me: I went into the cabin. "I have requested to see you, Captain,"
said he, "to return you my thanks for your kindness and attention to
me whilst I have been on board the Bellerophon, and likewise to beg
you will convey them to the officers and ship's company you command.
My reception in England has been very different from what I expected;
but it gives me much satisfaction to assure you, that I feel your
conduct to me throughout has been that of a gentleman and a man of
honour." He then said, he was desirous of having Mr O'Meara, the
surgeon of the Bellerophon, to accompany him; and asked my opinion of
him in his medical capacity, as well as of his principles. I replied,
that I had the highest opinion of him, both for his skill and
attention; that he had given me so much satisfaction while under my
command, that I had procured his removal from two different ships in
which he had served with me previous to my appointment to the
Bellerophon, that he might accompany me; and that I was convinced he
was a man of principle and integrity. After conversing some time
longer with him, during which he spoke in the warmest terms of
affection of General Bertrand, and the obligations he felt to him for
his remaining with him during his adversity, when he knew strong
efforts had been used to induce him to abandon him, I took my leave;
and this was the last time I was ever alone with him.
Soon after, Sir George Cockburn came on board, attended by Mr Byng as
his secretary, for the purpose of examining Buonaparte's baggage: he
had directions to apply to some person of his suite to attend at the
search. The proposal was made to Count Bertrand; but he was so
indignant at the measure, that he positively refused either to be
present himself or to direct any other person to superintend. General
Savary, however, consented, and was present, as well as Marchand. The
covers of the trunks were merely opened, and Mr Byng passed his hand
down the side, but the things were not unpacked. Once or twice, when
the door of the after-cabin was opened, Buonaparte expressed his
obligation to Mr Byng for the delicate manner in which he conducted
the search, by bowing to him. When they came to the boxes containing
the money, of which there were two, Marchand was permitted to take out
such sum as was considered necessary for paying the wages of the
servants that were to be left behind, and for other contingent
expenses. One box, containing four thousand gold Napoleons, was
retained and put under my charge, where it remained until my arrival
in London, when I delivered it to Sir Hudson Lowe to be restored to
its owner, as will be seen by the following order, receipts, &c.
"By the Right Hon. Viscount Keith, G.C.B.,
&c. &c. &c.
"You are hereby required and directed to receive into your custody
such a sum of money belonging to General Buonaparte, as will be
delivered into your charge by Rear-Admiral Sir George Cockburn,
granting proper receipts for the same.
"Given on board the Tonnant,
At anchor under Berryhead,
7th August, 1815,
"KEITH, Admiral."
"To F. L. Maitland, Esq.
Captain of H.M.S. Bellerophon."
"J'ai laisse le sept d'aout, a bord du Bellerophon, a Monsieur le
Capitaine Maitland, une somme de quatre vingt mille francs, en quatre
mille Napoleons d'or.
"MARCHAND,
Premier Valet de Chambre."
On the 7th of August, I have left on board the Bellerophon, in charge
of Captain Maitland, the sum of eighty thousand francs, in four
thousand gold Napoleons.
MARCHAND,
1st Valet de Chambre.
"I acknowledge to have received a box with four paper packages, _said_
to contain four thousand gold Napoleons, the property of Napoleon
Buonaparte.
"August 7th, 1815,
"FRED. L. MAITLAND."
"Approved, George Cockburn."
As I shall not have to revert to the subject of the money, I shall
here subjoin the receipt I obtained on delivering it at the Admiralty
Office, though it is of a date some time posterior.
"Admiralty, September 14, 1815.
"Received from Captain Maitland a box, containing four packages,
marked each 20,000 francs, and said to contain four thousand Napoleons
d'or."
"H. LOWE, Major General."
About eleven A.M., Lord Keith came on board in the Tonnant's barge, to
accompany Buonaparte from the Bellerophon to the Northumberland. Count
Bertrand immediately went into the cabin to inform him of his
Lordship's arrival: it was, however, full two hours before it was
reported that he was ready to attend him. About one o'clock, the barge
of the Admiral was prepared; a Captain's guard turned out, and by Lord
Keith's direction, as Napoleon crossed the quarter-deck to leave the
ship, the guard presented arms, and three ruffles of the drum were
beat, being the salute given to a General Officer.
