{"1": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3076", "width": "1873", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0001.jp2"}, "2": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2934", "width": "1792", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0002.jp2"}, "3": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2940", "width": "1732", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0003.jp2"}, "4": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2924", "width": "1640", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0004.jp2"}, "5": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2925", "width": "1636", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0005.jp2"}, "6": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2914", "width": "1676", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0006.jp2"}, "7": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON\\nTHE LAST PHASE\\nBy\\nLORD ROSEBERY\\nHARPER AND BROTHERS\\nNEW YORK 6- LONDON\\n1900", "height": "2925", "width": "1636", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0007.jp2"}, "8": {"fulltext": "f)836\\ni-ilirary of Congress\\nTwo Copies Received\\nNOV 2 1900\\nC\u00c2\u00ab ]rtght mcry\\nFIRST COPY.\\n1900\\nFIRST COPY\\ndelivered t*\\nDEC 29 1900\\nOHULfi biviSiON\\nCopyright, 1900, by Harper Brothers.\\nv^// rights reserved*", "height": "2914", "width": "1681", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0008.jp2"}, "9": {"fulltext": "CONTENTS\\nCHAPTER PAGE\\nI. The Literature i\\nII. Las Cases, Antommarchi, and Others 9\\nIII. Gourgaud 38\\nIV. The Deportation 63\\nV. Sir Hudson Lowe 73\\nVI. The Question of Title 85\\nVII. The Money Question 102\\nVIII. The Question of Custody 109\\nIX. Lord Bathurst 129\\nX. The Dramatis Person^e 136\\nXI. The Commissioners 150\\nXII. The Emperor at Home 164\\nXIII. The Conversations of Napoleon 180\\nXIV. The Supreme Regrets 217\\nXV. Napoleon and the Democracy 227\\nXVI. The End 238\\nAppendix 279", "height": "2925", "width": "1636", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0009.jp2"}, "10": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0010.jp2"}, "11": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nCHAPTER I\\nTHE LITERATURE\\nWill there ever be an adequate life of Napoleon?\\nHitherto it has been scarcely worth while to ask the\\nquestion, as we have been too near the prejudices and\\npassions of his time for any such book to be written.\\nNor are we as yet very remote, for it may be noted\\nthat our present sovereign was all but two years old\\nwhen Napoleon died, and that there are still probably\\nin existence people who have seen him. Moreover,\\nthe Second Empire revived and reproduced these feel-\\nings in almost their original force, and the reaction\\nfrom the Second Empire prolonged them. So we are\\nstill, perhaps, not sufficiently outside Napoleon s\\nhistorical sphere of influence for such a book to be\\nwritten.\\nNor until recently did we possess anything like\\nadequate materials. The pages and pages that fol-\\nlow Napoleon s name in library catalogues mainly\\nrepresent compilations, or pamphlets, or lives con-\\nscientiously constructed out of dubious or inade-\\nquate materials, meagre bricks of scrannel straw.\\nBut now, under a government in France which opens", "height": "2925", "width": "1636", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0011.jp2"}, "12": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nits records freely, and with the gradual publication i\\nof [)rivate memoirs, more or less authentic, we are\\nbeginning perhaps to see a possible limit to possible\\ndisclosure. The publication of the suppressed cor-\\nrespondence removes a reproach from the official j\\npublication, and fills its blanks. And the mania j\\nfor Napoleonic literature which has prevailed for j\\nsome years past, unaccompanied, strangely enough,\\nby any sign of the revival of Bonapartism as a po-\\nlitical force, has had the effect of producing a great\\nsupply to meet a greedy demand a supply, indeed,\\nby no means always unquestionable or unmixed, i\\nbut at any rate out of the harvest of its abundance i\\nfurnishing some grains of genuine fact.\\nThe material, then, varied and massive as it is,\\nseems to be ready for the hand of the destined work-\\nman, when he shall appear. And even he would\\nseem not to be remote. In the great narrative of\\nthe relations of Napoleon and Alexander of Russia\\nwe wish to see his shadow projected. Is it too much\\nto hope that M. ya.iadaL will crown the services that\\nhe has rendered to history in that priceless work by\\nwriting at least the civil life of Napoleon? Might\\nnot he and M. Henri Houssaye, who has also done\\nso much so well, jointly accomplish the whole?\\nWe speak of a partnership, as we do not conceive\\nit to be possible for any one man to undertake the\\ntask. For the task of reading and sifting the ma-\\nterials would be gigantic before a single word could\\nbe written. Nor, indeed, could any one man ade- i\\nquately deal with Napoleon in his military and his\\ncivil capacities. For Napoleon, says Metternich, a\\nhostile judge, was born an administrator, a legislator,\\nand a conqueror he might have added, a statesman.\\n2", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0012.jp2"}, "13": {"fulltext": "THE LITERATURE\\nThe conqueror of 1796-1812, and, it may be added,\\nthe defender of 1813 and 1814, would require a con\\nsummate master of the art of war to analyze and\\ncelebrate his qualities. Again, Napoleon the civilian\\nwould have to be treated, though not necessarily by\\ndifferent hands, as the statesman, the administrator,\\nthe legislator. Last of all, there comes the general\\nsurvey of Napoleon as a man, one of the simplest\\ncharacter to his sworn admirers or sworn enemies,\\none of the most complicated to those who are neither.\\nAnd for this last study the most fruitful material\\nis furnished in the six years that he spent at St. Hele-\\nna, when he not merely recorded and annotated his\\ncareer, but afforded a dehnite and consecutive view\\nof himself. Now, as he said there himself, thanks\\nto my misfortune, one can see me nakedly as I am.\\nWhat he dictated in the way of autobiography and\\ncommentary has never perhaps received its just meas-\\nure of attention. Some one has said somewhere\\nthat the memoirs he produced himself appear to be\\nneglected because they are the primitive and author-\\nitative documents, so far as he is concerned, of his\\nlife. People prefer to drink at any other source than\\nthe original; more especially do they esteem the\\nmemoirs of any who came, however momentarily,\\ninto contact with him. What the man himself thought\\nor said of himself seems to most of those who read\\nabout Napoleon a matter of little moment. What\\nthey want to read is Bourrienne, or Remusat, or Con-\\nstant, or the like. They may, no doubt, allege that\\nNapoleon s own memoirs are not so spicy as those\\nof some of his servants, and that they are by no means\\nto be always relied upon as unbiased records of fact.\\nStill they remain as the direct deliberate declarations\\n3", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0013.jp2"}, "14": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nof this prodigy as to his achievements, and they con-\\ntain, moreover, commentaries on the great captains\\nof the past Caesar, Frederic, and Turenne which\\ncannot be without serious interest to the historian\\nor the soldier.\\nNor must this indifference to truth count for too\\nmuch in an estimate of Napoleon s character. Truth\\nwas in those days neither expected nor required in\\ncontinental statesmanship so little, indeed, that\\nhalf a century afterwards Bismarck discovered it to\\nbe the surest means of deception. Napoleon s fiercest\\nenemies, Metternich and Talleyrand, have now given\\nus their memoirs. But we should be sorry to give\\na blind credence to these in any case where their per-\\nsonal interest was involved. Napoleon at St. Helena\\nwas, as it were, making the best case for himself,\\njust as he was in the habit of doing in his bulletins.\\nHis bulletins represented what Napoleon desired to\\nbe believed. So did the memoirs. They are a series\\nof Napoleonic bulletins on the Napoleonic career,\\nneither more nor less.\\nBut there is one distinction to be drawn. In writ-\\ning his bulletins, Napoleon had often an object in\\ndeceiving. At St. Helena his only practical aim was\\nto further the interests of his dynasty and his son.\\nSo that where these are not directly concerned the\\nmemoirs may be considered as somewhat more re-\\nliable than the bulletins.\\nThe literature of St. Helena is fast accumulating,\\nand must be within a measurable distance of com-\\npletion. Eighty-four years have elapsed since a\\ngreedy public absorbed five editions of Warden s\\nLetters in five months seventy eight since the\\nbooksellers were crowded with eager purchasers for\\n4", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0014.jp2"}, "15": {"fulltext": "THE LITERATURE\\nO Meara s book. It is perhaps not too much to hope\\nthat his manuscript journal, which now sleeps in\\nCalifornia, may soon be published in its entirety,\\nfor it is said to be full of vivid and original matter;\\nwhile it might throw light on the discrepancies be-\\ntween his Voice from St. Helena and his private\\ncommunications to the English officials at the Ad-\\nmiralty and at Plantation House. Then we have\\nhad the voluminous batteries of Gourgaud, Montho-\\nlon, and Las Cases (whose suppressed passages might\\nalso be safely produced, if, indeed, they exist, or ever\\nexisted) met by the ponderous defence of Forsyth\\nand the more effective abstract of Seaton. We have\\nhad, too, the light artillery of Maitland and Glover,\\nand Cockburn and Santini, and the madcap Miss\\nBets3^, who became ]\\\\Irs. Abell. We have the his-\\ntories of St. Helena by Barnes and Masselin. And\\nin l8i6, a former Governor, General Beatson, availed\\nhimself of the sudden interest in the island to launch\\non the public a massive quarto detailing its agri-\\ncultural features with a minuteness which could\\nscarcely be justified in the case of the Garden of Eden.\\nWe have the tragedy of Antommarchi, whatever\\nthat effort may be worth. Of late, too, the commis-\\nsaries have taken the field; Montchenu, Balmain,\\nand Sturmer have all yielded their testimony.\\nSo has Mme. de Montholon. Napoleon, indeed,\\nurged his companions to record his utterances in\\njournals, and frequently alluded to the result. Yes-\\nterday evening, says Gourgaud, the Emperor told\\nme that I might turn my leisure to profit in writing\\nSince this was written, portions have been pubHshed in the\\nCentury magazine, which make it abundantly clear that O Meara\\n\u00c2\u00a7kimmed ofi a l the valuable matter for the Voice,\\n5", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0015.jp2"}, "16": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\ndown his sayings: I would thus gain from 500 to\\n1000 louis a day/ He was cognizant of the journal\\nof Las Cases, w^iich was dictated to or copied by St.\\nDenis, one of the servants, whom Napoleon would\\nsometimes question as to its contents. O Meara s\\njournal was read to him. He took it for granted that\\nthey all kept journals, and he was right. For, ex-\\ncept the faithful Bertrand and the wife who divided\\nwith the Emperor his affection, none of the actors\\nin that dreary drama have held their peace.\\nLately, however, there have appeared two further\\ncontributions; and it may be considered that, while\\nboth are striking, one exceeds in interest all the pre-\\nvious publications of St. Helena, from the light that\\nit throws on Napoleon s character. Lady Malcolm s\\nDiary of St. Helena gives a vivid account of the\\nEmperor s conversations with Sir Pulteney, and an\\nimpartial account of Lowe, which seems to turn the\\nbalance finally against that hapless and distracted\\nofficial. But the second publication is in some re-\\nspects not merely the most remarkable book relating\\nto Napoleon at St. Helena, but to Napoleon at any\\ntime. It is the private diary of Gourgaud written\\nentirely for his own eye, though the editors seem to\\nthink that the latter part at any rate may have been\\nprepared for the possible detection of Lowe. But the\\ngreat bulk was obviously prepared for no one except\\nGourgaud, since it could please no one else, and\\nscarcely Gourgaud. It embodies, we believe, the\\ntruth as it appeared to the writer from day to day.\\nIt throws a strange light on the author, but a still\\nnewer light on his master. But when we have read\\nit we feel a doubt of all the other records, and a con-\\nviction that this book is more nearly the unvar^\\n6", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0016.jp2"}, "17": {"fulltext": "THE LITERATURE\\nnished truth than anything else that has been put\\nforth.\\nFor there is one rule, to which we fear we can scarce-\\nly make an exception, which applies to all the Long-\\nwood publications they are none of them wholly\\nreliable. If we did make an exception, it would cer-\\ntainly be in favor of Gourgaud. And it may fur-\\nther be said that their veracity increases in propor-\\ntion to the remoteness of their publication from the\\nevents to which they relate. Gourgaud, who is pub-\\nlished in 1898, is more truthful than Montholon, who\\npublishes in 1847; and Montholon, again, is more\\ntruthful than Las Cases, who publishes in 1823.\\nLeast of all, perhaps, to be depended on is O Meara,\\nwho published in 1822. In all these books, except,\\nperhaps, the latest, there are gross instances of mis-\\nrepresentation and fabrication. And yet to accuse\\nall these authors of wanton unveracity would not be\\nfair. It was rarely, if ever, wanton. Partly from\\nidolatry of Napoleon, partly to keep up a dramatic\\nrepresentation of events at St. Helena, and so bring\\nabout his liberation, facts were omitted or distorted\\nwhich in any way reflected on their idol or tended to\\nmar the intended effects. There seems to have been\\nsomething in the air of St. Helena that blighted ex-\\nact truth; and he who collates the various narratives\\non any given point will find strange and hopeless\\ncontradictions. Truth probably lurks in Forsyth,\\nbut the crushing of the ore is a hideous task; and,\\nfor various other reasons, it is equally difficult to\\nfind in the more contemporary narratives. There is\\na strange mildew that rests on them all, as on the\\nbooks and boots in the island. One has to weigh\\neach particle of evidence and bear in mind the char-\\n7", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0017.jp2"}, "18": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nacter of the witness. Sometimes, indeed, we may be\\ncharged with having quoted from sources which we\\nhave described as tainted. We could scarcely quote\\nfrom any others. But where the testimony seems of\\nitself probable, and where no object but truth is per-\\nceptible in it, we have no choice but to cite from what\\ndocuments there are.\\nOne striking circumstance remains to be noticed.\\nOf the last three years of Napoleon s life we know\\nscarcely anything. From the departure of Gour-\\ngaud, in March, i8i8, to the end of May, 1821, we\\nknow practically nothing. We know what the Eng-\\nlish outside reported. We have an authorized, but\\nnot very trustworthy, record from within. But, in\\nreality, we know nothing, or next to nothing.", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0018.jp2"}, "19": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER II\\nLAS CASES, ANTOMMARCHI, AND OTHERS\\nThe book of Las Cases, which is the most massive,\\nand perhaps the most notorious, is not without a cer-\\ntain charm of its own. First pubhshed in eight vol-\\numes, it was subsequently compressed, and under the\\ntitle of Mofwrial of St. Helena, adorned with the\\nquaint and spirited designs of Charlet, has obtained\\na world-wide circulation. Las Cases is said, indeed,\\nthough no doubt with much exaggeration, to have\\nrealized from it no less a sum than eighty thousand\\npounds. It is alleged to have been written in daily\\nentries, and to supply an exact report of Napoleon s\\nconversation. Much, however, is declared by the\\nauthor to have been lost, partly from want of time\\nfor transcription something, perhaps, from the vicis-\\nsitudes of his papers. What he narrates is told with\\nspirit, and even eloquence, and when corroborated by\\nother authority may be taken to be a faithful tran-\\nscript of the Emperor s talk as he wished it to be re-\\nported, or at any rate of his dictations. But, when\\nuncorroborated, it is wholly unreliable. For, put-\\nting on one side the usual exaggerations about diet,\\nrestrictions, and so forth, and making full allowance\\nfor the author s being too dazzled by Napoleon (whom\\nhe sincerely adored) to see quite clearly, there is a fatal\\nblot on his book. It is an arsenal of spurious docu-\\n9", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0019.jp2"}, "20": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nments. How this has come about, whether from the\\nfertile invention of Las Cases, or by the connivance\\nand inspiration of Napoleon, it is not possible defi-\\nnitely to pronounce. At any rate, four such fabri-\\ncated letters are printed at length in Las Cases s book,\\nand he must be held responsible for a fifth, which is\\nnowhere printed, and which probably had but a tran-\\nsient existence.\\nThe fabrication of the first of these has been clearly\\nand categorically set forth by Count Murat in his\\nexcellent book, Murat, Lieutenant de V Empereur\\nen Espag7ie. The charge is there established that\\nLas Cases, in order to lay the blame of his hero s\\nSpanish policy on Murat, inserted in his book a fabri-\\ncated letter of the date of March 29, 1808. By whom\\nthe letter was composed does not appear. But that\\nit is a fabrication is certain, and the responsibility\\nfor its production rests on Las Cases. Count Murat\\naccumulates damning proofs. He points out the\\nirresolution of the despatch, and the orders that the\\nFrench armies should perpetually retreat before the\\nSpaniards, as wholly alien to the Napoleonic char-\\nacter. He points out the incessant inconsistencies\\nwith passages of authentic despatches written at the\\nsame time. On the 27th of March Napoleon had\\nwritten to Murat to bid him make an imposing dis-\\nplay of force in Madrid. In the spurious despatch,\\ndated the 29th, he disapproves of his being in Madrid\\nat all. It is known, moreover, that the news of Mu-\\nrat s occupation of Madrid did not reach the Emperor\\ntill the 30th. The despatch is not in the form with\\nwhich Napoleon addressed Murat. The drafts, or\\nminutes, of practically all Napoleon s despatches\\nare in existence. There is no minute of this. Na-\\nlo", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0020.jp2"}, "21": {"fulltext": "LAS CASES, ANTOMAIARCHI, ETC.\\npoleon, in his other despatches, never alhides to this\\none. ]\\\\Iurat never acknowledges its receipt. Mu-\\nrat s minute register of letters received and sent con-\\ntains no alhision to it. How, in any case, did it\\nsuddenly make its appearance at St. Helena? It\\nseems useless to accumulate proofs that a more au-\\ndacious fabrication has seldom been presented to the\\npublic. The editors of the imperial correspondence,\\nindeed, blush as they print it, for ihey append a note\\nstating that neither the draft, nor the original, nor\\nan3 authentic copj is discoverable. Savarj^, Beaus-\\nset, and Thibaudeau blindl}^ accept the letter on the\\nauthority of Las Cases. ^leneval, who was at the\\ntime Napoleon s private sccretar3 anticipates the\\ndoubts of Count IMurat, and details some material\\ncircumstances which vitiate the letter, one of them\\nbeing that, though the letter is dated from Paris, Na-\\npoleon at that time was at St. Cloud. IVIeneval says\\nthat he cannot solve the nwstery, though his argu-\\nments all point irresistibh^ to fabrication; his only\\nargument the other wa} a very dangerous one\\nis that no one but Napoleon could have composed\\nit. The perplexit} of Aleneval, when his confiden-\\ntial position is considered, is extremel} significant,\\nif not conclusive. Thiers thinks that Napoleon\\nwrote it, and wrote it on the professed date, but ad-\\nmits that the letter was never sent. His reasons\\nfor this strange theory- cannot be examined here, but\\nthe3^ appear to be the mere result of a desperate ef-\\nfort to prove the authenticity^ of the letter, in spite\\nof overwhelming difficulties stated by himself. ]\\\\Ion-\\ntholon prints it among a number of other letters which\\nhe says were handed to him b^^ the Emperor. This\\ncasts doubt on the narrative of IVIontholon as welL\\nII", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0021.jp2"}, "22": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE j\\nBut the primary and original responsibility must\\nrest with Las Cases. And it is a little unfortunate\\nthat Las Cases piqued himself on his skill in com-\\nposition. He tells us that he drew up Napoleon s\\nprotest at Plymouth. He drew up innumerable\\nprotests of his own. Once a correspondence es-\\ntablished with Sir H. Lowe, he says, with ominous\\npleasantry, 1 did not remain idle. He rained\\ndocuments on the governor. Deported to the Cape, ji\\nhe never stopped writing the governor of that set-\\ntlement, the ministers, the Prince Regent all had\\nto endure him. Returning to Europe, he bombards\\nevery sovereign or minister that he can think of.\\nLast of all, the patient reader who ploughs through\\nhis eight volumes has ample reason to feel that Las j\\nCases would like nothing better than to pen a few\\nNapoleonic despatches to keep himself in exercise.\\nWe should not, on this instance alone, definitely pro-\\nnounce that Las Cases deliberately fabricated the j\\nletter to Murat; for it might have been an academi- j\\ncal exercise, or there might have been confusion\\namong his papers, or lapse of memory. There are\\nstrange freaks of this kind on record.\\nBut, unfortunately, this is by no means the only\\neffort or lapse of Las Cases in this direction. In the\\nfifth part of his journal he gives in much the same\\nway a letter from Napoleon to Bernadotte, dated\\nAugust 8, i8il. It is entirely ignored by the editors I\\nof the imperial correspondence. It is, however, in- j\\nserted in the Lettres inedites de Napoleon I., but j\\nwith every reserve, for the editors do not know its\\nsource. Had they known it, they would no doubt j\\nhave rejected it, as had the former editors. They\\ntake it at second hand from Martel s CEuvres Litt4-\\ni\\n12", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0022.jp2"}, "23": {"fulltext": "LAS CASES, ANTOMMARCHI, ETC.\\nraires de Napoleon Bonaparte. Martel, who does not\\nname his authority, evidently took it from Las Cases.\\nAgain, in his sixth volume. Las Cases generously\\nproduces from his occult and unfailing store another\\nstate document. This time it is a letter addressed\\nby Napoleon to his brother, Louis, King of Holland,\\non April 3, 1808, from the palace of Marrac. It bears\\nall the mint marks of the others. It is found for the\\nfirst time in Las Cases s book. No draft of it is in\\nexistence, a fact which is in itself fatal. Unluckily,\\ntoo. Napoleon did not arrive at Marrac till fourteen\\ndays after April 3. The editors of the Emperor s\\ncorrespondence print it with this dry remark, and with\\nan ominous reference to Las Cases as the sole au-\\nthority. M. Rocquain, in his Napoleon et le Roi\\nLouis (p. 166, note), unhesitatingly dismisses it as\\nin the main, if not wholly, a fraud. We see no rea-\\nson for accepting any part as genuine, nor, indeed,\\ndoes M. Rocquain supply any.\\nIn his seventh volume, again, there is a fourth let-\\nter, of the authorship of which it may confidently be\\nsaid, Aut Las Cases, aut Diabolus. It purports to\\nbe instructions for an anonymous plenipotentiary on\\na mission in Poland, and it is dated April 18, 18 1 2.\\nThis composition is absolutely ignored by the official\\neditors of the imperial correspondence. It is, as usual,\\nsuddenly produced by Las Cases as a revelation of\\nthe real motives of the Russian expedition. The\\nreal motive of that disastrous war, it seems, was the\\nreconstruction of the ancient kingdom of Poland.\\nWhen we consider that at that juncture, when the\\nrevival was passionately sought by the Poles, eagerly\\ndesired by his own army, and by some of his most\\ndevoted servants, when it was vital to his strategy\\n13", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0023.jp2"}, "24": {"fulltext": ".NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nand to his policy, when it was clearly dictated by the\\ncommonest gratitude and humanity towards Poland,\\nNapoleon resolutely refused it, we may judge of the\\nvalue and authenticity of this document.\\nThe fifth fabrication, which we are not privileged\\neven to see, is the most remarkable, and the most im-\\npudent, of all. In a moment of disinterested friend-\\nship Las Cases drew from his manuscript hoards, to\\nshow to Warden, a letter from the Due d Enghien to\\nNapoleon which was written on the eve of his exe-\\ncution, and which was suppressed by Talleyrand for\\nfear Napoleon should be moved by it to spare him.\\nLas Cases appears to have had a monopoly of this\\ndocument, for no one except himself and those to\\nwhom he showed it ever had the singular good for-\\ntune to see or even to hear of it. His own statement\\nwith regard to the Enghien affair is, perhaps, the most\\nnebulous in his whole book, and he only makes a\\ntimid and transient allusion to the letter which he\\nhad shown so exultantly to Warden. Warden s lan-\\nguage is so remarkable that it deserves quotation:\\nI saw a copy of this letter in possession of Count de\\nLas Cases, which he calmly represented to me as one\\nof the mass of documents formed or collected to authen-\\nticate and justify certain mysterious parts of the his-\\ntory which he was occasionally employed in writing\\nunder the dictation of the hero of it. Let us follow\\nup for a moment the subsequent history of the letter\\nof the Due d Enghien intercepted by Talleyrand and\\nprovidentially preserved by Las Cases. In the Let-\\nters from the Cape, composed, inspired, or revised by\\nNapoleon, this letter is mentioned, for the author had\\nfrequent opportunities of cursorily running over\\nmanuscripts of the greatest interest relative to the\\n14", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0024.jp2"}, "25": {"fulltext": "LAS CASES, ANTOMMARCHI, ETC.\\nmemorable events of the last twent3^ years, a part\\nof which was even written from the dictation of Na-\\npoleon himself in other words. Napoleon, who is\\nthe author of the Letters, has access to manuscripts\\ndictated by himself. When the Due d Enghien\\nhad arrived at Strasburg, he wrote a letter to Na-\\npoleon, in which he stated that his rights to the\\ncrown were very distant; that for a length of time\\nhis family had lost their claims: and promised, if\\npardon was granted to him, to discover everything\\nhe knew of the plot of enemies of France, and to serve\\nthe First Consul faithfully. This letter was not pre-\\nsented by Talleyrand to Napoleon until it was too\\nlate. The young prince was no more. The au-\\nthor goes on to say that in the manuscript, which he\\nhad been privileged to see. Napoleon states that per-\\nhaps, if this letter had been presented in time, the\\npolitical advantages which would have accrued from\\nhis declarations and his services would have de-\\ncided the First Consul to pardon him. This ex-\\ntract is interesting as containing the only portion of\\nthe text of this remarkable document which has been\\npreserved. Rumors of this precious letter appear to\\nhave been cautiously spread about Longwood, and\\nto have excited the curiosity of that portion of the\\nhousehold which had not been admitted to the con-\\nfidence of Las Cases. O Meara appears especially to\\nhave distinguished himself by a pertinacious spirit\\nof investigation. In January, 1817, he represents\\nhimself as asking the Emperor questions with regard\\nto it. I now asked if it were true that Talleyrand\\nhad retained a letter from the Due d Enghien to him\\nuntil two days after the Duke s execution? Napo-\\nleon s reply was: It is true; the Duke had written a\\n15", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0025.jp2"}, "26": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nletter, offering his services, and asking a command\\nin the army from me, which that scelerato Talleyrand\\ndid not make known until two days after his execu-\\ntion/ I observed that Talleyrand, by his culpable\\nconcealment of the letter, was virtually guilty of the i\\ndeath of the Duke. Talleyrand, replied Napoleon, i\\nis a briccone, capable of any crime/ j\\nTwo months later, in March, O Meara mentions to\\nNapoleon that a book has been published respecting\\nhim, by Warden, which was exciting great interest. 1\\nThe book had not then arrived, but there were ex-\\ntracts from it in the newspapers. Napoleon sits down\\nto read the newspapers, asks the explanation of a\\nfew passages, and at once inquires what Warden had\\nsaid of the affair of the Due d Enghien, I replied\\nthat he asserted that Talleyrand had detained a\\nletter from the Duke for a considerable time after\\nhis execution, and that he attributed his death to\\nTalleyrand. Di questo non c e dubbio (of this there\\nis no doubt), replied Napoleon. Later in the month\\nNapoleon reiterates this statement to O Meara.\\nWhen he (the Due d Enghien) arrived at Stras-\\nburg, he wrote a letter to me in which he offered j\\nto discover everything if pardon were granted to i\\nhim, said that his family had lost their claims\\nfor a long time, and concluded by offering his ser-\\nvices to me. The letter was delivered to Talleyrand,\\nwho concealed it until after his execution. This\\nseems succinct enough, but O Meara wished to make\\nassurance doubly sure. So in April he asked Na-\\npoleon again, as I was anxious to put the matter be-\\nyond a doubt, whether, if Talleyrand had delivered\\nthe Due d Enghien s letter in time to him, he would\\nhave pardoned the writer. He replied, It is prob-\\ni6", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0026.jp2"}, "27": {"fulltext": "LAS CASES, ANTOMMARCHI, ETC.\\nable that I might, for in it he made an offer of his\\nservices; besides, he was the best of the family.\\nIt is noteworthy that, although Napoleon speaks more\\nthan once to Gourgaud about the Enghien affair, he\\nnever mentions the letter to that critical and incredu-\\nlous officer. Finally, the whole bubble, blown as-\\nsiduously by Warden, O Meara, and the Letters\\nfrom the Cape, ignominiously bursts. The letter\\ndisappears, and with it the charge against Talley-\\nrand. The -narrative is brought back to historical\\ntruth by placing on record the well-known note of\\nthe Due d Enghien written on the report of his trial.\\nMontholon has to engineer this remarkable meta-\\nmorphosis. It is, of course/ impossible to perform\\nthis task with success, but the hapless equerry ex-\\ntracts himself from it with something less than grace\\nor probability. He tells us that after O Meara s de-\\nparture the surgeon s journal was left with him, and\\nthat he was in the habit of reading it aloud to his\\nmaster. The Emperor, he says, pointed out some\\nerrors in the manuscript. And it seems a pity that\\nMontholon does not place on record what these er-\\nrors were, for the only statement which is corrected\\nis that thrice solemnly made by O Meara on the au-\\nthority of Napoleon himself. We must quote text-\\nually what is said about it: M. O Meara dit que\\nM. de Talleyrand intercepta une lettre ecrite par le\\nDue d Enghien quelques heures avant le jugement.\\nLa verite est que le Due d Enghien a ecrit sur le pro-\\nems verbal d interrogatoire, avant de signer: Je fais\\navec instance la demande d avoir une audience par-\\nticuliere du premier consul. Mon nom, mon rang,\\nma fagon de penser et I horreur de ma situation, me\\nfont esperer qu il ne refusera pas ma demande.\\nB 17", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0027.jp2"}, "28": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nThis, of course, is what the Due d Enghien did actu-\\nally write. Then Montholon proceeds, Malheure-\\nusement I Empereur n eut connaissance de ce fait\\nqu apres Texecution du jugement. L intervention\\nde M. de Talleyrand dans ce drame sanglant est deja\\nassez grande sans qu on lui prete un tort qu il n a\\npas eu.\\nWe regret to declare that we do not consider this\\ncontradiction as any more authentic than the letter\\nfrom the Due d Enghien, written at Strasburg, of-\\nfering his services, and asking for a command of the\\narmy, which Talleyrand intercepted for fear it should\\nmelt Napoleon s heart. The fact and purport of that\\nletter are clearly set forth by Warden, who saw the\\nletter; by Las Cases, who showed it to him; by\\nO Meara, who twice asked Napoleon about it; by\\nNapoleon himself, in the Letters from the Cape;\\nand the main point of the story is not the appeal of\\nthe Duke, but the infamy of Talleyrand, who sup-\\npressed it. Warden published the first statement\\nin i8i6; the Cape Letters appeared in 1817;\\nO Meara in 1822; Las Cases in 1824. At last, in\\n1847, thirty years after the statement was first pub-\\nlished, appears Montholon s book. By this time\\nthe whole story has been hopelessly exploded. A\\nhost of elucidatory pamphlets have been published.\\nWhat has not been published is the document itself,\\nwhich, so assiduously advertised, has never seen\\nthe light. So Montholon has to make the best of a\\nbad job, and get rid somehow of this abortive fiction.\\nAs we have said, he conjures up an episode in which\\nhe reads O Meara s composition to the Emperor,\\nwhen the Emperor corrects several errors. Montho-\\nlon, however, only records one correction, which is\\n18", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0028.jp2"}, "29": {"fulltext": "LAS CASES, ANTOMMARCHI, ETC.\\nnot a correction at all, but an absolute denial of the\\nwhole story, and an explicit acquittal of Talleyrand.\\nThe statements in Warden s book, which form the\\ntext of Napoleon s remarks to O Meara in March,\\n1 817, and the categorical assertion in the Letters\\nfrom the Cape, which were composed by Napoleon\\nhimself, Montholon does not, and cannot, touch. It\\nis no doubt true that Napoleon did not see the last\\nwords which Enghien wrote before his execution\\ntook place. But these were not a letter written from\\nStrasburg, nor were they an application for a post in\\nthe French army, nor were they intercepted by Tal-\\nleyrand. It is noteworthy that, so far from the Due\\nd Enghien soliciting employment under Napoleon,\\nwe know from Savary that the Duke s fatal admis-\\nsion at his trial was that he had asked to serve in\\nthe British army. We admire Montholon s loyal\\nspirit, but we think he might have effected the re-\\ntreat from an impossible position with something\\nmore of skill, and veiled it with more probability.\\nAs to Talleyrand, his share in the Enghien affair,\\nthough no doubt obscure, is certainly not open to this\\nparticular charge. Strangely enough, and most\\nunfortunately for Las Cases, Napoleon in his own\\nhand left an express acquittal of Talleyrand. Me-\\nneval transcribes from the autograph notes of Na-\\npoleon on the history of Fleury de Chaboulon the\\nfollowing lines: Prince Talleyrand behaved on\\nthis occasion as a faithful minister, and the Emperor\\nhas never had any reproach to make to him with re-\\ngard to it. Talleyrand s complicity or connivance\\ndoes not fall to be discussed here that is a very dif-\\nferent matter. But this note expressly contradicts\\nthe charge of perfidy which we are discussing, and\\n19", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0029.jp2"}, "30": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nwhich is the essence of the charge preferred by Las\\nCases.\\nFinally, it is to be noted that on his death-bed the\\nEmperor, provoked by an attack in an English re-\\nview on Savary and Caulaincourt in connection with\\nthis incident, calls for his will, and inserts in it the\\nfollowing sentence: I had the Due d Enghien ar-\\nrested and tried because it was necessary for the\\nsafety, interest, and honor of the French people,\\nwhen the Comte d Artois was, avowedly, maintain-\\ning sixty assassins in Paris. Under the same cir-\\ncumstances, I should do the same again. This we\\nbelieve to be the truth, though not perhaps the whole\\ntruth.