composed of a similar number of persons. These two dinners then, the first of which they have separately in their respective rooms, cause a great consumption of meat and wine, which, together with their mode of cookery, require a great quantity of either oil or butter-both of which are excessively dear in this place (and you may as well attempt to deprive an Irishman of potatoes as a Frenchman of his oil, or some substitute for it). Their 'soupes consommées' (for they are, except one or two, the greatest gluttons and epicures I ever saw), producing great waste of meat in a place where the necessaries of life are so dear, altogether render necessary a very great expenditure of money daily." Sir George Cockburn bears testimony to the fact that they consumed more than a hundred dozen of wines of various kinds on the way to St. Helena. At the island they were always complaining: the beef was tough, the fowls like crows, the quantity of everything was insufficient, and the quality bad. One day General Gourgaud shot a pig; another, Napoleon himself shot a bullock. J. Legg, the purveyor of Longwood with beef, found the French so 66 very difficult to please," that he soon declined killing any more. Sir Hudson Lowe merely remarked upon these complaints, that there was some truth in them, and "the governor is constantly abused both as to the quantity and quality of the provisions, as if he could have always had access to a regularly-supplied European market. The difficulties in this respect are little understood in Europe." O'Meara, in a letter to Sir Thomas Reade, which is much in contradiction to the sentiments expressed in his book, says of these matters: "They are sufficiently malignant to impute all these things to the governor, instead of setting them down as being owing to the neglect or carelessness of some of Balcombe's people. Every little circumstance is carried directly to Bonaparte, with every aggravation that malignity and falsehood can suggest to evil-disposed and cankered minds." It was, in fact, this system of misrepresentation and calumny perpetually at work at Longwood, superadded to a systematic plan of blackening the character of the employés, that made it impossible that things should work well. It was not only that there was open hostility to the authorities, there was also discord within Longwood itself. O'Meara wrote, on the passage out, of the ladies: "They mostly hate each other, and I am the depository of their complaints, especially Madame Bertrand's, who is like a tigress deprived of her young whenever she perceives me doing any service for Madame Montholon." Sir Hudson Lowe bears testimony to the same state of things: "There is not one of them who has not shown a disposition to elude the execution of the established regulations, and abuse the indulgences granted them-but none more so than the one from whom I least expected it, the Count Las Cases; who, feeling his own confinement here miserable and wretched, is known to be constantly increasing the irritation of Bonaparte's mind by all manner of complaints and misrepresentations, and has recently had a quarrel with General Gourgaud on this very ground. They are, besides, all at variance together, and, I feel almost assured, give Bonaparte himself more disquiet than comfort." There can be no doubt as to the unhappy terms upon which the French lived with each other at Longwood. Lieutenant (now Lieutenant-Colonel) Jackson, who resided there for some time with the orderly officer, says: "The Court of Longwood, like the entourage of more powerful sovereigns, was not free from jealousies, envy, and much uncharitableness. Generals Bertrand and Montholon were never on friendly terms, while the latter and Gourgaud were at openly avowed enmity; and it is a fact that the two ladies, the Countesses Bertrand and De Montholon, only interchanged formal calls perhaps once or twice a year." These disagreements are also mentioned by Count Montholon, and repeatedly by Count Las Cases in his Journal. Napoleon found much difficulty in preserving order among his followers, who proceeded so far as to challenge each other. General Gourgaud's situation was made so miserable by Count Montholon that he was obliged to leave Longwood, and he returned to Europe in March, 1818. Sir Hudson Lowe having heard that Napoleon was indisposed, had a second interview, to offer the assistance of a medical officer. Such an offer was not only indignantly refused, but it is evident, from what subsequently occurred, that it was either Napoleon's fixed idea that the offer of medical assistance was only an excuse to poison him, or else he assumed such a conviction for purposes of his own. Matters, indeed, soon came to a crisis between the ex-Emperor and his guardian. The last interview between the two occurred in presence of Sir Pulteney Malcolm, and is thus described by Sir Hudson Lowe: "Having called at Longwood in company with Sir Pulteney Malcolm, we found General Bonaparte was walking in his garden. He went off immediately as he saw us; but having inquired for Count Montholon, and sent a message by him to say we were there, Bonaparte returned to the garden, and the admiral and myself joined him. He spoke solely to the admiral, in which I made no attempt to interrupt him, but, profiting by the first interval of silence, I commenced, and addressed him as follows:-That I was sorry to be under the necessity of saying anything which tended to incommode him, but I was placed under such peculiar circumstances, from the conduct towards me of General Bertrand, that it became a matter of indispensable necessity I should make known the details of it to him, and endeavour to establish some rule for my future communications in regard to his affairs. He was aware of the instructions I had received from my own government in regard to the expenses of his establishment.'" Sir