requesting me to observe that, being the only two whose attention is
not divided by individual ties, arising out of the consideration of a
family, and the fear of exposing it to inconveniences, I must apply to
them in preference for every thing that can contribute to alleviate in
any way the horrible situation of the Emperor.
Countess Survilliers, whom I have the honour of seeing very
frequently, and whose wishes are incessantly turned towards St.
Helena, is in a very indifferent state of health. She suffers very
much, and even occasions some uneasiness. The princesses her daughters
are quite well.
I have just received, at last, my papers which had been seized in the
Thames. They have reached me after four months of useless rambling and
of daily privation to me. Fatality alone can have occasioned the
delay, for they have been returned to me unopened.
I long very much to hear from you, and to receive your commissions.
Unfortunately, the distance is so great, and the communications are so
irregular, that I shall have yet to write for some time. Ask me for
every thing you want; until then I am reduced to guess. You will soon
receive that part of the Moniteur which you have not. I write this day
on the subject.
I have at last received a letter from my agent in London. He informs
me that he has honoured my bills, which I am happy to hear. But he
also informs me that he has received besides from you two other bills,
which he has been under the necessity of refusing, for want of advice
or authority from me. I am sorry for this. Since I have left you, I
had not been able to communicate with him. I have immediately answered
his letter, directing him to remedy the evil as far as it lies in his
power. He does not however give me any particulars respecting those
bills.
My health is still as indifferent as ever, not to say much worse. I am
quite disheartened by it, and the more so, as the season is getting
very fine, and this circumstance does not however produce any
beneficial change to me. That is the reason why I remain at Frankfort,
being placed in the centre of a great number of mineral springs, to
which the physicians intend to send me.
Receive for yourself, Grand Marshal, and for my dear companions, the
expression of my wishes and of all my sentiments. The colony of
Longwood occupies and fills every moment of my existence. Take care of
yourselves. Such is the wish of those who love you. I daily hear it
expressed for you all. There are in this place or in the
neighbourhood, several of the exiles; some were particular
acquaintances of yours. They love and venerate you.
COUNT DE LAS CASES.
FOURTH LETTER FROM COUNT LAS CASES TO GENERAL
COUNT BERTRAND.
_Frankfort, 15th April, 1818._
Madame Las Cases has continued her inquiries respecting your family
and that of the gentlemen. I have myself written direct. My letters
have been returned to me by a _valet de chambre_. I have learned that
your family were well and undisturbed. The sister of General Gourgaud
has written me a very agreeable letter, full of tenderness for her
brother. As to my third attempt, though repeated, it produced only
absolute silence, You will find, M. Grand Marshal, my details very
barren. It is not my fault: I write to you every thing I can. You will
do wrong to judge, by my want of matter, of all my cares and incessant
exertions.
I continue to receive news of all the members of the family of the
Emperor. They are all well in health. His son continues a fine boy.
The Empress, they write me, is very thin. I have lately seen a person
of the household of the Princess Murat. He was specially charged to
describe to me her tender solicitude for her august brother, her
devotion and her wishes. I have received a letter from the Princess
Eliza, full of the same sentiments. They all live only to think of him
who is so dear to them, who loaded them with kindnesses, and now
engrosses all their affections. The Princess Eliza resides at Trieste.
She informs me that she has written five times to St. Helena. The
Cardinal writes to me, on his part, that they have written very often
from Rome. I have received an answer from London to the request which
I made, and of which I informed you in my last, for leave for Prince
Lucien to visit his august brother. The answer has not appeared
sufficiently explicit for me to send it to you before I have a new
explanation.—Prince Jerome, who talked of making a like attempt next
year, has not been able to postpone for so long a time a step, the
success of which would delight his heart. He is going to address
himself to the Prince Regent, for permission for himself; his wife and
son, to undertake the voyage immediately.
