Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte — Complete
subject which has formed so great a portion of the life of Napoleon,
it must not be omitted. To avoid anything which may appear like a bias
against Napoleon, the details, unless when otherwise mentioned, will be
derived from Las Cases, his devoted admirer.
On the first visit of the new Governor; which was the 16th of April,
Napoleon refused to admit him, because he himself was ill, and also
because the Governor had not asked beforehand for an audience. On the
second visit the Governor, was admitted to an audience, and Napoleon
seems to have taken a prejudice at first sight, as he remarked to his
suite that the Governor was "hideous, and had a most ugly countenance,"
though he allowed he ought not to judge too hastily. The spirit of the
party was shown by a remark made, that the first two days had been days
of battle.
The Governor saw Napoleon again on the 30th April, and the interview was
stormy. Napoleon argued with the Governor on the conduct of the Allies
towards him, said they had no right to dispose of him, who was their
equal and sometimes their master. He then declaimed on the eternal
disgrace the English had inflicted on themselves by sending him to St.
Helena; they wished to kill him by a lingering death: their conduct was
worse than that of the Calabrians in shooting Murat. He talked of the
cowardliness of suicide, complained of the small extent and horrid
climate of St. Helena, and said it would be an act of kindness to
deprive him of life at once. Sir H. Lowe said that a house of wood,
fitted up with every possible accommodation, was then on its way from
England for his use. Napoleon refused it at once, and exclaimed that
it was not a house but an executioner and a coffin that he wanted;
the house was a mockery, death would be a favour. A few minutes after
Napoleon took up some reports of the campaigns of 1814, which lay on the
table, and asked Sir H. Lowe if he had written them. Las Cases, after
saying that the Governor replied in the affirmative, finishes his
account of the interview, but according to O'Meara, Napoleon said they
were full of folly and falsehood. The Governor, with a much milder reply
than most men would have given, retired, and Napoleon harangued upon
the sinister expression of his countenance, abused him in the coarsest
manner, and made his servant throw a cup of coffee out of the window
because it had stood a moment on a table near the Governor.
It was required that all persons who visited at Longwood or at Hut's
Gate should make a report to the Governor, or to Sir Thomas Reade, of
the conversations they had held with the French. Several additional
sentinels were posted around Longwood House and grounds.
During some extremely wet and foggy weather Napoleon did not go out for
several days. Messengers and letters continually succeeded one another
from Plantation House. The Governor appeared anxious to see Napoleon,
and was evidently distrustful, although the residents at Longwood were
assured of his actual presence by the sound of his voice. He had some
communications with Count Bertrand on the necessity that one of his
officers should see Napoleon daily. He also went to Longwood frequently
himself, and finally, after some difficulty, succeeded in obtaining an
interview with Napoleon in his bedchamber, which lasted about a quarter
of an hour. Some days before he sent for Mr. O'Meara, asked a variety of
questions concerning the captive, walked round the house several times
and before the windows, measuring and laying down the plan of a new
ditch, which he said he would have dug in order to prevent the cattle
from trespassing.
On the morning of the 5th of May Napoleon sent for his surgeon O'Meara
to come to him. He was introduced into Napoleon's bed-chamber, a
description of which is thus given: "It was about fourteen feet by
twelve, and ten or eleven feet in height. The walls were lined with
brown nankeen, bordered and edged with common green bordering paper, and
destitute of skirting. Two small windows without pulleys, one of which
was thrown up and fastened by a piece of notched wood, looked towards
the camp of the 53d Regiment. There were window-curtains of white
long-cloth, a small fire-place, a shabby grate and fire-irons to match,
with a paltry mantelpiece of wood, painted white, upon which stood a
small marble bust of his son. Above the mantelpiece hung the portrait
of Maria Louisa, and four or five of young Napoleon, one of which was
embroidered by the hands of his mother. A little more to the right
hung also the portrait of the Empress Josephine; and to the left was
suspended the alarm chamber-watch of Frederick the Great, obtained by
Napoleon at Potsdam; while on the right the Consular watch, engraved
with the cipher B, hung, by a chain of the plaited hair of Maria Louisa,
from a pin stuck in the nankeen lining. In the right-hand corner was
placed the little plain iron camp-bedstead, with green silk curtains,
on which its master had reposed on the fields of Marengo and Austerlitz.
Between the windows there was a chest of drawers, and a bookcase
with green blinds stood on the left of the door leading to the next
apartment. Four or five cane-bottomed chairs painted green were standing
here and there about the room. Before the back door there was a
screen covered with nankeen, and between that and the fireplace an
old-fashioned sofa covered with white long-cloth, on which Napoleon
reclined, dressed in his white morning-gown, white loose trousers and
stockings all in one, a chequered red handkerchief upon his head, and
his shirt-collar open without a cravat. His air was melancholy and
troubled. Before him stood a little round table, with some books, at the
foot of which lay in confusion upon the carpet a heap of those which he
had already perused, and at the opposite side of the sofa was suspended
Isabey's portrait of the Empress Maria Louisa, holding her son in her
arms. In front of the fireplace stood Las Cases with his arms folded
over his breast and some papers in one of his hands. Of all the former
magnificence of the once mighty Emperor of France nothing remained but
a superb wash-hand-stand containing a silver basin and water-jug of the
same metal, in the lefthand corner." The object of Napoleon in sending
for O'Meara on this occasion was to question him whether in their future
intercourse he was to consider him in the light of a spy and a tool
of the Governor or as his physician? The doctor gave a decided and
satisfactory answer on this point.