\\nWe have, then, we confess, a profound distrust of\\nthis mass of illustrative documents collected by Las\\nCases. We cannot, indeed, call to mind a single\\nletter (except the various protests) which is given\\nby Las Cases, and which is genuine, except the fare-\\nwell letter of Napoleon to Las Cases himself. Strange-\\nly enough, such is the fatality attaching to letters\\nin this collection, Gourgaud gives a totally different\\nversion even of this one yet Gourgaud read it under\\ncircumstances that would have stamped it on his\\nmemory. In this case, however, the version of Las\\nCases is supported by Lowe, and is no doubt the true\\none.\\nWhence came all these documents? When and\\nwhere was the mass of documents formed or col-\\nlected to justify certain mysterious parts of the his-\\ntory of the Emperor s reign? Are we to under-\\nstand that Napoleon hurriedly culled them at the\\nElysee or Malmaison after Waterloo a letter to\\nLouis, a letter to Murat, a letter to Bernadotte from\\n20", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0030.jp2"}, "31": {"fulltext": "LAS CASES, ANTOMMARCHI, ETC.\\nhis enormous correspondence? We know that the\\nletters which he considered at that time of most im-\\nportance he confided to his brother Joseph: they\\nwere bound in vohunes. How, then, did he come\\nto have these sparse, but notable, despatches about\\nhim? Las Cases could only, if they were genuine,\\nhave obtained them from Napoleon, and Las Cases\\nwas not in the confidence of Napoleon till long after\\nthe Emperor was cut off from his papers. Whence,\\nthen, come these casket letters? Las Cases could\\ntell us, but does not and no one else can. The only\\nhint we obtain is from Gourgaud, who, speaking of\\nsome false statement of Warden s, says that it is\\nprobably une partie du journal faux de Las Cases,\\nfrom which we may conclude that Las Cases kept a\\nspurious record for the information of curious stran-\\ngers and the public, and that this was known at\\nLongwood.\\nAnd here we must say, with deep regret, that we\\nwish we could feel certain that Napoleon was igno-\\nrant of these fabrications. There would be perhaps,\\nif we could shut our eyes to the evidence of the au-\\nthorship of the Letters from the Cape, or if we chose\\nto take that pamphlet as a sort of trial-balloon sent\\nforth by the Emperor, but not intended to carry his\\nauthority, no absolutely direct or reliable evidence of\\ncorinection. Unfortunately, there is no doubt as to\\nthe authorship of the Letters from the Cape. Mon-\\ntholon, moreover, gives the spurious letters to Murat\\nin the midst of a narrative of Spanish affairs dictated\\nby Napoleon. Napoleon is recorded as saying On\\nthe 29th of May I wrote to the Grand Duke of Berg,\\nas follows. And then follows the spurious letter.\\nIf, then, we can implicitly trust Montholon, Napoleon\\n21", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0031.jp2"}, "32": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\ndeclared the letter to be genuine. But we do not\\nimplicitly trust Montholon. We have, however, de-\\nscribed the relations of Napoleon, as set forth by the\\nchroniclers, to the imaginary Enghien letter. We\\ncan hardly, then, acquit Napoleon of having been\\ncognizant of these documents. Las Cases, in his\\njournal, constantly treats us to comet showers of as-\\nterisks, which he assures us represent conversations\\nwith Napoleon of the utmost moment and mystery.\\nPossibly mystifications may have been concocted at\\nthese dark interviews, and if Las Cases kept any rec-\\nord of what then passed, it would be well to publish it.\\nNor is it easy to understand that the idolater would\\nventure to take such liberties without at least a sign\\nfrom the idol. It must, moreover, be mentioned that\\nan officer on board the Northumberland records that\\nNapoleon was heard, in dictation to Las Cases, saying\\nthat he had received proofs of Enghien s innocence,\\nand an application from Enghien for employment,\\nafter the Duke s execution. Thiers, again, following\\nthe less emphatic opinion of Meneval, positively de-\\nclares that there can be no doubt, from the evidence\\nof the style, that the letter to Murat was composed by\\nthe Emperor. This is a damning admission, if the\\nauthority of Thiers be accepted, for no one can now\\nbelieve that that letter was written on the alleged date.\\nOn the other hand, Thiers is by no means infallible.\\nMoreover, is it possible, to put things on the lowest\\nground, that Napoleon would associate himself with\\ntricks so certain of discovery? Unless, indeed, what\\nis not impossible, he allowed them to be launched,\\ncareless of the future, or of the verdict of history, in\\norder to produce a momentary impression in his favor\\njust as he is said in the days of his power to have\\n22", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0032.jp2"}, "33": {"fulltext": "LAS CASES, ANTOMMARCHI, ETC.\\npublished in the Moniteur fictitious despatches from\\nhis marshals.\\nWe offer no judgment: we care to go no further:\\nour object is not to follow up the track further than\\nto demonstrate the unreliability of Las Cases. And\\nwe think we have said enough to show that these va-\\nrious fabrications lie like a bar sinister athwart the\\nveracity of his massive volumes, and make it impos-\\nsible to accept any of his statements, when he has any\\nobject in making them.\\nThis being so, it is not necessary to point out\\nminor and less elaborate inaccuracies. Pasquier,\\nfor example, complains that Las Cases gives a wholly\\nimaginary account of the interview which Pasquier\\nhad with Napoleon on becoming prefect of police.\\nBut the responsibility for this misstatement does not,\\nprobably, lie with Las Cases. He also signalizes\\ntwo other misrepresentations of the same kind, but\\nit is scarcely worth while to multiply instances.\\nWe have, however, a further, though very minor,\\nobjection to this author, in that he is a book-maker\\nof an aggravated description. No sort of padding\\ncomes amiss to him. Nevertheless, the book is not\\nwithout interest, and even value for there are many\\ncases in which he has no interest to serve, and where\\nhe records at length habits and remarks of Napoleon\\nwhich we find nowhere else, the genuineness of which\\nmust be decided by internal evidence or probability.\\nLas Cases, too, is by far the most Boswellian of the\\nbiographers, the most minute, the most insensible to\\nridicule, and in that respect affords some amusement.\\nSome, indeed, of his sublimer flights hover perilously\\nnear the other extreme; as, for example, when he\\nfeels an indescribable emotion on seeing Napoleon\\n22", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0033.jp2"}, "34": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nrub his stomach. The Emperor has some cojffee for\\nbreakfast, which he enjoys. Quelques moments\\nplus tard il disait, en se frottant Testomac de la main,\\nqu il en sentait le bien la. II serait difficile de rendre\\nmes sentiments a ces simples paroles.\\nAgain, Napoleon tells him that when speaking to\\nLowe he became so angry that he felt a vibration in\\nthe calf of his left leg, which is one of his portentous\\nsymptoms, and one which he had not felt for years.\\nAgain, Las Cases records, in the true Boswellian\\nstrain, that Napoleon had called him a simpleton,\\nconsoling him with the assurance that he always\\nmeant the epithet as a certificate of honesty.\\nAgain, Las Cases speaks with rapture of the ab-\\nsence of all personal feeling in Napoleon. He sees\\nthings so completely in the mass, and from so great\\na height, that men escape him. Never has one sur-\\nprised him in any irritation against any of those of\\nwhom he has had most to complain. Were it pos-\\nsible on other grounds to give complete credit to the\\nnarrative of Las Cases, this stupendous assertion\\nwould make us pause.\\nThe memoirs of Montholon are, like the author,\\neminently suave and gentlemanlike. O Meara ac-\\ncuses him, in private letters to the English staff,\\nof being untruthful, and O Meara should be a good\\njudge. We do not doubt that where they bear upon\\nthe general strategy of Longwood they are unreliable,\\nlike all the publications within thirty years of Na-\\npoleon s death, though it should be remembered that\\nthey appeared late, not till 1847. Nor are the dates\\ngiven always exact; and this inaccuracy gives the\\nimpression that the entries may have been written\\nup some time afterwards. It is sufficiently obvious,\\n24", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0034.jp2"}, "35": {"fulltext": "LAS CASES. ANTOMMARCHI, ETC.\\nindeed, that portions of the book are insertions long\\nsubsequent to the exile. But, on questions where\\nthe credit of Napoleon or his ill-treatment is not in-\\nvolved, they ma}^ be read with interest. Nor can we\\navoid commending the tone, which is due, no doubt,\\nto the date of publication. A quarter of a century\\nhad cooled many passions and allayed many feuds.\\nGourgaud had ceased to rage, and had amicably co-\\noperated with Montholon in the production of the\\nEmperor s memoirs. Hence, Montholon has not a\\nword against Gourgaud, or even reflecting on Gour-\\ngaud, at a time when that fretful porcupine nmst\\nhave been making his life almost intolerable. In-\\ndeed, at the time of Gourgaud s challenge, there is\\nsimply a blank of ten days. Whether this judicious\\nreticence is due to anguish of mind, or whether, what\\nis not impossible, the whole transaction was what\\nour ancestors would have called a flam, or whether,\\non consideration, the entries were cancelled, it is\\nimpossible now to say. We incline to the last hy-\\npothesis, and regret, now that Gourgaud s journal is\\npublished, that Montholon s cannot, as a counter-\\nblast, be given in its entirety. We know that he\\nleft in manuscript a great mass of notes of conversa-\\ntion. One at least of these, the record of a mono-\\nlogue of Napoleon s on March lo, 1819, has been\\npublished, and exceeds in interest anything in Mon-\\ntholon s book. It is greatly to be desired that these\\nnotes should be unreservedly given to the world\\nWere this done, we might have a record not inferior\\nin interest to that of Gourgaud. What we chiefly\\nregret about the book as it stands are the obvious\\nsuppressions, due, no doubt, to blind veneration for\\nNapoleon s memory, and to solicitude for the politi-\\n25", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0035.jp2"}, "36": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\ncal interests of Napoleon s nephew. It languishes,\\nmoreover, just when it would have been most fruit-\\nful that is, after the departure of the other chroni-\\nclers, Las Cases, O Meara, and Gourgaud, when we\\nhave nothing else to depend upon, except the imag-\\ninative excursions of Antommarchi.\\nFor, in the last days of all, we are left mainly to\\nAntommarchi, and no one of the chroniclers is less\\nreliable. He was a young Corsican anatomist of\\nsome distinction, and arrived in St. Helena eighteen\\nmonths before Napoleon s death. As a Corsican,\\nselected by Cardinal Fesch, he should have been\\nagreeable to the Emperor. But he was unlucky, for\\non several occasions he was absent when Napoleon\\nwanted his aid. Moreover, his illustrious patient,\\nwho in any case did not love physicians, thought him\\ntoo 3 oung and inexperienced. And, according to\\nMontholon, Antommarchi treated the illness of Na-\\npoleon as trifling, and even feigned. Yet Montholon\\nspeaks well of him, as an excellent young man,\\nand has no conceivable object for misrepresenting\\nhim. When, in March, 1821, Napoleon complains of\\nfeeling internal stabs, as of a pen-knife, caused by\\nthe hideous disease which had then almost killed\\nhim, Antommarchi laughs. Nothing, says Montho-\\nlon, will make him believe, within seven weeks of the\\nend, in the gravity, or even in the reality, of Napo-\\nleon s condition. He is persuaded that the illness is\\nonly a political game, played with the intention of\\npersuading the English government to bring the Em-\\nperor back to Europe. He declares, with a smile of\\nincredulity, on March 20th, that Napoleon s pulse is\\nnormal. On March 21st, however, he recognizes the\\nseriousness of the situation, and declares that he sees\\n26", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0036.jp2"}, "37": {"fulltext": "LAS CASES, ANTOMMARCHI, ETC.\\nundeniable signs of gastritis. Napoleon thereupon\\nconsents, with great reluctance, to take some lemon-\\nade with an emetic. Next day, therefore, a quarter\\nof a grain of tartar emetic was administered in some\\nlemonade. The patient was violently sick, and rolled\\non the earth in agony. What the agony must have\\nbeen, when we remember the ulcers which were in-\\nternally devouring him, we can scarcely conceive.\\nAntommarchi says that the effect is too strong, but\\nthat it is a necessary remedy. Napoleon, however,\\nabsolutely refuses any further medicine of the kind.\\nNext day he ordered his servant to bring him a glass\\nof lemonade but the young doctor was on the watch,\\nand craftily inserted the same dose of his favorite\\nremedy. Napoleon smelt something strange, and\\ngave it to Montholon, who in ten minutes was horribly\\nsick. The Emperor was naturally furious, called\\nAntommarchi an assassin, and declared that he would\\nnever see him again.\\nFor some time past the young Corsican had been\\nweary of his confinement and his attendance on one\\nwhom he considered an imaginary invalid. He spent\\nmuch of his time in Jamestown, or outside the limits,\\nto the disgust of the orderly who was forced to accom-\\npany him. Finally, in January, 1821, he signified\\nto Sir Thomas Reade his intention of leaving the\\nEmperor s service and the island. On January 31,\\n1821, he wrote to Montholon that he desired to return\\nto Europe, and that he felt with regret his inability\\nto gain the Emperor s confidence. Napoleon at once\\ngave his consent in a letter, which Montholon truly\\ncharacterizes as bien dure. We quote the con-\\ncluding paragraph During the fifteen months that\\nyou have spent on the island you have not made\\n27", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0037.jp2"}, "38": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nHis Majesty feel any confidence in your moral char-\\nacter; you can be of no use to him in his illness, and\\nso there is no object in prolonging your stay here.\\nIn spite of this scathing sentence, Bertrand and Mon-\\ntholon patched up a reconciliation, and on February\\n6th Antommarchi was permitted to resume his ser-\\nvice. On March 23d, as we have seen, there was an-\\nother quarrel, and Montholon records that on March\\n31st Napoleon refused to allow his name to be even\\nmentioned. However, on April 3d he was allowed to\\nbe present at Dr. Arnott s visit. On April 8th, being\\nagain absent when summoned, he is formally told\\nthat the Emperor will never see him again. On April\\n9th he went to Sir Hudson Lowe to request permission\\nto return to Europe twenty-six days before Napo-\\nleon s death. Lowe said that he must refer the mat-\\nter to England, On April i6th Arnott insisted that\\nNapoleon should once more receive Antommarchi.\\nOn April 17th Napoleon dictates a letter, which he in-\\nsists on Antommarchi signing as a condition of re-\\nmaining, as the doctor had been accused of idle gossip\\nand jests as to his master s habits. On April i8th he\\nis once more allowed to accompany Arnott to the\\npatient s room. On April 2 1st, however, the English\\ndoctors hold a consultation without him; and when\\nMontholon wishes to summon him on April 29th, Na-\\npoleon twice angrily refuses. For the first five days\\nof May, the last five days of life, he is allowed to\\nwatch in the room adjacent to the sick-room. In the\\nlast agony, whenever he tries to moisten the lips of\\nthe dying man. Napoleon repels him and signs to\\nMontholon. Finally, on May 5th Napoleon dies, and,\\nalone of all his attendants, omits Antommarchi from\\nhis will.\\n28", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0038.jp2"}, "39": {"fulltext": "LAS CASES, ANTOMMARCHI, ETC.\\nWhy recall all this so minutely? For the simple\\nreason that there is not a word of it in Antommarchi s\\nbook. That work, on the contrary, records nothing\\nbut the single-minded devotion of the physician, and\\nthe affectionate gratitude of the patient. For exam-\\nple, on the day on which Napoleon tw^ice refused to\\nsee him, he records that the patient reluctantly ac-\\ncepted one of his remedies, and declared, You can\\nmeasure by my resignation the gratitude I feel for\\nyou. Napoleon, declares the doctor, added confi-\\ndential directions about his funeral that it was to\\nbe, failing Paris, at Ajaccio, and, failing Ajaccio,\\nnear the spring in St. Helena. On the 26th of March,\\nwhen Napoleon would have none of him, Antom-\\nmarchi represents himself as persuading Napoleon\\nto see Arnott. Montholon says that it was on the\\n31st that Napoleon first consented that Arnott should\\nbe sent for, and adds, As for Antommarchi, he per-\\nsists in forbidding that his very name should be men-\\ntioned. Daily he records minute symptoms, and\\nelaborate, affectionate conversations with his patient.\\nBut not a word of his being forbidden the door, or\\nof his contemptuous dismissal, or of his efforts to\\nleave the island. Yet the two volumes which con-\\ntain his record of eighteen months would have suf-\\nficed to find room for this. It is not possible that Mon-\\ntholon should be guilty of gratuitous falsehood with\\nregard to him. Montholon is well disposed towards\\nAntommarchi his statements are supported both by\\ndocumentary evidence and by the testimony of Lowe.\\nNo; we must take the Antommarchian narrative for\\nwhat it is worth, and that is very little. For our own\\npart, we accept with great misgiving any of his un-\\ncorroborated statements. How, for example, can we\\n29", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0039.jp2"}, "40": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\ncredit that, in the midst of this period of distrust and\\naversion. Napoleon should have harangued him in\\nthis fashion When I am dead, each of you will I\\nhave the sweet consolation of returning to Europe.\\nYou will see again, the one your relations, the other\\nyour friends, and I shall find my braves in the Ely-\\nsian Fields. Yes, he continued, raising his voice,\\nKleber, Desaix, Bessieres, Duroc, Ney, Murat, Mas-\\nsena, Berthier, all will come to meet me: they will\\nspeak to me of what we have done together. I will I\\nnarrate to them the later events of my life. In seeing\\nme they will become mad with enthusiasm and glory.\\nWe will talk of our wars to the Scipios, the Hanni- j\\nbals, the Ca3sars, the Fredericks, etc. This fustian,\\nof which Napoleon could scarcely have been guilty I\\nbefore his delirium, is supposed to have been deliv- i\\nered to an audience of two, Antommarchi and Mon- i\\ntholon Antommarchi, w^ho was in disgrace, and i\\nMontholon, who, though he hung on his master s j\\nwords, does not even mention so remarkable a speech, j\\nWe may safely aver that this is not what Napoleon\\nsaid, but what Antommarchi considers that Napo-\\nleon ought to have said.\\nOne service Antommarchi rendered, which almost\\noutweighs his worthless and mendacious book. He\\ntook a cast of Napoleon s face after his death. The\\noriginal of this, now in England, represents the ex- 1\\nquisite and early beauty of the countenance, when\\nillness had transmuted passion into patience, and\\nwhen death, with its last serene touch, had restored\\nthe regularity and refinement of youth. All who be-\\nheld the corpse were struck by this transformation.\\nHow very beautiful! was the exclamation of the\\nEnglishmen who beheld it. But Antommarchi had\\n30", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0040.jp2"}, "41": {"fulltext": "LAS CASES, ANTOMMARCHl, ETC.\\nto fight even for the authenticity of his cast. The\\nphrenologists fell on him and rent him. They de-\\nclared that the skull had not the bumps, or the bony\\ndevelopments, requisite for a hero. Others averred\\nthat it was rather the face of the First Consul than of\\nthe Emperor, which is true. Others remembered that\\nI Antommarchi had not produced the cast till late in\\n1830. We can only sum up our conclusions by de-\\nclaring that we believe in the cast, but that if it be not\\nI more authentic than the book, we agree with the\\n1. phrenologists.\\nWarden s book consists of letters, addressed to the\\nlady he afterwards married, vamped up by a. lit-\\nerary gentleman. It bears, in passages, too obvi-\\n[lous marks of the handiwork of the literary gentle-\\nman, who puts into Warden s mouth meditations of\\ndeplorable bathos. But in any case the book is of\\nI little value, for a simple reason Napoleon knew no\\nI English, Warden knew no French; and their inter-\\nj preter was Las Cases. But we cannot help wondering\\nI who translated two of Warden s tactful remarks to\\nI Napoleon. The latter had asked which was the more\\npopular in England, the army or the navy. War-\\nI den replies in the noblest style, and ends, Such a\\nj: field as that of Waterloo can hardly find adequate\\n\u00e2\u0096\u00a0gratitude in the hearts of Englishmen! To this\\nNapoleon made no reply. On another occasion. War-\\nden addressed the Emperor as follows The people\\nof England appear to feel an interest in knowing\\nyour sentiments respecting the military character of\\nI the Duke of Wellington. They have no doubt that\\nyou would be just and perhaps they may indulge the\\nI expectation that your justice might produce a eulo-\\ngium of which the Duke of Wellington may be proud.\\n31", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0041.jp2"}, "42": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\ni\\nAgain Napoleon did not answer. But we incline to\\nhope and believe that the strain of translating these\\ntwo observations was not placed on an}^ interpreter, I\\nbut that they proceed from the fertile resources of the\\nliterary gentleman, who was not, however, equal\\nto inventing the reply,\\nIf any one, however, should be inclined to give\\ncredit to this narrative, he should examine the letter\\nof Sir Thomas Reade (head of Lowe s staff at St.\\nHelena), which sets down three-fourths of the book\\nas untrue. Reade adds, we think correctly, that on\\ncertain specified points, such as the death of Captain\\nWright, and the execution of the Due d Enghien,\\nLas Cases was ordered to make explanations to War-\\nden which could be published in Europe.\\nNapoleon s reply to Warden was published in a\\nlittle book called Letters from the Cape. These let-\\nters are addressed to a Lady C, who was, no doubt.\\nLady Clavering, a Frenchwoman who had married\\nan English baronet, and who was a devoted adhe-\\nrent of the Emperor s, as well as a very intimate\\nfriend of Las Cases. They were addressed to her,\\nand dated from the Cape, in order to make the world\\nbelieve that Las Cases, then at the Cape, had writ-\\nten them. The importance of this book arises from\\nthe fact that it is considered by the official editors\\nof Napoleon s correspondence to be his composition,\\nand they print it among his works. This is high au-\\nthority, and is supported by the fact that a first proof\\nof these letters is in existence, with numerous cor-\\nrections and additions in Napoleon s autograph.\\nBut, apart from these proofs, it is abundantly clear,\\non the testimony both of Gourgaud and of Montho-\\nlon, that the Emperor dictated these letters himself.\\n32", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0042.jp2"}, "43": {"fulltext": "LAS CASES, ANTOMMARCHI, ETC.\\nWho translated them into English, however, does\\nnot appear. If they were translated on the island,\\nit was probably by Mme. Bertrand, for O Meara does\\nnot seem to have been in the secret of them. The\\nEmperor, says Gourgaud, tells me that he does\\nnot intend to reply to Warden, but that Las Cases,\\nnow at the Cape, will reply. Gourgaud bluntly\\nanswers that he himself has seen more than ten\\nletters dictated by Napoleon to Bertrand for publi-\\ncation. One, indeed, is on the table at the moment.\\nThe Emperor no longer denies the authorship, and\\nGourgaud is taken into his confidence with regard\\nto their composition. The letters are given to him\\nfor correction and annotation. On August l6, 1817,\\nhe reads his observations on them to Napoleon, and\\nmany of them are adopted. On August 22d Mon-\\ntholon and Gourgaud both record that Napoleon\\nfinished the evening by having read to him the fifth,\\nsixth, seventh, and eighth letters in reply to Warden,\\nGourgaud also mentions that he is the reader, while\\nMontholon notes that the Emperor bids Gourgaud\\nembody them in a book. Gourgaud, for once courtier-\\nlike, or, at any rate, prudent, replies that this would\\nbe the work of a copyist, as there is so little to correct.\\nThe exiles do not admire them. The Montholons\\nthink that the Emperor in these letters puts ridicu-\\nlous speeches into their mouths, and Mme. Montho-\\nlon goes so far as to say that they are badly writ-\\nten, full of sottises and personalities. She is vexed\\nthat the name of her husband should be cited in\\nthem. It is all dirt, she says, and the more you\\nstir it up the worse it will smell; and she believes\\nthat this pamphlet will occasion much hostile criti-\\ncism. It is, indeed, only a pamphlet for contempo-\\nC 2,?,", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0043.jp2"}, "44": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nrary consumption, with statements in it intended to\\ninfluence public opinion. It has no value except\\nfrom its authorship and the statement made in it\\nof the fabricated letter of the Due d Enghien, the ex-\\nistence of which the pamphlet explicitly asserts.\\nO Meara S Voice from St. Helena is perhaps the\\nmost popular of all the Longwood narratives, and\\nfew publications ever excited so great a sensation as\\nthat produced by this worthless book. For worthless\\nit undoubtedly is, in spite of its spirited flow and the\\nvivid interest of the dialogue. No one can read the\\nvolumes of Forsyth, in which are printed the letters of\\nO Meara to Lowe, or the handy and readable treatise\\nin which Mr. Seaton distils the essence of those vol-\\numes, and retain any confidence in O Meara s facts.\\nHe may sometimes report conversations correctly, or\\nhe may not, but in any doubtful case it is impossible\\nto accept his evidence. He was the confidential ser-\\nvant of Napoleon unknown to Napoleon, he was the\\nconfidential agent of Lowe; and behind both their\\nbacks he was the confidential informant of the British\\ngovernment, for whom he wrote letters to be circu-\\nlated to the cabinet. Testimony from such a source\\nis obviously tainted.\\nThe book of Santini is a pure fabrication. It was\\nwritten by Colonel Maceroni, an Anglo-Italian fol-\\nlower of Murat s, who has left some readable mem-\\noirs. Santini, who had indeed little time for com-\\nposition, being Napoleon s tailor, hair -cutter, and\\ngame-keeper, has, however, his episode in the his-\\ntory of the captivity. As he was waiting at dinner\\none night Napoleon burst forth at him: What,\\nbrigand, you wished to kill the governor! you vil-\\nlain If you have any such notions again, you will\\n34", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0044.jp2"}, "45": {"fulltext": "LAS CASES, ANTOMMARCHI, ETC.\\nhave to deal with me. And then the Emperor ex-\\nplains to his guests that Santini, who had been of\\nlate on long solitary excursions with a double-bar-\\nrelled gun, had admitted to another Corsican that he\\nintended one barrel for the governor, and the other\\nfor himself. It seemed quite natural to Santini. He\\nwished to rid the world of a monster. It needed all\\nmy imperial, all my pontifical authority, said Na-\\npoleon, to restrain him. Santini was deported\\nfrom the island by Sir Hudson Lowe, and is said\\nto have learned by heart Napoleon s great protest\\nto the powers, and so first brought it to Europe.\\nMaceroni declares that this Corsican factotum was\\nseized on Dutch territory by a force of Prussian cav-\\nalry and never seen again. This is, of course, a\\npure fiction. Santini was harassed enough without\\nso awesome a fate. He was hunted and spied until\\nhe was allowed to live under surveillance. He finally\\nreturned to Paris, and ended his life, not unsuitably,\\nas custodian of his master s tomb at the Invalides,\\nThe value of Lady Malcolm s book consists, as has\\nbeen said already, in the vivid reports of Napoleon s\\nconversation, which bear the impress of having been\\ndictated, so to speak, red-hot, by the admiral, and in\\nthe picture it gives us of Lowe. Malcolm pleased the\\nEmperor, though on one stormy occasion he did not\\nescape being called a fool {Vamiral qui est un sot),\\nand Lady Malcolm was supposed, in her turn, to be\\nfascinated. Napoleon would talk to Malcolm three\\nor four hours at a time; never, for reasons of etiquette,\\nseated, or allowing a seat; both men standing or\\nwalking about, till at last they would lean against\\nthe furniture from fatigue. The raciness of Napo-\\nleon s conversation, even in a translation, is notable.\\n35", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0045.jp2"}, "46": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nI made Ossian the fashion, he exclaims. The\\nincome-tax is a good tax, for every one grumbles at\\nit, which shows that every one pays it. Trifles\\nare great things in France, reason nothing. He\\ntells the story of the Dey of Algiers, who, on hearing\\nthat the French were fitting out an expedition to de-\\nstroy the town, said that, if the king would send\\nhim half the money that the expedition would cost,\\nhe would burn down the town himself. It is scarcely\\nnecessary to say that Lowe disliked these visits for\\nmany reasons. He had quarrelled with Napoleon,\\ntherefore every one should quarrel with him. He\\ncould not see Napoleon, therefore no one should see\\nhim. It was now abundantly clear that the one\\nsupreme distinction at St. Helena was to obtain an\\ninterview with Napoleon; it was also clear that this\\nannoyed the ruler of St. Helena, with whom no one\\nendured an interview who could possibly avoid it.\\nMoreover, who could tell what terrible things might\\nnot be said in conversation? Plans of escape might\\nbe concerted, messages might be transmitted, and,\\nsin of sins, the governor might be criticised. So the\\nperson who had seen Napoleon was expected to hurry\\nto the governor to report what had passed, with the\\ncertain reward of being suspected of having sup-\\npressed something material. An English lieuten-\\nant was sent away from the island because he de-\\nlayed for a few days to report to the governor a com-\\nmonplace remark made by the Bertrands, who had\\nmet him in a walk. Even the admiral could not be\\ntrusted. He soon ceased to be on speaking terms\\nwith the governor, but sedulously reported by letter\\nhis conversations with Napoleon. Sir Hudson s re-\\nply to the last report charged the admiral with sup-\\n36", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0046.jp2"}, "47": {"fulltext": "LAS CASES, ANTOMMARCHI, ETC.\\npressing matters of consequence, and the admiral\\nnow discovered that there was a system of spies\\non the island, and that every trifle was reported to\\nthe governor. With open, candid Englishmen,\\ncontinues the ingenuous Lady Malcolm, this is\\ndetestable, and must cause incalculable evil. An\\nexchange of letters ensued between the two high\\ndignitaries, of so inflammable a character that its\\ndestruction was suggested. A previous correspond-\\nence has, however, been preserved, eminently char-\\nacteristic of Lowe, whose share in it is tart, narrow,\\nand suspicious. No one who reads it can fail to\\nunderstand why he was an unfit representative of\\nBritain in so delicate and difficult a charge.", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0047.jp2"}, "48": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER III\\nGOURGAUD\\nBut the one capital and supreme record of life at\\nSt. Helena is the private journal of Gourgaud, writ-\\nten, in the main at least, for his own eye and con-\\nscience alone, without flattery or even prejudice, al-\\nmost brutal in its raw realism. He alone of all the\\nchroniclers strove to be accurate, and, on the whole,\\nsucceeded. For no man would willingly draw such\\na portrait of himself as Gourgaud has page by page\\ndelineated. He takes, indeed, the greatest pains to\\nprove that no more captious, cantankerous, sullen,\\nand impossible a being than himself has ever ex-\\nisted. He watched his master like a jealous woman\\nas Napoleon himself remarked, He loved me as\\na lover loves his mistress; he was impossible.\\nDid Napoleon call Bertrand an excellent engineer,\\nor Las Cases a devoted friend, or Montholon by the\\nendearing expression of son, Gourgaud went off into\\na dumb, glowering, self -torturing rage, which he\\nfuses into his journal and yet, by a strange hazard,\\nwriting sometimes with almost insane fury about\\nhis master, produces the most pleasing portrait of\\nNapoleon that exists. The fact is, he was utterly\\nout of place. On active service, on the field of battle,\\nhe would have been of the utmost service to his chief\\na keen, intelligent, devoted aide-de-camp. But in the\\n38", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0048.jp2"}, "49": {"fulltext": "GOURGAUD\\ninaction of St. Helena his energy, deprived of its\\nnatural outlet, turned on himself, on his nerves,\\non his relations to others. The result is that he\\nwas never happy except when quarrelling or grum-\\nbling. Napoleon himself was in much the same\\nposition. His fire without fuel, to use Mme. de\\nMontholon s figure, consumed himself and those\\naround him. But Napoleon had the command of\\nwhat luxury and companionship there was the\\nothers of the little colony had their wives and chil-\\ndren. Gourgaud had nothing.\\nNapoleon seems to have been aware that Gourgaud\\nwas not the man for the place. He had originally\\nselected Planat, a man of simple and devoted char-\\nacter, to accompany him. Maitland had noticed\\non the Bellerophon the tears stealing down Planat s\\ncheeks as he sat at breakfast the first day and con-\\ntemplated his fallen master, and had formed a high\\nopinion of him. Planat, indeed, at the moment of\\nNapoleon s death, was preparing, with unshaken\\nfidelity, to proceed to St. Helena to take the place of\\nMontholon. But on his first nomination being com-\\nmunicated to Gourgaud, there was such a scene of\\njealous fury that Gourgaud s name had to be sub-\\nstituted. Gourgaud s wishes had thus been gratified\\nhe was almost alone with the Emperor, his only\\nresource was the Emperor, yet every day his sulki-\\nness and susceptibility alienated the Emperor from\\nhim. We perceive in his own record constant hints\\nfrom Napoleon that he had better go, which become\\nbroader and broader as time goes on. At last he\\ndeparted, having first challenged Montholon. The\\nEmperor intervened, and enveloped Montholon in\\nhis authority. Whether the duel was a comedy or\\nd9", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0049.jp2"}, "50": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nnot, it is impossible to say. The editors of his jour-\\nnal think that it was. Their case rests entirely on\\na document which they print in their preface from\\nthe original among Gourgaud s papers, a letter writ-\\nten by Montholon to Gourgaud a fortnight after the\\nchallenge, which shows that their relations w^ere then\\nnot unfriendly, and that the departure of Gourgaud\\nwas either planned or utilized by the Emperor for\\npurposes of his own. The Emperor thinks, my\\ndear Gourgaud, writes Montholon, that 3 ou are\\noveracting your part. He fears that Sir H. Lowe\\nmay begin to open his eyes. We admit that if this\\nletter were printed by Las Cases we should be in-\\nclined to doubt it; as it is, we have no ground for\\nquestioning its authenticity. But how much of\\nGourgaud s departure was dramatic and strategical,\\nand how much due to profound weariness and vex-\\nation of spirit, we cannot know it was probably a\\ncompound. It is, however, noteworthy that two\\nmonths before the ostentatious rupture Montholon\\nrecords that the Emperor is determined to send Gour-\\ngaud away in order to appeal to the Russian Em-\\nperor. And, according to Montholon, as will ap-\\npear later, Gourgaud s departure is merely a Rus-\\nsian mission. There is no mention or question of a\\nquarrel. This, however, is an omission probably\\ndue to the editing of 1847. In fine, we believe the\\ntruth to be this Gourgaud was weary of the life at\\nSt. Helena; Napoleon was weary of Gourgaud; so\\nthat Gourgaud s real and active jealousy of Mon-\\ntholon was utilized by the Emperor as a means both\\nof getting rid of Gourgaud and of communicating\\nwith Europe through an officer who could thoroughly\\nexplain the situation and policy of Longwood.