The Cardinal has given me a very full account of all the members of
the family settled at Rome. The Princess Hortense enjoys tranquillity
at Augsburg, where she is occasionally visited by her brother. She is
occupied with the education of her second son. She has had the eldest
with her several months, who has developed, during his short visit,
all the qualities which honour, attach, and interest. He has returned
to Rome to his father, who is settled in that city. I hope that my
first letter has reached you before this; and I reckon the days and
hours that will bring me your answer, because then I shall know more
particularly what I can do to be agreeable to each of you. Be assured
that I and mine only live for this; and that death itself could not
interrupt the course of my efforts for that purpose. I shall have
provided a successor. Let me then know all your wishes. Nothing will
be impossible to my zeal, to the affection and devotion of those who
assist me.
I have received a very polite answer from London respecting all the
articles which I desired to be sent to your address. I am assured that
the several pamphlets, which I mentioned, are about to be sent off. I
am told that the _Morning Chronicle_, the _Journal du Commerce_, and
that of Paris, which they say is the best, have been ordered for you.
As for the rest, upon this point, as upon every other, write to me
your wishes. Tell me every thing that may give pleasure to the
establishment.
As to provisions, wine, coffee, oil, &c. which I mentioned in my
letter, I am answered that a considerable supply, and of the best
quality had been dispatched to you: the list has been sent me. It is
added, Lord Holland had sent a quantity, at the request of the
Princess Borghese: an invoice of that also has been sent me.
My health, unfortunately, is still very deplorable: I see no
amendment. The physicians insist that I shall entirely abstain from
business.—I am going to take the waters somewhere. I shall most
probably inform you, in my next, of my departure from Frankfort. I
have had an opportunity of seeing here several of the exiles, who have
found a temporary refuge in this city or its vicinity. They flatter
themselves daily with their speedy recal. Public opinion demands it,
they are told. It is thought that about the end of the year all the
French will be at liberty to reside in France. I have, however,
myself, been a stranger to the severity exercised towards them. Madame
Las Cases, on her return to Paris, received from old friends a great
deal of advice, and many offers on my account. They pressed forward in
the most obliging manner to offer their services and their influence;
but she has constantly answered that in reality I wanted no
assistance, and it was not my intention moreover to put the kindness
of any one to the test; that I had voluntarily banished myself for a
holy and religious ministry; and in fact I shall no more have a
country, Monsieur Grand Marshal, as long as you shall be where you
are, and there shall remain a single chance that my efforts, my
devotion, and my zeal, may be able to afford you any useful or
agreeable consolation—until then I shall be a wanderer in the world. I
shall carry about every where, if it must be, my atmosphere of sorrow
and zeal. On your part, keep me in your remembrance; give me the
consolation of imagining that our thoughts cross each other, and
sometimes are interchanged. Patience and courage are the virtues of
heroes. Who knows better than I that they belong to you all? Adieu—I
embrace you.
COUNT DE LAS CASES.
FIFTH LETTER FROM COUNT LAS CASES TO GENERAL
COUNT BERTRAND.
_Frankfort on the Maine, 15th May, 1818._
I would write to you this day, my dear Bertrand, merely to be punctual
and faithful to the date which I have invariably prescribed to myself,
every month, for giving news of me. No change having taken place in my
situation, I could only repeat, word for word, the matter contained in
my last. I hoped to have been able to send you my letter from another
place; but a severe complaint in my eyes, which has come to aggravate
my other afflictions, has hitherto prevented me from setting out for
some of the warm baths in the south of Germany, to which I shall
repair, however, in a few days.
I have the satisfaction to learn that my preceding letters have been
regularly despatched to you, and that a great many pamphlets have been
sent off. I wish they may amuse you. Unfortunately I provide for you a
little in the dark;—the circumstances of locality will be my excuse; I
do my best; I am in a bad situation for that. Such a case as mine
would require a capital.—I am not permitted to reside in London; and
in Paris I could not accomplish my purpose. The same distance prevents
me from thinking of sending you a great many little things with which
I might employ myself if I were upon the spot. I had thought of
completing for you a little chemical apparatus, but renounced it. I
understand that it would be useless to you.
All the relatives of the Emperor are well, and await with impatience
the regular course of your letters, of which they entertain no doubt,
as you will have received my first, with my invariable resolution to
send you theirs every month punctually.—My wife will rejoin me in a
few days, to part no more, I hope.
