"_Longwood, 23rd August, 1816._
"GENERAL,
"I have received the treaty of the 2nd August, 1815, concluded between
his Britannic Majesty, the Emperor of Austria, the Emperor of Russia,
and the King of Prussia, which was annexed to your letter of the 23rd
July.
"The Emperor Napoleon protests against the contents of that treaty. He
is not the prisoner of England: after having abdicated, into the hands
of the representatives of the nation, for the advantage of the
constitution adopted by the French people, and in favour of his son, he
repaired voluntarily and freely to England, to live there as a private
individual, in retirement, under the protection of the British laws. The
violation of all laws cannot constitute a right; in point of fact, the
person of the Emperor Napoleon is in the power of England; but in fact,
and of right, he has not been and is not in the power of Austria,
Russia, and Prussia, even according to the laws and customs of England,
who never admitted into the balance, in the exchange of prisoners, the
Russians, the Austrians, the Prussians, the Spaniards, the Portuguese,
although she was united to those powers by treaties of alliance, and
made war conjointly with them. The convention of the 2nd August, made
fifteen days after the Emperor Napoleon was in England, cannot, of
right, have any effect; it exhibits only a spectacle of a coalition of
the four great powers of Europe for the oppression of a SINGLE MAN!--a
coalition disclaimed by the opinion of all people, and at variance with
all the principles of sound morality. The Emperors of Austria and of
Russia, and the King of Prussia, not having, either in fact or of right,
any controul over the person of the Emperor Napoleon, they have had no
power to decree any thing concerning him. If the Emperor Napoleon had
been in the power of the Emperor of Austria, that prince would have
recollected the relations which religion and nature have placed between
a father and a son,--relations which are never violated with impunity.
He would have recollected, that Napoleon has four times restored him to
his throne: at Leoben, in 1797, and at Luneville, in 1801, when his
armies were under the walls of Vienna; at Presburg, in 1806, and at
Vienna, in 1809, when his armies were masters of the capital, and of
three-fourths of the monarchy. That prince would have recollected the
protestations which he made to him at the bivouac of Moravia, in 1806,
and at the interviews at Dresden, in 1812. If the person of the Emperor
Napoleon had been in the power of the Emperor Alexander, he would have
called to mind the bonds of friendship contracted at Tilsit, at Erfurt,
and during twelve years of daily intercourse. He would have remembered
the conduct of the Emperor Napoleon on the day after the battle of
Austerlitz, when, having it in his power to make him prisoner with the
wreck of his army, he contented himself with his parole, and suffered
him to operate his retreat. He would have called to mind the dangers
which the Emperor Napoleon personally braved to extinguish the
conflagration of Moscow, and preserve to him that capital. Certainly,
that prince would not have violated the duties of friendship and
gratitude towards a friend in misfortune. If the person of the Emperor
Napoleon had even been in the power of the King of Prussia, that
sovereign would not have forgotten, that it depended on the emperor,
after the day of Friedland, to place another prince on the throne of
Berlin; he would not have forgotten, in the presence of a disarmed
enemy, the protestations of devotedness and the sentiments which he
expressed to him in 1812, at the interviews of Dresden. Accordingly, it
is obvious in the Articles 2 and 9 of the said treaty of the 2nd August,
that, being unable in any way to influence the fate of the Emperor
Napoleon's person, which is not in their power, those same persons agree
to what shall be done thereon by the King of Great Britain, who
undertakes to fulfil all obligations. These princes have reproached the
Emperor Napoleon with having preferred the protection of the English
laws to their protection. The false notions which the Emperor Napoleon
had of the English laws, and of the influence which the opinion of a
great, generous, and free people had on their government, induced him to
prefer the protection of their laws to that of his father-in-law, or his
old friend. The Emperor Napoleon was ever competent to ensure what
concerned him personally, by a diplomatic treaty, either by replacing
himself at the head of the army of the Loire, or by placing himself at
the head of the army of the Gironde, which General Claus commanded. But,
seeking thenceforward only retirement, and the protection of the laws of
a free nation, either English or American, all stipulations appeared to
him unnecessary. He thought the English would be more bound by his
frank, noble, and confident procedure, than they would have been by the
most solemn treaties. He was mistaken. But this error will always make
true Britons blush; and, both in the present and in future generations,
it will be a proof of the faithlessness of the English administration.
An Austrian and a Russian commissioner have arrived at St. Helena. If
the object of their mission be the fulfilment of the duties which the
Emperors of Austria and Russia contracted by the treaty of the 2nd of
August, and to see that the English agents, in a small colony, in the
midst of the ocean, do not fail in the attentions due to a prince, bound
to them by the ties of kindred and by so many other relations, there may
be recognised in this procedure some characteristics of those
sovereigns. But you, sir, have affirmed that those commissioners had
neither the right nor the power to form any opinion as to whatever takes
place on this rock.