\\n40", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0050.jp2"}, "51": {"fulltext": "GOURGAUD\\nThe value of Gourgaud s journal does not lie in\\nthe portrayal of himself, but of his master. Inci-\\ndentally, however, it is necessary to say much of\\nGourgaud as the foil who illustrates a new view of\\nhis chief s character. Without this inducement we\\nshould soon have had enough of the brilliant young\\nofficer, devoted to his master, with the unreasonable,\\npetulant jealousy v/hich made his devotion intolera-\\nble, but, above all, profoundlj bored. Bored with\\nthe island, bored with the confinement, bored with\\nthe isolation, bored with celibacy, bored with court\\nlife in a shanty involving all the burden without any\\nof the splendor of a palace, bored with inaction, bored\\nwith himself for being bored. And so he is forced\\nto sharpen his rusting energies with quarrels, sulky\\nrage with the Emperor, fitful furies with Las Cases,\\nand, when Las Cases is deported, animosity against\\nMontholon, apparently because there is no one else\\nto quarrel with; for Bertrand is a laborious and fu-\\ntile peacemaker. The long moan of his life is Ennui.\\nEnnui, Grand Ennui, Melancholic, are his perpet-\\nual entries. Here is a week s sample record Mardi\\n25, Ennui, Ennui! Mercredi 26, idem. Jeudi 27,\\nidem. Vendredi 28, idem. Samedi 29, idem. Di-\\nmanche 30, Grand Ennui. Again, j etouffe d En-\\nnui. We fear, indeed, that, so far as Gourgaud\\nis concerned, the compendious word Ennui would\\nmake an adequate substitute for the 1200 octavo\\npages of his journal. Fortunately it is not Gourgaud\\nwho is in question.\\nLet us confess that the more we see of him the bet-\\nter we like him. He first became familiar to us in\\nwarfare with Sir Walter Scott. Scott hinted that\\nGourgaud had acted a double part, and had been a\\n41", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0051.jp2"}, "52": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nsort of agent for the British government. Thereupon\\nGourgaud, not unnaturally, wished to fight Scott,\\nand, denied the relief of pistols, betook himself to\\npamphlets. But to be a foe of Scott is to be the foe\\nof Great Britain and Gourgaud passed among us as\\na sort of swashbuckler of dubious reputation. As to\\nScott s charges we say nothing, because we know\\nnothing, nor were they adequately dealt with by\\nGourgaud. All that he says which is pertinent to\\nScott s charges is that never once while at Longwood\\ndid he speak to Sir H. Lowe, and that he defies any\\none to show a single line in his handwriting which is\\nnot instinct with the devotion he felt for Napoleon.\\nIn making this challenge he must have been con-\\nscious that his own diary was in his own keeping,\\nfor it contains innumerable passages which would\\nscarcely have stood his test. Moreover, he records\\nin it more than one interview he had with Lowe while\\nhe was at Longwood. But where at St. Helena was\\ntruth to be found? Jesting Pilate might long\\nhave waited for any local indication from that island.\\nIt is alleged by Scott that before leaving St.\\nHelena he was very communicative both to Sir Hud-\\nson Lowe and Sturmer, the Austrian commissioner,\\nrespecting the secret hopes and plans which were\\ncarrying on at Longwood. When he arrived in Brit-\\nain in the spring of l8l8 he was no less frank and\\nopen with the British government, informing them\\nof the various proposals for escape which had been\\nlaid before Napoleon, the facilities and difficulties\\nwhich attended them, and the reasons why he pre-\\nferred remaining on the island to making the at-\\ntempt. Scott rests these statements on records in\\nthe State Paper Office, and on a report by Sturmer,\\n42", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0052.jp2"}, "53": {"fulltext": "GOURGAUD\\nwhich, with the adhesive dis ingenuousness of St.\\nHelena, is not included in the French collection of\\nSturmer s reports, but which may be found, stripped\\nof its date, in the gloomy recesses of Forsyth s ap-\\npendix. We do not pretend or wish to adjudicate\\non this matter, but we do not believe that Gour-\\ngaud, an honorable and distinguished French gen-\\neral, long attached to the person of Napoleon, would\\nwantonly reveal to Lowe, Bathurst, or Sturmer the\\nreal secrets of the Emperor s intimacy. We are\\nrather inclined to believe that, either to obtain the\\nconfidence of these gentlemen, or to gratify his own\\nsense of humor, or, most probable of all, to divert\\ntheir suspicions from something else, he was mysti-\\nfying them; and, perhaps, as Montholon says, over-\\nplaying his part. When we read in Balmain s re-\\nports, His denunciations of his former master are\\nbeyond decency, or when he tells Balmain that he\\nintended to shoot Napoleon on the battle-field of\\nWaterloo, and cannot understand why he failed to do\\nso, we seem to hear the warning voice of Montholon,\\nYou are overacting your part. His candor was\\nat least suspicious; ton de franchise suspect, says\\nthe Russian government in its memorial. We do\\nnot believe, for example, that it had been proposed\\nto remove Napoleon in a trunk of dirty linen, or a\\nbeer-cask, or a sugar-box, or as a servant carrying\\na dish. Yet these, we are informed, were the revela-\\ntions of Gourgaud. Across an abyss of eighty years\\nwe ssem to see him wink. So, too, as to the \u00c2\u00a3lo,ooo\\nwhich Napoleon is said to have received in Spanish\\ndoubloons. Such a parcel would be bulky and\\nweighty the expenditure of such a coin would soon\\nbe traced we know exactly the money left by Na-\\n43", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0053.jp2"}, "54": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nI\\npoleon on his death, and there are no doubloons\\nthey were, we are convinced, coined by Gourgaud i\\nfor the consumption of Lowe.\\nWe think it very possible that the irritable officer\\ndid at St. Helena talk something at random, as Bal-\\nmain says, in the madness of his jealous rage, and\\nthat, as Montholon says, he overdid his part. But j\\nwe are convinced that he revealed nothing of the i\\nslightest importance either now or afterwards in\\nLondon. Indeed, he was soon ordered out of Eng-\\nland on account of his active devotion to the cause\\nof his master. j\\nIt must, however, be admitted that on one occasion\\nat St. Helena he used language which, to say the\\nleast, is ambiguous. We give it as recorded by him- j\\nself. He is speaking to Montchenu, the old French j\\nRoyalist commissioner. You are talking, says\\nGourgaud, to a chevalier of St. Louis; whatever at\\ntachment I might still have felt (in 1814) for the Em- j\\nperor, nothing could have made me fail in my duty\\nto the King and my gratitude to the Due de Berry. 1\\nThe proof of this is that my friend Lallemand thought\\nme too much attached to this last prince to put me in i\\nthe secret of his conspiracy. After the departure of\\nthe King and the dismissal of his household, I gave in\\nmy adhesion to the chief of the French nation. I\\nshould always have remained faithful to the King\\nhad he remained with the army, but I thought that\\nhe abandoned us. On April 3d I was appointed by the\\nEmperor his first orderly officer, and that is why 1 am\\nhere. Men who use language of this kind cannot\\ncomplain if they are misunderstood, or if they are\\nheld to be playing an ambiguous part.\\nGourgaud was, it should be remembered, esteemed\\n44 J\\nI", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0054.jp2"}, "55": {"fulltext": "GOURGAUD\\nby all who knew him, and did not have to live with\\nhim. But the curse of his temper was jealousy,\\nwhich made him an imjiossible companion. It em-\\npoisoned his life at St. Helena. Long after his de-\\nparture from St. Helena the success of Segur s nar-\\nrative of the Russian campaign maddened him, and\\ndrove him to publishing a waspish, unworthy criti-\\ncism of it in a thick volume, which has by no means\\nattained the enduring fame of the history which it\\nprofesses to review. By others whom his jealousies\\ndid not touch he was highly esteemed. Lowe, for\\nexample, always considered and described him as a\\ngallant and loyal soldier who followed his Emperor\\nin adversity, without mixing himself up in vexa-\\ntions and complaints. Jackson says the same thing.\\nHe is a brave and distinguished officer, says\\nSturmer, but no courtier and this description\\nsums him up exactly. He was so little of a courtier\\nthat the proceedings of courtiers irritate him. When\\nLas Cases exclaims, on hearing some military nar-\\nrative of Napoleon s, that it is finer than the Iliad,\\nGourgaud, like Burchell in the Vicar of Wakefield,\\nsays, audibly, Fudge, or its equivalent. The nar-\\nrative had been dictated to and put in form by Las\\nCases; so Gourgaud grimly remarks, I can see\\nAchilles well enough, but not Las Cases as Homer.\\nHe is so repelled by this sort of thing that Napoleon\\nceases to confide his compositions to him, and keeps\\nthem for the less formidable criticisms of Las Cases.\\nHe had seen the brilliant side of court life at the\\nTuileries when he had other things to think of than\\nthe relative favor of courtiers; now he sees nothing\\nbut the seamy side, and has nothing to think of but\\nthe confidence shown to others and the coldness to\\n45", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0055.jp2"}, "56": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE 1\\nhimself. He becomes more and more sullen, and,\\nconsequently, a less and less agreeable companion,\\nTake, for example, this Napoleon asks what time\\nit is. Ten o clock, sire. Ah! how long the i\\nnights are! And the days, sire? At last Na-\\npoleon says frankly to him What right have you to\\ncomplain that I only see and dine with Montholon? I\\nYou are always gloomy, and do nothing but grumble.\\nBe as gloomy as you please, so long as you do not I\\nappear gloomy in my presence. And, though we\\ncannot blame Gourgaud for being melancholy, we\\nthink Napoleon was right. In a society of four men, j\\none of whom, at any rate, might well be held to re- j\\nquire the anxious treatment of a convalescent after i\\na terrible fall, there should have been a sustained ef-\\nfort in the common interest to combat depression.\\nGourgaud made no such effort; he was the embodi- i\\nment of captious melancholy, yet he could not under- I\\nstand why his bilious companionship was not eager-\\nly sought. But to the blank hopelessness of St.\\nHelena a Knight of Sorrowful Countenance was an j\\nintolerable addition. And, indeed, on more than one\\noccasion Gourgaud embarrassed his master by weep- i\\ning in conversation. Je pleure is not an unfre-\\nquent entry. I\\nMoreover, Gourgaud was not merely passively I\\ngloomy; he became actively a bore. He began on\\nevery slight occasion to detail his services and his\\nclaims, as a preface or an epilogue to a long recital of I\\nhis wrongs. Bertrand suffered much of this with\\nexemplary patience; for Gourgaud s conception of\\nconversation with Bertrand is embodied in this en-\\ntry: He talks of his worries, and I of mine. But\\nat last he told Gourgaud that no longer, even on this\\n46", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0056.jp2"}, "57": {"fulltext": "GOURGAUD\\nmutual principle, could he be wearied with Gour-\\ngaud s complaints. One of Gourgaud s great achieve-\\nments was the having saved Napoleon s life at the\\nbattle of Brienne. He was supposed, by Warden at\\nany rate, to have had his sword engraved with an\\naccount of this exploit. This was all very well but\\nNapoleon heard too much of it, and so the following\\nscene occurred Gourgaud I never had engraved\\non my sword that I had saved your life, and yet I\\nkilled a hussar that was attacking Your Majesty.\\nNapoleon I do not recollect it. Gourgaud\\nThis is too much! and so poor Gourgaud storms.\\nAt last the Emperor puts a stop to this outburst of\\nspleen by saying that Gourgaud is a brave young\\nman, but that it is astonishing that with such good\\nsense he should be such a baby. And Gourgaud had\\ngood sense. With regard to the disputes with Sir\\nHudson, his good sense is nothing less than porten-\\ntous. With regard to one letter of complaint, he de-\\nclares boldly that the less one writes about eating\\nand drinking the better, as these sordid details lend\\nthemselves to ridicule. Again, speaking of the Em-\\nperor, he says He is working at a reply to Lord\\nBathurst, but one cannot make a noble rejoinder out\\nof the question of eatables. He protests against\\nthe waste of the servants at Longwood, and makes\\nthe remark, full of the truest sense and dignity In\\nour position the best course is to accept the least.\\nOn the whole position he writes with wisdom, and\\na conviction of what was the proper attitude of Napo-\\nleon. The only law that the Emperor can follow,\\nin my opinion, is neither to insult nor be friends\\nwith Hudson Lowe. It would be unworthy of His\\nMajesty to be on cordial terms with that person.\\n47", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0057.jp2"}, "58": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nThe Emperor s position is so frightful that the only\\nmethod of maintaining his dignity is to appear re-\\nsigned, and to do nothing to obtain any change in\\nthe restrictions. We must endure everything with\\nresignation. If His Majesty had all the island to\\nhimself, it would be nothing compared to what he\\nhas lost. Would that Napoleon had followed this\\ncounsel.\\nThe household at Longwood was not, and could\\nnot be, a happy family; but it might have been\\nmuch happier than it was. It could not be happy,\\nin the first place, of course, because of the prodigious\\nvicissitude. But, secondlj^ a collection of Parisians\\ncould not be cheerful, perched like crippled sea-birds\\non a tropical rock. St. Helena had been chosen\\nbecause it was one of the remotest of islands; for\\nthat reason it was antipathetic to the whole lives\\nand nature, and to every taste, of these brilliant peo-\\npie. There was no space, no society, no amusement.\\nThere was a meagre shop, but even there they were\\nrefused credit by order of the governor. All things\\nconsidered, they bore this fate, so irksome to any\\none, so terrible to them, with fortitude and philosophy.\\nThe jealousies which haunt a court forbade them i\\nto be a little less unhappy than they were. For I\\nthem, at this petty court, where neither fortune nor\\nplaces could be awarded, there was only one dignity,\\nonly one consolation the notice of the Emperor,\\nwhich alone gave rank and consideration. Hence ^i\\nanger, envy, and tears. Bertrand had soon remarked\\nthem: His Majesty, he said, in April, 1816, is|\\nthe victim of intriguers. Longwood is made detest-\\nable by their disputes. As a rule, Bertrand com-\\nforts himself by declaring that the Emperor is just i\\n48", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0058.jp2"}, "59": {"fulltext": "GOURGAUD\\nat bottom, and that though intriguers sometimes get\\nthe upper hand for a moment, he always in the long-\\nrun returns to sound judgment. But jealousy be-\\ngan with the very first night on the island. In Napo-\\nleon s limited lodging he had room for only one com-\\npanion, and he chose Las Cases Las Cases, a mere\\nacquaintance, as it were, of the eleventh hour. Las\\nCases at once became the enemy of the human race,\\nso far as his colleagues were concerned. And so\\nthey hated him till he was removed, when they all\\nfell on his neck and forgave him.\\nThen Montholon and Gourgaud fell out, till Gour-\\ngaud departed. Then, when two out of the four had\\ngone, the other two seem to have remained in peace\\nof some kind, but we may gather that the preference\\nshown to Montholon was the source of some soreness\\nto Bertrand.\\nAnother subject of discussion was money. They\\nspeculated about the Emperor s supposed hoards\\nwith the subtle suspicion of heirs in a miser s sick-\\nroom. He has given so much to one; it is untrue;\\nhe gives another a double allowance; he does not;\\nhow does another pay for dress or luxurj^? They\\ntorment themselves and each other with questions\\nlike these. The Emperor, with all the malice of a\\ntestator, encourages these surmises. I have no one,\\nhe says, to leave my monej^ to, but my companions.\\nAnd this question of money has much to do with\\nGourgaud s furious jealousies. Lie is alwaj^s mount-\\ning on a pinnacle whence he declares that he will take\\nnothing from the Emperor but he is alwaj^s descend-\\ning and accepting it. Through a whole volume\\nthere run the narrative and variations of his mother s\\npension. Gourgaud will not ask for one he does ask\\nD 49", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0059.jp2"}, "60": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nfor one; he will not take it; he will take it; and so\\nforth, until the reader is left wondering whether\\nGourgaud s mother, through all these susceptibili-\\nties and delicacies, constantly aroused and constant-\\nly overcome, ever secured anything at all. In any\\ncase, she and her pension became a nightmare to Na-\\npoleon, who was irritated by so much filial solicitude\\nfor the mother whom his follower had left behind in\\nFrance. Gourgaud did, indeed, air this devotion a\\nlittle too often, and this irritated the Emperor. In\\nthe first place. Napoleon suspected, we think, and\\nperhaps not unjustly, that the frequent mention of\\nthe mother and of her needy circumstances was meant\\nas an appeal for his assistance, which he was willing\\nto give, but not under pressure; so he gave it at last,\\nirritably and ungraciously. Secondly, this good\\nson caused some inconvenience by painting rose-\\ncolor everything at St. Helena in order to cheer his\\nparent. His letters of this deceptive character were\\nread by Lowe, or by Bathurst, or both, and gave them\\nthe most sensible pleasure, as affording an authori-\\ntative contradiction to Napoleon s complaints. Bath-\\nurst and Lowe henceforward cherished a sort of affec-\\ntion for Gourgaud. This fact, and these dutifully\\nmendacious letters, could not be agreeable to Napo-\\nleon. Thirdly, the Emperor could not bear that any\\none who was devoted to him should be devoted to\\nany one else. He required a sole and absorbing alle-\\ngiance. Bertrand s wife and Gourgaud s mother\\noffended him. You are mad to love your mother\\nso, said Napoleon to Gourgaud. How old is she?\\nSixty-seven, sire. Well, you will never see her\\nagain she will be dead before you return to France.\\nGourgaud weeps.\\n50", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0060.jp2"}, "61": {"fulltext": "GOURGAUD\\nBut Napoleon s brutality was only a passing ex-\\npression of annoyance at a devotion which he con-\\nsidered he should absorb. Napoleon made no secret\\nof this; he avowed it to Montholon. Every one/\\nhe says, has a dominant object of affection, and\\nto those whom I like and honor with my confidence,\\nI must be that object; I will share with nobody.\\nOn other occasions he was even more cynical:\\nPrinces, he said, only like those who are useful\\nto them, and so long as they are useful. Again, he\\nsays to Gourgaud: After all, I only care for peo-\\nple who are useful to me, and so long as they are use-\\nful. His followers were well aware of this princi-\\nple in Napoleon. Bertrand in a moment of irritation\\nconfides to Gourgaud the astonishing discovery that\\nfor some time past he has been aware that the Em-\\nperor is an egotist. He only, says Bertrand, cares\\nfor those from whom he expects some service. An-\\nother day he goes further. The Emperor is what\\nhe is, my dear Gourgaud; we cannot change his\\ncharacter. It is because of that character that he\\nhas no friends, that he has so many enemies, and,\\nindeed, that we are at St. Helena. And it is for the\\nsame reason that neither Drouot nor the others who\\nwere at Elba, except ourselves (Mme. Bertrand and\\nhimself), would follow him here. Bertrand was no\\ndoubt right in saying that Napoleon had no friends,\\nfor the friends of his youth were dead; and, in the\\ndays of his power, he had denied himself that solace\\nand strength. I have made courtiers; I have never\\npretended to make friends, he would say. His im-\\nperial ideas of state and aloofness, indeed, made any\\nidea of friendship impossible. Now the retribution\\nhad come; when he wanted friends, he found only\\n51", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0061.jp2"}, "62": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE J\\ncourtiers. Painfully and laboriously he endeavored\\nto resume the forgotten art of making friends. It j\\nwas only fair, and in the nature of things, that he i\\nshould be but partially successful.\\nIt is not a pleasant trait in Napoleon that he should\\nexpect the blind renunciation of every human tie and i\\nhuman interest that a Messiah alone may exact;\\nthat he should desire his followers to leave all and\\nfollow him. But much excuse must be made for an\\negotism which was the inevitable result of the pro-\\nlonged adulation of the world.\\nAnd although Gourgaud had much to bear\\nchiefly from the torture he inflicted on himself\\nwe gather from his own account that the balance is\\nlargely in his favor, and that he made his compan-\\nions suffer much more. Of all these, Napoleon, if he\\nmay be called a companion, had by far the most to\\nendure. j\\nFor, as we have said, the real value of Gourgaud s\\nbook does not lie in the portraiture, interesting though\\nit be, of himself. What is profoundly interesting is\\nthe new and original view that it afforded of Napo-\\nleon s own character, and the faithful notes of Napo-\\nleon s conversation in its naked strength. We dwell i\\non Gourgaud, not for the sake of Gourgaud, but for\\nthe sake of Napoleon. Napoleon is the figure Gour-\\ngaud is the foil.\\nWe all are apt to fancy that we thoroughly under-\\nstand Napoleon s disposition selfish, domineering,\\nviolent, and so forth. But in this book we see a new\\nNapoleon, strange, and contrary to our ideas a Na-\\npoleon such as few but Rapp have hitherto presented\\nto us. Rapp, indeed, the most independent and un-\\nflattering of all Napoleon s generals, and who, as his\\n52", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0062.jp2"}, "63": {"fulltext": "GOURGAUD\\naide de-camp, was constantly by his side, says of his\\nmaster: Many people describe Napoleon as a\\nharsh, violent, passionate man. It is because they\\nnever knew him. Absorbed as he was in affairs,\\nopposed in his plans, hampered in his projects, his\\nhumor was sometimes impatient and fluctuating.\\nBut he was so good and so generous that he was soon\\nappeased, though the confidants of his cares, far\\nfrom appeasing, would endeavor to excite his anger.\\nThe austere and upright Drouot constantly averred\\nwhen at Elba that the Emperor s anger was only skin-\\ndeep. I always found him, says his private sec-\\nretary, kind, patient, indulgent. Testimonies of\\nthis kind might be multiplied from more dubious\\nsources. But Gourgaud was certainly one of the\\nconfidants described by Rapp. He unconsciously\\ndepicts himself as petulant, sulky, and captious to\\nthe last degree; while we see Napoleon gentle, pa-\\ntient, good-tempered, trying to soothe his touchy and\\nmorbid attendant with something like the tenderness\\nof a parent for a wayward child. Once, indeed, he\\ncalls Gourgaud a child. Gourgaud is furious. Me\\na child I shall soon be thirty -four. I have eighteen\\nyears of service I have been in thirteen campaigns\\nI have received three wounds! And then to be\\ntreated like this! Calling me a child is calling me\\na fool. All this he pours forth on the Emperor in\\nan angry torrent.\\nThe Napoleon of our preconceptions would have\\nordered a subordinate who talked to him like this out\\nof the room before he had finished a sentence. What\\ndoes this Napoleon do? Let us hear Gourgaud him-\\nself. In short, I am very angry. The Emperor\\nseeks to calm me; I remain silent; we pass to the\\n53", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0063.jp2"}, "64": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\ndrawing-room. His Majesty wishes to play chess,\\nbut places the pieces all awry. He speaks to me\\ngently: I know you have commanded troops and\\nbatteries, but you are, after all, very young. I only\\nreply by a gloomy silence. The insulting charge of\\nyouth is more than Gourgaud can bear. This is our\\nGourgaud as we come to know him. But is this the\\nNapoleon that we have learned? Not menacing or i\\ncrushing his sullen and rebellious equerry, but trying\\nto soothe, to assuage, to persuade.\\nThere was no one at St. Helena who had more to\\nendure and more to try him than the Emperor, no\\none whose life had been less trained to patience and I\\nforbearance; but we rise from the study of Gour-\\ngaud s volumes with the conviction that few men j\\nwould have borne so patiently with so irritating an\\nattendant. Sometimes he is so moved as to speak\\nopenly of the disparity of their burdens. Gourgaud\\nspeaks of his chagrin. The Emperor turns upon j\\nhim, with pathetic truth: You speak of sorrow, j\\nyou And I What sorrows have I not had What j\\nthings to reproach myself with! You, at any rate,\\nhave nothing to regret. And again: Do you\\nsuppose that when I wake at night I have not bad i\\nmoments when I think of what I was, and what I\\nam? I\\nOn another occasion Napoleon proposes a remedy,\\nor a sedative, for Gourgaud s ill-humor unique, j\\nperhaps, among moral or intellectual prescriptions.\\nHe suggests that the general shall set himself to\\ntranslate the Annual Register into French: You\\nshould translate the Annual Register; it would give\\nyou an immense reputation. To which the hapless i\\nGourgaud replies: Sire, this journal has no doubt j\\n54 1", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0064.jp2"}, "65": {"fulltext": "GOURGAUD\\nmerits, but, and so deprecates the glorious task.\\nThis seems to us one of the few humorous incidents in\\nthe annals of the captivity. Sometimes the Emperor\\nbuilds castles in the air to cheer his sulky follower.\\nIn England, where we shall be in a year, he will\\nfind a bride in the city for Gourgaud with a fortune\\nof, say, \u00c2\u00a330,000; he will visit the happy couple and\\nenjoy fox-hunting. For the meditations of the Em-\\nperor constantly turn to a suitable marriage for\\nGourgaud sometimes English, sometimes French,\\nsometimes Corsican, but always with an adequate\\ndowry.\\nThe revelation of this book is, we repeat, the for-\\nbearance and long-suffering of Napoleon. The in-\\nstances of Gourgaud s petulance and insolence are\\ninnumerable. One day the Emperor orders him to\\ncopy a letter on the subject of his grievances, which\\nwas to be launched above the signature of Montho-\\nlon. I am not the copyist of M. de Montholon,\\nreplies Gourgaud. The Emperor truly says that he\\nis wanting in respect, and he has the grace to ac-\\nknowledge that he is uneasy all night. Then, when\\nLas Cases goes, the Emperor writes him a letter too\\nwarm for Gourgaud s taste. Irritated by Gourgaud s\\ncriticism and sulks. Napoleon signs it votre devoue.\\nThen Gourgaud breaks out. The Emperor invites\\nhim to play chess, and asks why he is so out of\\ntemper. Sire, I have one great fault; I am too\\nmuch attached to Your Majesty; I am not jealous,\\nbut I feel bound to say that this letter is not worthy\\nof you. Good God! I see that my poor father was\\ntoo honest a man. He brought me up in much too\\nstrict principles of honor and virtue. I know now\\nthat one should never tell the truth to sovereigns,\\n55", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0065.jp2"}, "66": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nand that flatterers and schemers are those who suc-\\nceed with them. Your Majesty will come to under-\\nstand some day what a h3^pocrite is this man.\\nNapoleon replies, half wearily, half pathetically,\\nWhat do you mean that he betrays me? After\\nall, Berthier, Marmont, and the rest on whom I have\\nheaped benefits, have all done it. Mankind must be\\nvery bad to be as bad as I consider it.\\nThis vscene rankles, and leaves Gourgaud for a\\nlong time in so diabolical a mood that the Emperor\\nis forced from mere weariness of these outbursts of\\ntemper to confine himself to his room. When Gour-\\ngaud hears this, he immediately, by way of allaying\\nthe strain on their common life, challenges Mon-\\ntholon. Things get worse and worse, until Gour-\\ngaud remonstrates with the Emperor on the double\\nallowance that he gives Montholon. Napoleon points\\nout that Montholon has a wife and famil3^ which\\nGourgaud has not. Still Gourgaud grumbles. At\\nlast Napoleon loses patience, and sa3^s frankly that\\nhe prefers Montholon to Gourgaud. Then, indeed,\\nthere is an explosion. Gourgaud is choked with\\ntears, says that all the generals who have distin-\\nguished him must have been mistaken, and so forth.\\nNot at all, replies the Emperor; they saw you on the\\nfield of battle, brave and active they did not, he\\nimplies, see you as you are now. All that the reader\\ncan gather from Gourgaud s own record is that it is\\nscarcely possible that Montholon should have been\\nso disagreeable as not to be a preferable companion\\nto Gourgaud. And so the incessant and wearisome\\nscenes go on\u00e2\u0080\u0094 the Emperor patient and friendly;\\nthe aide-de-camp fretful, sullen, even insulting. One\\nday^ for example, he says Yes, sire, provided that\\n56", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0066.jp2"}, "67": {"fulltext": "G U R G A U D\\nhistory does not say that France was very great be-\\nfore Napoleon, but partitioned after him. Even\\nthis taunt does not ruffle his master. Another time,\\nafter a tiresome wrangle, the Emperor tells him good-\\nhumoredly to go to bed and calm himself. To which\\nGourgaud replies that if he had not more philosophy-\\nand strength of mind than Napoleon he would not be\\nable to get through the night. A few weeks after this\\nremarkable statement our diarist shows his philo.s-\\nophy and strength of mind by informing Bertrand\\nthat his patience is at an end, and that he must box\\n]\\\\Iontholon s ears.\\nOn another occasion Napoleon utters a few gloomy\\nwords. I, he said, though I have long years of\\nlife before me, am already dead. What a position\\nYes, sire, sa3\\\\s Gourgaud, with patronizing can-\\ndor, it is indeed horrible. It would have been better\\nto die before coming here. But as one is here, one\\nshould have the courage to support the situation.\\nIt would be so ignominious to die at St. Helena.\\nThe Emperor, in reph^ merely sends for Bertrand as\\na more agreeable companion. On yet another da\\\\^\\nthe Emperor groans, What weariness! What a\\ncross Gourgaud is at once ready with his superior\\ncompassion. It pains me me, Gourgaud to see\\nthe man who commanded Europe brought to this.\\nBut on this occasion he keeps his pity for his journal.\\nThis all seems incredible to us, with our precon-\\nceived opinion of Napoleon, and as our business is\\nwith him, we only make these quotations to show\\nthe incessant irritations and annoyances to which he\\nwas exposed on the part of his own friends, and the\\nunexpected gentleness and patience with which he\\nbore them.\\n57", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0067.jp2"}, "68": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nHis companions, indeed, were not of very much\\ncomfort to him Bertrand was much absorbed by his\\nwife Montholon was neither very able nor very trust-\\nworthy Las Cases, who was an adroit and inteUigent\\ntalker, was a firebrand to the jealousies of the others\\nGourgaud was almost intolerable. Napoleon had to\\nmake the best of them, to soothe them, to cheer them,\\nto pay visits to Mme. Bertrand, and to make pres-\\nents to Mme. de Montholon, to try and put Gour-\\ngaud to some mathematical and historical work\\nwhich would occupy his mind. Or else the Emperor\\ntries almost humbly to put Gourgaud into a better\\nhumor. Six weeks before the final crisis he comes\\nbeside his sulky follower, and, as this last himself\\nadmits, exerts himself to make himself agreeable to\\nGourgaud. He pinches his ear the well-known sign\\nof his affection and good-humor. Why are you\\nso sad? What is the matter with you? Pluck up\\nand be gay, Gorgo, Gorgotto; we will set about a\\nbook together, my son, Gorgo. Gorgo, Gorgotto,\\ndoes not record his reception of these advances. Next\\nday, however, there is the same half-piteous appeal\\nGorgo, Gorgotto, my son.\\nSometimes, no doubt, Gourgaud records that the\\nEmperor is, or appears to be, cold or in a bad temper.\\nBut this can generally be traced to some absorbing\\nnews, or to some behavior or to some allusion of the\\nchronicler himself. Moreover, these occasions are\\nrare, and we gather them only from Gourgaud s ma-\\nlign impressions, not from any proof of the Emper-\\nor s anger. Once in these last days there is a mis-\\nunderstanding, notable only as showing Gourgaud s\\nanxiety to misunderstand. I shall die, says Napo-\\nleon, and you will go away: vous vous en irez\\n58", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0068.jp2"}, "69": {"fulltext": "GOURGAUD\\n(you will go away.) The general thinks he hears\\nvous vous en rirez (you will laugh at it), and\\nsees a halcyon opportunity for righteous wrath. Al-\\nthough Your Majesty is habitually harsh to me, this\\nis too much. I trust you do not mean what you are\\nsaying. Then there is an explanation, and the\\nruffled plumes are momentarily smoothed. So pro-\\nceeds this one-sided, cat-and-dog life. Everything\\nthat Napoleon says and does is a grievance. When\\nLas Cases has gone, the Montholons lurk behind\\neverything; they are the root of all evil. Nothing\\ncan be more wearisome, more irritating, than this\\nwrong-headed record. So the reader welcomes the\\ninevitable catastrophe. After one of these scenes,\\nin which, on Gourgaud s own showing, he is entirely\\nin the wrong, he begs Bertrand to organize his de-\\nparture. But still he delays. Before he goes he\\nmust challenge Montholon, and Mme. de Mon-\\ntholon is so near her confinement that he fears to\\nagitate her. Within a week, however, of the request\\nto Bertrand the child is born. That very day Gour-\\ngaud declares to Bertrand that the moment has come\\nto challenge Monlholon. Nine years has he been\\nwith the Emperor (here follows the inevitable record\\nof his services), and he is to be sacrificed to the Mon-\\ntholons. Ah, marshal, the Emperor has been a\\ngreat general, but what a hard heart Still he waits\\na week. Then he has an interview with Napoleon,\\nand declares his deadly intentions. Behold my\\nhair, which I have not cut for months, nor will cut\\nuntil I am revenged. The Emperor says that he is\\na brigand, nay, an assassin, if he menaces Montho-\\nlon, but that Montholon w411 kill him. So much the\\nbetter, says Gourgaud; it is better to die with honor\\n59", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0069.jp2"}, "70": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nthan to live with shame. What do you want? asks\\nNapoleon; to take precedence of Montholon, to see\\nme twice a day what is it? Gourgaud sullenly\\nreplies that a brigand and assassin can ask nothing.\\nThen the Emperor apologizes and begs him to forget\\nthose expressions. Gourgaud is mollified, consents\\nto refrain from a challenge, if Napoleon gives him a\\nwritten order to that effect, but, in a confused narra-\\ntive, explains that he is resolved on leaving St. Helena,\\nThe obscurity is probably due to the fact, which we\\nhave already discussed, that the motives for his de-\\nparture were mixed. It was impossible for him to\\ncontinue on his present footing he had become irk-\\nsome to the Emperor, and the Emperor a torture to\\nhim; and yet, though leaving on these terms, and\\nfor these causes, he was to be an agent for the Em-\\nperor in Europe. We discern obscurely through the\\nperplexed paragraphs that it is feared he may be\\nsuspected of being sent on a mission; that he must\\nleave on grounds of ill -health, and with certificates\\nof illness from O Meara. Napoleon bids him farewell.