not be
proper, just, and considerate, to inform me of those rules, or even to
dispense with them?—My Lord, I demand that favour of your generosity.
Those papers, which I allowed Sir Hudson Lowe to peruse at the time,
are, from their nature, entirely foreign to the object of the custody
of your prisoner; they cannot be of any importance to you in that
point of view; and to me they are dear and invaluable beyond all
expression.
LETTER FROM COUNT BERTRAND TO COUNT DE LAS CASES.
MY DEAR LAS CASES,—I received, on the 7th of June, the letter which
you did me the honour to write to me on the 15th of January last; and
I have since then received, on the 13th of this month, your letters of
15th February, 15th March, and 15th April;[39] the contents of which I
have communicated to the Emperor, and which have determined him to
desire me to write to you. I received, four months ago, a box of books
and pamphlets, addressed to me by Mr. Goulburn; and since then, a very
obliging offer to send a picture, which was in the bed-chamber at St.
Cloud, representing the christening of little Napoleon. Mr. Henry
Goulburn had been kind enough to bargain with the owner of the picture
for its purchase, and to get the price reduced to half the original
demand. No answer has been returned to that offer, because it has
seemed to form so strange a contrast with what takes place here, that
it has been looked upon as a measure connected with parliamentary
discussions, something like those relative to the wooden house. I have
been much struck by the polite behaviour observed towards you, and by
all you tell me in your last letter.[40]... Can it be, that the
horrible vexations which we are made to experience are not sanctioned
by the English Government, and that the Emperor is dying here a victim
of the individual hatred of the Governor? Governments and Princes may
be so easily deceived that I write this letter under strong feelings
of doubt on the subject.
Footnote 39:
See those letters in the sequel of these pages.
Footnote 40:
Experience seems to have proved too clearly that there existed more
knowledge of mankind at Longwood than in the Frankfort
correspondent.
Things are much altered since your departure in 1817. And in this
year, 1818, the vexations to which the Emperor has been exposed are
such that they must be considered as an attempt against his life. You
will judge by the detail. You must have read in the papers of March
some observations upon the speech of Lord Bathurst. But things have
grown considerably worse since then; and the hatred of the Governor of
this Island has known no bounds.
When you left us, the Emperor had renounced riding, in order to avoid
the snares laid, and the affronts intended, for him, by causing him to
be insulted by the sentries. He has since been obliged to give up
walking, in order to avoid the same inconveniences. During the months
of March and April, the Emperor went out sometimes to call upon my
wife, and sometimes he would sit upon a certain bench, which you know,
about fifty paces from the house, and where he would stay half an hour
or an hour. But means have been found to prevent him from doing that,
and to oblige him to confine himself strictly to the house. They knew
that this was not very difficult. A soldier of the 66th regiment was
placed as gardener, and a serjeant had been stationed at my house.
Both were very useful, either in rooting out weeds, which might poison
the air, for no garden can exist in such a situation; or in repairing
the house, which is in a ruinous state, and admits water whenever it
rains. That arrangement appears very rational; but the Governor had
invested these two soldiers with a right to stop whomsoever they
thought proper, even at the doors and under the very windows of the
Emperor. From that moment he has not stirred out of the house, and one
hundred days have now elapsed since he has even put his head outside
of a window.
This climate, this absolute want of exercise, added to the badness of
the habitation, have affected his health to such a degree that you
would not recognise him. Since the end of September, 1817, he has had
the first symptoms of a chronic hepatitis, which, as you know, is
mortal in this country. He had to attend on him the worthy O’Meara, in
whom, you know, he has confidence; but, in the month of April, at the
moment when he was most in want of his attention, Sir Hudson Lowe
obliged him to tender his resignation, wishing to force the Emperor to
have Baxter, whom you also know. The Emperor has refused to see any
doctor; from the 10th April to the 10th May, he had none. At last, the
Russian and Austrian Commissioners, indignant at this treatment,
informed the Governor that, if the Emperor were to die under these
circumstances, they themselves should not know what to say, should an
opinion prevail in Europe that he had been murdered. This seems to
have determined the Governor to reinstate the Doctor; but he has
subjected him to every species of ill treatment. He attempted to get
him expelled from the mess of the 66th regiment; and, as these brave
officers refused to share in so arbitrary an act, he himself caused an
order to be given to the Doctor, through the Colonel, to cease to dine
with the officers of the 66th. He has written to London, and it is
probable that O’Meara will be sent away. The Emperor will not,
however, receive any other Doctor; and if the Prince Regent, or Lord
Liverpool, do not take cognizance of the fact, he will die here of his
disease, deprived of even the assistance of his physician. The Emperor
has, however, been very ill for the last two months. He rises at
eleven o’clock in the morning, and lies down again at two o’clock p.