Hudson Lowe related to him what had occurred between Counts Montholon and Bertrand on the subject, and described Count Bertrand's rude demeanour and offensive expressions. He then observed to Napoleon : "It was obvious, after this, I could have no further communication with General Bertrand, and I thought it proper to call and acquaint him of it; that, whatever might have been General Bertrand's personal feelings towards me, I called upon him by the desire of the person whom he acknowledged as his Emperor to speak of his business; that it was a failure of respect to him as well as to me; that I wished in consequence to learn with whom it was his desire I should in future communicate on questions of such nature in regard to his affairs. General Bonaparte made no reply for so considerable a space of time that I thought he did not mean to speak at all; but, finally, in a hollow, angry tone of voice, commenced a string of remarks to the following purport, addressing himself entirely to the admiral: "General Bertrand is a man who has commanded armies, and he treats him as if he were a corporal; he is a man well known throughout Europe, and he (the governor) had no right to insult him. He did perfectly right in speaking about the prohibition against sending letters, and was justified in engaging in a discussion on that subject. He (Sir Hudson Lowe) treats us all as if we were deserters from the Royal Corsican or some Italian regiment; he has insulted Marshal Bertrand, and he deserved what the marshal said to him.' I repeated what I had said in a former conversation-that General Bertrand had first insulted me; that in the conversation which had passed nothing could be more temperate and moderate than my language to him, as could be testi me. fied by my military secretary, who was present at the interview; that I had said nothing which, in tone or mauner, could justify the reply he gave to He recommenced his reproaches of my having written insulting letters to General Bertrand, and provoked him to say to me what he did. I again referred to his having first written an insulting one to me; that he had said I rendered his (Bonaparte's) situation affreuse;' had accused me of 'abus de pouvoir et injustice.' I then added, I am a subject of a free government. Every kind of despotism and tyranny I hold in abhorrence, and I will repel every accusation of my conduct in this respect as a calumny against him whom it is impossible to attack with the arms of truth.' He stopped a little on my making this observation, but soon resumed, addressing himself to the admiral, and with language more bitter than before: There are two kinds of people,' he said, employed by governments-those whom they honour, and those whom they dishonour; he is one of the latter; the situation they have given him is that of an executioner.' I answered, I perfectly understand this kind of manœuvre-endeavour to brand with infamy, if one cannot attack with other arms. I am perfectly indifferent to all this. I did not seek my present employment; but, it being offered to me, I considered it a sacred duty to accept it.' Then,' said he, if the order were given you to assassinate me, you would accept it? No, sir.' He again proceeded (to the admiral), and said I had rendered his situation forty times worse than it was before my arrival; that, though he had some disputes with Sir George Cockburn, he always treated him in a different manner; that they were content with each other, but that I did not know how to conduct myself towards men of honour; that I had put General Bertrand under arrest in his own house; and had taken away from him the permission to give passes to Longwood. The admiral said it was Sir George Cockburn who had done this. Bonaparte replied, 'No, sir; he told you so' (alluding to me), but it is not true.' The admiral again told him it was not me, but Sir George Cockburn, had told him so. Bonaparte then said he could not even write a billet de galanterie to my Lady Malcolm without my seeing it; that he could not now have a woman come to see him without my permission; and that he could not see the lieutenant-colonel and the officers of the 53rd. I interrupted him here by saying he had refused to see the lieutenant-colonel and the officers of the 66th regiment. If they wanted to see him, he answered, why did they not apply to the Grand Maréchal?' I had mentioned it to General Bertrand, I observed. But the lieutenantcolonel ought to have spoken to him, and not to you.' He again broke out into invectives on my mode of treatment; said I had no feeling; that the soldiers of the 53rd looked upon him with compassion, and wept (pleuraient') when they passed him. Continuing, he said to the admiral,He kept back a book which had been sent me by a member of parliament, and then boasted of it. How boasted of it?' I exclaimed, struck with the falsehood of the assertion. Yes, sir' (interrupting me), 'you boasted of it to the governor of the Island of Bourbon; he told me so. You took hold of him' (he said) on his arrival here, and made him believe that you were on the best footing with us all, and treated us all particularly well; but this was not true.' He was proceeding with a further repetition of what had passed between Colonel Keating and him, when the admiral interrupted him with a defence of my not having sent the book to him; said a book with such an inscription on it I could not send, and that I ought not to have been made the instrument of delivering it to him. The admiral added, Colonel Keating was wrong in mentioning such a thing to him.' Yes,' he said, 'in one to boast of it, and the other to repeat it.' He then remarked that I had sent letters to him with the title of Emperor. Yes,' replied I, but they came from the Secretary of State's office, and were from your own relations or former subjects, and not from English