\\nIt is the last time we shall see each other. They\\nare destined, however, to meet again. As Gourgaud\\ndoes not receive the written order, he calls out Mon-\\ntholon. With his usual unconsciousness of humor,\\nhe sends with the challenge a gun and six louis which\\nhe had borrowed of his enemy. Montholon replies\\nthat he has given his word of honor to his master\\nnot to fight under present circumstances. Then\\nGourgaud doubles back again. The strange creat-\\nure goes to Lowe, of all people, and asks his ad-\\nvice. Lowe says that some will think that the\\ngeneral is leaving because he is bored, some because\\nhe has a mission. Thereupon Gourgaud begs to be\\n60", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0070.jp2"}, "71": {"fulltext": "GOURGAUD\\ntreated with extreme rigor, and returns to Longwood\\nto write a letter to Napoleon, asking leave to retire\\non the ground of illness. The Emperor grants per-\\nmission, regretting, with imperturbable gravity, that\\nthe liver complaint, indigenous to the island (and\\nwith which, for obvious reasons, he was always de-\\ntermined to credit himself), should have made an-\\nother victim. He receives Gourgaud once more.\\nThis last records, though, it may be presumed, very\\nincompletely, what passes. The Emperor bids him\\nsee Princess Charlotte, on whose favor he reckoned.\\nIt may be noted, as a fair example of the difficulties\\nthat beset the seeker for truth in St. Helena, that\\nNapoleon, when he is reported as saying this, had\\nknown for several days that she was dead. He\\nprophetically sees Gourgaud commanding French\\nartillery against the English. Tell them in France\\nthat I hate those scoundrels, those wretches, as cor-\\ndially as ever. (This was a gloss on the instruc-\\ntions he had dictated the day before, when he de-\\nclared 1 have always highly esteemed the English\\npeople, and, in spite of the martyrdom imposed on\\nme by their ministers, my esteem for them remains.\\nHe gives the parting guest a friendly tap on the\\ncheek. Good-bye; we shall see each other in an-\\nother world embrace me. Gourgaud embraces\\nhim with tears, and so ends this strange, unhapp3^\\nconnection. From another source w^e discover that\\nthe day before this farewell interview, the Emperor\\ndictated to Montholon a long appeal to the Emperor\\nof Russia, probablj for the use of Gourgaud. To\\nthis document we shall return later. Napoleon also\\ngave definite instructions to Gourgaud as to his\\ncourse on arriving in Europe. The general was to\\n6i", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0071.jp2"}, "72": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nconvey certain notes in the soles of his shoes he was\\nto take some of the Emperor s hair to Marie Louise.\\nThere is nothing striking or particularly confidential\\nin this paper. What was secret was probably oral.\\nBut to return to St. Helena. There was, of course,\\nthe inevitable question of money the usual offer and\\nthe usual refusal, the usual vagueness as to the ulti-\\nmate result. Then Gourgaud goes forth among the\\nGentiles; stays with Jackson, dines with Lowe and\\nthe commissioners, abuses Napoleon, communicates\\ncock-and-bull revelations, overacts his part. Mean-\\nwhile, we learn from Montholon that he is all the\\ntime secretly communicating to Longwood the result\\nof his conversations with Sturmer and Balmain.\\nAfter a month of this sort of life he sails away, with\\nthe benedictions of his new friends, with letters of\\nintroduction from Montchenu,with a substantial loan\\nfrom Lowe in his pocket, and with secret communi-\\ncations from Napoleon in the soles of his boots. A\\ncharacteristic ending to his tormented exile.", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0072.jp2"}, "73": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER IV\\nTHE DEPORTATION\\nWere it possible, we would ignore all this litera-\\nture, as it is peculiarly painful for an Englishman to\\nread. He must regret that his government ever un-\\ndertook the custody of Napoleon, and he must regret\\nstill more that the duty should have been discharged\\nin a spirit so ignoble and through agents so unfor-\\ntunate. If St. Helena recalls painful memories to\\nthe French, much more poignant are those that it\\nexcites among ourselves.\\nIn these days we are not perhaps fair judges of\\nthe situation, as it presented itself to the British gov-\\nernment. Thej^ were at the head of a coalition which\\nhad twice succeeded in overthrowing Napoleon. It\\nhad cost Great Britain, according to the spacious\\nfigures of statistical dictionaries, more than eight\\nhundred millions sterling to effect Napoleon s re-\\nmoval to Elba. His return had cost them millions\\nmore, besides a hideous shock to the nervous system\\nof nations. What all this had cost in human life\\ncan never perhaps be fairly estimated not less than\\ntwo millions of lives. The first main object, then,\\nof the allies a duty to their own people, who had\\nsacrificed so much was to make it absolutely cer-\\ntain that Napoleon should nevermore escape. Our\\nown view is that under no circumstances could Na-\\n63", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0073.jp2"}, "74": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\npoleon have ever again conquered Europe; his en- i\\nergies were exhausted, and so was France for his j\\nhfetime. But the alHes could not know this; they\\nwould have been censurable had they taken such a i;\\nview into consideration, and in any case Napoleon,\\nwell or ill, active or inactive, if at large, would have\\nbeen a formidable rallying point for the revolution-\\nary forces of Europe. j\\nWe may, then, consider it as admitted and estab- I\\nlished that Napoleon could never again be a free\\nagent. It was hard for him, but he had been hard\\non the w^orld. And in a sense it was the greatest\\ncompliment that could be paid him.\\nNapoleon surrendered himself to Great Britain, I\\nand the allies desired that Great Britain should be\\nanswerable for him. In what spirit did our gov-\\nernment accept this charge? We wish, writes\\nLord Liverpool, Prime Minister, to Lord Castlereagh,\\nForeign Secretary, We wish that the King of\\nFrance would hang or shoot Bonaparte, as the best\\ntermination of the business. To make his case clear\\nhe put it thus to Eldon Napoleon must then re-\\nvert either to his original character of a French sub-\\nject, or he had no character at all, and headed his\\nexpedition as an outlaw and an outcast hostis hu- I\\nmani generis. The option, as it presented itself, i\\napparently, to Lord Liverpool at that time, was that j\\nNapoleon might either be handed to Louis XVIII. as\\na subject to be treated as a rebel, or might be placed\\noutside the pale of humanity and treated as vermin.\\nAgain he writes regretfully to Castlereagh that if\\nthe King of France does not feel himself suf- i\\nficiently strong to treat him as a rebel, we are ready\\nto take upon ourselves the custody of his person.\\n64 i", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0074.jp2"}, "75": {"fulltext": "THE DEPORTATION\\nand so forth. Sir Walter Scott admits that in 1816\\na considerable party in Britain still considered that\\nNapoleon should have been handed over to Louis\\nXVIII. to be dealt with as a rebel subject. Fortu-\\nnately, though no thanks to our ministers, we are\\nspared the memory of their having handed over Na-\\npoleon to the French government to be shot like Ney.\\nWe see, then, that there was not the slightest hope\\nof our government behaving with any sort of mag-\\nnanimity in the matter; though a British prince,\\nthe Duke of Sussex, in combination with Lord Hol-\\nland, recorded his public protest against the course\\nwhich was pursued. Napoleon, who had thought of\\nThemistocles, and afterwards thought of Hannibal,\\nhad appealed, with not perhaps so much confidence\\nas he professed, to the hospitality of Great Britain.\\nHe had hoped, under the name of Colonel Muiron,\\nan early friend who had been killed by his side,\\nwhile shielding his body, at Areola, and for whose\\nmemory he had a peculiar tenderness, to live as an\\nEnglish country gentleman. This, we think, though\\nwe say so with regret, was impossible. England was\\ntoo near France for such a solution. The throne\\nof the Bourbons, which had become, for some mys-\\nterious reason, a pivot of our policy, could never\\nhave been safe, were it generally known that some\\nscore of miles from the French coast there was\\na middle-aged French colonel who had been Napo-\\nleon. Not all the precautions that enclosed Danae\\ncould have prevented commiseration and solicitation\\nto so potent a neighbor. Napoleon had been the\\ngenius of unrest in Europe; the tradition and asso-\\nciation would have remained with Colonel Muiron,\\nhowever respectable and domesticated that officer\\nE 65", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0075.jp2"}, "76": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nmight be. And Napoleon, indeed, blurted out the\\ntruth at St. Helena in the presence of his little circle.\\nHe had just received a letter stating that there was a\\ngreat change of opinion in France. Ah! he ex-\\nclaims, were we but in England. Moreover, he\\nwould have been the innocent object of all sorts of\\nlegal questions, which would have tormented the\\ngovernment. As it was. Admiral Lord Keith was\\nchased round his own fleet through an entire day by\\na lawyer with a writ, on account of Napoleon.\\nLastly, and we suspect that this weighed most\\nwith our rulers, he would have become the centre of\\nmuch sympathy, and even admiration, in England\\nitself. For Great Britain, though victorious, was by\\nno means contented. When we recall her internal\\nhistory from Waterloo till Napoleon s death, we can\\nwell understand that the presence within her United\\nKingdoms of the triumphant child of the revolution\\nwould not have been considered by the Tory ministry\\nas a strength or support to their government. You\\nknow enough, writes Liverpool to Castlereagh, of\\nthe feelings of people in this country not to doubt\\nthat he would become an object of curiosity immedi-\\nately, and possibly of compassion in the course of a\\nfew months. The innumerable visitors who flocked\\nto see him at Plymouth confirmed the prescience of\\nour premier. There was indeed an extraordinary\\nglamour about the fallen monarch, of which he him-\\nself was quite aware. He said with confidence at\\nSt. Helena that had he gone to England he would\\nhave conquered the hearts of the English. He fas-\\ncmated Maitland, who took him to England, as he\\nhad fascinated Ussher, who had conducted him to\\nElba. Maitland caused inquiries to be made after\\n66", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0076.jp2"}, "77": {"fulltext": "THE DEPORTATION\\nNapoleon had left the Bellerophon, as to the feelings\\nof the crew, and received as the result: Well, they\\nmay abuse that man as much as they please but if\\nthe people of England knew him as well as we do,\\nthey would not touch a hair of his head. When he\\nleft the Northumberland, the crew were much of the\\nsame opinion: He is a fine fellow, who does not\\ndeserve his fate/ The crew which brought Mont-\\nchenu held similar views. When he had left the\\nUndaunted, which conveyed him to Elba, the boat-\\nswain, on behalf of the ship s company, had wished\\nhim long life and prosperity in the island of Elba,\\nand better luck another time. After two short meet-\\nings, both Hotham, the admiral, and Senhouse, the\\nflag-captain, felt all their prejudices evaporate. The\\nadmiral and myself, writes Senhouse, have both\\ndiscovered that our inveteracy has oozed out like the\\ncourage of Acres in The Rivals. There was a\\nmore sublime peril yet. Damn the fellow! said\\nLord Keith, after seeing him, if he had obtained an\\ninterview with His Royal Highness (the Prince Re-\\ngent), in half an hour they would have been the\\nbest friends in England. Napoleon was ultimate-\\nly made aware of the danger that was apprehended\\nfrom his living in England. A traveller had told\\nhim that the British government could not sufl er\\nhim there lest the rioters should place him at their\\nhead. Another had told him that he had heard\\nLords Liverpool and Castlereagh say that their main\\nreason for sending him to St. Helena was their fear\\nof his caballing with the opposition. It is unnec-\\nessary to expand. Napoleon in England would have\\nbeen a danger to the governments both of France and\\nof Britain.\\n67", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0077.jp2"}, "78": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nOn the Continent of Europe he could only have lived\\nin a fortress. In some countries he would have been a\\nvolcano; in others he could scarcely have escaped out-\\nrage or assassination. In the United States he would\\nhave been outside the control of those powers which\\nhad the greatest interest in his restraint, and, in a\\nregion where a Burr had schemed for empire, a Na-\\npoleon would have been at least a centre of disturb-\\nance. Indeed, he frankly admitted that had he lived\\nthere he would not have confined himself, like Joseph,\\nto building and planting, but would have tried to\\nfound a state. Montholon avers that, as things\\nwere, the crown of Mexico was offered to Napoleon\\nat St. Helena but this we take for what it is worth.\\nLender these circumstances, however, it was not un-\\nnatural to select St. Helena as a proper residence for\\nNapoleon. The Congress at Vienna, in 1 814-15, had\\nhad their eye on the island as a possible prison for\\nthe sovereign of Elba. It was reputed to be a tropical\\nparadise it was remote it possessed, said Lord Liv-\\nerpool, a very fine residence, which Napoleon might\\ninhabit as he might, indeed, had not Lord Liver-\\npool sent instructions that he was on no account to\\ndo so. The Duke of Wellington, too, thought the\\nclimate charming, but then he had not to go there;\\nand he viewed the future of Napoleon with a robust\\nbut not altruistic philosophy. There was, moreover,\\nonly one anchorage, and that very limited; vessels\\napproaching the island could be descried from an\\nincredible distance, and neutral vessels could be\\naltogether excluded.\\nThe selection, we think, can fairly be justified,\\nthough it was a terrible shock to Napoleon and his\\nattendants, who had hoped that at the worst their\\n63", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0078.jp2"}, "79": {"fulltext": "THE DEPORTATION\\ndestination would be Dumbarton Castle or the Tower\\nof London. No good Frenchman appears to be long\\nhappy outside France, and St. Helena seemed to be\\nthe end of the world. Napoleon himself said at first\\nthat he would not go alive. Eventually he recovered\\nhimself, and behaved with dignity and composure.\\nFrom the very first he had much to bear. Savary\\nand Lallemand were forbidden to accompany him,\\nand their parting with him is described by stolid\\nBritish witnesses as a scene of anguish. They, with\\nothers of his suite, were shipped to Malta, and there\\ninterned. He himself was handed over to Cockburn,\\nwho seems to have entered with relish into the spirit\\nof his instructions. Napoleon was now to be known\\nas General Bonaparte, and treated with the same\\nhonors as a British general not in employ. He\\nwas soon made to feel that a British general not in\\nemploy was entitled to no peculiar consideration. A\\ncabin twelve feet by nine was assigned to him. When\\nhe attempted to use the adjacent room as a private\\nstudy, he was at once made to understand that it was\\ncommon to all officers. He received the communi-\\ncation with submission and good-humor, When he\\nappeared on the deck bare-headed, the British officers\\nremained covered. Why, indeed, should they show\\ncourtesy to a half-pay officer? Napoleon, who had\\nnever been accustomed to sit at table more than twenty\\nminutes, was wearied with the protracted English\\nmeal, and when he had taken his coffee went on deck,\\nrather uncivilly, thinks the admiral, and desires\\nevery one to remain. I believe the general has\\nnever read Lord Chesterfield, he remarks. This\\ndelicate irony was not lost on Napoleon s little court,\\none of whom was quick to retort with pertinence and\\n69", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0079.jp2"}, "80": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\neffect. She might have added that the admiral could\\nnot himself have read Lord Chesterfield with any\\ngreat attention, as the practice of sitting over wine is\\none that that philosopher especially reprobates. It\\nis clear/ notes the admiral, he is still inclined to j\\nact the sovereign occasionally, but I cannot allow it. i\\nPursuing this course of discipline, he notes, a few j\\ndays later Idid not see much of General Buonaparte J\\nthroughout this day, as, owing to his appearing in-\\nclined to try to assume again improper consequence, I\\nwas purposely more than usually distant with him.\\nA lion-tamer, indeed! We were truly far removed\\nfrom the days of the Black Prince and another captive\\nsovereign of France.\\nEven Montchenu, the French commissioner, whose\\nviews as to the proper treatment of Napoleon were of\\nthe austerest character, thinks that Cockburn be-\\nhaved somewhat too cavalierly to the captive. He\\nquotes Napoleon as saying: Let them put me in\\nchains if they like, but let them at least treat me with\\nthe consideration that is due to me.\\nCockburn, from his vantage-point of native chiv-\\nalry, considers the nature of Napoleon as not\\nvery polished, but that he is as civil as his nature\\nseems capable of. So that the admiral, on Napo-\\nleon s birthday, unbends so far as to drink his health,\\nwhich civility he seemed to appreciate. Later\\nagain, Sir George states, with a proper appreciation\\nof their relative stations in life, I am always ready\\nto meet him half-way, when he appears to conduct\\nhimself with due modesty and consideration of his\\npresent situation. And at last, so decently did he\\ncomport himself that he earned from the admiral\\nthe tribute that he has throughout shown far less\\n70", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0080.jp2"}, "81": {"fulltext": "THE DEPORTATION\\nimpatience about the wind and the weather, and\\nmade less difficulties, than any of the rest of the\\nparty.\\nAnd yet he and they had some cause for com-\\nplaint. They were packed like herrings in a barrel.\\nThe Northumberland, it was said, had been arrested\\non her way back from India in order to convey Na-\\npoleon; all the water on board, it was alleged, had\\nalso been to India, was discolored and tainted, as\\nwell as short in quantity. They had the gloomiest\\nprospects to face in the future. A little fretfulness,.\\nthen, would not have been inexcusable, at any rate\\non the part of the two French ladies. But they ap-\\npear to have been fairly patient, and at any rate not\\nto have attracted the particular censure of the fastidi-\\nous Cockburn,\\nThe admiral himself cannot have been entirely at\\nhis ease. His crew were in a state of scarcely sup-\\npressed mutiny. They refused to get up anchor at\\nPortsmouth, until a large military force was brought\\non board to compel them. On the voyage their lan-\\nguage and conduct were beyond description; they\\nthought nothing of striking the midshipmen. A\\nguard was placed outside the Emperor s cabin to pre-\\nvent communication between the captive and the\\ncrew. Napoleon is said to have told Cockburn that\\nhe did not doubt that he could get many to join him.\\nWhat between teaching manners to Napoleon and\\ndiscipline to his crew. Sir George s position can\\nscarcely have been a sinecure.\\nNapoleon landed at St. Helena exactly three\\nmonths after his surrender to Maitland. But he re-\\nmained in charge of the admiral until a new governor\\nshould arrive, for the actual governor, Mr. Wilks, be-\\n71", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0081.jp2"}, "82": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nsides being the servant of the East India Company,\\nwas not, it may be presumed, considered equal to the\\nnovel and special functions attaching to his office,\\nthough Wellington thinks that it would have been\\nbetter to keep him. So Cockburn continued in ofdce\\nuntil April, 1816, when he was superseded by the\\narrival of Sir Hudson Lowe.", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0082.jp2"}, "83": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER V\\nSIR HUDSON LOWE\\nThere are few names in history so unfortunate\\nas Lowe s. Had he not been selected for the deUcate\\nand invidious post of Governor of St. Helena during\\nNapoleon s residence, he might have passed through\\nand out of life with the same tranquil distinction as\\nother officers of his service and standing. It was his\\nluckless fate, however, to accept a position in which\\nit was difficult to be successful, but impossible for\\nhim. He was, we conceive, a narrow, ignorant, irri-\\ntable man, without a vestige of tact or sympathy.\\nHis manner, says the apologetic Forsyth, was\\nnot prepossessing, even in the judgment of favorable\\nfriends. His eye, said Napoleon, on first seeing\\nhim, is that of a hyena caught in a trap. Lady\\nGranville, who saw him two years after he had left\\nSt. Helena, said that he had the countenance of a\\ndevil. We are afraid we must add that he was not\\nwhat we should call, in the best sense, a gentleman.\\nBut a government which had wished Napoleon to\\nbe hanged or shot was not likely to select any per-\\nson of large or generous nature to watch over the re-\\nmainder of his life nor, indeed, had they sought one,\\nwere they likely to secure one for such a post. Lowe,\\nhowever, was a specially ill choice, for a reason ex-\\nternal to himself. He had commanded the Corsican\\n73", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0083.jp2"}, "84": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nRangers, a regiment of Napoleon s subjects and fel-\\nlow-countrymen in arms against France, and, there-\\nfore, from that sovereign s point of view, a regiment\\nof rebels and deserters. This made him peculiarly\\nobnoxious to the Corsican Emperor, who was not\\nsparing of taunts on the subject. Nor was it any ad-\\nvantage to him to have been driven from Capri by\\nGeneral Lamarque with, it was alleged, an inferior\\nforce. But not in any case, though we believe his\\nintentions were good, and although he had just mar-\\nried a charming wife, whose tact should have guided\\nhim, could he ever have been a success.\\nIn saying this we do not rely on our own impres-\\nsions alone. The verdict of history is almost uni-\\nformly unfavorable. We have met with only two\\nwriters who give a favorable account of Lowe, be-\\nsides his official defenders. One is Henry, a military\\nsurgeon quartered at St. Helena, a friend and guest\\nof Lowe s, who gives, by the bye, an admirable de-\\nscription of the reception of his regiment by Napoleon.\\nHenry, throughout his two volumes, has a loyal and\\ncatholic devotion to all British governors, which does\\nnot exclude Lowe. He speaks of Sir Hudson as a\\nmuch-maligned man, though he admits that his first\\nimpressions of the governor s appearance were un-\\nfavorable, and alludes to the hastiness of temper,\\nuncourteousness of demeanor, and severity of meas-\\nures with which Lowe was credited. All these are\\ncounterbalanced in the author s mind by the talent\\nwhich the governor exerted in unravelling the intri-\\ncate plotting constantly going on at Longwood, and\\nthe firmness in tearing it to pieces, with the unceas-\\ning vigilance, and so forth. No one denies the vigi-\\nlance, but we have no evidence of plots at Longwood\\n74", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0084.jp2"}, "85": {"fulltext": "SIR HUDSON LOWE\\nmore dangerous than the smugghng of letters. The\\ntestimony, therefore, does not seem very valuable;\\nbut let it stand for what it is worth. The other au-\\nthority is the anonymous author of a story called\\nEdward Lascelles. Here the prejudices of the au-\\nthor are overcome by the hospitality of the governor;\\nand, in both cases, the charm of Lady Lowe seems\\nto have been effectual. These, however, are slender\\nbulwarks. On the other hand, we have Walter Scott,\\nwith strong prepossessions in favor of High Toryisrn\\nand the Liverpool government. It would require,\\nsays Scott, a strong defence on the part of Sir Hud-\\nson Lowe himself to induce us to consider him\\nas the very rare and highly exalted species of char-\\nacter to whom, as we have already stated, this im-\\nportant charge ought to have been intrusted. Even\\nLowe s own biographer, whose zeal on the governor s\\nbehalf cannot be questioned by those who have sur-\\nvived the perusal of his book, is obliged to censure:\\non one occasion he says truly that one of Lowe s pro-\\nceedings was uncalled for and indiscreet on others,\\na similar opinion is not less manifest. Alison, an\\nardent supporter of the same political creed, says\\nthat Lowe proved an unhappy selection. His man-\\nner was rigid and unaccommodating, and his temper\\nof mind was not such as to soften the distress which\\nthe Emperor suffered during his detention. Sir\\nHudson Lowe, said the Duke of Wellington, was\\na very bad choice; he was a man wanting in educa-\\ntion and judgment. He was a stupid man he knew\\nnothing at all of the world, and, like all men who\\nknow nothing of the world, he was suspicious and\\njealous. This, from Wellington, was remarkable,\\nfor he was not a generous enemy, and he thought\\n75", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0085.jp2"}, "86": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nthat Napoleon had nothing to complain of. But,\\nafter all, there are certain witnesses of high char-\\nacter, well acquainted with Lowe, who were on the\\nspot, whose testimony seems to us conclusive. We\\nmean Sir Pulteney Malcolm (who was admiral on the\\nstation) and the foreign commissioners. Malcolm\\nwas in the same interest, was serving the same gov-\\nernment, and seems to have been heartily loyal to\\nthe governor. But that did not prevent the gover-\\nnor s quarrelling with him. Malcolm found, as we\\nhave seen, that the island was pervaded by the gov-\\nernor s spies, that Lowe did not treat him as a gentle-\\nman, that Lowe cross-questioned him about his con-\\nversations with Napoleon in a spirit of unworthy sus-\\npicion. They parted on the coolest terms, if on any\\nterms at all.\\nThe commissioners were hostile to Napoleon, and\\nanxious to be well with Lowe. But this was impos-\\nsible. The Frenchman, Montchenu, was the most\\nfavorable, yet he writes I should not be surprised\\nto hear shortly that his little head has succumbed\\nunder the enormous weight of the defence of an inac-\\ncessible rock, protected by land and sea forces.\\nAh What a man I am convinced that with every\\npossible search one could not discover the like of\\nhim.\\nSturmer, the Austrian, says that it would have\\nbeen impossible to make a worse choice. It would\\nbe difficult to find a man more awkward, extrava-\\ngant, or disagreeable. I know not by what fatality\\nSir Hudson Lowe always ends by quarrelling with\\neverybody. Overwhelmed with the weight of his re-\\nsponsibilities, he harasses and worries himself un-\\nceasingly, and feels a desire to worry everybody else.\\n76", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0086.jp2"}, "87": {"fulltext": "SIR HUDSON LOWE\\nAgain he writes of Lowe He makes himself odious.\\nThe EngHsh dread him and fly from him, the French\\naugh at him, the commissioners complain of him,\\nmd ever3^ one agrees that he is half crazy/ Bal-\\nnain, the Russian, was a favored guest of Lowe s,\\nmd ended by marr3ang his step-daughter. But he\\nnever ceases railing against that luckless official.\\nThe governor is not a tyrant, but he is troublesome\\nand unreasonable beyond endurance. Elsewhere\\nhe says: Lowe can get on with nobody, and sees\\neverywhere nothing but treason and traitors. Lowe,\\nindeed, did not love the commissioners, as represent-\\ning an authority other than his own. He would re-\\nmain silent when they spoke to him. He was incon-\\nceivably rude to them. But that in itself seems no\\nproof of his fitness for his post.\\nOne of his freaks with regard to the commissioners\\nis too quaint \\\\o be omitted. He insisted on address-\\ning them in English. Montchenu, who did not\\nunderstand a word of the language, complained.\\nWhereupon Lowe, who wrote French with facility,\\noffered to correspond in Latin, as the diplomatic\\nlanguage of the sixteenth century.\\nThe duty of detaining Napoleon s person, said\\nScott, required a man of that extraordinary\\nfirmness of mind who should never yield for one\\nnstant his judgment to his feelings, and should be\\nble at once to detect and reply to all such false argu-\\nnents as might be used to deter him from the down-\\night and manful discharge of his office. But then,\\nlere ought to have been combined with those rare\\nualities a calmness of temper almost equally rare,\\n\u00e2\u0080\u00a2Jid a generosity of mind which, confident in its own\\nonor and integrit}^ could look with serenity and\\n77\\nI", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0087.jp2"}, "88": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\ncompassion upon the daily and hourly effects of the\\nmaddening causes which tortured into a state of con-\\nstant and unendurable irritability the extraordinary\\nbeing subjected to their influence. This rather\\npompous and wordy definition does certainty not\\napply to Lowe. He was, in truth, tormented by a\\nsort of monomania of plots and escapes; he was, if\\nwe may coin an English equivalent for a useful and\\nuntranslatable French word, meticulous almost to\\nmadness: he was tactless to a degree almost incred-\\nible. We believe that we can produce from the pages\\nof his own ponderous biographer sufficient examples\\nof his character and of his unfitness for a post of dis-\\ncrimination and delicacy.\\nMontholon offers ]\\\\Iontchenu a few beans to plant,\\nboth white and green. To the ordinar^^ mind this\\nseems commonplace and utilitarian enough. But the\\ngovernor s was not an ordinary mind. He scents a\\nplot he suspects in these innocent vegetables an al-\\nlusion to the white flag of the Bourbons and the green\\nuniform usually worn b}^ Napoleon. He writes\\ngravety to Bathurst Whether the haricots blancs\\nand haricots verts bear any reference to the drapeau\\nblanc of the Bourbons, and the habit vert of General\\nBonaparte himself, and the livery of his servants\\nat Longwood, I am unable to sax; but the Marquis\\nde Montchenu, it appears to me, would have acted\\nwith more propriety if he had declined receiving\\neither, or limited himself to a demand for the white\\nalone. Sir H. Lowe, saj^s Forsyth, thought\\nthe matter of some importance, and again alluded\\nto it in another letter to Lord Bathurst. Even For-\\nsyth cuts a little joke.\\nTake another example. A young Corsican priest\\n78", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0088.jp2"}, "89": {"fulltext": "SIR HUDSON LOWE\\nis sent out to the exile. He is, like all the rest, much\\nand necessaril} bored all the more as, it is said, he\\ncan neither read nor write. So he determines to try\\nand ride, and he is naturall}^ shj about being seen\\nmaking the experiment. But he wears a jacket\\nsomething like Napoleon s, though the rest of the\\ncostume is totally unlike the Emperor s. All this is\\nreported in great detail to the governor, and is called\\nby Forsyth, an apparent attempt to personate Na-\\npoleon, and thus deceive the orderly officer. It\\nwas not an unimportant fact that Bonaparte did not\\nleave his house that day at all. We do not know\\nthe exact stress laid on this incident by Lowe. Judg-\\ning from Forsyth s account, it was considerable.\\nThe fact that the experimental ride of a young priest\\nshould be construed into an attempt to personate\\nthe middle-aged and corpulent exile shows the effect\\nwhich an abiding panic ma3 exercise on a mind in\\nwhich suspicion has become monomania.\\nBertrand s children go to breakfast with Mont-\\nchenu. The little boj^, on seeing a portrait of Louis\\nXVII., asks: Qui est ce gros ponf? On being\\ntold, he adds, C est un grand coquin while his\\nsister Hortense displays a not unnatural aversion\\nto the white cockade, the s^^mbol of the part}^ which\\nhad ruined her family and condemned her father to\\ndeath. The artless prattle of these babes is cate-\\ngoricalh^ recorded b3^ the conscientious governor\\nfor the instruction of the secretary of state.\\nBalmain records an observation of Lowe s in the\\nsame strain of exaggeration, which depicts the\\nman. Dr. O ^Ieara, says the governor, has com-\\nmitted unpardonable faults. He informed the peo-\\nple there (at Longwood) of what was going on\\n79", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0089.jp2"}, "90": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nin the town, in the country, on board the ships he\\nwent in search of news for them, and paid base court\\nto them. Then he gave an Enghshman, on behalf\\nof Napoleon, and secretly, a snuff-box! What in-\\nfamy! And is it not disgraceful of this grandissime\\nEmperor thus to break the regulations? This is\\nnot burlesque it is serious.\\nThe man seems to have become half crazy with his\\nresponsibility, and with the sense that he was an\\nobject of ridicule both to the French and to his col-\\nleagues, while his captive remained the centre of ad-\\nmiration and interest, and, in the main, master of\\nthe situation. He prowled uneasily about Long-\\nwood, as if unable to keep away, though Napoleon\\nrefused to receive him. They had, indeed, only six\\ninterviews in all, and those in the first three months\\nof his terra of office. For nearly five years before\\nNapoleon s death they never exchanged a word.\\nWith regard to this question of interviews, Napo-\\nleon was rational enough. Lowe was antipathetic\\nto him as a man and as his jailer. Consequently,\\nNapoleon lost his temper outrageously when they\\nmet, a humiliation for which the Emperor suffered*\\nafterwards, and which he was therefore anxious to\\navoid. Four days before their last terrible conver-\\nsation of August l8, 1816, Napoleon sa3^s, with perfect\\ngood sense and right feeling, that he does not wish\\nto see the governor, because when they meet he says\\nthings which compromise his character and dignity.\\nOn the 1 8th Lowe comes to Longwood. Napoleon\\nescapes, but Lowe insists on seeing him, and the re-\\nsult fully justifies Napoleon s apprehension andi\\nself -distrust. As soon as it is over, Napoleon re-\\nturns to his former frame of mind, and bitterly regrets\\n80", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0090.jp2"}, "91": {"fulltext": "SIR HUDSON LOWE\\nhaving received the governor, for the reasons he\\ngave before, and determines to see him no more a\\nresohition to which he fortunately adhered.\\nAnd yet, with all this mania of suspicion, it is curi-\\nous to note that Lowe was unable to watch over those\\nof his own household. Balmain is convinced, and\\nbrings instances to prove, that all that passed at Gov-\\nernment House was promptly known at Longwood.\\nWe have said that Lowe was incredibly tactless.\\nOne of his first acts was to ask Napoleon to dinner.\\nWe give the actual note as an admirable illustration\\nof Lowe s lack of propriety and common sense:\\nShould the arrangements of General Bonaparte\\nadmit it. Sir Hudson and Lady Lowe would feel grat-\\nified in the honor of his company to meet the countess\\nat dinner on Monday next at six o clock. They re-\\nquest Count Bertrand will have the goodness to make\\nknown this invitation to him, and forward to them\\nhis reply. Bertrand did make the invitation known\\nto the Emperor, who merely remarked, It is too\\nsilly; send no reply. The countess was Lady\\nLoudon, wife of Lord Moira, governor general of\\nIndia. A man who could ask one who, the year\\nbefore, had occupied the throne of France, to meet\\nthe countess at dinner, was not likely to fulfil, with\\nsuccess, functions of extreme delicacy. Sir Hud-\\nson, however, regarded Napoleon as a British gen-\\neral not in employ, and thought it an amiable con-\\ndescension to invite him to take his dinner with the\\ncountess. Moreover, to make his advances en-\\ntirely acceptable, the governor addressed Napoleon\\nby a title which he well knew that the Emperor con-\\nsidered as an insult to France and to himself. With\\na spirit of hospitality, however, unquenched by\\nF 8i", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0091.jp2"}, "92": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nhis rebuff. Sir Hudson, three months afterwards,\\nasked Bertrand to invite the Emperor, on his behalf,\\nto his party on the Prince Regent s birthday, but\\nBertrand dechned to give the message. Lady Lowe,\\nhowever, had the good sense to say, gayly, He\\nwould not come to my house, and I thought him per-\\nfectly right.