m. A few days ago, he experienced a very violent crisis, produced by
the mercury which Dr. O’Meara administered to him for a liver
complaint. Dr. O’Meara, alarmed at his responsibility, proposed to me
to send for Mr. Baxter and the surgeon of the Conqueror; they are the
two first medical men here. You know the dislike which the Emperor had
to Mr. Baxter, founded upon his having been formerly Staff-surgeon of
the Italian division commanded by Sir Hudson Lowe. That dislike has
much encreased since, in consequence of his having lent himself,
from October, 1817, to March, 1818, to the production of bulletins
filled with falsehoods, and which have deceived his Government and all
Europe. But the Emperor did not see any inconvenience in O’Meara’s
calling in Mr. Stokoe, although he did not much like it; and that
gentleman consequently came to Longwood at three o’clock in the
afternoon of the same day, but would not go into the Emperor’s
apartment, fearing lest he should compromise his responsibility, and
lose a situation obtained after forty years’ service. This appeared to
me so extraordinary that I would not believe it. I therefore spoke to
him, and he expressed his regret at not being able to comply with our
wishes; for he is a very respectable man. His refusal is, however,
easily explained; it proceeded from a hint that had been given to him,
in the same manner as had been done to Cole, the banker, whom you
know. Having some money matters to settle with him, I sent for him;
but, on arriving at my house, he declared that he could not speak to
me but in presence of the officer on duty, because he should be ruined
if he did. Of course I refused. The same thing happened, a few days
since, with a Mr. Fowler, arrived from England, with whom I had an
account of a few hundred pounds to settle, for clothes ordered in
London. It is true that you are not acquainted with the situation in
which we are now placed, and which cannot be compared to what it was
in your time. It was even then sufficiently unpleasant; and, knowing
the Emperor as you do, you ought to have strenuously opposed the idea
of any member of his family coming out hither. The spectacle of the
humiliations, the vexations, and the hatred to which he is exposed,
would be altogether unbearable for him, if his mother or any of his
brothers were to share in it. Even to Count Montholon and myself, who
are now the only two with him, he has often said that he wished us to
quit St. Helena, to free ourselves from such a treatment, and to leave
him alone; and that his agony would be less bitter if he did not see
us share in it. You know that the officers had long since discontinued
to come to my house; but, when we met them on the road, they would
very politely stop and speak to my wife; this has now been forbidden
to them, not in writing, it is true, but by hints; so that it has
often happened that when they have seen us at a distance they have
gone out of the road.
Things have come to such a pass that our dirty linen remains several
days, to be examined by the Captain on duty, and sometimes by the
Staff; a most indecent proceeding, and most dishonourable for them,
but the object of which is to degrade and insult us.
In the month of June 1816, a store-ship brought out a marble bust of
young Napoleon: Sir Hudson Lowe ordered the bust to be thrown into the
sea. This he has since denied; but we have the fact judicially
attested; for the act disgusted Lady Malcolm, who was still at St.
Helena, as well as all the captains of store-ships that were on the
island.
Since that time, in February last, the Cambridge store-ship brought
out two prints of young Napoleon, which had been bought in London: Sir
Hudson Lowe purchased them under pretence of presenting them to the
Father, and when the officers heard, a month afterwards, that it was,
on the contrary, to keep them from him, they could not contain their
indignation that an Englishman should have been guilty of such
conduct.
The British Government cannot be ignorant of all these proceedings. If
what the Emperor said here to Lord Amherst has been repeated in
London, if Captain Poppleton, whom you know, and who was the officer
on duty during two years, has been questioned, if Colonel Nichols of
the 66th regiment, and Colonel Fehrzen of the 53d regiment have been
questioned, as well as many others, it must be known to what unworthy
treatment we are exposed here.
If there be in Europe some enemies of the Emperor, who would have
approved the conduct of the British Government if they had taken away
Napoleon’s life, openly and publicly, on board of the Bellerophon,
there is not one who will not some day cover with imprecations and
opprobrium and disown those who adopt such cowardly means to attain
that end.
How are we to reconcile all this with what you write to me? perhaps by
the supposition of a correspondence filled with falsehoods, and
artfully managed. However, we on our side have for the last two years
complained openly and loudly; and the criminal conduct pursued here
must be known in London,
You will be surprised to hear me speak of the French, Austrian, and
Russian Commissioners who are here. We never saw them during the time
you were with us, and to this day they have not yet seen the Emperor
nor called upon us. But we have frequently met them on the roads
within our limits, which is a way of seeing each other sufficiently
ridiculous. Though the Emperor does not acknowledge them as
Commissioners, he has never refused to receive them as strangers.