He walked out of the cabin with a steady, firm step, came up to me,
and, taking off his hat, said, "Captain Maitland, I take this last
opportunity of once more returning you my thanks for the manner in
which you have treated me while on board the Bellerophon, and also to
request you will convey them to the officers and ship's company you
command:" then turning to the Officers, who were standing by me, he
added, "Gentlemen, I have requested your Captain to express my
gratitude to you for your attention to me, and to those who have
followed my fortunes." He then went forward to the gangway; and before
he went down the ship's side, bowed two or three times to the ship's
company, who were collected in the waist and on the forecastle; he
was followed by the ladies and the French Officers, and lastly by Lord
Keith. After the boat had shoved off, and got the distance of about
thirty yards from the ship, he stood up, pulled his hat off, and bowed
first to the Officers, and then to the men; and immediately sat down,
and entered into conversation with Lord Keith, with as much apparent
composure as if he had been only going from one ship to the other to
pay a visit.
About a quarter of an hour before Buonaparte quitted the Bellerophon,
Montholon came to me on the quarter-deck, and said, "I am directed by
the Emperor to return you his thanks for the manner in which you have
conducted yourself throughout the whole of this affair; and he desires
me to say, that the greatest cause of disappointment he feels in not
being admitted to an interview with the Prince Regent is, that he had
intended to ask as a favour from his Royal Highness, that you should
be promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral." I answered, "that although
the request could not have been complied with under any circumstances,
as it was contrary to the regulations of our naval service, yet I do
not the less feel the kindness of the intention." "He meant also," he
said, "to have presented you with a box containing his portrait, but
he understands you are determined not to accept it." I replied, "In
the situation I am placed, it is quite impossible I can receive any
present from him." "He is perfectly aware," said he, "of the delicacy
of your situation, and approves of your conduct." I then said, "I feel
much hurt that Count Las Cases should have stated to Lord Keith, that
I had promised Buonaparte should be well received in England, or
indeed made promises of any sort. I have endeavoured to conduct myself
with integrity and honour throughout the whole of this transaction,
and therefore cannot allow such an assertion to go uncontradicted."
"Oh!" said he, "Las Cases negotiated this business; it has turned out
very differently from what he and all of us expected. He attributes
the Emperor's situation to himself, and is therefore desirous of
giving it the best countenance he can; but I assure you, the Emperor
is convinced your conduct has been most honourable": then taking my
hand, he pressed it, and added, "and that is my opinion also."
In the course of the afternoon, I attended General Savary and
Lallemand on board the Northumberland, where they went for the purpose
of taking a last farewell of their master. I had very little
conversation with him myself, but they remained with him a
considerable time. When I was about to return to my ship, I went into
the cabin to tell them they must accompany me. They approached him in
the after-cabin, where he was standing, when he embraced each of them
most affectionately, after the French manner, putting his arms round
them, and touching their cheeks with his. He was firm and collected;
but, in turning from him, the tears were streaming from their eyes. On
getting on board, all the squadron got under weigh, the Tonnant and
Bellerophon to return to Plymouth, the Northumberland, with two troop
ships in company, to proceed to St Helena. The following day she was
joined by a frigate and several sloops of war from Plymouth, when she
made sail to the westward.
Having now brought my narrative down to the period of Buonaparte's
quitting the ship, it only remains for me to give some account of his
person and character, as far as it fell under my view. In doing so, I
shall endeavour, as far as possible, in the same spirit with which the
foregoing narrative is written, to avoid being biassed, either by
favourable or unfavourable feelings towards him. What he may have been
when at the head of the French Empire, with the destiny of the
greater part of Europe under his control, I have no peculiar means of
knowing; all I can pretend to do is, to describe him as he was on
board the Bellerophon; adding a few anecdotes, which have been omitted
in the course of the narrative, as serving to throw some further light
upon his character.