\\nIt is unnecessary, we think, to multiply these ex-\\namples, or to dilate further on the uncongenial sub-\\nject of Lowe s shortcomings and disabilities. Justice,\\nhowever, requires us to notice that Napoleon was\\navenged on his enemy by the ill-fortune which pur-\\nsued Sir Hudson. He was coldly approved by his\\ngovernment, but received little, in spite of constant\\nsolicitation. His rewards w^ere, indeed, slender and\\nunsatisfying. George IV., at a levee, shook him\\nwarmly by the hand, and he was given the colonelcy\\nof a regiment. Four years later he was made com-\\nmander of the forces in Ceylon. This was all. Three\\nyears afterwards he returned to England in the hope\\nof better things, visiting St. Helena on his way. He\\nfound Longwood already converted to the basest\\nuses. The approach to it was through a large pig-\\nsty: the billiard-room was a hay-loft: the room in\\nwhich Napoleon died was converted into a stable.\\nAll trace of the garden at which the Emperor had\\ntoiled, and which had cheered and occupied his last\\nmoments, had vanished it was now a potato-field.\\nWhatever may have been Lowe s feelings at behold-\\ning this scene of desolation and disgrace, he was\\nnot destined to witness a more cheering prospect in\\nEngland. He first waited on his old patron. Lord\\nBathurst, who advised him at once to return to Cey-\\nlon. He then went to the Duke of Wellington and\\n82", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0092.jp2"}, "93": {"fulltext": "SIR HUDSON LOWE\\nasked for a promise of the reversion of the governor-\\nship of Ceylon. The duke rephed that he could\\nmake no promise till the vacancy arose, but added,\\nambiguously enough, that no motive of policy would\\nprevent him from employing Sir Hudson wherever\\nthat officer s services could be useful. Sir Hudson\\nthen pressed for a pension, but the duke replied, un-\\nambiguously enough, that neither would Parliament\\never grant one nor would Mr. Peel ever consent to\\npropose one to the House of Commons. This was\\ncold comfort from the duke for the man whom the\\nduke professed to think hardly used. And after\\nthe expiry of his appointment in Ceylon he never re-\\nceived either employment or pension. We do not\\nknow what his deserts may have been, but we think\\nthat he was hardly used by his employers.\\nWhen O Meara s book came out. Sir Hudson had\\nhis opportunity. He determined to appeal to the\\nlaw to vindicate his character. He at once retained\\nCopley and Tindal, who bade him select the most\\nlibellous passages in the book for his affidavit in ap-\\nplying for a criminal information. This was easier\\nsaid than done, from the peculiar art with which\\nthe book was composed. Truth and false-\\nhood, continued Lowe, were so artfully blended\\ntogether in the book, that he found it extremely dif-\\nficult to deny them in an unqualified manner. He\\nfound it, indeed, so difficult that he took too long\\nabout it. O Meara had published his book in July,\\n1822. It was not till the latter end of Hilary term,\\n1823, that Lowe s counsel appeared in court to move\\nfor the criminal information. The judges held that\\nthe application was made too late. He had to pay\\nhis own costs, and his character remained unvin-\\n83", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0093.jp2"}, "94": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\ndicated. Nor did he attempt any further efforts to\\nclear himself, but, in the words of his admiring\\nbiographer, he wearied the government with appli-\\ncations for redress, when he had, in fact, in his own\\nhands the amplest means of vindicating his own\\ncharacter. These ample means apparently\\nlurked in an enormous mass of papers, intrusted\\nfirst to Sir Harris Nicolas, and then to Mr. Forsyth.\\nBut when at length the vindication appeared. Sir\\nHudson s ill-fortune did not, in our judgment, for-\\nsake him. He himself had been dead nine years\\nwhen the Captivity of Napoleon at St. Helena, by\\nForsyth, was published to clear his sore and neg-\\nlected memory. It is in three massive volumes, and\\nrepresents the indigestible digest of Sir Hudson\\nLowe s papers, extracted by that respectable author\\nwhom, in allusion to a former work. Brougham used\\nto address as My dearest Hortensius. But the\\nresult, it must be admitted, is a dull and trackless\\ncollection, though it embraces a period which one\\nwould have thought made dulness impossible. It\\nis a dreary book, crowned by a barren index. We\\nare willing to believe that the demerits of the work\\nare due rather to the hero than the biographer. With\\nthat question we are not concerned. But as a de-\\nfence of Lowe it is futile, because it is unreadable.\\nMr. Seaton, however, has, by quarrying in Mr. For-\\nsyth s materials, produced a much more spirited and\\navailable refutation of O Meara.\\nAnd, indeed, whatever the demerits of ForsjHh s\\nbook, it renders two services to the student. For it\\nis a repository of original documents bearing on the\\nstory, and it conclusively exposes the bad faith and\\nunveracity of O Meara.\\n84", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0094.jp2"}, "95": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER VI\\nTHE QUESTION OF TITLE\\nA DISCUSSION of Lowe s character inevitably\\nraises other questions the nature of the grievances\\nof which Napoleon complained, and the amount of\\nresponsibility for those grievances justly attaching\\nto the governor. The grievances may be ranged\\nunder three heads those relating to title, to finance,\\nand to custody. Of these the question of title is by\\nfar the most important, for it was not merely the\\nsource of half the troubles of the captivity, but it op-\\nerated as an almost absolute bar to intercourse, and\\nas an absolute veto on what might have been an\\namicable discussion of other grievances.\\nWe have set forth at length the ill-advised note in\\nwhich Lowe asked Napoleon to dinner. It was, in\\nany case, a silly th ng to do, but the governor must\\nhave known that there was one phrase in it which\\nwould certainly prevent Napoleon s noticing it, for\\nin it he was styled General Bonaparte. Napoleon\\nregarded this as an affront. When he had first land-\\ned on the island Cockburn had sent him an invita-\\ntion to a ball directed to General Bonaparte. On\\nreceiving it through Bertrand, Napoleon had re-\\nmarked to the grand marshal Send this card to\\nGeneral Bonaparte; the last I heard of him was at\\nthe Pyramids and Mount Tabor.\\n^3", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0095.jp2"}, "96": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nBut, as a rule, he did not treat this matter so hght-\\nly. It was not, he said, that he cared particularly for\\nthe title of Emperor, but that when his right to it was\\nchallenged, he was bound to maintain it. We cannot\\nourselves conceive on what ground it was disputed.\\nHe had been recogn zed as Emperor by every power\\nin the world except Great Britain, and even she had\\nrecognized him as First Consul, and been willing to\\nmake peace with him both in Paris and at Chatillon.\\nHe had been anointed Emperor by the Pope himself\\nhe had been twice solemnly crowned, once as Em-\\nperor, and once as King. He had received every\\nsanction which tradition or religion or diplomacy\\ncould give to the imperial title, and as a fact had been\\nthe most powerful emperor since Charlemagne. In\\nFrance the titles he had given, the dukes and mar-\\nshals and knights whom he had created, all were rec-\\nognized. The sovereign source of these was by im-\\nplication necessarily recognized with them. The\\ncommissioners appointed to accompany Napoleon to\\nElba were especially enjoined to give him the title of\\nEmperor and the honors due to that rank. Welling-\\nton himself used to send messages to Joseph the\\nmere transient nominee of Napoleon as to the\\nKing, It seems impossible, then, to surmise why,\\nexcept for purposes of petty annoyance, our rulers\\nrefused to recognize Napoleon s admission to the\\ncaste of kings; for, as Consalvi remarked at Vienna\\nin 1 814, it is not to be supposed that the Pope went\\nto Paris to consecrate and crown a man of straw/\\nBut that refusal was the key-note of their policj^ ve-\\nhement and insistent, and it affords an admirable ob-\\nject-lesson of the range and wisdom of that ministry.\\nIn the act which passed through Parliament for\\n86", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0096.jp2"}, "97": {"fulltext": "THE QUESTION OF TITLE\\nmore effectuall}^ detaining him in custody/ he\\nis carefully called Napoleon Buonaparte/ as if to\\ndeny that he had ever been French at all. This\\nwould be pitiable, were it not ridiculous,\\nCockburn had on shipboard, as we have seen, res-\\nolutely inaugurated this solemn farce. And so soon\\nas he landed he thus answered a note in which Ber-\\ntrand mentioned the Emperor Sir, I have the honor\\nto acknowledge the receipt of your letter and note of\\nyesterday s date, by which you oblige me officially\\nto explain to you that I have no cognizance of any\\nemperor being actuall3^ upon this island, or of any\\nperson possessing such dignity having (as stated by\\n3^ou) come hither with me in the Northumberland.\\nWith regard to yourself, and the other officers of dis-\\ntinction who have accompanied you here, and so\\nhe proceeds. Napoleon was one of these! Cock-\\nburn complacently^ sends the correspondence to Bath-\\nurst, with a note in which he speaks of General\\nBonaparte (if by the term emperor he meant to\\ndesignate that person). This is too much even for\\nForsyth.\\nLowe carried on this puerile affectation with scru-\\npulous fidelity. Hobhouse sent his book on the Hun-\\ndred Days to Napoleon, writing inside it Imperatori\\nNapoleoni. This, though the inscription, after all,\\nin strictness meant To General Napoleon, the con-\\nscientious Lowe sequestrated. And on this occasion\\nhe laid down a principle. He had allowed letters\\ndirected under the imperial title to reach Napoleon\\nfrom his relations or his former subjects, but this\\nwas from an English person. A Mr. Elphinstone,\\nwho was grateful for attentions paid to a wounded\\nbrother at Waterloo, sent him some chess-men from\\n87", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0097.jp2"}, "98": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nChina. Lowe made difficulties about forwarding\\nthese because they bore N and a crown. We feel\\ntempted to ask if Napoleon s linen, marked as it was\\nwith the objectionable cipher, was admitted to the\\nhonors of the island laundry.\\nIt would be easy to multiply instances of Lowe s\\nchildishness in this respect, but we will only add one\\nmore. Three weeks before his death the sick captive\\nsent Coxe s Life of Marlborough, as a token of good-\\nwill, to the officers of the Tvv^entieth Regiment. Un-\\nfortunately, the imperial title was written or stamped\\non the title-page, and the present, under the orders\\nof the governor, was declined. In these days the\\nTwentieth Regiment would perhaps not mind pos-\\nsessing the Life of the greatest of English generals\\ngiven by the greatest of the French.\\nIt is humiliating to be obliged to add that this pet-\\ntiness survived even Napoleon himself. On the Em-\\nperor s coffin-plate his followers desired to place the\\nsimple inscription Napoleon, with the date and\\nplace of his birth and death. Sir Hudson refused to\\nsanction this, unless Bonaparte were added. But\\nthe Emperor s suite felt themselves unable to agree\\nto the style which their master had declined to ac-\\ncept. So there was no name on the coffin. It seems\\nincredible, but it is true.\\nWhat are the grounds on which the British gov-\\nernment took up so unchivalrous and undignified an\\nattitude? They are paraded by Scott with the same\\napologetic melancholy with which his own Caleb Bal-\\nderstone sets forth the supper of the Master of Ravens-\\nwood. They appear to be as follows\\n(i) There could be no reason why Britain, in\\ncompassionate courtesy, should give to her prisoner", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0098.jp2"}, "99": {"fulltext": "THE QUESTION OF TITLE\\na title which she had refused to him de jure, even\\nwhile he wielded the empire of France de facto.\\nThe sentence would be more accurately put thus,\\nand then it seems to answer itself: There could\\nbe no reason why Britain, when there was noth-\\ning to be got out of him in exchange, should give\\nto her prisoner a title which she had been perfectly\\nready to acknowledge when there was something\\nto be gained. For she had accredited Lords Yar-\\nmouth and Lauderdale to negotiate with the Em-\\nperor in 1806, while the imperial title and its repre-\\nresentative are duly set forth in the protocols of\\nthe Congress of Chatillon to which both Napoleon and\\nthe Prince Regent sent plenipotentiaries, and when,\\nbut for the distrust or fatalism or madness of Napo-\\nleon, a treaty would have been signed by both.\\nThere is, then, something of the ostrich in the re-\\nfusal of Great Britain to recognize the style of Em-\\nperor. And it seems, to say the least of it, in face\\nof what occurred in 1806 and 18 14, a strong state-\\nment of Scott s to assert that on no occasion what-\\nsoever, whether directly or by implication, had Great\\nBritain recognized the title of her prisoner to be con-\\nsidered as a sovereign prince. Are, then, pleni-\\npotentiaries accredited to other than sovereign princes\\nor republics, or are plenipotentiaries from any other\\nsource admitted to the congresses of nations? Are\\nwe to understand, then, that, when Yarmouth and\\nLauderdale went to Paris with their full powers, or\\nwhen Castlereagh and Caulaincourt compared theirs\\nat ChMillon, the British government did not by\\nimplication, though not directly, recognize Na-\\npoleon as Emperor? With whom, then, were Yar-\\nmouth and Lauderdale dealing in 1806, or Castle-\\n89", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0099.jp2"}, "100": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nreagh in 1814? It is declared, indeed, on good au-\\nthority, that in the negotiations which led up to the\\npeace of Amiens the British plenipotentiaries hinted\\ntheir readiness to recognize the First Consul as King\\nof France. Napoleon turned a deaf ear. Pasquier,\\na candid critic, points out that at Chatillon Britain,\\nwhich had so long and so perseveringly refused to\\nrecognize Napoleon as Emperor of the French, found\\nherself the power most anxious to treat with him,\\nas she would with a sovereign whose rights had been\\nmost incontestably recognized.\\nAgain, in what capacity, and to whom, was Sir Neil\\nCampbell accredited to Elba? By the protocol of\\nApril 27, 1814, Britain had recognized the sovereignty\\nof Elba. Who, then, was the sovereign? Was it\\nGeneral Bonaparte But Sir Neil officially signed\\ndocuments in which he was called S. M. I Em-\\npereur Napoleon.\\nIt is true, however, that Britain, in view of the fact\\nthat the whole Continent had bowed before Napoleon,\\nhad some reason to feel a just pride in that she, at\\nany rate, had never bent the knee, had never formally\\nand directly acknowledged him as Emperor. This\\nwas a successful point in her policy, and had caused\\nthe keenest annoyance to Napoleon. But is it not\\nalso true that this very fact gave her a matchless\\nopportunity of displaying a magnanimity which\\nwould have cost her nothing, and raised her still\\nhigher, by allowing, as an act of favor to a van-\\nquished enemy, an honorary title which she had\\nnever conceded as a right to the triumphant sovereign\\nof the West?\\nBut the real cause lay a great deal deeper, says\\nScott. Once acknowledged as Emperor, it followed,\\n90", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0100.jp2"}, "101": {"fulltext": "THE QUESTION OF TITLE\\nof course, that he was to be treated as such in every\\nparticular, and thus it would have become impossible\\nto enforce such regulations as were absolutely de-\\nmanded for his safe custody. Shallow indeed must\\nthe government have been that deemed this reason\\ndeep. For, to any such pretension on the part of\\nNapoleon, it need only have opposed precedents, if,\\nindeed, precedents were necessary, drawn from his\\nown reign; though, in our judgment, it would have\\nbeen true, as well as complimentary, to say that the\\ncircumstances were as unprecedented as the prisoner.\\nNever before, indeed, has the peace and security of\\nthe universe itself required as its first and necessary\\ncondition the imprisonment of a single individual.\\nBut for a government which loved precedents it\\nwould have been sufficient to allege the case of King\\nFerdinand of Spain, interned at Valengay in the\\nstrictest custody. Napoleon might indeed have re-\\njoined that he did not recognize Ferdinand as King,\\nthough he was so by the abdication of his father, by\\nthe acknowledgment of the Spaniards, and by hered-\\nitary right. But Napoleon s rejoinder would only\\nhave assisted our government, who would have point-\\ned out that neither had they recognized him.\\nThere was, however, a higher precedent yet. There\\nis a sovereign whose pretensions soar far above em-\\npire, who is as much above terrestrial thrones, dom-\\ninations, and powers as these in their turn are above\\ntheir subjects. The Pope asserts an authority short\\nonly, if it be short, of the Divine government of the\\nworld. He claims to be the vice-regent and repre-\\nsentative of God on earth, the disposer and deposer of\\ncrowns. Napoleon boasted that he was an anointed\\nsovereign; it was the Pope who anointed him. Yet\\n91", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0101.jp2"}, "102": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nthis very superintendent and source of sovereignty\\nwas, without being deprived of his subHme character,\\nput into captivity by Napoleon, not as Napoleon was\\nconfined, but almost as malefactors are imprisoned.\\nThere was no idle discussion then of irreverence to\\nthe person of a crowned head, nor, on the other\\nhand, of denial of the dignity of the papacy. The\\nwearer of the triple crown was placed under lock and\\nkey by Napoleon because it suited his purpose, just\\nas Napoleon was kept in custody for the convenience\\nand security of the coalition.\\nWe think, then, that Napoleon had given convinc-\\ning proof that he did not hold that it was impossible\\nto imprison a crowned head, or impossible to keep a\\ncrowned head in custody without sanctioning his\\nclaim to the immunities belonging to that title, and\\nthat he could have opposed no argument on that\\npoint which even our government could not have\\ncontroverted with ease.\\nBut, says Sir Walter, if he was acknowledged\\nas Emperor of France, of what country was Louis\\nXVIII. king? This, indeed, is Caleb s hinder end\\nof the mutton ham with a vengeance.\\nIn the first place. Napoleon never at any time was\\nstyled Emperor of France, nor did he now wish to be\\ncalled anything but the Emperor Napoleon. No one\\ncould deem that that title would affect the actual oc-\\ncupant of the throne of France; there was no terri-\\ntorial designation implied; it might be as Emperor\\nof Elba that the style was accorded.\\nBut, secondly, no more preposterous argument\\ncould be used by a British ministry. They repre-\\nsented the only government that had really commit-\\nted the offence which they now pretended to appre-\\n92", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0102.jp2"}, "103": {"fulltext": "THE QUESTION OF TITLE\\nhend. For more than forty years their reigning\\nsovereign had indeed styled himself King of France,\\nthough the fifteenth and sixteenth Louis had been\\noccupying the actual throne and kingdom of France\\nfor three-fourths of the time. For thirty-three years\\nof this period till 1793 there had been simultane-\\nously two kings of France, of whom the King of Brit-\\nain was the groundless aggressor and pretender.\\nThe British title of King of France had been dropped\\nunder Napoleon s consulate (when the union with\\nIreland necessitated a new style), possibly not with-\\nout the desire of conciliating him. But the particu-\\nlar objection stated by Scott in the text came with\\na particularly bad grace from the ministers of George\\nIII., or, indeed, from the ministers of any English sov-\\nereign since Edward III. All this is formal and trivial\\nenough, but the whole argument concerns a formal\\ntriviality.\\nIt is strange that the antiquarian Scott should have\\nforgotten all this. But it is, at any rate, fortunate for\\nthe British government that they did not use Scott s\\nbelated argument to Napoleon himself, who would\\nhave pounced like a hawk on so suicidal a contention.\\nAnd he would further have reminded them that he\\nhad punctiliously reserved and accorded to Charles\\nIV. full regal dignity, though he had placed his\\nown brother Joseph on the throne of Spain.\\nBut Sir Walter (and we quote him because his rea-\\nsoning on this subject is the most pleasing and plau-\\nsible) denies to Napoleon the title of Emperor, not\\nmerely in respect of France, but in respect of Elba.\\nNapoleon s breach of the Treaty of Paris was in\\nessence a renunciation of the Empire of Elba; and\\nthe reassumption of that of France was so far from\\n93", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0103.jp2"}, "104": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nbeing admitted by the allies that he was declared an\\noutlaw by the Congress at Vienna. We know of no\\nrenunciation in form or in essence of the title of f\\nEmperor of Elba. When Napoleon landed at Frejus, j\\nhe was, we suppose, in strict form the Emperor of j\\nElba making war on the King of France. But, either\\nway, this is a puerility unworthy of discussion. j\\nI It is, however, true that the Congress of Vienna i\\nhad outlawed Napoleon. In violating the conven-\\ntion which had established him in the island of Elba, 1\\nBonaparte had destroyed the only title to which his\\nexistence was attached. The powers, therefore, i\\ndeclare that Napoleon Bonaparte has placed himself i\\noutside civil and social relations, and as the enemy\\nand disturber of the tranquillity of the world has de- i\\nlivered himself h la vindicte publique. Truly a\\ncompendious anathema. The curses of the mediaeval\\npapacy, or of the Jewry which condemned Spinoza,\\nwere more detailed but not more effective. But, un- j\\nluckily, the first breach in the convention, which es- i\\ntablished him in the island of Elba, was not made by\\nNapoleon, but by the other side. The main obvious\\nnecessity for Napoleon in the island of Elba, or else-\\nwhere, was that he should live. With that object the\\nsignatories of that treaty had stipulated that he j\\nshould receive an income on the Great Book of France i\\nof two millions of francs; that his family should re-\\nceive an income of two millions and a half of francs\\nthat his son should have as his inheritance the i\\nDuchies of Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla, and\\nshould at once assume the title of prince of those\\nstates. Not one of these stipulations, which were the\\ncompensation for his abdication, had been observed i\\nwhen Napoleon left Elba. Neither he nor his relatives\\n94", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0104.jp2"}, "105": {"fulltext": "THE QUESTION OF TITLE\\nhad ever received a franc. The emperors of Russia\\nand Austria, as well as Lord Castlereagh, urged on\\nTalleyrand the execution of the treaty. They insisted\\non it as a question of honor and good faith. To them\\nTalleyrand could only answer confusedly that there\\nwas danger in supplying what might be used as the\\nmeans of intrigue. To his master he could only hint\\nthat the powers seemed to be in earnest, and that pos-\\nsibly an arrangement might be made by which Brit-\\nain might be jockeyed into furnishing the funds. It\\nis a tale of ignominy and broken faith, but neither\\nlie with Napoleon. The application on his behalf for\\nthe payment of the subsidy when due was not even\\nanswered by the French government. Napoleon at\\nSt. Helena detailed no less than ten capital and ob-\\nvious breaches of this treaty committed by the allies.\\nSo fanatical an opponent of the Emperor as Lafay-\\nette declares that it seemed a fixed policy of the Bour-\\nbons to drive Napoleon to some act of despair. His\\nfamily, says the marquis, were plundered. Not\\nmerely was the stipulated income not paid to him,\\nbut the ministry boasted of the breach of faith. His\\nremoval to St. Helena, as Lafayette, in spite of con-\\ntradiction, insists, was demanded, and insidiously\\ncommunicated to Napoleon as a plan on the point\\nof execution. Projects for his assassination were\\nfavorably considered, though these, as beyond the\\nprovisions of the treaty, may be considered as out-\\nside our present argument. For under this head the\\ncontention is simply this, that it was the allies, and\\nnot Napoleon, that broke the Treaty of Fontainebleau\\nthat, on the contrary, he himself observed the treaty\\nuntil, on its non-fulfilment being flagrant, he quitted\\nElba and landed in France. In truth, he might well\\n95", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0105.jp2"}, "106": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nallege that, by the non-fulfilment of the treaty, he\\nwas starved out of Elba. We do not contend that\\nthis was his sole or even main motive in leaving Elba.\\nWe only set it up as against the contention of the\\nallies that he was outlawed by breach of the treaty.\\nWere it internationally correct that he should be out-\\nlawed for the rupture of that treaty, all the other sig-\\nnatory sovereigns should have been outlawed too.\\nAnd, after this decree of outlawry was promul-\\ngated, the situation had materially changed in Napo-\\nleon s favor; for France, by a plebiscite, had conse-\\ncrated what he had done. It is the fashion to sneer\\nat plebiscites, and they are not always very reliable.\\nBut this was the only possible expression of French\\nopinion, the only possible form of French ratifica-\\ntion. The will of the nation condoned or approved\\nhis return, just as it allowed the Bourbons to pass\\naway in silence, without an arm raised to prevent or\\nto defend them. We could, perhaps, scarcely expect\\nthe coalition to take into consideration so trifling a\\nmatter as the will of the nation. But it is hard to\\nsee why the choice of the nation should be placed\\noutside the pale of humanity, while the rejected of\\nthe nation and the deliberate violator of the Treaty\\nof Fontainebleau should be replaced with great cir-\\ncumstance on the throne.\\nBut, it may be said, if the British government in\\nthis matter was mean and petty, was not Napoleon\\nmeaner and pettier? Should he not have been above\\nany such contention? What did it matter to him?\\nHis name and fame were secure. Would Lord Bacon\\nrepine at not being known as Viscount of St. Albans\\nNo man will ever think of asking, as Pitt said, whether\\nNelson was a baron, a viscount, or an earl.\\n96", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0106.jp2"}, "107": {"fulltext": "THE QUESTION OF TITLE\\nWith tliis view we have much sympathy. We\\nmay at once admit that Napoleon had risen to an\\nhistorical height far above the region of titles, and\\nthat the name of General Bonaparte the young\\neagle that tore the very heart out of glory is to our\\nmind superior to the title of First Consul or of Em-\\nperor. We may also remember that Charles V., on\\nits being notified to him that the Diet had accepted\\nhis renunciation, said: The name of Charles is\\nnow enough for me, who henceforward am nothing\\nthat he at once desired that in future he was to be\\naddressed not as Emperor, but as a private person,\\nhad seals made for his use without crown, eagle,\\nfleece, or other device, and refused some flowers\\nwhich had been sent to him because they were con-\\ntained in a basket adorned with a crown.\\nAs against this we may point out that Napoleon\\nwas emphatically, as Napoleon III. said of himself,\\na parvenu Emperor. To Charles V., the heir of half\\nthe world, the descendant of a hundred kings, it\\ncould matter little what he was called after abdica-\\ntion, for nothing could divest him of his blood or his\\nbirth. Moreover, Charles s wish was to be a monk;\\nhis gaze was fixed on heaven he had lost the whole\\nworld to gain his own soul. But to the second son\\nof a Corsican lawyer with a large family and slender\\nmeans the same remark does not apply, and the same\\nreflection would not occur. The habits and feelings\\nof sovereignty were more essential and precious to\\nhim, who had acquired them by gigantic effort, than\\nto those who inherited them without question or\\ntrouble. He carried this idiosyncrasy to a degree\\nwhich they would have thought absurd. The title\\nof Emperor of Elba was in itself burlesque. The\\nG 97", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0107.jp2"}, "108": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\ngrand marshal in his hut at St. Helena transcends\\nsome of the characters who mum to Offenbach s\\nmusic. Princes born in the purple would have seen\\nthis, and shrunk from the ridicule which such asso-\\nciations might cast on their sacred attributes of sub-\\nstantial sovereignty. But to Napoleon the title of\\nEmperor represented the crown and summit of his\\ndazzling career, and he declined to drop it at the bid-\\nding of a foreign enemy.\\nIf this were all to be said for him it would be little.\\nThis, however, is but a small part of the argument.\\nNapoleon took broader and higher ground. He con-\\nsidered, and we think justly, that the denial of the\\ntitle Emperor was a slight on the French nation,\\na contemptuous denial of their right to choose their\\nown sovereign, an attempt to ignore many years\\nof glorious French history, a resolve to obliterate the\\nsplendid decade of Napoleon s reign. If he were not\\nEmperor, he said, no more was he General Bona-\\nparte, for the French nation had the same right to\\nmake him sovereign that they had to make him gen-\\neral. If he had no right to the one title, he had no\\nright to the other. We think that, in asserting the\\ntitle as a question of the sovereign right and inde-\\npendence of the French people, he was standing on\\nfirm ground.\\nBut, in truth, his position is not firm it is impreg-\\nnable. Scott devotes an ill-advised page to asking\\nwhy Napoleon, who had wished to settle in England\\nincognito, like Louis XVIII., who lived there as Count\\nof Lille, did not condescend to live incognito at St.\\nHelena. It seems, says Sir Walter, contemptu-\\nously, that Napoleon considered this veiling\\nof his dignity as too great a concession on his part\\n98", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0108.jp2"}, "109": {"fulltext": "THE QUESTION OF TITLE\\nto be granted to the governor of St. Helena. This\\nis an amazing sentence, when we remember Scott s\\nadvantages the correspondence of Sir Hudson\\nLowe with His Majesty s government having been\\nopened to our researches by the hberahty of Lord\\nBathurst, late secretary of state for the Colonial\\nDepartment. The fact is, of course, that Napoleon,\\ndeliberately and formally, in September or October,\\ni8i6 (when he referred to a similar offer made through\\nMontholon to Cockburn eight months before), pro-\\nposed to assume the name of Colonel Muiron, or of\\nBaron Duroc. This was in reply to a note from Lowe\\nto O Meara, of October 3d, in which the governor says\\nIf he (Napoleon) wishes to assume a feigned name,\\nwhy does he not propose one? Napoleon took him\\nat his word, and so put him eternally in the wrong.\\nThe negotiation was carried on through O Meara,\\nand lasted some weeks. Once or twice the high con-\\ntracting parties appeared to be on the point of agree-\\nment, but we have no doubt that Sir Hudson wished\\nto gain time to refer to his government. Lowe, ac-\\ncording to Montholon, suggested the title of Count\\nof Lyons, which Napoleon rejected. I can, he\\nsaid, borrow the name of a friend, but I cannot dis-\\nguise myself under a feudal title. This seems\\nsensible enough, but he had a better reason still.\\nThis very title had been discussed on their first ar-\\nrival at St. Helena, and Napoleon had appeared\\nnot averse to it, till Gourgaud had objected that it\\nwould be ridiculous, as the canons of Lyons Cathe-\\ndral were counts of Lyons, and that the Emperor\\ncould not assume an ecclesiastical incognito. This\\nwas conclusive. Meanwhile, the governor was re-\\nferring the question home. We do not know in what\\n99", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0109.jp2"}, "110": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nterms, for it is characteristic of Forsyth s murky\\ncompilation that he only prints Bathurst s reply.\\nThat reply is, indeed, amazing. Napoleon had of-\\nfered a simple and innocent means of getting rid of\\nwhat was not merely a perpetual irritation, but an\\nabsolute barrier to communication, for the governor\\nignored all papers in which the imperial title oc-\\ncurred, and Napoleon ignored all others. On the\\nsubject, says Bathurst, of General Bonaparte s\\nproposition I shall probably not give you any in-\\nstruction. It appears harsh to refuse it, and there\\nmay arise much embarrassment in formally accept-\\ning it, We cannot conjecture the nature of the em-\\nbarrassment apprehended by our colonial secretary.\\nForsyth, however, has been so fortunate, from the\\nresources at his command, as to divine the minister s\\nmeaning. The assumption of an incognito is, it ap-\\npears, the privilege of monarchs, and not even thus\\nindirectly could the British government concede to\\nNapoleon the privilege of a monarch. This par-\\nticular privilege is shared by the travelling public,\\nand even by the criminal population, who make\\nmost use of it. It would be as sagacious to refuse\\nto a country squire the right to be addressed as Sir\\nby his gamekeeper, because princes are so addressed,\\nas to deny an assumed name to Napoleon because\\nsovereigns and others use one when they travel in-\\ncognito. So we are still in the dark, more especially\\nas it was Lowe who invited Napoleon to avail him-\\nself of this privilege, But Napoleon had thus\\ndone his best; he could do no more; the blame and\\nresponsibility for all further embarrassment about\\ntitle must remain not with him, not even with Lowe,\\nbut with the ministers of George IV.\\n100", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0110.jp2"}, "111": {"fulltext": "THE QUESTION OF TITLE\\nLowe, by-the-bye, had made a characteristically\\ntactless suggestion of his own to solve the difficulty.\\nHe proposed to give Napoleon the title of Excel-\\nlency, as due to a field marshal. This judicious\\neffort having failed, he himself cut the Gordian knot,\\ndropped the General, substituted Napoleon,\\nand called the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte,\\nas it were John Robinson.", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0111.jp2"}, "112": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER VII\\nTHE MONEY QUESTION\\nWe pass from the question of title, on which we\\nhave been compelled to dilate, because it was the\\nroot of all evil, to the question of finance, which, fort-\\nunately for it is the most squalid of the St. Helena\\nquestions may be treated more briefly, as it is only\\nincidental to others. The question of title has even\\nits bearing on finance, for our government may have\\nheld that if Napoleon was to be treated as an abdi-\\ncated monarch, he might be held to require an ex-\\npensive establishment. But the war had been costly,\\nand the prisoner must be cheap. The most expen-\\nsive luxury was Sir Hudson himself; his salary was\\n\u00c2\u00a312,000 a year. Napoleon and his household, fifty-\\none persons in all, were to cost \u00c2\u00a38000. What more\\nhe required he might provide for himself. The real\\ncost seems to have been \u00c2\u00a318,000 or \u00c2\u00a319,000 a year,\\nthough Lowe admits that Napoleon s own wants were\\nvery limited. But everything on the island was scarce\\nand dear, raised, as Lowe said, to so extrava-\\ngant a price, and Lowe pointed out that Bathurst s\\nlimit was impossible. The governor magnanimously\\nraised the captive to an equality with himself. He\\nfixed the allowance at \u00c2\u00a312,000, and eventually there\\nwas rather more latitude. It is only fair to say that\\nLowe was, in this matter, less ungenerous than\\nBathurst, his official chief.