"The English ministry have caused the Emperor Napoleon to be transported
to St. Helena, 2000 leagues from Europe. This rock is situated in the
tropic, 900 leagues from any continent; it is subject to the consuming
heats of this latitude; it is covered with clouds and fogs during three
quarters of the year; it is at once the driest and the most humid
country in the world; such a climate is most adverse to the emperor's
health. It was hatred that dictated the choice of this abode, as well as
the instructions given by the English ministry to the officers
commanding at this place. They have been ordered to call the Emperor
Napoleon, 'General,' wishing to oblige him to acknowledge that he has
never reigned in France; and this has determined him not to assume a
name of incognito, as he had resolved to do on quitting France. As first
magistrate, for life, of the republic, he concluded the preliminaries of
London and the treaty of Amiens with the King of Great Britain; he
received, as ambassadors, Lord Cornwallis, Mr. Merry, and Lord
Whitworth, who sojourned in this quality at his court. He accredited to
the King of England Count Otto and General Andreossy, who resided as
ambassadors at the court of Windsor. When, after an interchange of
letters between the two administrations of foreign affairs, Lord
Lauderdale came to Paris, invested with full powers from the King of
England, he treated with plenipotentiaries invested with full powers
from the Emperor Napoleon, and sojourned several months at the court of
the Thuilleries. When, subsequently, at Chatillon, Lord Castlereagh
signed the ultimatum which the allied powers presented to the
plenipotentiaries of the Emperor Napoleon, he thereby recognised the
fourth dynasty. That ultimatum was more advantageous than the treaty of
Paris; but it was demanded that France should renounce Belgium and the
left bank of the Rhine, which was contrary to the propositions of
Frankfort, and to the proclamations of the allied powers, which was
contrary also to the oath by which at his coronation the emperor had
sworn to the integrity of the empire. The emperor then thought that the
natural limits were necessary to the guarantee of France, and to the
equilibrium of Europe. He thought that the French nation, in their then
existing circumstances, ought rather to incur all the chances of war
than to depart from them. France would have obtained that integrity, and
with it preserved her honour, if TREASON had not come to the aid of the
allies.
"The treaty of the 2nd August and the British bill in parliament call
the emperor, 'Napoleon Bonaparte,' and do not give him the title of
general. The title of General Bonaparte is doubtless eminently glorious;
the emperor bore it at Lodi, at Castiglione, at Rivoli, at Arcola, at
Leoben, at the Pyramids, at Aboukir; but for seventeen years he has
borne that of first consul and of emperor. It would be to allow that he
has not been either first magistrate of the republic, or sovereign of
the fourth dynasty. Those who think that nations are mere flocks, which
belong, _by divine right_, to certain families, are not in the spirit of
the age, nor even in that of the English legislature, which several
times changed the order of its dynasty, because great changes that had
taken place in opinions, in which the reigning princes did not
participate, had rendered them inimical to the welfare and to a great
majority of that nation. FOR KINGS ARE ONLY HEREDITARY MAGISTRATES, WHO
EXIST BUT FOR THE WELFARE OF NATIONS, AND NOT NATIONS FOR THE
SATISFACTION OF KINGS. It was the same spirit of hatred which ordained
that 'the Emperor Napoleon should not write or receive any letter,
unless it was opened and read by the English ministers and the officers
of St. Helena.' He has thus been denied the possibility of receiving
news from his mother, his wife, his son, his brothers; and when,
desirous of avoiding the inconvenience of seeing his letters read by
subaltern officers, he wished to send letters sealed to the Prince
Regent, the answer was, that they could only undertake to let open
letters pass; that 'such were the instructions of the ministry.' This
measure needs not be reflected on; it will give strange ideas of the
spirit of the administration which dictated it; _it would even be
disclaimed at Algiers_! Letters have arrived for general officers of the
emperor's suite; they were unsealed, and were remitted to you; you did
not communicate them, because they had not passed through the channel of
the English ministry. It was necessary to make them travel over again
4000 leagues, and those officers had the pain of knowing that there
existed on this rock, news from a wife, a mother, children, which they
were not to know for six months. The heart rises at this!! We were not
allowed to subscribe for the Morning Chronicle, the Morning Post, and
some French journals. Some odd numbers of the Times were now and then
sent to Longwood. Upon the demand made on board the Northumberland, some
books were sent, but all those relative to transactions of late years
were carefully withheld. It was afterwards wished to correspond with a
London bookseller, in order to have direct means of obtaining some books
that were wanted, and those which related to the events of the day: this
was prevented. An English author having performed a voyage in France,
and having printed it in London, took the trouble to send it you, that
it might be offered to the emperor; but you did not think yourself
empowered to transmit it to him, because it had not come to you by the
channel of your government. It is also said that other books sent by
their authors could not be transmitted, because on the title page of
some were the words 'To the Emperor Napoleon,' and on others 'To
Napoleon the Great.' The English ministry are not authorized to order
any of these vexations; the law of the British parliament, though
iniquitous, considers the Emperor Napoleon as a prisoner of war; and
prisoners of war have never been forbidden to subscribe for journals, or
to receive books which are printed. Such a prohibition is made only in
the dungeons of the inquisition.