Napoleon Buonaparte, when he came on board the Bellerophon, on the
15th of July, 1815, wanted exactly one month of completing his
forty-sixth year, being born the 15th of August, 1769. He was then a
remarkably strong, well-built man, about five feet seven inches high,
his limbs particularly well-formed, with a fine ancle and very small
foot, of which he seemed rather vain, as he always wore, while on
board the ship, silk stockings and shoes. His hands were also very
small, and had the plumpness of a woman's rather than the robustness
of a man's. His eyes light grey, teeth good; and when he smiled, the
expression of his countenance was highly pleasing; when under the
influence of disappointment, however, it assumed a dark gloomy cast.
His hair was of a very dark brown, nearly approaching to black, and,
though a little thin on the top and front, had not a grey hair amongst
it. His complexion was a very uncommon one, being of a light sallow
colour, differing from almost any other I ever met with. From his
having become corpulent, he had lost much of his personal activity,
and, if we are to give credit to those who attended him, a very
considerable portion of his mental energy was also gone. It is certain
his habits were very lethargic while he was on board the Bellerophon;
for though he went to bed between eight and nine o'clock in the
evening, and did not rise till about the same hour in the morning, he
frequently fell asleep on the sofa in the cabin in the course of the
day. His general appearance was that of a man rather older than he
then was. His manners were extremely pleasing and affable: he joined
in every conversation, related numerous anecdotes, and endeavoured, in
every way, to promote good humour: he even admitted his attendants to
great familiarity; and I saw one or two instances of their
contradicting him in the most direct terms, though they generally
treated him with much respect. He possessed, to a wonderful degree, a
facility in making a favourable impression upon those with whom he
entered into conversation: this appeared to me to be accomplished by
turning the subject to matters he supposed the person he was
addressing was well acquainted with, and on which he could show
himself to advantage. This had the effect of putting him in good
humour with himself; after which it was not a very difficult matter to
transfer a part of that feeling to the person who had occasioned it.
Lord Keith appears to have formed a very high opinion of the
fascination of his conversation, and expressed it very emphatically
to me, after he had seen him: speaking of his wish for an interview
with the Prince Regent, "D----n the fellow," he said, "if he had
obtained an interview with his Royal Highness, in half an hour they
would have been the best friends in England."[11] He appeared to have
great command of temper; for, though no man could have had greater
trials than fell to his lot during the time he remained on board the
Bellerophon, he never, in my presence, or as far as I know, allowed a
fretful or captious expression to escape him: even the day he received
the notification from Sir Henry Bunbury, that it was determined to
send him to St Helena, he chatted and conversed with the same
cheerfulness as usual. It has been asserted that he was acting a part
all the time he was on board the ship; but still, even allowing that
to be the case, nothing but great command of temper could have enabled
him to have sustained such a part for so many days, in his situation.
[Footnote 11: [I do entreat and conjure that the natural and
sailor-like speech of Lord Keith be not tampered with. It is
really a sin to knock the spirit out of a work by such
over-delicacy.--SCOTT.]]
I shall here relate a circumstance that occurred during the passage to
England, which will show in a strong point of view the freedom that
subsisted between him and those of his attendants in whom he had
confidence. A conversation took place respecting the relative state of
cultivation in France and in England. My opinion being asked, I said,
that though the climate of France was much superior to that of
England, I believed that agriculture had arrived at a greater state of
perfection with us than in France. Most of the Frenchmen treated the
idea with ridicule; upon which I said, let us refer to Monsieur Las
Cases, who has lived several years in England. "You are right," said
he; "there can be no doubt, that agriculture has arrived to much
greater perfection in England than in France; but what I admire most
in England, are the country-seats of your noblemen and gentlemen;
there you surpass France very much." General Bertrand then took up the
conversation, and said, that he was assured, that thirty thousand
pounds sterling was annually expended on the park and grounds of
Blenheim. Buonaparte immediately reduced that sum into livres; and
observed, "The thing is impossible: the English people are not fools;
they know the value of money, and no individual either could or would
expend such a sum for such a purpose." He then spoke of the expense of
keeping up Malmaison, one of the country palaces in France; stating
the sum it cost annually, which did not exceed five thousand pounds.