\\nJ02", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0112.jp2"}, "113": {"fulltext": "THE MONEY QUESTION\\nBut, in the mean time, much had happened. Lowe\\nwas ordered by Bathurst to cut down the expenses of\\nthese fifty-one people, in the dearest place in the\\nworld, where, by all testimony, every article, even of\\nfood, was three or four times as costly as elsewhere,\\nto \u00c2\u00a38000 a year. He writes to Montholon as to the\\nhousehold consumption of wine and meat. Napo-\\nleon seems to us to have treated the matter at this\\nstage with perfect propriety. He said Let him do\\nas he pleases, so long as he does not speak to me\\nabout it, but leaves me alone. Even Sir Walter\\nScott regrets that Lowe s strict sense of duty im-\\npelled him to speak to the Emperor about such mat-\\nters. We could wish, he says, that the gov-\\nernor had avoided entering upon the subject of the\\nexpenses of his detention with Napoleon in person.\\nThe Emperor put the point tersely enough.\\nmarchande ignominieusement notre existence, he\\nsaid. And when Bertrand asks for a duplicate list\\nof supplies to the Emperor, as a check on the ser-\\nvants, his master reproves him. Why take the\\nEnglish into our confidence about our household\\naffairs? Europe has its glasses fixed on us; the\\ngovernor will know it; the French nation will be\\naltogether disgraced. At the same time Napoleon\\ndid not disdain, as he had not when on the throne\\ndisdained, to send for his steward and go into his\\naccounts. He tried to make, and did make, some re-\\nductions, but he could not discuss these household\\ndetails with his jailer.\\nThen Lowe writes again, and Napoleon, visiting the\\ntable of his household, finds scarcely enough to eat.\\nThis rests only on the authority of Las Cases, but it\\nis not improbable that the authorities of the kitchen\\n103", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0113.jp2"}, "114": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nmay have made a practical demonstration against\\nthe new economies. However that may be. Napoleon\\norders his silver to be broken up and sold. Montho-\\nlon pleads in vain, and partially disobeys. Three\\nlots of silver are sold at a tariff fixed by Lowe. Mon-\\ntholon has the Emperor s dinner served on common\\npottery. Napoleon is ashamed of himself he can-\\nnot eat without disgust, and yet as a boy he always\\nate off such ware. We are, after all, nothing but\\nbig babies. And his joy is almost infantine when\\nMontholon next day confesses his disobedience, and\\nrestores uninjured the favorite pieces of plate.\\nAnd, indeed, the last sale of silver had vanquished\\nLowe. He expressed lively regret, saj^s Montholon,\\nand was evidently afraid of the blame that this scan-\\ndal might bring on him. At any rate. Napoleon re-\\nmained master of the field, and there was no more\\ntrouble about money. The whole proceeding was,\\nof course, a comedy. Napoleon had no need to sell a\\nsingle spoon. He had ample funds in Paris, and\\nample funds even at St. Helena. And yet we can-\\nnot blame him. He was fighting the British gov-\\nernment in this, matter, and we can scarcely hold\\nthat the government was in the right. He had no\\nweapons to fight with, and all that he could do was\\nin some way or other to appeal to the world at large.\\nThis he did by breaking up his plate. It was a fact\\nthat must be known to every inhabitant of the island\\nit could not be suppressed by Lowe; thus it must\\nsoon be public property in Europe. Helpless as he\\nwas, he won the battle, and we cannot refrain from\\na kind of admiration, both at the result and at the\\nmeagreness of his means. Later on he attempted\\nthe same effect on a smaller scale. Fuel was short\\n104", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0114.jp2"}, "115": {"fulltext": "THE MONEY QUESTION,\\nat Longwood, and Napoleon ordered Noverraz, his\\nservant, to break up his bed and burn it. This, we\\nare told, produced a great effect among the yam-\\nstocks for so were the inhabitants of St. He-\\nlena nicknamed), and the tyranny of the gov-\\nernor, Gourgaud gravely adds, is at its last\\ngasp.\\nTheatrical strokes were, of course, by no means un-\\nfamiliar to him. Like all great men, he was a man\\nof high imagination, and this imagination made him\\nkeenly alive to scenic effect. While on the throne he\\nhad done much in this way, generally with success.\\nHe liked to date his victorious despatches from the\\npalace of a vanquished monarch he would fly into\\na histrionic passion before a scared circle of ambassa-\\ndors he would play the bosom friend with a brother\\nemperor for weeks at a time. He studied his cos-\\ntumes as carefully as any stage manager of these\\nlatter days. He would have placed in a particular\\npart of the ranks veterans whose biographies had\\nbeen supplied to him, and would delight them with\\nthe knowledge of their services. Metternich de-\\nclares that the announcement of his victories was\\nprepared with similar care. Rumors of defeat were\\nsedulously spread; the ministers appeared uneasy\\nand depressed then, in the midst of the general anxi-\\nety, the thunder of cannon announced a new triumph.\\nAnd his effects were generally happy. During the\\nRussian campaign there are two more dubious in-\\nstances, one of which was at least open to criticism,\\nthe other of which certainly caused disgust. In the\\nmidst of the terrible anxieties of his stay at Moscow,\\nwith fire and famine around him, with winter and\\ndisaster menacing his retreat, he dictated and sent\\n10.5", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0115.jp2"}, "116": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nhome an elaborate plan for the reorganization of the\\nTheatre Frangaise. This, of course, was to impress\\nhis staff with the ease and detachment of his mind,\\nand France with the conviction that the administra-\\ntion of the empire was carried on from Moscow with\\nthe same universal and detailed energy as in Paris.\\nLater on, when he had to avow overwhelming calam-\\nities, he ended the ghastly record of the twenty-ninth\\nbulletin by the announcement that the health of the\\nEmperor had never been better. He calculated that\\nthis sentence would display him as the semi-divinity\\nsuperior to misfortune, and maintain France in the\\nfaith that, after all, his well-being was the one thing\\nthat signified that armies might pass and perish so\\nlong as he survived. It was inspired, perhaps, by a\\nrecollection of the sovereign sanctity with which\\nLouis XIV. had sought to encompass himself. It\\nwas, at any rate, the assertion of an overpowering in-\\ndividuality. We have something of the same nature\\nin our own annals, though widely differing in degree\\nand in conception. It is said that the order for the\\nfamous signal of Trafalgar, England expects every\\nman to do his duty, ran at first, Nelson expects\\nevery man to do his duty. The sense of individ-\\nuality, sublime in the admiral before the supreme vic-\\ntory, revolted mankind with the apparent selfishness\\nof the general, who had led a nation to court and un-\\ndergo disaster, in the very hour of catastrophe. And\\nyet mankind, perhaps, was hardly just. The asser-\\ntion of personality had been, in Napoleon s case, such\\na strength that he could not afford to dispense with it\\neven when it seemed inopportune. And we must re-\\nmember that those who took part in the Russian cam-\\npaign testify that the first question, the first anxiety\\n1 06", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0116.jp2"}, "117": {"fulltext": "THE MONEY QUESTION\\nof all, was, How is the Emperor? Does he keep his\\nhealth?\\nOn this question of expense, O Meara represents\\nNapoleon as making remarks so characterized by his\\nexcellent common-sense that we may believe them\\nto be authentic. ?Iere, through a mistaken and\\nscandalous parsimony, they (your ministers) have\\ncounteracted their own views, which were that as\\nlittle as possible should be said of me, that I should\\nbe forgotten. But their ill-treatment, and that of this\\nman, have made all Europe speak of me. There\\nare still millions in the world who are interested in\\nme. Had your ministers acted wisely, they would\\nhave given a carte blanche for this house. This\\nwould have been making the best of a bad business,\\nhave silenced all complaints, and would not\\nhave cost more than \u00c2\u00a316,000 or \u00c2\u00a317,000 a year.\\nWe might almost have forgiven the petty finance\\nof the government, had it not in one single instance\\noverreached itself. Napoleon had asked for some\\nbooks, mainly to enable him to write his memoirs.\\nThe government supplied the books as an indul-\\ngence, we presume, not inconsistent with the entire\\nsecurity of his person but they sent him in the\\nbill, or rather a demand, for the sum. Napoleon or-\\ndered Bertrand to refuse to pay this without a de-\\ntailed account. So on his death the books were im-\\npounded by Lowe, and sold in London for a few\\nhundred pounds, less than a quarter of what had\\nbeen spent in procuring them. Their original cost\\nhad been fourteen hundred pounds, but Napoleon had\\nadded greatly to their value. Many of them, says\\nMontholon, were covered with notes in the Emperor s\\nhandwriting; almost all bore traces of his study of\\n107", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0117.jp2"}, "118": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nthem. Had this asset been preserved to the nation,\\nwe might have been inchned to shut our eyes as to its\\nhistory and origin. The penny-unwise and pound-\\nfoohsh pohcy of the government lost both reputation\\nand result.", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0118.jp2"}, "119": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER YIII\\nTHE QUESTION OF CUSTODY\\nThe last group of grievances related to the ques-\\ntion of custody. The main object of the coalesced\\ngovernments was, not unnaturally, that under no cir-\\ncumstances should Napoleon escape from confine-\\nment and trouble the world again. So they chose\\nthe most remote island that they could think of,\\nand converted it laboriously into a great fortress.\\nStrangers could scarcely conceal their mirth as they\\nsaw Lowe adding sentry to sentry, and battery to\\nbattery, to render more inaccessible what was al-\\nready impregnable; although, before leaving Eng-\\nland, he had avowed to Castlereagh that he saw no\\npossible prospect of escape for Napoleon but by a\\nmutiny of the garrison. Nevertheless, he increased\\nthe precautions at compound interest. Las Cases, in\\nhis intercepted letter to Lucien, described them with\\nsome humor, and declared that the posts established\\non the peaks were usually lost in the clouds. Mont-\\nchenu, the French commissioner, declared that if a\\ndog were seen to pass anywhere, at least one sentinel\\nwas placed on the spot. He is indeed copious on the\\nsubject, though he considered his interest and re-\\nsponsibility in the matter second only to those of\\nLowe himself. He details with pathetic exactitude\\nthe precautions taken. The plain of Longwood,\\n109", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0119.jp2"}, "120": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nwhere Napoleon lived, is, he says, separated from the\\nrest of the island by a frightful gully, which com-\\npletely surrounds it, and is only crossed by a narrow j\\ntongue of land not twenty feet broad, so steep that if ten\\nthousand men were masters of the island, fifty could\\nprevent their arriving at Longwood. One can only i\\narrive at Longwood by this pathway, and, in spite of I\\nthese difficulties, the Fifty-third Regiment, a park of\\nartillery, and a company of the Sixty-sixth are en-\\ncamped at the gate. Farther on, nearer the town,\\nthere is another post of twenty men, and the whole I\\nenclosure is guarded, day and night, by little de-\\ntachments in view of each other. At night the i\\nchain of sentries is so close that they almost touch\\neach other. Add to this a telegraph station on the j\\ntop of every hill, by which the governor receives\\nnews of his prisoner in one minute, or at most two, i\\nwherever he may be. It is thus evident that escape j\\nis impossible, and even if the governor were to permit\\nit, the guardianship of the sea would prevent it. For, I\\nfrom the signal stations, a vessel can generally be\\ndescried at a distance of sixty miles. Whenever one\\nis perceived a signal cannon is fired. Two brigs-of- j\\nwar patrol round the island day and night a frigate\\nis placed at the only two places where it is possible\\nto land. (No foreign vessel, it may be added, and\\nonly a few privileged British vessels, such as men-\\nof-war, or ships bringing necessary provisions, ap-\\npear to have been allowed under any pretext to i\\ncommunicate with the shore.) I\\nSurely, then, the agonized apprehensions of the\\ngovernor were misplaced; his custody might have j\\nbeen less strict, and Napoleon might have been al-\\nlowed to keep himself in health by riding over this\\nno", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0120.jp2"}, "121": {"fulltext": "THE QUESTION OF CUSTODY\\nbarren rock without the accompaniment of a British\\nofficer. A boyish practical joke of his, soon after\\nreaching the island, and Cockburn s remark on it,\\nmake this more clear. Napoleon, Bertrand, and\\nGourgaud are out riding, followed by Captain Pop-\\npleton. Bertrand begs Poppleton not to follow so\\nclose; Napoleon sets off at a gallop with Gourgaud;\\nthey soon lose Poppleton, who, it appears, was not\\na dashing horseman. Poppleton, disconsolate, re-\\nturns and reports to the admiral. Cockburn laughs\\nat the affair as a boyish joke, une espi^glerie de\\nsous-lieutenant, and says: It is a good lesson for\\nyou, but as to danger of escape, there is none. My\\ncruisers are so well posted round the island that the\\ndevil himself could not get out of it the same con-\\nviction that Lowe had expressed to Castlereagh.\\nLater on, when Napoleon was confined to the house\\nby illness, the governor became alarmed. Was the\\nprisoner in the house at all, or was he sliding down\\nsome steep ravine to a submarine boat? He deter-\\nmined on a firm and unmistakable policy. He sent\\n(August 29, 1819) a letter to Napoleon Bonaparte,\\ngiving that personage notice that the orderly officer\\nmust see him daily, come what may, and may use\\nany means he may see fit to surmount any obstacle\\nor opposition that any of Napoleon s suite who may\\nresist the officer in obtaining this access would be at\\nonce removed from Longwood and held responsible\\nfor any results that might occur; and that if the of-\\nficer has not seen Napoleon by ten o clock in the\\nmorning he is to enter the hall and force his way to\\nNapoleon s room. Brave words, indeed! Napoleon\\nreplies through Montholon that there is no question\\nfor him of any choice between death and an igno-\\nIII", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0121.jp2"}, "122": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nminious condition of life, and that he will welcome\\nthe first implying, of course, what he had often said,\\nthat he would resist the officer by force. What hap-\\npens? On September 4th Lowe comes to withdraw his\\ninstructions. Forsyth omits, all mention of this in-\\ncident, but Montholon gives the documents, which\\ncan scarcely be fabricated. And we know that there\\nwas no result except that the unhappy officer at\\nLongwood is stimulated to fresh exertions, and leads\\na miserable life. To such straits is he reduced for a\\nsight of the prisoner that he is recommended to be-\\ntake himself to the key-hole. Sometimes he is more\\nfortunate, and sees a hat which may contain Napo-\\nleon s head. Sometimes he peeps through a window\\nand sees the prisoner in his bath. On one of these\\noccasions Napoleon perceived him, and, issuing forth,\\nadvanced towards the captain s hiding-place in ap-\\npalling nudity. But, as a rule, the existence of this\\nhapless officer is one of what hunting men would call\\nblank days.\\nApril 3d. Napoleon still keeps himself con-\\ncealed. I have not been able to see him since the\\n25th ult. April 19th. I again waited on Mon-\\ntholon, and told him I could not see Napoleon. He\\nappeared surprised, and said they had seen me.\\nI was nearly twelve hours on my legs this day en-\\ndeavoring to see Napoleon Bonaparte before I suc-\\nceeded, and I have experienced many such days since\\nI have been stationed at Longwood. 23d. I\\nbelieve that I saw Napoleon Bonaparte to-day in the\\nact of stropping his razor in his dressing-room.\\nAgain the hapless Captain Nicholls reports I must\\nhere beg leave to state that in the execution of my\\nduty yesterday I was upon my feet upwards of ten\\n112", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0122.jp2"}, "123": {"fulltext": "THE QUESTION OF CUSTODY\\nhours, endeavoring to procure a sight of Napoleon\\nBonaparte, either in his httle garden, or at one of his\\nwindows, but could not succeed; that during the\\nwhole of this time I was exposed to the observation\\nand remarks of not only the French servants, but\\nalso to the gardeners and other persons employed\\nabout Longwood House; and that I have very fre-\\nquently experienced days of this kind since I have\\nbeen employed on this duty.\\nTo such a pitch had mismanagement reduced the\\nperemptory governor and his ministerial chiefs. In-\\nstead of You must do this, and you must do that,\\nhis officer has to lead the life of a tout, and an un-\\nsuccessful tout, exposed to the derision of the garden-\\ners and household as well as the ironical survey of\\nthe invisible prisoner. Napoleon had won the day,\\nmainly through the wooden clumsiness of his op-\\nponents.\\nWere there any real attempts to get Napoleon away\\nfrom St. Helena? We doubt it. On one occasion,\\nafter receiving despatches from Rio Janeiro, Lowe\\ndoubled, and even tripled, the sentries described by\\nMontchenu! The French government had, indeed,\\ndiscovered a vast and complicated plan to seize\\nPernambuco, where there were said to be two thou-\\nsand exiles, and with this force to do something un-\\nexplained to remove Napoleon. A Colonel Latapie\\nseems to have had the credit of this vast and com-\\nplicated mare s nest. A submarine vessel the\\nconstant bug-bear of British governments capable\\nof being at the bottom of the sea all day and of un-\\nnatural activity at night, was being constructed by\\na smuggler of an uncommonly resolute character,\\ncalled Johnstone, apparently a friend of O Meara.\\nH 113", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0123.jp2"}, "124": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nBut the structure of the vessel excited suspicion, and\\nshe was confiscated before completion by the British\\ngovernment. Our great Scottish master of fiction\\nnarrates all this without a vestige of a smile. An-\\nother submarine vessel was being constructed on,\\nit appears, the Sommariva system, at Pernam-\\nbuco, whence most of these legends are launched.\\nIf Maceroni can be believed, which is at the least\\ndoubtful, O Meara, on his return from St. Helena,\\nmade preparations on a large scale for the rescue of\\nNapoleon. The mighty powers of steam, says\\nMaceroni, were mustered to our assistance. Brit-\\nish officers volunteered to exchange out of their regi-\\nments in Europe in order to contrive being put on\\nduty at St. Helena. But I cannot enter into par-\\nticulars. This, for obvious reasons, we regret.\\nMaceroni, however, does inform us more specifically\\nthat this great enterprise split on the money diffi-\\nculty, which resolved itself into a vicious circle.\\nThe mother of Napoleon was willing to hand over\\nher whole fortune in return for the accomplished\\nrescue of her son. O Meara wanted money at once\\nfor the purposes of the scheme. The plan, he said,\\ncould not proceed without money the money, she\\nsaid, could only be given in payment for its success.\\nSo the conspiracy, if it ever existed, came to an end.\\nThe family of Bonaparte were by this time some-\\nwhat wary as to projects of rescue, and the insepa-\\nrable incident of a demand for cash.\\nForsyth happily preserves some of the indications\\nof plots for escape which alarmed our government\\nand their agent at St. Helena. Two silly and\\nunintelligible anonymous letters addressed to some\\nmerchants in London another with an obscure al-\\n114", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0124.jp2"}, "125": {"fulltext": "THE QUESTION OF CUSTODY\\nlusion to St. Helena, Cracow, and Philadelphia, ad-\\ndressed to a gentleman at Cracow news of a fast-sail-\\ning vessel being equipped by a person named Car-\\npenter in the Hudson River; these were the tidings\\nthat kept our government in an agony of precaution.\\nBut even Forsyth breaks down in the narrative of a\\nghostly vessel which harassed our government, and\\nintimates that it must have been The Flying Dutch-\\nman. And at last the shadow of tragedy comes to\\ndarken the farce; for, a few months before the end,\\nBathurst expresses the belief that Napoleon is medi-\\ntating escape. The supreme escape was, indeed, im-\\nminent, for death was at hand.\\nOn the other hand, Montholon s testimony on this\\nsubject is direct and simple enough. A ship captain\\noffered, according to Montholon, on two occasions, to\\nget Napoleon off in a boat. A million francs was the\\nprice to be paid on the Emperor s reaching Ameri-\\ncan soil. Napoleon at once refused to entertain the\\nproposal. And Montholon believes that under no\\ncircumstances would he have entertained it, even\\nhad a boat been able to reach the only possible\\npoint, and, what was also necessary, had the Em-\\nperor been able to conceal himself all day in a ra-\\nvine, and descend at night to the coast, with the\\nrisk of breaking his neck a hundred times in the\\nprocess.\\nAgain, Las Cases has a plan, and Gourgaud thinks\\nit practicable. Napoleon discusses the chances of\\nsuccess, but distinctly declares that, were they all\\nfavorable, he would, none the less, refuse to have any-\\nthing to do with a project of escape.\\nMontholon, after this, makes an entry which is\\nsignificant enough. A plan of escape, he says,\\n115", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0125.jp2"}, "126": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nis submitted to the Emperor. He listens without\\ninterest, and calls for the Historical Dictionary.\\nNor, as we have said, do w^e think that Napoleon\\never entertained the idea of escaping in the garb of a\\nwaiter, or in a basket of dirty linen. The Russian\\ngovernment, in its memorial to the Congress of Aix-\\nla-Chapelle in 1818, says that a feasible project of\\nescape was laid before the Emperor. It was to have\\ntaken place on the evacuation of France by the allied\\narmies. But the Emperor postponed it. This, how-\\never, is given on the authority of Gourgaud, and is\\nprobably one of the fantastic legends with which\\nthat officer, after his departure from Longwood,\\nloved to tickle the irritable credulity of Sir Hudson\\nLowe.\\nDid he, indeed, wish to escape? On that point we\\nhave the strongest doubts.\\nWhither, indeed, could he fly The United States\\nof North America, his original choice of a destination,\\nseemed the only possible refuge; and yet he firmly\\nbelieved that he would soon be assassinated there by\\nthe emissaries of the restored government in France.\\nTo all proposals of escape he always made, according\\nto Montholon, this reply: I should not, he said,\\nbe six months in America without being murdered\\nby the assassins of the Comte d Artois. Remember\\nElba was not my assassination concerted there?\\nBut for that brave Corsican, who had accidentally\\nbeen placed as quartermaster of gendarmerie at Bas-\\ntia, and who warned me of the departure for Porto\\nFerrajo of the garde-du-corps, who afterwards con-\\nfessed all to Drouot, I was a dead man. Besides, one\\nmust always obey one s destiny, for all is written\\nabove. Only my martyrdom can restore the crown to\\n116", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0126.jp2"}, "127": {"fulltext": "THE QUESTION OF CUSTODY\\nmy dynasty. In America I shall only be murdered\\nor forgotten. I prefer St. Helena. When another\\nplan is presented to him, he again lays stress on the\\ndynastic argument. It is best for my son that I\\nshould remain here. If he lives, my martyrdom will\\nrestore his crown to him.\\nFor a man in middle life, corpulent and listless,\\nto attempt, under any circumstances, to leave a lone-\\nly rock, garrisoned by a large military force and sur-\\nrounded by vigilant cruisers, in order to reach, after\\na long and perilous passage by ocean, a country\\nwhere he believed he would be murdered, seems pre-\\nposterous. And yet these are the facts of the case.\\nBut in one respect they are understated, as they omit\\nthe most material fact of all.\\nFor Napoleon was no longer what he had been.\\nHe himself had laid down the law, tersely and in-\\nimitably, for himself and others, on this subject.\\nOrdener is worn out, he had said at Austerlitz of\\none of his generals. One has but a short time for\\nwar. I am good for another six years, and then I\\nshall have to stop. Strangely enough, his judg-\\nment was exactly verified. Six years and a month\\nfrom Austerlitz would have brought him to i8l2, to\\nthe Russian campaign, which, had he observed his\\nown rule, he would have avoided. It is noteworthy\\nthat throughout l8l2, and notably at the battle of\\nBorodino, when he was prostrate, those attached to\\nhis person, like Segur, observed a remarkable change\\nin his health and energy. Segur, indeed, seems to\\nattribute the morbid and feverish activity which\\ndrove him into that fatal expedition to constitutional\\ndisease. Some vivid scraps of the note-book of Duroc,\\nhis closest attendant and friend, relating to the begin-\\n117", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0127.jp2"}, "128": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nning of this war, have been preserved, which confirm\\nthis view Aug. 7. The Emperor in great physical\\npain he took opium prepared by Methivier. Duroc,\\none must march or die. An Emperor dies standing,\\nand so does not die. We must bring this fever of\\ndoubt to an end. On his return the change was\\nmore marked. Chaptal, a scientific observer of his\\nmaster, says that it was remarkable. Napoleon had\\nbecome stout in 1809, and had then to some extent\\ndegenerated. But after Moscow Chaptal observed a\\nmuch greater transformation. There was a notable\\nfailure in the sequence of his ideas. His conversa-\\ntion consisted mainly of incoherent and imaginative\\nbursts. There was no longer the same force of char-\\nacter not the same passion or power of work. Rid-\\ning fatigued him. Somnolence and the pleasures of\\nthe table gained on him. It is true that, with his back\\nto the wall, he fought an unrivalled campaign of de-\\nfence and despair. But this was the last flash of the\\nConqueror. He did not, indeed, cease to be a great\\ncaptain. He could still plan in the cabinet. But he\\nwas no longer so formidable or so active in the field.\\nThe matchless supremacy of his youth had passed\\naway.\\nAt Elba, again, he physically degenerated. A ter-\\nrible activity had become necessary to his life. The\\nsuppressed energy, the necessary change of habits, in-\\njured his health. He became enormously fat; this\\nwas the great change that struck his adherents on\\nhis return to the Tuileries in the following March.\\nHe indeed used this circumstance as an argument to\\nprove his change of character in a manner that sug-\\ngests a reminiscence of Shakespeare. Striking his\\nstomach with both hands, Is one ambitious when\\n118", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0128.jp2"}, "129": {"fulltext": "THE QUESTION OF CUSTODY\\none is as fat as I am? He had no longer that lean\\nand hungry look that denotes the dangerous man\\nwho thinks too much. It was, moreover, soon\\nclear that his health was broken. His brother Lucien\\nfound him ill, wrote details which are not printed,\\nand assured M. Thiers that his brother was suffering\\nfrom a bladder complaint. Thiers had other evi-\\ndence to the same effect, though he holds, and Hous-\\nsaye with him, that Napoleon s energy disproves the\\nprobability of serious ailment. Savary testifies that\\nhe could scarcely sit his horse on the battle-field. La-\\nvallette, who saw him the night he left Paris for\\nFlanders, says that he was then suffering severely\\nfrom his chest. In any case, it was abundantly evi-\\ndent that the Napoleon who returned in March, 1815,\\nwas very different from the Napoleon who had left in\\nApril, 1814.\\nWe will go so far as to risk an opinion that when\\nhe returned from Elba he had realized that his career\\nas a conqueror was over. In Elba he had had leisure,\\nfor the first time since he attained power, to take stock,\\ncalmly and coldly, of his situation, and to remember\\nhis own maxim as to the limited period of life during\\nwhich war can be carried on with success. We think,\\nthen, that he understood that his period of conquest\\nwas past. But this is not to say that his headstrong\\nand imperious temperament could ever have been\\nshaped into anything like a constitutional ruler, or\\nthat he could have restrained himself or his army into\\npermanent pacification With his marshals he would,\\nwe think, have had no difficulty. But his pretorians\\nwould hardly have been so easy to satisfy. The lim-\\nitation of his frontier, too, would have been a goad as\\nwell as an eyesore. Against these we balance the\\n119", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0129.jp2"}, "130": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\npartial exhaustion of his people and of himself, facts\\nto which he could scarcely have been permanently\\nblind.\\nDuring the Hundred Days, though he displayed\\nwhat in another man would have been energy, he\\nhad ceased to be Napoleon. He was a changed,\\ndoomed man. I cannot resist the conviction, says\\nPasquier, who was in constant contact with the men\\nwho surrounded him, that his genius and his physi-\\ncal powers were alike in a profound decline. He\\nallowed himself to be bullied by his new legislature,\\nand displayed a certain helplessness which was a\\nnew and ominous sign. We are told, on the author-\\nity of Sismondi, that his ministers, to their astonish-\\nment, would constantly find him asleep over a book.\\nAnother of the strange new features of that period\\nwas a tendency to hold endless conversations, which\\nmust have occupied much precious time, and which\\nbetrayed a secret perplexity, very strange to. him.\\nEven on the eve of Waterloo, on the battle-field, to\\nthe amazement of Gerard and Grouchy, he wastes\\nprecious time in discoursing to them about politics\\nin Paris, the Chamber and the Jacobins. This dis-\\ncursiveness was partly due, says Mollien, to a lassi-\\ntude which would overcome him after a few hours\\nwork. When this novel sensation came over him he\\nsought rest and distraction in talk. But the salient\\nproof of the change lay in his dealings with Fouche.\\nHe had not the energy to deal with Fouche. His\\nmain regret in reviewing that period at St. Helena\\nwas that he had not hanged or shot Fouche. But\\nduring the Hundred Days nay, from the moment he\\narrives in Paris to the moment he boards the Bellero-\\nphon he is fooled by Fouche, betrayed by Fouche,\\n120", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0130.jp2"}, "131": {"fulltext": "THE QUESTION OF CUSTODY\\nand probably delivered over to the British by Fouche.\\nNapoleon suffers all this patiently, though not ig-\\nnorantly. He took a course, indeed, which combined\\nthe errors of all possible courses. He told Fouche\\nthat his intrigues were discovered, and kept Fouche\\nas minister of police.\\nAt last he shakes off the dust of Paris, its Parlia-\\nment and its traitors, and joins his army. It might\\nbe thought that in the air of battle he would regain\\nhis strength. But it was not so. The strategy by\\nwhich he silently and swiftly launched his army into\\nFlanders was indeed a combination worthy of his best\\ndaj^s. But on his arrival at the scene of war, his\\nvigilant vitality, once superhuman, had forsaken\\nhim. He, formerly so keen for exact news of the\\nenemy, seemed scarcely to care to know or inquire\\nthe movements of the allied armies. He, once so\\nelectrically rapid, had ceased to value time. His ce-\\nlerity of movement had been of the essence of his\\nearlier victories. But on the morning of Ligny, and\\non the succeeding day, he lost many precious hours,\\nand so, perhaps, the campaign. He himself ac-\\nknowledges that, had he not been so tired, he should\\nhave been on horseback all the night before Waterloo\\nthough, as it was, he mounted his horse an hour after\\nmidnight and rode till dawn.\\nThen comes the supreme battle. Napoleon appears\\nto have watched it with some apathy, and, on seeing\\nthe catastrophe, to have calmly remarked, parait\\nqu ils sont meles, and walked his horse off the field.\\nHe flies to Paris, and there he is the same. He\\narrives at the Elysee at six o clock in the morning on\\nJune 2ist. He is received on the steps by Caulain-\\ncourt, whose tender and faithful arm supports him\\n121", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0131.jp2"}, "132": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\ninto the palace. The army, he says, had done won-\\nders, but had been seized by a panic. Ney, hke a\\nmadman, had sacrificed his cavahy. He himself is\\nsuffocated, exhausted; he throws himself into a hot\\nbath, and convokes his ministers. Lavallette saw\\nhim that morning, and gives, in a few words, a\\nghastly, speaking picture of his appearance: As\\nsoon as he saw me he came to me with a fearful epi-\\nleptic laugh. Ah, my God! my God! he said,\\nraising his eyes to heaven, and paced two or three\\ntimes round the room. This emotion was only tem-\\nporary; he soon recovered his self-command, and\\nasked what was happening at the Chambers. He\\nrecognized afterwards that he should have gone that\\nday, as it was urged on him, booted and muddy, to\\nthe Chambers, have harangued them, have tried the\\neffect of his magnetic individuality, and, had they\\nremained insensible, have entered their sitting in\\nCromwellian fashion. He should, too, he acknowl-\\nedges, have had Fouche shot at once. Instead of\\nthis, he holds a council, from which Fouche, by his\\nside, sends notes to rally the opposition in Parlia-\\nment. As the council proceeds, the results of the\\ntraitor s manipulation become manifest. There is\\ndistress, and there is despair. The loyal adherents,\\nthe princes of his house, implore the Emperor to\\nshow energy; Napoleon sits numb. His carriage\\nstands horsed in the court-yard ready to take him to\\nthe Chambers it is sent away. In the face of treach-\\nery and opposition and intrigue he remains passive\\nand resourceless. At last, at a second council, he\\nmechanically signs his abdication, his antechambers\\nempty at once, and his palace becomes a desert.\\nBut outside the soldiers and the multitude clamor\\nJ 22", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0132.jp2"}, "133": {"fulltext": "THE QUESTION OF CUSTODY\\nfor him; they adjure him not to desert them, but to\\norganize and head a national resistance. A word\\nfrom him, says his brother, would have put an end\\nto his domestic foes. This is an exaggeration, for\\nLafayette had utilized the time which the Emperor\\nhad lost, and secured the National Guard. But the\\nenthusiasm was formidable. It might have been the\\nprecursor of a successful revolution, had the Em-\\nperor cared to utilize it in that way. At any rate, it\\nalarms Fouche and his satellites they send the Em-\\nperor a hint, and he at once retires from his capital\\nand his friends, sending his own carriage empty\\nthrough the crowd of his adherents, as if they were\\nhis enemies, and hurrjang off in another.