Adieu, accept my wishes.
COUNT LAS CASES.
LETTER FROM COUNT LAS CASES TO MR. GOULBURN,
ENCLOSING TO HIM THE PRECEDING.
_Frankfort on the Maine, 19th May, 1818._
I have the honour to thank you for the kindness with which you have
been pleased to inform me of the departure of my letters for St.
Helena, as also of that of the pamphlets and journals with which you
have been pleased to accompany them.
I am sorry you should have found it necessary to preserve silence,
upon certain points in my last letter. My discretion will know how to
interpret that silence. I owe it to the personal kindness which you
have hitherto shewn me, not to return to the subject any more. I have
written to the Cardinal Fesch, agreeably to a passage in your letter,
that he may send, by the way he shall think most proper, the sequel of
the Moniteur, reckoning from 1808, addressed to the office of Lord
Bathurst in London; and that his Lordship allows their transmission to
St. Helena.
As to the passage of your letter, Sir, concerning the request which I
had the honour to make to you, for a regular bulletin of the health of
Napoleon, in the name, and on the behalf of the members of his family,
may I be permitted to pray you will observe to my Lord Bathurst that
the whole of the family of the Emperor are not at Rome; that he has
one sister and her family at Frankfort; a brother and his family in
Austria; two other sisters and their families in the vicinity of
Vienna and Trieste; without reckoning others, all of whom would esteem
it the greatest favour, and would consider it a real gratification to
their heart, should the sentiments which induced Lord Bathurst to send
regular accounts to Rome, induce him condescendingly to allow of their
being regularly transmitted to them also. I was not ignorant of the
gratification which had been hitherto procured for the Princess
Borghese; but it did not extend from Rome to all the members of the
family in Germany, where the route was then much more circuitous than
that which I had the honour to request. Whatsoever title and right my
heart might give me, perhaps, to solicit for myself a participation in
this bulletin, I shall learn to renounce entirely and put myself
completely aside; and not doubting but that the favour will be more
highly appreciated by those for whom I solicit it, if it should come
directly from Lord Bathurst, rather than pass through my hands, I
shall solicit therefore anew, and in the name of the Countess of
Survilliers (the Princess Joseph Bonaparte), who resides in this city,
that he will have the goodness to send to her regularly the same
accounts which he has the goodness to address to the Princess Borghese
at Rome. The Countess of Survilliers will undertake to communicate
them to all the family in Germany.
Sir, I have learned, from the public journals, the unexpected return
of General Gourgaud. This sensible diminution of the household of
Napoleon, this new privation of one servant more, penetrates my heart,
and has determined me to pray that you will please to request of Lord
Bathurst to allow me to return to St. Helena, accompanied by my
family. This intention and this desire will never forsake me, as his
Lordship may convince himself by the whole of my correspondence with
Sir Hudson Lowe, from the moment of my quitting the colony. I do not
think it would be necessary to demand the previous consent of the
Emperor Napoleon to this request, because I dare flatter myself that
his answer would not be doubtful. However, if Lord Bathurst should
deem it necessary, I entreat his Lordship to make the application
himself: he will see that in my letter to Longwood I have abstained
from mentioning this circumstance. Considerations of delicacy, which
his Lordship will know how to appreciate, have restrained me. The
deplorable state of my health will be no obstacle. I am ambitious to
go and find a grave at the feet of him whom I venerate, and to whose
cares I shall find it sweet to consecrate my latest breath.
Accept, Sir, the expressions of the perfect consideration, &c.
COUNT LAS CASES.