Bertrand still persisted in his statement, and made a reference to me.
I, however, could give no information further than saying, that from
what I had heard of the Duke of Marlborough's finances, he could not
possibly lay out any such sum on Blenheim. Monsieur Bertrand would not
give up the point, but repeated his assertion. On which Buonaparte
said, with quickness, "Bah! c'est impossible." "Oh!" said Bertrand,
much offended, "if you are to reply in that manner, there is an end of
all argument;" and for some time would not converse with him.
Buonaparte, so far from taking umbrage, did all he could to soothe him
and restore him to good-humour, which was not very difficult to
effect.
One morning he began to talk of his wife and child, and desired
Marchand to bring two or three miniature pictures to show me: he spoke
of them with much feeling and affection. "I feel," said he, "the
conduct of the allied sovereigns to be more cruel and unjustifiable
towards me in that respect than in any other. Why should they deprive
me of the comforts of domestic society, and take from me what must be
the dearest objects of affection to every man--my child, and the
mother of that child?" On his expressing himself as above, I looked
him steadily in the face, to observe whether he showed any emotion:
the tears were standing in his eyes, and the whole of his countenance
appeared evidently under the influence of a strong feeling of grief.
There were two pictures of young Napoleon: one in the dress of a
Polish lancer, and the other with long curly flowing ringlets: they
both represented a fair, strong, chubby boy, with features very much
resembling those of his father. That of his mother, a very fair woman,
with good features, but by no means handsome.
From the observations I was enabled to make, I very much doubt
Monsieur Savary's statement, that the passion of ambition was so
completely overcome in his bosom, "that had it been proposed to him
again to ascend the throne of France, he would have declined it"; and
I do think, that if he had succeeded in eluding the British cruisers
and arrived in America, he would always have looked forward to
returning to France. In all his conversations, he spoke of ambition as
a quality absolutely necessary to form the character of a soldier. On
one occasion, Savary spoke of Kleber, (who was left by Napoleon in
command of the army when he quitted Egypt,) in terms of high encomium;
this brought on a discussion upon the respective merits of that
officer and Dessaix, whose aid-de-camp Savary had been during the
negotiation of the convention of El Arish. Buonaparte, speaking of
Kleber, bestowed upon him great praise as an officer; but he added,
"He was deficient in one of the most necessary qualifications of a
soldier,--ambition. He was indolent, and required constant spurring.
Dessaix, on the contrary, had all his abilities, which were kept in
constant activity by a mind whose ambition there was no satisfying;
and, had they both lived to the present period, he would have been
much the greater man of the two."
It does not appear from the statement of Buonaparte's attendants, that
he had made any very considerable provision for the future, in the
event of a reverse of fortune. They often regretted his poverty; and
Madame Bertrand assured me that he was not possessed of more than a
million of francs--forty-two thousand pounds of our money[12]; which,
if correct, is certainly not a very large sum for a man who had had so
many millions at his disposal. "The Emperor has always declared," she
said, "that he would rise or fall with the country, and never would
enrich himself out of the public property." He also upon one occasion,
when there was some intention of leaving Madame Bertrand with her
children in England, after stating Bertrand's poverty as an objection
to that arrangement, said to me, "My finances are not such as to
enable me to give him much assistance."
[Footnote 12: Since this narrative was written in the year
1815, it has been proved by Buonaparte's will, that either
his attendants were misinformed, or that they, as well as
himself, misrepresented the state of his finances, as he left
in the hands of Lafitte, the banker, in Paris, a sum of money
amounting to nearly four hundred thousand pounds sterling,
besides a very considerable sum said to be vested in the
American funds.]