"The isle of St. Helena is ten leagues in circumference; it is
inaccessible on all sides; the coast is surrounded by some brigs, and
there are posts placed on its verge within sight of each other, which
render all communication with the sea impracticable. There is only one
small village, James Town, where vessels arrive and depart. To prevent
an individual from quitting the island, it is sufficient to guard the
coast by sea and land. In interdicting the interior of the island,
therefore, there can only be one object, that of excluding an easy ride
of eight or ten miles, which exclusion, in the opinion of professional
men, is shortening the life of the emperor.
"The emperor has been established at Longwood, a site exposed to all
winds, a sterile tract, uninhabited, destitute of water, unsusceptible
of any culture. There is a precinct of about 1200 toises uncultivated;
at the distance of 300 or 400 toises, upon a peak, they have established
a camp; another has just been placed about the same distance, in the
opposite direction; so that, amidst the tropic heats, on whatever side
we turn, we behold nothing but camps. Admiral Malcolm, having conceived
how useful a tent would be to the emperor in such a situation, has
caused one to be pitched by his sailors, twenty paces in front of the
house; this is the only place where any shade can be found. However, the
emperor has no reason but to be satisfied with the spirit which animates
the officers and soldiers of the brave 53rd., as he also was with the
crew of the Northumberland. Longwood House was built to serve as a barn
for the Company's farm; subsequently, the lieutenant-governor of the
island had some rooms fitted up there; it served him as a country-house,
but it had none of the conveniencies of a dwelling. For a year past, men
have been constantly at work there, and the emperor has been continually
exposed to the inconvenience and insalubrity of inhabiting a house in a
state of building. The room in which he sleeps is too small to contain a
bed of ordinary dimensions: but every addition to Longwood House would
prolong the annoyance of the workmen's attendance. Yet in this miserable
island there are beautiful spots, presenting fine trees, gardens, and
pretty good houses, Plantation House among others; but the positive
instructions of the ministry prohibit you from giving that house, which
might have spared much expense from your treasure, expense employed in
building at Longwood some cottages covered with pitched paper, which are
already out of repair. You have forbidden all correspondence between us
and the inhabitants of the isle; you have in fact placed the house of
Longwood in a state of exclusion; you have even fettered the
communications of the officers of the garrison. It seems to have been a
study to deprive us of the few resources which this miserable country
affords, and we are here as we should be on the uncultivated and
uninhabited rock of Ascension. During the four months that you, Sir,
have been at St. Helena, you have deteriorated the situation of the
emperor. Count Bertrand observed to you, that you were violating even
the law of your legislature; that you were trampling under foot the
rights of general officers, prisoners of war: you answered, that you
recognised only the letter of your instructions, that they were worse
even than your conduct appeared to us.
"I have the honour to be, General,
"Your very humble and obedient Servant,
(Signed) "The General C{te}. DE MONTHOLON."
"P.S. I had signed this letter, Sir, when I received your's of the
17th. You annex to it an estimate of an annual sum of twenty thousand
pounds sterling, which you deem indispensable to meet the expenditure of
the establishment at Longwood, after all the reductions have been made
which you have judged practicable. The discussion of this statement
cannot in any manner concern us. The emperor's table is scarcely what is
strictly necessary; all the provisions are of bad quality, and four
times dearer than at Paris. You ask of the emperor a fund of twelve
thousand pounds sterling, your government allowing you only eight
thousand pounds sterling, for all these expenses. I have had the honour
to tell you that the emperor had no funds; that for a year past he had
not received or written any letter; and that he was in complete
ignorance as to what is passing or may have been passing in Europe.
Transported by violence to this rock, 2000 leagues distant, without the
power of receiving or writing any letter, he now remains entirely at the
discretion of the English agents. The emperor has always desired, and
does desire, to defray all expenses whatever himself; and he will do so
as soon as you will make it possible for him, by removing the
prohibition imposed on the merchants of the island, of forwarding his
correspondence, and by consenting that it shall not be subject to any
inquisition by you or any of your agents. As soon as the wants of the
emperor shall be known in Europe, the persons who are interested
concerning him will send the necessary funds for supplying them.
"The letter of Lord Bathurst, which you have communicated to me, gives
rise to some strange ideas. Were your ministers then ignorant that the
spectacle of a great man struggling with adversity is the sublimest of
spectacles? Were they ignorant that Napoleon at St. Helena, amidst
persecutions of all kinds, which he confronts only with serenity, is
greater, more sacred, more venerable, than on the first throne in the
world, where he was so long the arbiter of kings? Those who in this
position are wanting in what is due to Napoleon, vilify only their own
character, and the nation which they represent.
(Signed) "The Gen. C{te}. DE MONTHOLON."