"During the short interview that this Governor had with me in my
bedchamber, one of the first things he proposed was to send you away,"
said Napoleon to O'Meara, "and that I should take his own surgeon in
your place. This he repeated, and so earnest was he to gain his object
that, though I gave him a flat refusal, when he was going out he turned
about and again proposed it."
On the 11th a proclamation was issued by the Governor, "forbidding any
persons on the island from sending letters to or receiving them from
General Bonaparte or his suite, on pain of being immediately arrested
and dealt with accordingly." Nothing escaped the vigilance of Sir Hudson
Lowe. "The Governor," said Napoleon, "has just sent an invitation to
Bertrand for General Bonaparte to come to Plantation House to meet Lady
Moira. I told Bertrand to return no answer to it. If he really wanted me
to see her he would have put Plantation House within the limits, but
to send such an invitation, knowing I must go in charge of a guard if I
wished to avail myself of it, was an insult."
Soon after came the Declaration of the Allies and the Acts of Parliament
authorising the detention of Napoleon Bonaparte as a prisoner of war and
disturber of the peace of Europe. Against the Bill, when brought into
the House of Lords, there were two protests, those of Lord Holland and
of the Duke of Sussex. These official documents did not tend to soothe
the temper or raise the spirits of the French to endure their captivity.
In addition to the misery of his own captivity, Napoleon had to contend
with the unmanageable humours of his own followers. As often happens
with men in such circumstances, they sometimes disagreed among
themselves, and part of their petulance and ill-temper fell upon their
Chief. He took these little incidents deeply to heart. On one occasion
he said in bitterness, "I know that I am fallen; but to feel this among
you! I am aware that man is frequently unreasonable and susceptible of
offence. Thus, when I am mistrustful of myself I ask, should I have been
treated so at the Tuileries? This is my test."
A great deal of pains has been taken by Napoleon's adherents and others
to blacken the character of Sir Hudson Lowe, and to make it appear that
his sole object was to harass Napoleon and to make his life miserable.
Now, although it may be questioned whether Sir Hudson Lowe was the
proper person to be placed in the delicate situation of guard over the
fallen Emperor, there is no doubt that quarrels and complaints began
long before that officer reached the island; and the character of
those complaints will show that at best the prisoners were persons very
difficult to satisfy. Their detention at the Briars was one of the first
causes of complaint. It was stated that the Emperor was very ill there,
that he was confined "in a cage" with no attendance, that his suite was
kept from him, and that he was deprived of exercise. A few pages farther
in the journal of Las Cases we find the Emperor in good health, and as
soon as it was announced that Longwood was ready to receive him, then it
was urged that the gaolers wished to compel him to go against his will,
that they desired to push their authority to the utmost, that the smell
of the paint at Longwood was very disagreeable, etc. Napoleon himself
was quite ready to go, and seemed much vexed when Count Bertrand and
General Gourgaud arrived from Longwood with the intelligence that the
place was as yet uninhabitable. His displeasure, however, was much
more seriously excited by the appearance of Count Montholon with the
information that all was ready at Longwood within a few minutes after
receiving the contrary accounts from Bertrand and Gourgaud. He probably
perceived that he was trifled with by his attendants, who endeavoured
to make him believe that which suited their own convenience. We may also
remark that the systematic opposition which was carried to such a great
length against Sir Hudson Lowe had begun during the stay of Admiral
Cockburn. His visits were refused; he was accused of caprice, arrogance,
and impertinence, and he was nicknamed "the Shark" by Napoleon himself;
his own calmness alone probably prevented more violent ebullitions.
The wooden house arrived at last, and the Governor waited on Napoleon
to consult with him how and where it should be erected. Las Cases,
who heard the dispute in an adjoining room, says that it was long and
clamorous.
He gives the details in Napoleon's own words, and we have here the
advantage of comparing his statement with the account transmitted by
Sir Hudson Lowe to the British Government, dated 17th May 1816. The two
accounts vary but little. Napoleon admits that he was thrown quite out
of temper, that he received the Governor with his stormy countenance,
looked furiously at him, and made no reply to his information of the
arrival of the house but by a significant look. He told him that
he wanted nothing, nor would receive anything at his hands; that he
supposed he was to be put to death by poison or the sword; the poison
would be difficult to administer, but he had the means of doing it with
the sword. The sanctuary of his abode should not be violated, and the
troops should not enter his house but by trampling on his corpse. He