I lost not a moment, on the receipt of the documents sent by Count
Bertrand, in despatching a copy of them to each of the Sovereigns at
Aix-la-Chapelle. I took this opportunity to renew my entreaties. I
implored them to succour the illustrious victim. “A few days more,”
said I, “and it will be too late.” The physician whom they had
snatched away from him (an Englishman,) declared publicly in London
that a much longer residence upon that unwholesome rock would cause
his death. I ventured to represent to them that their humanity, the
sentiments of their hearts, might be arrested perhaps by formal
denials, but would not their justice listen to the other side of the
question? I demanded that I might be allowed to furnish them with it,
I solicited the sole favour of being heard in behalf of this sacred
cause; “consenting,” I said, “if I did not prove the truth of the
documents laid at their feet, that my shame and my blood should
expiate my offence in having dared to impose upon them.”—At the same
time I did not lose one opportunity, one instant, one thought, which
might have multiplied the chances of any success. I addressed myself
to every one, who, I learned, had any influence over the hearts of the
Monarchs. I wrote particularly to M. de la Harpe, the tutor of the
Emperor Alexander, so well known, so venerated, who, I had been told,
was at that moment with him at Aix-la-Chapelle.
Neither upon this occasion, nor any other, have I ever had the
slightest answer to any one of my letters; and if any thing has been
sometimes insinuated to me indirectly and with mystery, I was obliged
to suspect it as a snare laid against my person, which was of small
moment; or against my cause, which was every thing to me. Thus the
Congress ended, and not a word escaped from it in favour of Napoleon.
In fine, I sought to stimulate even foreign talents; and in the number
of voices then raised, the pamphlet of a certain German journalist
attracted sufficient attention to serve for a pretext to devise
trammels for the liberty of the press.
However, all the efforts which I had called forth were vain, all my
hopes were blasted, all my pains were thrown away—they left him to
die! In fact, what could the naked Truth avail with sovereigns,
without the protection of any address, or the alliance of any
interests, against the insinuations of wicked men, who watched with
all the ardour of political fanaticism, private resentment, and
prospective apprehensions! They acted so effectually that in the
council of kings, fear, no doubt, prevailed over generosity. They
demonstrated how dangerous universal interest rendered the victim: and
it may be truly said, to the glory of generous sentiments, that public
opinion was pronounced every where with great warmth; not less in
Germany, than in any other country. And perhaps, in the sight of the
high personages who were witnesses of it, this favourable opinion did
a great deal of mischief to him whom it meant to serve; as if it had
been in the destiny of Napoleon that the interest of the Germans
should become as baneful to him in adversity, as their animosity had
been fatal to him in the time of his power.—Amongst the efforts to
maintain the hideous captivity of Napoleon, there has been actually
imputed to the English Ministers a base intrigue, an unworthy
deception. It was said that, to confirm the wavering Sovereigns, they
had forged, for the express purpose, a pretended plot of escape. The
imputation was founded upon the timeliness, the éclat, and publicity,
with which the arrival of the Musquito brig suddenly caused this news
to spread through all Europe; a circumstance, which, after it had once
produced the intended effect, that of counterbalancing the public
favour, gave room to no further mention, to no detail, to no
confirmation whatsoever; an imaginary conjecture, no doubt, and in
which the English Ministers are probably culpable, only in having
afforded ground for suspecting them of it by the numerous antecedent
cases, in which they degraded themselves in acting against Napoleon.
To my chagrin was added the fear of seeing old persecutions revived
against me, in my peaceful solitude. The spring of 1819 was
approaching. The excellent Grand Duke of Baden was just dead. Those
who did not like us became stronger by this event, and it was
signified to me, without the knowledge of the new sovereign perhaps,
that I must quit the States of Baden. The order was given to me only
verbally, and I was even informed that I should receive it in no other
way. The motive for my removal, it was said, was the desire to live in
close friendship with France, and the fear that my stay would be
disagreeable to her; a motive that must excite a smile of pity. I
disdained to say that the French Minister had thought fit to leave me
in repose; the intolerance of opinion had discovered another motive to
the full as ridiculous. The person charged with the order against me
was very willing to grant me some days for preparation, but I was
nearly like the Greek philosopher, who carried his all upon his own
person; and I would have set out at the very instant of the
notification itself, if Madame Las Cases had not been afflicted with
an inflammation of the lungs which placed her in great danger. I
assured him that I should only allow myself time to see her out of
danger; and although the well-meant advice was given me to solicit
Government for permission to remain, I still disdained it; and a few
days afterwards, I set out on my route for Offenbach, where Madame Las
Cases was to join me, when she should be in a state to travel.