\\nHe retreats to Malmaison, where he is practically\\na prisoner. He will not move he will not give an\\norder he sits reading novels. He will arrange nei-\\nther for resistance nor for flight. One day decides\\nboth. He is induced to offer his services as general\\nto the provisional government. The reply he re-\\nceives is a direction to leave the country. He obeys\\nwithout a word, and leaves in a quarter of an hour.\\nArrived at Rochefort, he shows the same apathy,\\nthe same indecision, the same unconsciousness of\\nthe value of every moment. It seems clear that, had\\nhe acted with promptitude, he had reasonable chances\\nof escaping to America. His brother Joseph had\\noffered him one opportunity. Joseph, who bore a\\nstrong resemblance to the Emperor, proposed to\\nchange places with him, and let Napoleon embark\\nin the American vessel in which he himself after-\\nwards escaped. But Napoleon declared that any-\\nthing in the nature of a disguise was beneath his\\ndignity, though he had certainly not held this opin-\\n123", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0133.jp2"}, "134": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nion on his way to Elba. Again he might have at-\\ntempted flight in a neutral (Danish) ship, or in a\\nchassemaree (a swift, masted, coasting vessel), or\\nin a frigate. Some young naval officers offered\\nthemselves as the crew either of a chassemaree or a\\nrowing-boat which should steal through the blockade.\\nBut the frigate offered the best chances of success,\\nand Maitland, in his narrative, admits that these\\nwere not slight. There were at the lie d Aix at that\\nmoment two French frigates, besides smaller vessels.\\nOne of the captains was doubtful, if not hostile but\\nthe other implored Napoleon to take the chance. He\\nwould attack the British ship, while the Emperor\\nescaped in the other frigate. In former days the\\nEmperor would not have hesitated to intrust Caesar\\nand his fortunes to such a hazard. But now he\\nseemed under some maleficent charm or blight.\\nHe dawdled about, summoned councils of his suite\\nto ask their advice as to what he had better do, dis-\\nplayed his every movement to the watchful enemy,\\ndid, in fact, everything that a few years before he\\nwould have despised any one for doing. At last he\\nsurrenders himself, helplessly, to the Bellerophon,\\nwhere he sits dozing over Ossian on the deck. His\\nsuite confess to Maitland that much of his bodily\\nactivity and mental energy has disappeared.\\nOnce only in that voyage did his apathy forsake\\nhim. At dawn, one morning, when the ship was\\nmaking Ushant, the watch, to their unspeakable\\nsurprise, saw the Emperor issue from his cabin and\\nmake his way, with some difficulty, to the poop.\\nArrived there, he asked the officer on duty if the\\ncoast were indeed Ushant, and then, taking a tele-\\nscope, he gazed fixedly at the land. From seven\\n124", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0134.jp2"}, "135": {"fulltext": "THE QUESTION OF CUSTODY\\ntill near noon he thus remained motionless. Neither\\nthe officers of the ship, nor his staff as they watched\\nhim, durst disturb that agony. At last, as the out-\\nline faded from his sight, he turned his ghastly face,\\nconcealing it as best he could, and clutched at the\\narm of Bertrand, who supported him back to his\\ncabin. It was his last sight of France,\\nAt St. Helena his lethargy becomes naturally more\\nmarked it amazes himself. He spends hours in his\\nbed, and hours in his bath. He soon ceases to dress\\ntill late in the afternoon. He is surprised to find that\\nhe is happiest in bed, he for whom the whole day had\\nonce been all too short.\\nAnd this is the man who, in the opinion of the\\nBritish government and Sir Hudson Lowe, was\\nlikely to glide down an inaccessible rock, unper-\\nceived by ubiquitous sentries, and, in some unex-\\nplained manner, pass vigilant vessels of war, in order\\nonce more to disturb the world. It is safe to say that,\\nhad he effected the impossible and escaped, he could\\nnever have seriously disturbed the world again, ex-\\ncept as a tradition.* But it was impossible for him\\nto escape. Even had he been allowed to range over\\nthe whole island, had all the sentries been removed,\\nit was out of the question for him, in his physical\\ncondition, given a reasonable police and watchful\\ncruisers, to leave the island without the connivance\\nof the governor. Napoleon himself, though he some-\\ntimes hoped to leave St. Helena, never, we are con-\\nScott, indeed, disputes this view by telling an anecdote which\\nhad greatly amused Napoleon himself. A grenadier, who saw\\nhim as he landed at St. Helena, exclaimed They told us he was\\ngrowing old he has forty good campaigns in his belly yet, damn\\nhim,\\n125", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0135.jp2"}, "136": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nvinced, even thought of escape, though Gourgaud\\nrecords a jesting scheme for this purpose, launched\\nby the Emperor, amid laughter, after dinner. He\\nbased such meagre hopes as he entertained on the\\nopposition party in Parliament, or on Princess Char-\\nlotte s succession to the crown. And so he desires\\nMalcolm and Gourgaud to set forth all his grievances\\nto that princess.\\nNapoleon had the faculty, when he chose, of cre-\\nating a fool s paradise for himself. In the Russian\\ncampaign he had, for example, ordered his marshals\\nto operate with armies which he knew had ceased to\\nexist. When they remonstrated, he simply replied\\nWhy rob me of my calm? When the allies in-\\nvaded France he professed to rely greatly on the\\narmy of Marshal Macdonald. Would you like,\\nsaid the marshal to Beugnot, to review my army?\\nIt will not take you long. It consists of myself and\\nmy chief of the staff. Our supplies are four straw\\nchairs and a plank table. Again, during the cam-\\npaign of 1814, the Emperor was detailing his plans\\nto Marmont. Marmont was to do this and that with\\nhis corps of ten thousand men. At each repetition of\\nthis figure Marmont interrupted to say that he had\\nonly three. Yet Napoleon persisted to the end:\\nMarmont with his ten thousand men. But the\\nstrangest instance of this is detailed by Meneval,\\nwho tells us that when the Emperor added up num-\\nbers of his soldiers he always added them up wrong,\\nand always swelled the total. So at St. Helena he\\nreally, we think, brought himself to believe that he\\nwould be released when Lord Holland became prime\\nminister, or when Princess Charlotte ascended the\\nthrone. He sometimes even professed to be per-\\n126", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0136.jp2"}, "137": {"fulltext": "THE QUESTION OF CUSTODY\\nsuaded that the expense of his detention would in-\\nduce the British government to agree to his hber-\\nation. Reports of the most amazing character were\\noccasionally brought to Longwood, the invention,\\nwe should imagine, of the Jamestown gossips.\\nO Meara informs Napoleon one day, for example,\\nthat the Imperial Guard has retired into the Ce-\\nvennes and that all France is in insurrection. All\\nthat we are told of the effect of this sensational\\nnews is that the Emperor plays reversi. Another\\nday Montholon returns from Jamestown, where he\\nhas read the newspapers, and declares that all France\\ndemands the Emperor, that there is a universal rising..^\\nin his favor, and that Britain is at the last gasp.\\nWe doubt if he put the slightest faith in this sort of\\nreport. He had, we suspect, very little hope of any\\nkind. But such hope as he had rested on Princess\\nCharlotte and Lord Holland. Lord Holland, be-\\ncause he, and, what was more important. Lady\\nHolland, had enthusiastically espoused his cause;\\nPrincess Charlotte, partly because she was supposed\\nto have expressed sympathy for him, partly, per-\\nhaps, because she had married Prince Leopold,\\nwho had wished to be his aide-de-camp. That,\\nsaid the Emperor, is a lucky fellow not to have\\nbeen named my aide-de-camp when he asked for it;\\nfor, had he been appointed, he would not now be on\\nthe steps of the English throne.\\nThere was, indeed, one source of peril, of which\\nboth Lowe and the French commissioner were well\\naware, against which it was difficult to guard the\\npersonal fascination exercised by the captive. Mont-\\nchenu constantly deplores this ominous fact. Every\\none, he says, leaves Napoleon s presence in a state\\n127", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0137.jp2"}, "138": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE I\\nI\\nof the greatest enthusiasm. Were I you/ said the\\nmarquis to the governor, I would not allow a single i\\nstranger to visit Longwood, for they all leave it in\\na transport of devotion, which they take back with i\\nthem to Europe. What is most astonishing, j\\nsays the Russian commissioner, is the ascendancy\\nthat this man, dethroned, a prisoner, surrounded by\\nguards and keepers, exercises on all who come near\\nhim. Everything at St. Helena bears the impress\\nof his superiority. The French tremble at his aspect,\\nand think themselves too happy to serve him. j\\nThe English no longer approach him but with awe.v. i\\nEven his guardians seek anxiously for a word or a j\\nlook from him. No one dares to treat him as an\\nequal. These alarming facts were coupled with\\nthe not less alarming good -nature of the captive, i\\nHe would go into a cottage, sit down and chat with j\\nthe people, who would receive Sir Emperor with\\nawful joy. He would talk to slaves and give them j\\nmoney. He threatened, indeed, to become beloved.\\nThe governor was frightened out of his wits at this\\nnew and indefinable menace to the security of the\\nisland, so he at once retrenched the boundaries so\\nthat no cottages could be within them.", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0138.jp2"}, "139": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER IX\\nLORD BATHURST\\nNothing, wrote the Russian commissioner to\\nhis government after near three years experience\\nat St. Helena, can be more absurd, more impoHtic,\\nless generous and less delicate than the conduct of\\nthe English to Napoleon. It would not be fair or\\njust, however, to debit Lowe or Cockburn with the\\nresponsibility for these ignominies, or for the general\\nprinciple of the Emperor s treatment. They were\\nonly the somewhat narrow and coarse agents of a\\nsordid and brutal policy. It was the British min-\\nistry which is answerable, jointly and severally, for\\nthe treatment of Napoleon; and which, strangely\\nenough, is equally condemned by the partisans of\\nLowe. Worst of all, says the governor s most\\nefficient advocate, was the conduct of the\\nBritish government, which, viewed in itself, was\\nutterly undignified viewed from Sir Hudson Lowe s\\nstand-point was unfair and treacherous. When,\\nhowever, we remember who and what these ministers\\nwere, we cease to marvel. Vandal, in one of the most\\neloquent passages of his noble history, points out\\nthat the eventual victory of Great Britain over Na-\\npoleon was the victory of persistency over genius.\\nThe men who governed in London, flung by the\\nillness of George III. into a chaos of difficulties,\\nI 129", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0139.jp2"}, "140": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nplaced between a mad King and a discredited Regent,\\nexposed to the virulent attacks of the opposition, to\\nthe revolt of injured interests, to the complaints of\\nthe City, face to face with a people without bread, and\\nwith an almost ruined commerce sometimes\\ndespair of even maintaining Wellington at Lisbon.\\nBut in their extreme peril, none of them think of\\nyielding of asking, or even accepting, peace or of\\nsacrificing the British cause or British pride. Rare-\\nly, he continues, have men displayed more admira-\\nble proofs of cool and obstinate courage. Yet,\\nwho are these men? Among them there is not a\\nsingle minister of great renown, of a glorious past,\\nof a superior intelligence. The successors of Pitt\\nhave only inherited his constancy, his tenacity, his\\nhatred. But, knowing that they bear the destinies\\nof their country, and of the world, they derive from\\nthat consciousness a virtue of energy and patience\\nwhich makes them equal to the greatest. Liver-\\npool, Eldon, Bathurst, Castlereagh, and Sidmouth\\nwere men whose names can scarcely be said to glow\\nin history. They had, however, felt doggedly that\\nthey must fight it out to the bitter end; and, sup-\\nported throughout by the victories of their navy\\nand the grim patience of their people, as well as,\\nlatterly, by military success, had pulled through and\\nemerged victorious. But victory had not taught them\\nmagnanimity. They had caught their great enemy\\ntheir first wish was to get somebody else to shoot\\nhim or hang him, failing which, they were deter-\\nmined to lock him up like a pickpocket. All that\\nthey saw clearly was that he had cost them a great\\ndeal of trouble and a great deal of money, so that he\\nmust cost them as little more as possible. They were\\n130", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0140.jp2"}, "141": {"fulltext": "LORD BATHURST\\nhonest men, acting up to their hghts we can only\\nregret that the men were dull and the lights were\\ndim.\\nThe minister charged with carrying out this policy\\nwas Lord Bathurst, secretary of state for the joint\\ndepartment of War and the Colonies.\\nWho was Bathurst?\\nIt is difficult to say. He was, we know, grandson\\nof that secular Lord Bathurst who, sixty years after\\nhis first elevation to the peerage, was created an earl,\\nand who, in the last months of his life, in his ninety-\\nfirst year, was the subject of a famous apostrophe by\\nBurke. He was, we know, son of that second Lord\\nBathurst who was the least capable of chancellors.\\nHe himself was one of those strange children of our\\npolitical system who fill the most dazzling offices\\nwith the most complete obscurity. He had presided\\nover the Foreign Office. He was now, and was for a\\nterm of fifteen years, a secretary of state. Yet even\\nour most microscopic biographical dictionary may\\nbe searched in vain for more than a dry recital of the\\noffices that he filled, the date of his birth, and the\\ndate of his death.\\nHe was now in charge of Napoleon. He tersely\\ninstructed Lowe that the Emperor was to be treated,\\ntill further orders, as a prisoner of war, but that he\\nwas to be allowed every indulgence which may be\\nconsistent with the entire security of his person.\\nHe then passed through Parliament an act of Dra-\\nconian, but perhaps necessary, severity. Any British\\nsubject who should assist in Napoleon s escape, or,\\nafter his escape, assist him on the high seas, was to\\nbe punished with death without benefit of clergy.\\nLowe, by the bye, used to allude to this act in deli-\\n131", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0141.jp2"}, "142": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\ncate raillery of the commissioners. After all, I can-\\nnot hang you, he would say. Meanwhile Bathurst\\nwas tightening the screw. Eight thousand pounds\\nw^as to be the limit of Napoleon s expenditure on\\ntable and household; he was to pay all his own\\nfollowers and servants, and the household was at\\nonce to be reduced by the magical number of four;\\nno names or degrees were specified, so that it was\\nclearly an economy of four mouths that w^as aimed\\nat. The remainder w^ere to be persuaded to leave\\nhim, as their residence in the island added greatly\\nto the expense. It may be presumed, therefore, that\\nthe indulgence, consistent, after all, wdth the\\nentire security of his person of intercourse with\\na few fellow-countrymen, and of the attendance of\\nhis old servants was to be, if practicable, with-\\ndrawn. Lowe, moreover, was to draw the bonds\\nmore straitly than Cockburn, No communication\\nwas to reach Napoleon except through Lowe. The\\nfaculty accorded to Bertrand by the admiral of\\ngiving cards of admission which would enable visit-\\nors to Napoleon to pass the sentries was withdraw^n.\\nA declaration was to be signed by all the French\\ncourtiers and servants of the Emperor that they\\nwould submit to all regulations imposed on their\\nmaster, and so forth. He attached great importance\\nto enclosing Napoleon in a sort of area railing which\\nhe despatched from England, and w^hich should add\\nthe final precaution to security. We consider it,\\nhe writes, a very essential point, particularly until\\nthe iron railing shall arrive, to ascertain, late in the\\nevening and early in the morning, that he is safe.\\nBut it seems to have been found inexpedient to carry\\nconstraint too far. For the interest in the captive\\n132", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0142.jp2"}, "143": {"fulltext": "LORD BATHURST\\nwas intense. Every scrap of news from St. Helena\\nwas eagerly devoured by the public. The craving\\nfor each fragment of intelligence was so great that\\nit was scarcely possible to preserve from the avidity\\nof the press the most private letters written from St.\\nHelena. A lady who came from there in 1817 nar-\\nrates how, on landing at Portsmouth, persons of all\\nranks seemed ready to tear the passengers in pieces\\nfor information about the captive. And, as soon as\\nthey reached the hotel, strangers brought portraits of\\nNapoleon to have the likeness attested. Warden s\\nworthless book was for the same reason extremely\\npopular. Santini s not less worthless book was not\\nless popular. It went through seven editions in a\\nfortnight. So, at least, its author declares.\\nLord Holland, too, raised in the House of Lords a\\ndebate on the treatment of Napoleon. And from this\\ntime forth there reigns a blander tone in the regula-\\ntions of Bathurst. His next letter to Lowe, written a\\nmonth after the debate, is couched in a spirit that may\\nalmost be deemed urbane. You may assure him of\\nyour disposition to make his situation more comfort-\\nable by a supply of the publications of the day.\\nI think it right also to add that there exists ir this\\ncountry no indisposition to allow him the gratifica-\\ntions of the table more especially of wine. And\\nlater on in the same year he expands the limit of even\\n\u00c2\u00a312,000 a year, if that sum be inadequate for such\\nan establishment as would be requisite for a general\\nofficer of distinction. (Napoleon, it will be observed,\\nhas gradually risen from a general not in employ\\nto a. general officer of distinction.\\nBathurst seems to have been in all respects as\\nworthy of Lowe as Lowe of Bathurst, and to both\\n^33", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0143.jp2"}, "144": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nthere was a common standard of tact and taste.\\nTake the following specimen. Rats are the curse\\nof St. Helena, and on this subject the secretary of\\nstate writes to the governor You will also receive\\na private letter from Mr. Goulburn on the great in-\\nconvenience to which he (Napoleon) is said to be\\nexposed by the quantity of rats with which his house\\nis infested. There is something so ludicrous in a\\nfallen leader s complaint on such a subject, and is one\\nso little in unison with the animal s alleged sagacity,\\nthat it is not a topic likely from choice to be brought\\nforward as a grievance; but the number of these ani-\\nmals may amount to be a real one; and though I\\nhave reason to believe that the increase is owing to\\nthe negligence of his servants, in which he is very\\nwilling to encourage them, yet it is fit on every account\\nthat the subject should be examined and a proper\\nremedy applied. We cannot call to mind any com-\\nplaint of Napoleon s on the subject, though his house\\nwas overrun with these disgusting vermin. But the\\ngraceful allusions of the secretary of state, which we\\nhave italicized, lose none of their point from this cir-\\ncumstance; though he may be held to be going a\\nlittle too far when he hints that the Emperor, always\\nscrupulously dainty in such things, wilfully encour-\\naged the negligence of his servants in order to promote\\nthe increase of rats.\\nWhen Napoleon is dying Bathurst touches a note\\nwhich is almost sublime. If he be really ill, writes\\nthe secretary of state, he may derive some consola-\\ntion by knowing that the repeated accounts which\\nhave of late been transmitted of his declining health\\nhave not been received with indifference. You will,\\ntherefore, communicate to General Buonaparte the\\n134", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0144.jp2"}, "145": {"fulltext": "LORD BATHURST\\ngreat interest which His Majesty has taken in the\\nrecent accounts of his indisposition, and the anxiety\\nwhich His Majesty feels to afford him every rehef\\nof which his situation admits. You will assure Gen-\\neral Buonaparte that there is no alleviation which\\ncan be derived from additional medical assistance,\\nnor any arrangement consistent with the safe cus-\\ntody of his person at St. Helena (and His Majesty\\ncannot now hold out any expectations of his removal)\\nwhich His Majesty is not most anxious to afford,\\nand so forth. The force of Bathurst could no further\\ngo. Fortimately, before this precious effusion was\\nreceived at St. Helena, its prisoner was where the\\nsympathy of George IV., strained through Bathurst,\\ncould not reach him. Scott thinks that it would have\\nbeen a solace to him. Comment on such an opinion\\nseems unnecessary.\\nThe whole correspondence, so far as we know it,\\nis sordid and pitiful enough. Making all allowances\\nfor the cost and exhaustion of the war, and for the\\nnatural anxiety that the great disturber of peace\\nshould not escape, it appears to us, at the end of the\\ncentury in which it passed, a humiliating compound\\nof meanness and panic. But the responsibility for\\nthis ignominious episode, this policy of petty cheese-\\nparing and petty police, must rest not with the in-\\nstruments, but with the principals; with the Liver-\\npools and Bathursts at home, not with the Cockburns\\nand Lowes at St. Helena although the ministers, as\\nwe have seen, tried to dissociate themselves from the\\nsinister reputation of Lowe by extending a conspicu-\\nously cold shoulder to him on his return.", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0145.jp2"}, "146": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER X\\nTHE DRAMATIS PERSONS\\nThe dramatis personae of this long tragedy are\\nfew in number, and some even of these, the Popple-\\ntons and the like, flit like ghosts across the stage,\\nwithout voice or substance. Of Poppleton, for ex-\\nample, whose name occurs so frequently, we only\\nknow that he was long the orderly officer at Longwood\\nthat he was not much of a horseman that he some-\\ntimes dug potatoes; and that, on leaving, he sur-\\nreptitiously accepted a snuff-box as a present from\\nthe Emperor, one of the greatest crimes in Lowe s\\nlong calendar. We have, indeed, occasional vivid\\nglimpses, such as Napoleon s description of the ad-\\nmiral who succeeded Malcolm: He reminds me of\\none of those drunken little Dutch skippers that I have\\nseen in Holland, sitting at a table with a pipe in his\\nmouth, a cheese and a bottle of Geneva before him.\\nBut there are other names which occur in every page\\nof the various narratives, notably those of the Em-\\nperor s little suite. Of the characters not already\\nnoticed the grand marshal. Count Bertrand, and his\\nwife take, of course, the first place.\\nBertrand has one agreeable singularity he wrote\\nno book, and tells us nothing, which is in itself a\\npleasant contrast to the copious self-revelation of\\nGourgaud and Las Cases. He seems to have been\\n136", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0146.jp2"}, "147": {"fulltext": "THE DRAMATIS PERSONS\\nan excellent officer Napoleon repeatedly said that\\nhe was the best engineer officer in existence, but this\\nmay possibly have been alleged for the purpose of\\nteasing Gourgaud. He was, moreover, devoted to\\nhis master, but not less devoted to his wife. This\\ndouble allegiance, which had already caused incon-\\nvenience at Elba, plunged him into constant diffi-\\nculties with the Emperor, who resented it even on\\nhis death-bed. But Bertrand resisted his wife s en-\\ntreaties that he would not accompany the Emperor\\nto St. Helena, stayed till the end, though not without\\nthoughts of going, and remains, in his loyal silence,\\nthe most sympathetic figure of the Emperor s sur-\\nroundings. For some reason or another he was an\\nobject of Lowe s special hatred. But Henry, the\\nfriend of Lowe, and almost every other impartial au-\\nthority, commend him. Napoleon on his death-bed\\nordered Bertrand to be reconciled to Lowe, and a rec-\\nonciliation accordingly took place after the Emperor s\\ndeath.\\nMme. Bertrand was said to be an English Creole\\nby birth on the English side a niece of Lord Dillon,\\nand on the Creole side a connection of the Empress\\nJosephine. Her English origin had indeed caused\\nher to be suspected at Elba of English jsympathies,\\nbut of this not the slightest trace is discoverable.\\nHer appearance seems to have possessed a singular\\ncharm. She was, says an English lady on the isl-\\nand, a most engaging, fascinating woman. She\\nspoke our language with perfect fluency, but with a\\nslight French accent. Her figure was extremely tall\\nand commanding, but a slight, elegant bend took\\nfrom her height, and added to her interesting appear-\\nance her eyes black, sparkling, soft, and animated\\n137", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0147.jp2"}, "148": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nher deportment that of a young queen, accustomed to\\ncommand admiration, yet winning to preserve it.\\nHer character was, however, Uable to tumults of Cre-\\nole passion, and on the announcement that Napoleon\\nwas to be sent to St. Helena she flung herself into his\\ncabin, made a scene, and then attempted to drown\\nherself. The result, and even the attempt, had, for-\\ntunately, no element of tragedy. For while her body\\nwas half out of the cabin window, her husband re-\\nstrained her from within, while Savarj^, w^th whom\\nshe had a feud, was shouting in fits of laughter\\nLet her go! let her go! Maitland had constant\\nstruggles with her while she was on board the Bel-\\nlerophon, culminating in a scene when the little\\nself-possession that still remained gave way, and\\nhe called her a very foolish woman, desiring her\\nnot to speak to him again. Nevertheless, when, a\\nlittle later in the day, she left the ship, she came up\\nto the captain in a conciliatory and friendly manner\\nthat did her the highest honor, reminded him that\\nhe had called her a very foolish woman that morning,\\nbut asked him to shake hands, as God knows,\\nadded the poor lady, if we shall ever meet again.\\nMaitland sums her up as a kind mother and affection-\\nate wife, with many excellent qualities, though per-\\nhaps a little warm. Forsyth says that she seems to\\nhave won the good-will and regard of all who knew\\nher. One trait of humor is recorded of her. A child\\nwas born to her at St. Helena, whom she presented\\nto the Emperor as the first French visitor that had\\nentered Longwood without Lord Bathurst s permis-\\nsion. Mme. de Montholon records that she lived\\nthrough their long and weary captivity in com-\\nplete harmony with this seductive creature. After\\n138", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0148.jp2"}, "149": {"fulltext": "THE DRAMATIS PERSON^E\\nMme. de Montholon s departure she was left for\\ntwo years without the society of a countrywoman,\\nand she had to beg Lowe for the rehef of a httle com-\\npany. No one made greater sacrifices in order to\\naccompany Napoleon and her husband than Mme.\\nBertrand. She was fond of luxury and of society\\nshe was accustomed to play a leading part in a splen-\\ndid court; she had, indeed, at Trieste, held a vice-\\nregal court of her own; her exquisitely beautiful\\nchildren were approaching an age when their edu-\\ncation would have to be her first object but after the\\nfirst paroxysm she went uncomplainingly to her\\ntropical Siberia, and seems to have been a peace-\\nmaker in a community which, though small, afford-\\ned an unbounded field for that blessed calling.\\nOf the personality of M. and Mme. de Montholon\\nwe catch but a faint view, though their names are\\nwritten large in the chronicles of the captivity. Mon-\\ntholon was of ancient family, and claimed, indeed,\\nto be by inheritance an English or Irish peer. One\\nof his ancestors, it is alleged, had saved the life of\\nRichard Coeur de Lion, and had been created in con-\\nsequence Earl of Lee and Baron O Brien, titles\\nwhich, it is alleged, were inherited by Montholon,\\nbut which diligent research fails to identify. How-\\never that may be, he had been known to Napoleon\\never since he was a child of ten years old, when, be-\\ning in Corsica with his mother and step-father, M.\\nde Semonville, he had received mathematical lessons\\nfrom the young Napoleon, then a captain of artillery.\\nAfterwards he was at school with Lucien and Jerome,\\nand with Eugene de Beauharnais. Hence he was,\\nas may be supposed, closely identified with the\\ncareer of Napoleon, and he was still further connected\\n139", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0149.jp2"}, "150": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nwith the imperial interest through the marriage of his\\nsister with the pure and chivahous Macdonald. It\\nwas the strange fate of Montholon to know Napoleon\\nin the obscurity of his early days, to be associated\\nwith the magnificence of his empire, to follow him\\ninto exile, to watch by his death-bed with the tender-\\nness of a son, to live to assist in the fantastic attempt\\non Boulogne, and so to be partaker of the third Na-\\npoleon s captivity for exactly the term of the captivity\\nof the first. Six years of his life were spent in sharing\\nthe imprisonment of the first, and six years in shar-\\ning that of the third Napoleon. He lived to see the\\nre-establishment of the empire, which Gourgaud\\nmissed by a few months but Gourgaud, character-\\nistically enough, was in opposition to the prince\\npresident.\\nMontholon was, happily, a blind devotee; hap-\\npily, for a blind devotee was required in the little\\ncourt. After the departure of Las Cases, therefore,\\nit was not difficult for Montholon to succeed to the\\nvacant place, for the conjugal devotion of Ber-\\ntrand, and the moroseness of Gourgaud, disabled\\nthem from competition; and so Montholon became\\nthe most familiar and necessary of the Emperor s\\nstaff. But even he wished to go. Bathurst, in\\nFebruary, 1820, was writing caustically enough of\\nBertrand and Montholon They are both, in fact,\\nupon the wing, but watching each other. Mon-\\ntholon, at any rate, wished to accompany his wife\\nwhen she left in 1819, and had his daily struggles\\nwith Napoleon, who besought him to remain. Nine\\nweeks, indeed, before the Emperor s death we find\\nhim discussing with Lowe who should succeed Ber-\\ntrand and himself as attendants on the exile, and\\n140", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0150.jp2"}, "151": {"fulltext": "THE DRAMATIS PERSONiE\\nPlanat, as we have seen, was almost starting to re-\\nplace him. Scott met him at Paris in 1826, and\\nfound him an interesting person, by no means over-\\nmuch prepossessed in favor of his late master, whom\\nhe judged impartially, though with affection.\\nOf Albinie Helene de Vassal, Mme. de Montholon,\\nbut for the insane jealousy of Gourgaud, we should\\nknow nothing, or next to nothing, though she left\\nbehind her some vivid notes of her exile. We learn\\nincidentally from Meneval that her marriage with\\nMontholon encountered some difficulties, for she had\\ntwo divorced husbands living. The Emperor for-\\nbade the banns, but afterwards gave Montholon per-\\nmission to marry the niece of the President Se-\\nguier. Montholon had tricked his sovereign, for\\nhis bride was the forbidden lady under another\\ndescription. A quiet, unassuming woman, says\\nMaitland, who gave no trouble, and seemed per-\\nfectly satisfied, provided she were allowed to accom-\\npany her husband. She provided the music of\\nthe Emperor s drawing-room, singing Italian songs,\\nwith little voice, and strumming on the piano.\\nEmmanuel, Marquis of Las Cases, had had a some-\\nwhat checkered career. At an early age he entered\\nthe French navy and took part in the siege of Gib-\\nraltar. Before he was twenty-one he had passed\\nas a lieutenant, and soon afterwards was placed in\\ncommand of a brig. Then came the Revolution,\\nand the young officer was one of the first to emigrate.\\nThis was ultimately fortunate, for his recollections\\nof Coblentz and of the Emigration had always a\\nparticular savor for Napoleon. From Coblentz he\\nwas despatched on a secret mission to Gustavus III.\\nof Sweden. Then Las Cases drifted to England,\\n141", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0151.jp2"}, "152": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nformed a part of the disastrous expedition to Quibe-\\nron, and on his escape thence gave lessons in Lon-\\ndon, where he pubhshed a historical atlas, which\\nproved remunerative. After the Eighteenth of Bru-\\nmaire he returned to France, served under Berna-\\ndotte, and became a chamberlain and councillor of\\nstate. On Napoleon s first abdication he refused\\nto adhere to the resolution of the council of state\\ndeposing the Emperor (although he accepted from\\nLouis XVIII. a commission as captain in the French\\nnavy), and retired to England. During the Hun-\\ndred Days he returned, of course, to Paris, and,\\nafter Waterloo, besought Napoleon to take him to\\nSt. Helena. Born three years before his master,\\nLas Cases survived him twenty-one, dying in 1842.\\nWe give these facts in detail, because they explain\\nthe preference which causes such jealousy. Las Cases\\nbelonged to the old nobility, he had served in the navy\\nbefore the Revolution, he had been involved in the\\nEmigration, he had seen much of England, and was\\nthus able to satisfy Napoleon s insatiable curiosity\\non phases of life with which he had had no personal\\ncontact. Moreover, Las Cases was a man of the\\nworld. He had fought, gambled, and travelled, had\\nseen life in the hundred-sided character of a needy\\nand ingenious exile, and had observed the empire\\nand its court from a much more independent situa-\\ntion than Napoleon s. Besides, he adored his mas-\\nter, had no secrets from him, regarded him as super-\\nhuman and divine. We have seen, indeed, that he\\nhad no scruples in the Emperor s service. Napo-\\nleon is my God, he would say; or I do not regret\\nmy exile, since it places me close to the noblest of\\ncreated beings. He had even the complaisance to\\n142", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0152.jp2"}, "153": {"fulltext": "THE DRAMATIS PERSONS\\nbe much shorter than the Emperor. There were, of\\ncourse, drawbacks. He humihated his master by\\nbeing violently sea-sick on a British man-of-war, in\\nspite of a new naval uniform and of the great bound\\nin rank which he had achieved after a quarter of a\\ncentury spent on shore. Then, too, his colleagues\\nhated him. Their usual name for him was The\\nJesuit. His favor with Napoleon, though perfectly\\nexplicable to us from his experience and his contrast\\nwith the too domestic Bertrand, the less cultured\\nMontholon, and the impracticable Gourgaud, was a\\nconstant irritation to them. Then, again, his de-\\nparture is not easily explained. He might have re-\\nturned, but would not, imbedding himself in vapid\\nphrases which even now we cannot exactly interpret,\\nbut which we translate into a conviction that his col-\\nleagues had rendered his life at Long wood impossi-\\nble. In spite of all, in spite of his unblushing fabri-\\ncations, his want of veracity, the irrepressible sus-\\npicion that he may, after all, have been only an\\nenthusiastic Boswell seeking biographical material\\nfor publication, we confess to a sneaking kindness\\nfor the devoted, rhetorical little man and we cannot\\nforget that he insisted on handing over to Napoleon\\nfour thousand pounds, which was probably his en-\\ntire fortune. With him was his son, then a boy, who\\nafterwards assaulted Sir Hudson Lowe in the streets\\nof London, and tried to bring about a duel with the\\nex-governor. Nineteen years after Napoleon s death\\nthe young man returned to St. Helena with the expe-\\ndition to fetch back the Emperor s remains, and\\nbecame a senator under Napoleon III.