With respect to the Governor, the Emperor has not seen him since the
month of April, 1816: you are aware of the reasons which induced him
not to receive him, after the insults which the Governor had offered
him.
This being the case, if Sir Hudson Lowe seeks to be revenged, such a
proceeding, though inconsistent with a generous mind, can be easily
explained. But how can Government have continued, during two years, to
repose its confidence in a man who has so strangely abused it?
I therefore earnestly request you, in the Emperor’s name, to inform
his family and relations of the situation in which he is placed; and
peremptorily to require that none of them will encrease his sufferings
by coming to share in them.
You tell us that the English Government has subscribed for us to the
Morning Chronicle; but the same thing happens with this paper as with
the Times; it is sent to us after those numbers which it is thought
proper to conceal from us have been previously withdrawn. Thus we have
had some numbers of February and some of March, but all those that it
was their pleasure to withdraw have never been sent to us. Not to have
a regular series of a newspaper is worse than to have none.
How could any book be sent to us, since, as soon as a store-ship comes
out, the Governor immediately purchases all the books they have
brought out, particularly French books, in order to prevent our buying
them?
With respect to the pamphlets, which you announce as sent to us, we
only received one box of them on the 12th March, from which we
conclude that probably the remainder have been kept.
I have read this letter to the Emperor, who has approved of its
contents, but has thought that I had very feebly expressed the
baseness of the conduct observed towards him. He desires me to send
you two notes written by himself, which will give you the whole of his
opinion respecting the officer to whom the superintendence of this
country has been intrusted. The calomel which the Emperor has taken
has not hitherto had any beneficial effect on the liver, and has
produced other ailments.
Accept, my dear Las Cases, the assurance of affectionate feelings
which I entertain towards you.
COUNT BERTRAND.
P. S. During the few days that have elapsed since this letter was
written, many things have happened which will prove to you that our
situation, far from improving, as you seem to suppose, is daily
growing worse.
You know that Captain Mackey of the 53d regiment, had been succeeded
at Longwood, as officer on duty, by Captain Poppleton of the same
regiment, and that Poppleton, at his departure, had been succeeded by
Captain Blackeney of the 66th, who, like his predecessors, enjoyed a
most excellent reputation in his regiment. This latter officer already
thought, on the first days after his arrival, that the Governor
required of him some acts unworthy of a man of honour; but as the
number of those objectionable acts had greatly increased since that
time, he at last ardently longed for the expiration of his year of
service in that degrading post, in order to have nothing more to do
with it. It is known that he declared confidentially to his friends in
the regiment, that it was impossible for a man of honour to continue
in that post without losing his own esteem. It may be also that Sir
Hudson Lowe was not satisfied with the avowed sentiments of Captain
Blackeney; be that as it may, on the 20th of this month, an officer
who had been sent out to take the command of the militia, and whose
former connexion with Sir Hudson Lowe is known to you, the only one
out of the whole of the Governor’s staff whom the Emperor refused to
see, came to instal himself as officer on duty, and with him, under
various pretences, another officer, so that we had two instead of one.
It appears that some rooms and articles belonging to Government, which
had been given in common between the officer on duty and Doctor
O’Meara, have occasioned some violent contentions between them.
On the 22nd I sent the protest marked A[41] to the Governor, who sent
me a challenge by the officer alluded to. It was beneath my character
and my situation to provoke Sir Hudson Lowe, but on this occasion I
thought proper to address to him the letter marked B.[41]
On the 24th, he sent Dr. O’Meara away from Longwood, by virtue, he
said, of an order from Lord Bathurst, as you will see by the
Governor’s letter to Count Montholon, marked C.[41] to which Count
Montholon answered by the letter marked D.[41]
Footnote 41:
See these letters in the following pages.
Doctor O’Meara, you know, was attached to the Emperor, instead of his
own physician, by a decision of the Council, and in consequence of a
special demand to that effect, addressed by me to Admiral Keith; he
could not therefore be taken away from the Emperor, but by an order in
Council. If such an order exists, why are we not made acquainted with
it? Certainly neither the Council nor Lord Bathurst would have removed
from the Emperor the physician of his own choice, without having
previously supplied his place by another, in whom the Emperor had
confidence; they would have felt the responsibility attached to such a
step.
But if even there had been an order in Council, it would not justify
the Governor; for that order, given under ordinary circumstances,
could not be carried into execution at the moment when the Emperor was
seriously indisposed. It never can have been intended that his
physician should be taken from him amidst his attendance in the case
of a disease of so serious a nature, and which threatens his
existence; particularly as since the month of April it has been
demanded that if it were intended to take Dr. O’Meara away from him,
another physician should be sent out from Europe in his stead, in whom
the Emperor has confidence. The answer to this demand must arrive
before three months are elapsed.