Buonaparte's carriage, which was taken at the battle of Waterloo by
the Prussian cavalry, contained many articles of great value. In it
was a necessaire, in which all the instruments, bason, &c. were
composed of gold; a sword set with diamonds, and a diamond necklace,
estimated at a very large sum of money, which one of his sisters (I
think, the Princess of Borghese) put round his neck the night he took
leave of her at Paris, on his setting out to join the army previous to
the battle of Waterloo, and which he had taken off and deposited in a
secret place in the carriage; Marchand, his valet de chambre, being so
nearly taken by the Prussian hussars, that he quitted the carriage
without having time to secure it. But I have since learned from Las
Cases's Memoirs, that the necklace alluded to was saved, and that Las
Cases had it concealed about his person all the time he was on board
the Bellerophon.
It has been stated in many of the public prints, that had not the
Marquis of Anglesea received a wound when he was leading on a charge,
Buonaparte must have fallen into his hands. In consequence of
observing this assertion, I asked Generals Bertrand and Gourgaud
whether they knew if any such occurrence had taken place: both of whom
replied, "Certainly not; the Emperor was frequently in the midst of
the British troops (pele-mele avec les troupes Angloises); but at no
time during the battle was he in danger of being captured by a charge
of cavalry."
The midshipmen of the Bellerophon were in the habit of occasionally
performing plays, to amuse themselves and the officers during the
tedious operations of a blockade. Buonaparte being told of it by
Savary, requested that they would oblige him by acting one for his
amusement. During the performance, Madame Bertrand sat next to him,
and interpreted. He appeared much amused, and laughed very heartily at
our ladies, who were personated by great strapping fellows dressed in
women's clothes, and not in the most tidy fashion. He had the patience
to remain to the end of the third act, though, when attending the
Opera at Paris, he had always retired at the end of the first.
I heard several of the French officers discussing the merits of the
British troops. One of them said, "The cavalry is superb." I
observed, "In England we have a higher opinion of our infantry." "You
are right," said he; "there is none such in the world: there is no
making an impression on them: you may as well attempt to charge
through a wall: and their fire is tremendous." Another of them
observed: "A great fault in your cavalry is their not having their
horses sufficiently under command: there must be something wrong in
the bit, as on one or two occasions in a charge, they could not stop
their horses: our troops opened to the right and left, let them pass
through, and then closed their ranks again, when they were either
killed or taken prisoners."
I never heard Buonaparte speak of the battle of Waterloo, or give an
opinion of the Duke of Wellington; but I asked General Bertrand what
Napoleon thought of him. "Why," replied he, "I will give you his
opinion nearly in the words he delivered it to me. 'The Duke of
Wellington, in the management of an army, is fully equal to myself,
with the advantage of possessing more prudence.'"
During the time that Buonaparte was on board the Bellerophon, we
always lived expressly for his accommodation--entirely in the French
manner; that is to say, a hot meal was served at ten o'clock in the
morning, and another at six in the evening; and so nearly did they
resemble each other in all respects, that a stranger might have found
difficulty, in coming into the cabin, to distinguish breakfast from
dinner. His maitre d'hotel took the joints off the table, cut them up
in portions, and then handed them round. Buonaparte ate a great deal,
and generally of strong solid food: in drinking he was extremely
abstemious, confining himself almost entirely to claret, and seldom
taking more than half-a-pint at a meal. Immediately after dinner,
strong coffee was handed round, and then some cordial; after which he
rose from table, the whole meal seldom lasting more than twenty or
twenty-five minutes: and I was told, that during the time he was at
the head of the French Government, he never allowed more than fifteen
minutes for that purpose.
After he had quitted the ship, being desirous to know the feeling of
the ship's company towards him, I asked my servant what the people
said of him. "Why, Sir," he answered, "I heard several of them
conversing together about him this morning; when one of them observed,
'Well, they may abuse that man as much as they please; but if the
people of England knew him as well as we do, they would not hurt a
hair of his head;' in which the others agreed." This was the more
extraordinary, as he never went through the ship's company but once,
immediately after his coming on board, when I attended him, and he did
not speak to any of the men; merely returning their salute by pulling
off his hat; and in consequence of his presence, they suffered many
privations, such as not being allowed to see their wives and friends,
or to go on shore, having to keep watch in port, &c.; and when he left
the ship, the only money he distributed was twenty Napoleons to my
steward, fifteen to one of the under-servants, and ten to the cook.