persons. I am personally acquainted with the gentleman who sent the book; he left it to my choice to send it or not, and I am certain he will fully approve of what I did in not sending it.' He paused at this, and dropped the topic. He again addressed himself to the admiral; accused me of having published the contents of a letter he had received from his mother. The admiral defended me; said he knew I never published the contents of any private letters received from his family. I replied, it was not me that had done so; it must have been his own people that did it; that everything was misrepresented to him. You have bad people about you, sir,' I said. The admiral shortly afterwards repeated a similar remark, saying, "You have bad people around you.' He appeared to me struck at both our observations in this respect, and made no attempt to reply, but went on again in his strain of invective, general and personal; told me, as he had done once before, 'You are a lieutenant-general, but you perform your duty as if you were a sentinel; there is no dealing with you; you are a most intractable man. If you are afraid that I should escape, why do you not bind me?' I answered, I merely executed my instructions; that, if my conduct was disapproved of, I might be readily removed. Your instructions are the same as Sir George Cockburn's, he replied; he told me they were the same.' He said he was to be treated as a prisoner of war; that the ministers had no right to treat him in any other way than as prescribed by the Act of Parliament; that the nation was disposed to treat him well, but ministers acted otherwise; accused me of being a mere instrument of the blind hatred of Lord Bathurst. I remarked, Lord Bathurst, sir, does not know what blind hatred (haine aveugle) is.' He talked about our calling him general; said he was Empereur;' that, when England and Europe should be no more, and no such name known as Lord Bathurst, he would still be Emperor. He told me he always went out of the way to avoid me, and had twice pretended to be in the bath that he might not see me. 'You want money; I have none, except in the hands of my friends; but I cannot send my letters.' He attacked me about the note which had been sent back to Count Bertrand, saying, 'You had no right to put him under arrest; you never commanded armies; you were nothing but the scribe of an Etat-Major. I had imagined I should be well among the English, but you are not an Englishman.' He was continuing in this strain, when I interrupted him with saying, 'You make me smile, sir.'- How smile, sir?' he replied, at the same time turning round with surprise at the remark, and, looking at me, added, 'I say what I think. Yes, sir,' I answered, with a tone indicative of the sentiment I felt, and looking at him, 'you force me to smile. Your misconception of my character and the rudeness of your manners excite my pity. I wish you good day;' and I left him (evidently a good deal embarrassed) without any other salutation. "The admiral quitted him immediately afterwards with a salute of the hat." Imagine the conqueror of Jena and Austerlitz exposed to the pity of one whom he described in bitter military spirit as a Scribe d'Etat Major! It was evident that the two could never meet again, nor did they, at least to speak to one another, till death took his imperial victim. The subsequent records refer mainly to further complaints and remonstrances on the part of the exiles; the breaking up of plate for sale for the acknowledged purport of awakening sympathy for their condition; alterations made by Sir Hudson Lowe in the regulations ; the discovery of clandestine correspondence and arrest of Las Cases (according to O'Meara, not in his book, but in the Admiralty correspondence, a mere stratagem to get away from St. Helena); conversations with Sir Pulteney Malcolm, among which the details of the proposed plan of invasion of this country will be especially interesting to English readers; dissensions with O'Meara; Napoleon's self-incarceration, and failure of health; plans of escape; arrival of Dr. Antommarchi and two priests; progress of his fatal illness, and his death and funeral. "While he was dying," it is here recorded, "a violent hurricane swept over the island, which shook many of the houses to their foundations, and tore up some of the largest trees. As the tempest raged and howled, it seemed as if the spirit of the storm rode upon the blast to tell the world that A mighty power had passed away To breathless Nature's dark abyss. And the warring elements without were an emblem of the thoughts that occupied the mind of the expiring chief. They still turned to the strife of the battle-field, and with the words Tête d'Armée on his lips, his spirit passed away for ever from dreams of earthly conquest to meet its Creator and its Judge." It is needless to sum up the effect produced upon the mind by the perusal of a work like this. It tells its own tale, and that chiefly in minutiæ that will be best generalised by the reader himself. As an account of the captivity of Napoleon, it is without a rival in the fidelity of its details, its admirable pictures of the ex-Emperor, and its general veracity; and as such, it comprises a page in history, with a lingering and painful interest associated therewith, which, like everything that is great and tragical, binds us to it, whether we like it or not. AN ALLEGOR Y. BY DR. SCOFFERN. A TORRENT from the mountain-snow And fell into the vale below, And rippled-and was gone. Then flowing by through shade and sun It pass'd earth's flowers one by one Onwards, still onwards to the sea, Its ocean home is gained at last, Free as the ocean's wave to move, The flowers that graced it as it flowed Yet think not that yon fleeting cloud Wanders in space alone. The odours of the flowers are there, Thus will it be with those who love, |