I conclude, my dear Las Cases: my heart is broken.
BERTRAND.
FIRST NOTE, WRITTEN BY THE EMPEROR, ON THE BACK OF SIR
HUDSON LOWE’S LETTER, DATED 18th NOVEMBER, 1817.
This letter, and the letters dated 24th July and 26th October last,
are filled with falsehoods. I have shut myself up in my apartment for
eighteen months, in order to shelter myself from the insults of this
officer. My health is now impaired, and will no longer allow me to
read such disgusting documents; send me no more of them.
Whether that officer considers himself authorized by verbal and secret
instructions from his minister, as he has given us to understand that
he does, or whether he acts of his own accord, which might be inferred
from the care which he takes to act with disguise, I cannot treat him
but as my assassin.
Had they sent out to this country a man of honour, not only I should
have experienced fewer vexations, but they would have saved themselves
many reproaches from Europe and history, which the farrago of writing
of this crafty man will not deceive.
NAPOLEON.
_Longwood_, 23d November, 1817.
SECOND NOTE, INSERTED IN THE MARGIN OF SIR THOMAS
READE’S LETTER TO COUNT BERTRAND, DATED 25th APRIL,
1818.
1.—I TOLD you yesterday, when you presented this letter to me, that I
would not know its contents, and that you were not to translate it to
me, since it is not conformable to the forms adopted for the last
three years.
2.—This fresh insult only dishonours that coxcomb. The King of England
alone can treat with me on a footing of equality.
3.—This crafty line of conduct has however an object: to prevent you
from disclosing _the criminal plot which has been carried on for the
last two years against my life_.
4.—It is thus that, while they appear to open a channel for
complaints, they in fact close every avenue.
5.—Thus, with the appearance of a wish to provide me with a house, and
after announcing a building for the last three years, I am however
still in this unhealthy barn, and no building is begun.
6.—It is thus that, whilst it appears that I am at liberty to ride on
horseback, indirect means are resorted to to prevent me from doing so
and from taking exercise; the want of which is the primary cause of my
complaint.
7.—The same means are resorted to, to prevent me from receiving any
visit. It is necessary for them to veil themselves in darkness.
8.—It is thus that, after having attacked my physician, after having
obliged him to tender his resignation, not wishing to be a passive
instrument and deprived of all moral independence, he is nevertheless
kept under arrest at Longwood, in order that it may be believed that I
have the benefit of his attendance, when it is well known that I will
not see him, that I have not seen him for the last fortnight, that I
never will see him as long as he is not set at liberty, and freed from
the oppression under which he is placed, and until he has regained his
moral independence in what concerns the exercise of his functions.
9.—It is thus that a false representation is made by causing bulletins
to be issued by a physician who has never seen me, and does not know
the state in which I am, nor the disease with which I am affected; but
that does very well to deceive the Prince and the people of England
and Europe.
10.—A ferocious joy is manifested at the aggravation of sufferings
which this privation of medical assistance adds to my protracted
agony.
11.—Demand that this note be sent to Lord Liverpool, as also your
letter of yesterday, and of 13th and 14th April, in order that the
Prince Regent may know my murderer, and may cause him to be brought to
public punishment.
12.—If he does not, _I bequeath the opprobrium of my death_ to the
reigning House of England.
NAPOLEON.
_Longwood, 27th April, 1818._
Document A. PROTEST ADDRESSED TO THE GOVERNOR, ON
THE 22d JULY, 1818.
In the name of the Emperor Napoleon, I am enjoined to protest,
1.—Against all violation of our enclosure by servants, workmen or
others, whom you would secretly invest with public authority.
2.—Against the insults offered to Dr. O’Meara to compel him to leave
this place, and against the obstructions, either public or secret,
which you have opposed or may oppose to Napoleon’s being assisted in
his illness by the advice of some medical officer in whom he may have
confidence, who may be accredited in the service of his Britannic
Majesty, or known to practise publicly in the island.
3.—Against all testimonies, reports and writings of the militia
officer Hyster, who is only placed at Longwood to be an instrument of
hatred and vengeance.
COUNT BERTRAND.
Document B. TO THE GOVERNOR, SIR HUDSON LOWE.
_Longwood, 23d July, 1818._
SIR,—I have the honour to transmit to you a letter which I have just
received. The old man appears to me to be out of his senses. He can
have no knowledge of my official correspondence but by your orders. I
have not answered him, and shall not do so. He is only a subordinate
agent, and if his principal, a general officer, wishes to demand
satisfaction of me, I am ready to grant it.
I have the honour to be,
COUNT BERTRAND.
Document C. THE GOVERNOR TO COUNT MONTHOLON.
_Plantation House, 25th July, 1818._