If I felt myself so much hurt by this unexpected treatment, it is
because I had already forgotten all the vexations with which I had
been overwhelmed by the English authorities, and for more than a year,
during which I lived upon the German soil, I was not subjected to such
forms; but, on the contrary, I was spoiled by the favour, the
interest, the respect, of which I every where saw myself the object,
even among those of a contrary opinion; and, besides, on leaving
Manheim, I was far from being embarrassed for a new residence. Some
friends, in their kind precautions, had sounded some neighbouring
governments; I was assured of a favourable reception in several. One
of the princes, addressed upon the occasion, answered, with a smile,
“Yes, no doubt; he should be well received and well treated. So far
from repulsing a man of this character, a prince who understands his
own interest should have his courtiers inoculated from him.”
However, in expatiating here so freely upon my successes, I must not
disguise my disappointments. Now and then I had also my little
mortifications. All was not roses: and, without reckoning the
expulsion from Manheim, for example, of which I was speaking, they
found great fault, in another place, with the respect shewn to me,
being, they said, one of those wretches who had arrested the King of
France at Varennes; and who more lately had done, perhaps, still
worse. In another place, a Baron who gave a grand evening party,
informed his guests that he had at length ascertained who this Count
and Councillor of Napoleon’s was whose arrival had made so great a
noise in the city. He was, he informed them, nothing but his cook from
St. Helena; and that, not having means to pay him his wages at
parting, he had, as a compensation, created him a Count and Councillor
of State. If the Baron believed what he said, he was assuredly a good
easy man, and if his object was only to make his guests believe it, he
must have taken them for great simpletons. The pleasant part of the
story remains, for we must tell the whole; and it is that, in fact,
the cook from Longwood had passed through a few days before: and thus
it appears how anecdotes and the biographies of the saloon are
engendered and multiply; and the devil himself cannot afterwards
eradicate them. I could smile at the wickedness or the stupidity.
Their acts and their words were only ridiculous and grotesque; but a
circumstance of an important nature presented itself, which would have
distressed me excessively, if I did not know how much the mass of
error which presses round sovereigns may impair the soundness of their
judgment.
I was assured that some one at the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle,
finding himself disposed, in the presence of the Emperor Alexander, to
touch upon the frightful situation of Napoleon, and citing the
authentic statements produced by me in his support, that Prince
answered, “We must not believe all that this man is come to tell us in
Europe; he is an intriguer.” How is it that the most enlightened
princes are deceived; even those from whom we should expect better?
Unless it was here, as with Napoleon, who often used peevish
expressions, after his own manner, and not implying harm; and besides,
by good fortune, I have still on my side, time, that true crucible of
characters. Years have since elapsed, and the unanimous opinion, I
dare hope, of all those who have known or followed me, would
sufficiently clear me from such an accusation. “An intriguer!” I, who
have worn out upon a rock all the vanities of this world! I, who in
the clouds of Longwood, have seen all things from so great a height,
that they remain small indeed to my eyes! I, who of all people on
earth, know nothing to desire! I, in fine, who, no longer considering
myself of this world, cannot have, and have not in fact, any other
ambition whatever, any other wish, than that of Diogenes—“that they
would not stand between me and the sun.”
-------
FROM MY ARRIVAL AT OFFENBACH, UP TO
MY RETURN TO FRANCE.
-------
A Space of more than Two Years.
-------
RESIDENCE AT OFFENBACH.—DETAIL.—ARRIVAL OF MADAME MONTHOLON
IN EUROPE.—JOURNEY TO BRUSSELS.—RESIDENCE AT LIEGE, AT
CHAUDE-FONTAINE, AT SOHAN, NEAR SPA, AT ANTWERP, AT MALINES.—DEATH
OF NAPOLEON.—RETURN TO FRANCE.—CONCLUSION.
Offenbach is a handsome little town in the Grand-Duchy of Darmstadt,
situate upon the Maine, two leagues from Frankfort. I settled myself
there, according to my custom, in a sort of little hermitage. It was
upon the bank of the river, within a step of the town.