\\nPiontkowski remains a figure of mystery. He was\\na trooper in the Polish Lancers, who had followed\\n143", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0153.jp2"}, "154": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nNapoleon to Elba, and had been given a commission\\nin consequence of his fidelity. At a time when the\\nBritish government would not allow Gourgaud to\\ntake with him his old servant, or Las Cases to be\\nrejoined by his wife, they sent Piontkowski, unbid-\\nden and unwelcome, to join the Emperor. If we may\\ntrust the others, Gourgaud found him out at once to\\nbe untruthful, and to have made false statements\\nabout his campaigns. Napoleon knew nothing of\\nhim, disliked him, and, not unnaturally, distrusted\\nhim. After his departure, indeed, Napoleon openly\\nsuspected him of being a spy; Las Cases disdain-\\nfully mentions him as the Pole. He vanished as\\nsuddenly as he came, nine months afterwards, with\\napparently plenty of money. We do not believe him\\nto have been a spy, but his appearance and career\\nat Longwood still require elucidation.\\nThe young ladies born in that island are ex-\\ntremely pretty, says a witness who lived at St.\\nHelena during the Emperor s residence, and our vari-\\nous chronicles are full of them. There were the two\\nBalcombes, Miss Wilks, Miss Robinson, who was\\nknown as the Nymph, and Miss Kneips, who was\\nknown as the Rosebud.\\nWith Miss Wilks Gourgaud was desperately in\\nlove. There is a woman! he exclaims during\\ntheir first acquaintance. He lost his heart at once,\\nand asked himself, Alas! Why am I a prisoner?\\nIt was no comfort to him to be assured by Bertrand\\nthat he was preferred to the other suitors, or by Na-\\npoleon that he should be provided with a better mar-\\nriage in France. He sees the ship that bears her\\naway, and heaves a despairing Adieu, Laure!\\nAll testimony is unanimous that Gourgaud in this\\n144", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0154.jp2"}, "155": {"fulltext": "THE DRAMATIS PERSONiE\\ninstance placed his affections well. Miss Wilks\\nwas then in the first bloom of youth, and her whole\\ndemeanor, affability, and elegant, modest appear-\\nance conspired to render her the most charming and\\nadmirable young person I ever beheld, or have since\\nmet with, in all my peregrinations in Europe, Asia,\\nand Africa for the space of thirty years. This is\\nthe high testimony of a lady who accompanied her\\non her first visit to Napoleon. The Emperor was\\nscarcely less fascinated. He had long heard, he\\nsaid, with a bow, of the elegance and beauty of Miss\\nWilks, but was now convinced that report had scarce-\\nly done her justice.\\nShe was the daughter of Colonel Wilks, the East\\nIndian governor of the island. She eventually mar-\\nried General Sir John Buchan, and lived to be ninety-\\none. She only died in 1888, and used to tell how\\nNapoleon, at parting, had given her a bracelet, and,\\nwhen she had said she was sorry to leave the island,\\nhad replied: Ah! Mademoiselle, I only wish I\\ncould change places with you.\\nNapoleon gave fanciful names to people and to\\nplaces. One quiet glen he had named the Valley\\nof Silence, but, when he found that a pretty girl lived\\nin it, he renamed it the Valley of the Nymph. The\\nNymph was a farmer s daughter, a very pretty girl\\nof about seventeen, named Marianne Robinson,\\nwhose sister had married a Captain Jordan of the\\nSixty -sixth Regiment, quartered at St. Helena.\\nWarden devoted a page of his book to her, and states\\nthat the visits of Napoleon became so frequent to\\nthe little farm that the gossips of Jamestown warned\\nthe father, who afterwards forbade his daughter to\\nappear when the Emperor called. This silly scan-\\nI 145", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0155.jp2"}, "156": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\ndal Napoleon thought it worth his while to contra-\\ndict in the Letters from the Cape, stating that he only\\nonce spoke to her, in broken English, without alight-\\ning from his horse, Mgntchenu, however, who had\\nan eminently prurient mind, repeats the statement,\\nand avers that Napoleon made her a declaration,\\nthat he talked much of her beauty, and thus aroused\\nthe jealousy of Miss Balcombe. Napoleon did, no\\ndoubt, visit the Nymph more than once, and Gour-\\ngaud declares that she hinted to the Emperor that\\nshe was in the habit of taking early and solitary\\nwalks. But, so far from taking up the challenge,\\nhe rallies Gourgaud on having made a new conquest\\nan impeachment to which that gallant officer\\nwas always prepared to plead guilty. Finally the\\nNymph marries, and so puts an end to this vulgar\\ngossip. Her husband is a merchant captain, a M.\\nEdouard (Edwards), who has been attracted to\\nher, according to the complacent belief of Longwood,\\nby the reported admiration of the Emperor. It is\\nenough for me to have said that she is pretty, said\\nthe Emperor, for this captain to fall in love with her\\nand marry her. Napoleon also makes the mys-\\nterious comment that the marriage proves that the\\nEnglish have more decision than the French, a re-\\nmark which appears to indicate some hesitating as-\\npirations on the part of some member of the house-\\nhold, probably Captain Piontkowski. She brings\\nthe husband to Longwood, when Napoleon says that\\nshe has the air of a nun, and that her husband re-\\nsembles Eugene Beauharnais. Napoleon, as is his\\nwont, asks him some crude and tactless questions;\\nthe mariner blushes, the Emperor pledges him in a\\ntoast, and, after an hour and a half of this sort of\\n146", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0156.jp2"}, "157": {"fulltext": "THE DRAMATIS PERSONS\\nthing, the couple take their leave. After a while\\nNapoleon follows them, and insists on embracing,\\nnot the Nymph, but her husband, on the ground,\\nsays Mr. Robinson, that he is so like Joseph Bona-\\nparte probably a mistake for Eugene. And so,\\nwith this unexpected exit, the Nymph vanishes into\\nspace.\\nThen there was another beauty, whom they called\\nthe Rosebud. The editors of Gourgaud tell us\\nthat she was a Miss Kneips. She makes transient\\nappearances, but we know nothing of her, or of some\\nstill more shadowy Miss Churchills, except that the\\nlarge heart of Gourgaud found a nook for them all.\\nMiss Betsy Balcombe, however, is the girl whose\\nname occurs most frequently in the St. Helena rec-\\nords. Twenty-three years after the Emperor s death,\\nunder her married name of Mrs. Abell, she published\\nher recollections of his exile. Her father, Mr. Bal-\\ncombe, was a sort of general purveyor, sometimes\\ncalled by courtesy a banker; and the traditions of\\nthe island declared him to be a son of George IV.\\nNapoleon lived at this gentleman s villa, while Long-\\nwood was being prepared for his reception, and there\\nmade acquaintance w4th his two daughters. Betsy\\nwas about fifteen, and the younger of the two. They\\nboth talked French, but Betsy was the prettier, and\\nthe favorite, for she represented a type which was\\nnew to the Emperor, a high-spirited hoyden, who\\nsaid and did whatever occurred to her on the spur\\nof the moment. The pranks that she played she\\nrecords in her book; they must certainly have been\\nin the nature of a piquant novelty to Napoleon.\\nShe boxed his ears, she attacked him with his own\\nsword. But the suite were not unnaturally disgust-\\n147", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0157.jp2"}, "158": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\ned at the familiarity with which she treated their\\nmaster, and Napoleon himself wearied of her, de-\\nnounced the whole family as canaille and as\\nmiserables. One flirtation kept the whole island\\nalive would Major Ferzen marry Betsy or not?\\nNapoleon said, No, the major would not so degrade\\nhimself. Still, at rare intervals, she amused him\\nto the last. The Emperor, a few weeks before she\\nleft, sent the sisters two plates of bonbons. Lowe\\nordered them to be returned. And, with this last\\ncharacteristic memory of St. Helena and its ruler,\\nthe Balcombe family sailed from the island on the\\nsame ship with Gourgaud.\\nBut though the mosquitoes were harassing, the\\ndominant population of St. Helena was the rats;\\nmore formidable than regiments, or cannon, or Lowe.\\nOn this subject there is an almost hysterical una-\\nnimity. The rats, says O Meara, are in num-\\nbers almost incredible at Longwood, I have fre-\\nquently seen them assemble like broods of chickens\\nround the offal thrown out of the kitchen. The\\nfloors and wooden partitions that separated the rooms\\nwere perforated with holes in every direction.\\nIt is difficult for any person, who has not actually\\nheard it, to form an idea of the noise caused by these\\nanimals running up and down between the par-\\ntitions and galloping in flocks in the garrets. Fre-\\nquently O Meara has to defend himself against them\\nwith his boots and his bootjack. They run round\\nthe table while the Emperor is at dinner without\\ntaking heed of any one. As Napoleon takes his\\nhat from the sideboard, a large rat springs out of\\nit and runs between his legs. The curse of the isle,\\nsays Sturmer, is the rats; the curse of locusts was\\n148", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0158.jp2"}, "159": {"fulltext": "THE DRAMATIS PERSONiE\\nnot to be mentioned beside it. The inhabitants are\\npowerless against them. A slave sleeping in a pas-\\nsage had part of his leg eaten off by them. So\\nhad one of the Emperor s horses. Bertrand, while\\nasleep, was bitten seriously in the hand. The chil-\\ndren had to be protected from them at night. Tri-\\nfling, and indeed diverting, as this pest seemed to the\\ndistant Bathurst, it must have been an odious ad-\\ndition to the petty miseries of Longwood. Nor was\\nBathurst alone in his merriment. Among the\\nsqualid caricatures with which the French press\\nattempted to besmirch the memory of their fallen\\nsovereign there are several devoted to this topic.\\nNapoleon received by the population of St. Helena\\nthe rats; Napoleon granting a constitution to\\nthe rats Napoleon sleeping at peace because guard-\\ned by a cat-sentry; and so forth. One need not\\ndilate on these pleasantries.", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0159.jp2"}, "160": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER XI\\nTHE COMMISSIONERS\\nIn this dreary drama, as in most human trans-\\nactions, the element of comedy is not absent, nor even\\nthe salt of farce. The comedy is supplied by Sir\\nHudson Lowe, his beans, and his counters. The\\nfarce is the career of the commissioners.\\nBy the treaty of August 2, 1815, it was provided,\\nat the instance of Castlereagh, which he afterwards\\nregretted, that Austria, Prussia, and Russia were to\\nappoint commissioners to proceed to and abide at the\\nplace which the government of His Britannic Majesty\\nshall have assigned for the residence of Napoleon\\nBuonaparte, and who, without being responsible for\\nhis custody, will assure themselves of his presence.\\nAnd by the next article His Most Christian Majesty\\nof France was to be invited by the signatory courts\\nto send a similar functionary. Prussia, combining a\\njudicious foresight with a wise economy, declined to\\navail herself of this privilege. But the other courts\\nhastened to nominate their representatives. These\\nhad, it will be observed, one sole and single duty,\\nto assure themselves of his presence. It is suffi-\\ncient to observe that none of them ever once saw him\\nface to face, except one who beheld his corpse.\\nThe Russian once from the race-course thought he\\nsaw him standing on the steps of his house. On the\\n150", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0160.jp2"}, "161": {"fulltext": "THE COMMISSIONERS\\nsame occasion the Austrian, concealed in a trench,\\nperceived through a telescope a man in a three-cor-\\nnered hat, whom he judged to be the Emperor. The\\nFrenchman had the same telescopic glimpse, but, re-\\nmaining till Napoleon s death, was privileged to see\\nhis remains. That is the whole record of their mis-\\nsion, to assure themselves of his presence.\\nThey had, therefore, a large balance of time to\\nspend in interviewing and abusing the governor, to\\nwhom they were a torment, as implying a rival au-\\nthority, and who treated them accordingly. He\\ncharacteristically assured the Austrian that he had\\nsearched through Puffendorf, Vattel, and Grotius in\\nvain to find a parallel to their position, or, he might\\nhave added, to his own. But this in no degree com-\\nforted those who wanted to see Napoleon, if only for\\na moment, and to whom that satisfaction was denied.\\nThey prowled round Longwood in vain, the Em-\\nperor maliciously observing them from behind his\\nVenetian blinds, and sometimes sending out his suite\\nto pick up news from them. But this again was\\nby no means what the commissioners came for.\\nOnce, indeed. Napoleon asked them, as private in-\\ndividuals, to luncheon for he did not doubt that their\\ncuriosity would prevail over their etiquette and the\\nconstraint of the governor. The meal, indeed, would\\nnot have been a pleasant one, as he spent all the\\nmorning in preparing an elaborate appeal to them.\\nBut they never came. He waited till five o clock,\\nwhen an orderly brought a cavalier refusal from the\\nRussian and the Austrian on the ground of les con-\\nvenances. Montchenu sent no reply, though this\\nmust have been the occasion on which he is supposed\\nto have sent the heroic reply Tell your master that\\n151", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0161.jp2"}, "162": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nI am here to guard him, and not to dine with him.\\nOn no other occasion was the option open to IMont-\\nchenii or the commissioners. It was their last and\\nonh chance.\\nMontchenu, tlie French commissioner, took him-\\nself the most seriously, and, therefore, in this absurd\\ncommission, was b}^ nnicli the most absurd. His ap-\\npointment is said to have been the revenge of Talley-\\nrand for all that he had endured at the hands of Na-\\npoleon. It is my only revenge, but it is terrible,\\nhe said. What torture for a man like Napoleon to\\nbe obliged to live with an ignorant and pedantic chat-\\nterbox. I know him he cannot endure such a bore-\\ndom; he will become ill, and die as before a slow\\nfire. As we have seen, however, this subtle ven-\\ngeance failed in its object, for Montchenu never once\\nsucceeded in inflicting himself on the captive. In\\nearly life he had known the Emperor, when Napo-\\nleon was a subaltern at Valence in a regiment of\\nwhich ]\\\\Iontchenu was lieutenant-colonel, and when\\nboth were rivals for the alTections of IMlle. de Saint\\nGermain, who, however, preferred M. de IMontalivet,\\nwhom she married, to either. He seems to have re-\\ntained this amorous complexion at St. Helena, and\\nhis conversation, as reported by Gourgaud, appears\\nto consist entireh of indecorous observations and\\nimmoral advice. He endeavored to embrace Mrs.\\nIMartin, whoever she maj have been. He sent Lady\\nLowe a declaration of love in eight pages, which\\nLady Lowe offered to show Gourgaud. His fatuitj\\nwas only equalled by his vanity. He boasted at large\\nabout his success with English ladies. Some four\\nthousand he has known; he intimates that the\\\\\\nwere not cruel. IMontchenu appeared to have pleas-\\n15^", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0162.jp2"}, "163": {"fulltext": "THE COMMISSIONERS\\nant recollections of Valence he questioned Gourgaud\\nas to the later loves of Napoleon he showed the Em-\\nperor little attentions, sent him newspapers, and the\\nlike. Napoleon s memories of Montchenu do not\\nseem to have been so favorable. I know this Mont-\\nchenu, he says. He is an old fool, a chatterbox, a\\ncarriage general who has never smelt powder. I will\\nnot see him. The worst of this description, says\\nthe Russian commissioner, is that it is accurate.\\nAgain, Poor fool, i)oor old fool, old booby, Napo-\\nleon calls him. And again, He is one of those men\\nwho support the ancient prejudice that Frenchmen\\nare born mountebanks. Later on the Emperor\\nthreatens to kick the old marquis out of doors should\\nhe ai)pear at Longwood, not because he is the\\nFrench commissioner,but because of some papers that\\nhe has signed. He is an object of ridicule to all. He\\nhad been the laughing-stock of Paris. One eminent\\ncompatriot described him as bavard insupportable,\\ncompletenient mil. Even Lowe cuts jokes at him.\\nFrom his willingness to accept, and his reluctance to\\nextend hospitalit}^ he was known as M. de Monter-\\nchez-nous. Henry, who attended him medically, had\\nhowever, the laugh against himself. He had reck-\\noned up a long tale of fees the marquis rewarded\\nhim with an obliging note. This nobleman was now\\npast sixty. He had been a page of Louis XV. Hav-\\ning entered the army before the Revolution, and fol-\\nlowed the princes into exile, he made at the restora-\\ntion the same astonishing bound in military promo-\\ntion that Las Cases had accomplished in the naval\\nservice. In December, 1 815, he was nominated as\\nFrench commissioner at St. Helena, an appointment\\nwhich had the negative advantage of securing him\\n153", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0163.jp2"}, "164": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nfrom his creditors. His positive duties were to as-\\nsure himself habitually by his own eyes of the exist-\\nence of Bonaparte/ His own eyes, as we have seen,\\nnever enabled him to do more than assure himself\\nof the end of that existence. Nevertheless, he set off\\nin a serious and indeed heroic spirit. He began his\\ndespatches from Teneriffe on the voyage out. I have\\nthe honor to warn you, he says to his chief, that I\\nam quite decided never to separate myself from my\\nprisoner so long as he lives. He arrives on the anni-\\nversary of Waterloo, lands precipitately, and de-\\nmands at once to be conducted to Longwood, that he\\nmay send his government a certificate of the existence\\nof Napoleon by the ship leaving next day. He is\\nwith difficulty appeased, but tells Lowe that it is essen-\\ntial that he should be in a position to say that he has\\nseen the captive. Two days afterwards (June 20th)\\nthe governor asks Count Bertrand if the Emperor\\nwill receive the commissioners. Have they brought\\nany letters for the Emperor from their sovereigns?\\nasks Bertrand. No; they have come under the\\nconvention of August 2, 1815, to assure themselves\\nof his presence. Bertrand will take the Emperor s\\norders. Have they got the convention? There is a\\nterrible doubt. No one had thought of bringing a\\ncopy no copy can be found and yet it is from this\\ninstrument that they derive their authority and their\\nofficial existence. The commissioners are at their\\nwits end. At last, by a freak of fortune, after a\\nsearch of three weeks, Sturmer finds in his trunk\\nsome loose sheets of the Journal des Debats, which\\nhe had brought in due course of packing, and which\\nhappened to contain the precious treaty. In this un-\\ndignified form it was forwarded to Napoleon, who\\n154", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0164.jp2"}, "165": {"fulltext": "THE COMMISSIONERS\\nanswers through Montholon on August 23d by a pro-\\ntest against it. Lowe communicates to the commis-\\nsioners an extract from this letter, which amounted\\nto a refusal to see them officially. In the mean time,\\nsays Lowe, they are sick with their desire of seeing\\nhim. Soon they become mad with the same desire.\\nMontchenu wants to break into the house with a com-\\npany of grenadiers. He is reminded that Napoleon\\nhas sworn to shoot the first man who enters his room\\nwithout his leave. In the mean time he attempts the\\nentry alone, and is repulsed by a sergeant. Event-\\nually he has to subside into an attitude of watchful-\\nness in ambush for the subordinate members of the\\nFrench colony, in hopes of inveigling them to meals,\\nand ultimately to gossip. In this last effort he to\\nsome extent succeeded, and he became on such terms\\nwith Gourgaud as to bid him a tender farewell,\\nstrictly enjoining him to make known to whom it\\nmight concern the terrible dreariness of life at St.\\nHelena, and the consequent necessity that the com-\\nmissioner s salary should be not less than four\\nthousand pounds a year.\\nMontchenu was distinguished from the other com-\\nmissioners by the possession of a secretary, a dis-\\ntinction which was not altogether an advantage.\\nWe have an impression that the secretary, M. de\\nGors, was intrusted with the duty of supervising\\nhis chief. At any rate, he reported upon him with\\nstartling candor. After, we presume, copying Mont-\\nchenu s despatches, de Gors accompanies them with\\na scathing commentary. 1 am sorry to have to\\nsay it, on account of M. de Montchenu, but I am\\nbound to declare that his criticisms on his colleagues\\nare unfounded, and are too much colored by his own\\nJ55", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0165.jp2"}, "166": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\npersonality. He should have been more just to\\nM. de Balmain, the only one who has really taken\\nto heart the common interests of the commission,\\nto which by excess of zeal he has sacrificed his health\\nand repose. M. de Montchenu should not have for-\\ngotten that it is to Balmain that the mission owes\\nany degree of interest that it possesses. But he\\nhas never been able to make up his mind to join Bal-\\nmain in a simple visit to the inhabitants of Long-\\nwood. He has chattered a good deal, always\\nblamed what he did not do himself, and has himself\\nnever done anything when the opportunity offered.\\nHe has occupied himself with disputes of precedence\\nand things have now taken such a turn that the post\\nof Longwood will not be captured without a thou-\\nsand difficulties.\\nIt is unnecessary to add anything to the descrip-\\ntion of Montchenu by Montchenu s secretary. We\\nmay pass to the commissioner who, in the secre-\\ntary s opinion, shone so much in comparison with\\nhis own chief.\\nThe Count of Balmain, the Russian commissioner,\\nwas one of the Ramsays of Balmain, or, rather, of a\\nbranch settled in Russia for a century and a quarter.\\nHe began inauspiciously by proposing to bring a\\nyoung Parisian seamstress with him in an unofficial\\ncapacity, but this scandal appears to have been\\naverted by the horror of the other commissioners.\\nNot that such a proceeding would have conspicu-\\nously jarred with the morals of St. Helena, for, if\\nwe may credit our French chroniclers, the naval\\nchiefs there lived with mistresses; and the loves\\nof Gourgaud himself, if we may judge from his in-\\nnuendoes, were neither limited nor refined.\\n156", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0166.jp2"}, "167": {"fulltext": "THE COMMISSIONERS\\nBalmain seems to have been the commissioner\\nof the coolest judgment and most agreeable man-\\nner; and Longwood, so to speak, set its cap at him,\\nbut without much success. Balmain, says Sturm-\\ner, has acquired general esteem. He is extremely-\\nmodest, and extremely prudent, avoiding carefully\\nanything that could give umbrage to the governor.\\nHe is, besides, accomplished, and writes well. Oblig-\\ning, amiable, and unpretentious, he is beloved by\\nall who know him. He is thus a striking contrast\\nwith M. de Montchenu, for whom he has a scarcely\\nveiled contempt. His instructions were not identi-\\ncal with those of his colleagues, for he was thus en-\\njoined: Dans vos relations avec Bonaparte, vous\\ngarderez les menagements et la mesure qu exige\\nune situation aussi delicate, et les egards personnels\\nqu on lui doit a sentence which is neither found\\nnor implied in the instructions of the others. But\\nwhat was infinitely more effective than the sentence\\nwas the fact that the italics represent a line drawn\\nunder those words by the Emperor Alexander him-\\nself. So grave an emphasis was not lost on Bal-\\nmain, who declared that his Emperor desired him\\nto use a courtesy and reserve in regard to Napoleon\\nwhich compelled him to dissociate himself from some\\nof Montchenu s more startling proceedings. But\\nthe underscoring by the Emperor does not seem to\\nhave long guided the policy of the Russian gov-\\nernment, for it presented to the Congress of Aix-la-\\nChapelle a memorial which might have been WTitten\\nby Bathurst himself and which embodied the un-\\ndying rancor of Pozzo di Borgo. It demanded rig-\\norous treatment of Napoleon; more especially that\\nhe should be compelled to show himself twice a day,\\n157", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0167.jp2"}, "168": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nby force if necessary, to the commissioners and the\\ngovernor. But all the thunders and all the menaces\\nof all the powers of Europe failed to exact this sim-\\nple condition. Napoleon never showed himself,\\nand remained master of the field.\\nBalmain commenced his career at St. Helena by\\nfalling in love with Miss Bruck (or Brook), by whom\\nhe was refused he ended it by marrying Miss John-\\nson, the step-daughter of Sir Hudson, who seems\\nafterwards to have amused the court of St. Peters-\\nburg by her eccentricities and her accent. This\\ncourtship, which was carried on during his last two\\nyears at St. Helena, complicated his relations with\\nthe governor, for it hampered him in the expression\\nof his opinions, though it did not prevent constant\\nconflicts with that official. But it makes his testi-\\nmony as to Lowe all the more valuable and impartial.\\nWith all his circumspection, however, Balmain\\ndoes not escape the mist of unveracity that befogged\\nSt. Helena. On November 2, 1817, Montholon re-\\ncords that the Emperor sends Gourgaud to pump (if\\nso expressive a vulgarism be permitted) the commis-\\nsioners, who have, he knows, received despatches\\nfrom their governments. Gourgaud returns, ac-\\ncording to Montholon s narrative, bringing an imma-\\nterial falsehood, supposed to come from Sturmer, and\\nthe statement from Balmain that his Emperor has\\ncharged him with certain communications for Na-\\npoleon. Gourgaud s record, it should be noted, in\\nno respect confirms this. Montholon continues by\\nnarrating that for two days afterwards there are con-\\nstant communications with the Russian. A paper\\nof explanation is dictated by the Emperor. On De-\\ncember 17th Montholon states that Napoleon is de-\\n158", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0168.jp2"}, "169": {"fulltext": "THE COMMISSIONERS\\ntermined to send Gourgaud to Europe, for he is pos-\\nsessed by recollections of Tilsit and Erfurt, and is,\\ntherefore, anxious to make overtures to the Emperor\\nAlexander, though there is nothing in the commu-\\nnications of Balmain to warrant these hopes. On\\nJanuary ll, 1818, he has this entry: An important\\ncommunication from Count Balmain is transmitted\\nthrough General Gourgaud. Dreams of a return to\\nEurope, and of princely hospitality in Russia. We\\nturn to Gourgaud, and find that on that day he tried,\\nas the Emperor desired, to meet Balmain, but failed\\nto do so. Neither there nor elsewhere does he hint\\nat any communication such as is described by Mon-\\ntholon. In vain, too, we search Balmain s de-\\nspatches, w^hich are, indeed, in a very different vein.\\nWhat this communication, conveyed from some one\\nthrough some one, neither of whom knew anything\\nabout it, purported to be, we also learn from Montho-\\nlon. On February 10, 1818, he has a vague entry\\nabout hopes from the fraternal friendship of Alex-\\nander, and as to the acceptability of Gourgaud at\\nthe Russian court. Under these influences Napo-\\nleon dictates an elaborate reply to the mysterious\\nmessage, which had never been sent or received. In\\nthis paper he thanks the Emperor Alexander, as a\\nbrother, for the assurance received from him through\\nBalmain, and for the hospitality offered by him in\\nRussia, proceeds to answer three questions which\\nthe Emperor Alexander had ordered Balmain to put,\\nas to the occupation of the duchy of Oldenburg in\\n1812, as to the war with Russia, and as to the failure\\nin the negotiations for a Russian marriage and con-\\ncludes by offering the Emperor Alexander his alli-\\nance should that sovereign throw over the Bourbons,\\n159", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0169.jp2"}, "170": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nand by declaring himself even willing to conclude a\\ntreaty of commerce with Britain should that be the\\nnecessary condition of a good understanding. This\\npaper was doubtless given to Gourgaud for his guid-\\nance and it was, in all probability, substantially the\\nsame document as that which Bertrand attempted to\\nhand to Balmain two months afterwards, and which\\nBalmain declined to receive.\\nWhat is the meaning of it all? It is clear that\\nthere was no communication from Balmain to Na-\\npoleon. Putting aside the improbability of it, and\\nthe absolute silence of Balmain, the reputed author,\\nas well as of Gourgaud, the reputed channel, the Em-\\nperor Alexander was at that time in no mood for in-\\nviting Napoleon to Russia, or asking him retrospec-\\ntive historical questions. On the contrary, this w^s\\nthe year of the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, where\\nthe Russian government demanded more stringent\\ncustody for Napoleon. We may dismiss with abso-\\nlute confidence the story of the communication. But\\nwhy, then, did Napoleon found a state paper on a\\nmessage which he never received, and answer ques-\\ntions that were never asked? The explanation would\\nappear to be this, Montholon tells us, two months\\nbefore Gourgaud s departure, that the Emperor is\\ndetermined to send Gourgaud to Europe to appeal to\\nthe Emperor Alexander. It seems to us, then, that\\nin view of Gourgaud s departure, he wished to give\\nthis officer a paper, a kind of credential which could\\nbe shown; that he had faint hopes of winning the\\nsympathy of the Russian Emperor, partly from the\\nrecollection of the ascendancy that he had once ex-\\nercised over Alexander, partly because he was no\\ndoubt aware that Balmain s instructions had a shade\\ni6o", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0170.jp2"}, "171": {"fulltext": "THE COMMISSIONERS\\nof favor in them, partly because he must have been\\naware that Alexander had no love for the Bourbons,\\nand that circumstances might make it neceSwSary to\\nmake new arrangements for filling their unstable\\nthrone; that he, therefore, desired especially to clear\\nhimself on the points which had alienated Alexander\\nfrom him; that the supposititious message from\\nAlexander furnished a ground on which to base his\\nexplanations; that many who saw the paper would\\nnot know that this ground was fictitious; and that\\nif the document, or its purport, ever reached Alex-\\nander, the message and the questions could be ex-\\nplained away as misunderstood conversation. It is\\neven possible, though by no means probable, that\\nBalmain may have asked such questions of the suite\\nout of pure curiosity. At any rate, if the paper ever\\nreached Alexander at all, matters would have gone\\nso far that this flaw would seem insignificant.\\nStrange were the workings of that astute and un-\\nscrupulous mind we do not profess to follow them\\nwe can only ascertain the facts, and speculate. For\\none thing. Napoleon, in those days, never liked to\\nneglect a chance, even if it seemed remote. And the\\ninterests of his son, which were ever before him,\\nmust be kept in mind. It might some day be use-\\nful for the dynasty that an attempt should be made\\nto clear away the misunderstanding with Russia.\\nMeanwhile Balmain, innocent and honorable gentle-\\nman as he appeared to have been, and as the tone of\\nhis despatches indicates, was going on his blameless\\nway, unconscious of these wiles, and resolute, as\\nwould appear, only on one course that of keeping\\nLongwood and its intrigues at arm s length.\\nOn Balmain s departure, Montchenu (aware per-\\nL i6i", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0171.jp2"}, "172": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nhaps of his secretary s preference for the Russian)\\nsummed up his character with vindictive severity.\\nYou have no idea/ he writes, of M. de Balmain s\\nextravagances, of his ineptitude, of his weakness\\nand eccentricity. And he proceeds to compare\\nhimself with his colleague. Often did Sir Hudson\\nsay to the other commissioners, Ah, gentlemen,\\nwhy do you not behave like the marquis? at least\\nso the marquis complacently records.\\nBartholomew, Baron Sturmer, was the Austrian\\ncommissioner. He was only twenty-eight when he\\nreached St. Helena, and he had not long been mar-\\nried to a pretty and agreeable Frenchwoman, who\\nkept Las Cases, to his extreme indignation, at a\\ndistance, although he claimed that she had received\\nthe greatest kindnesses in Paris from Mme. de\\nLas Cases and himself. His position was the most\\ndifficult of all, for his government constantly en-\\njoined him to work harmoniously with Lowe, which\\nwas in effect impossible.\\nNapoleon tried to open relations with the repre-\\nsentative of his father-in-law. He once sent to ask\\nif, in case of grave illness, he might intrust Sturmer\\nwith a message to the Austrian Emperor which\\nshould reach that monarch, and no one else. Sturm-\\ner could only reply, helplessly, that he would ask\\nhis government for instructions, which, of course,\\nnever arrived.\\nSturmer was withdrawn in 1818, on the suggestion\\nof the British government, made at the instance of\\nLowe. To Montchenu was awarded the cumulative\\nsinecure of representing Austria as well as France.\\nThe marquis saw his opportunity. He at once de-\\nmanded of his government a commission as lieu-\\n162", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0172.jp2"}, "173": {"fulltext": "THE COMMISSIONERS\\ntenant-general, a high decoration, and five hundred\\npounds a year increase of salary from them, as well\\nas a salary of twelve hundred pounds a year from\\nthe Austrian government. How these modest re-\\nquests were received history may guess, but does\\nnot record.\\nWhether from the diversity of their instructions,\\nor the malignity of the climate, or the humors of\\ntheir courts, the commissioners could scarcely be\\ncalled a harmonious body. On only three points\\ndid they show any agreement. One was contempt\\nfor Sir Hudson Lowe, on which they were bitterly\\nunanimous. Another was the dearness of St. Helena,\\nand the consequent inadequacy of their salaries,\\non which they concurred to the pitch of enthusiasm.\\nThe third was the effect of their stay on their nerves.\\nFar from acclimatizing myself to this horrible rock,\\nwrites Balmain, I suffer constantly from my nerves\\nmy health is already ruined by the climate. Three\\nmonths later fresh nerve attacks drive him to Brazil.\\nBut this is as nothing to the nerves of Sturmer.\\nSturmer for six or eight months before he left was\\nseized with a sort of hysteria. He wept without\\nknowing why, and laughed without knowing why.\\nAt last his nervous attacks became so violent that\\nhe had to be held by four men when the fit seized\\nhim, and could only be calmed by opium. The cli-\\nmate, or Lowe, or both, were too much for the sys-\\ntems of these unlucky diplomatists.", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0173.jp2"}, "174": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER XII\\nTHE EMPEROR AT HOME\\nNo picture of St. Helena at this time can be\\ncomplete without at least a sketch of the central\\nfigure all the more as it is the last of the many\\nportraits of Napoleon that we can obtain. Of his\\nphysical appearance from the time of his passing\\ninto British hands there are various accounts, too\\nlong and minute to be inserted here. These, there-\\nfore, or the most graphic of them, we relegate to an\\nappendix.\\nAs to his habitation, Longwood itself was a collec-\\ntion of huts which had been constructed as a cattle-\\nshed. It was swept by an eternal wind it was shade-\\nless, and it was damp. Lowe himself can say no\\ngood of it, and may have felt the strange play of for-\\ntune by which he was allotted the one delightful resi-\\ndence on the island with twelve thousand a year,\\nwhile Napoleon was living in an old cow-house on\\neight.\\nThe lord of so many palaces, who had slept as a\\nconqueror in so many palaces not his own, was now\\nconfined to two small rooms of equal size about four-\\nteen feet by twelve, and ten or eleven high. To this\\nlittle measure had shrunk all his conquests, glories,\\ntriumphs, spoils. Each of these rooms was lit by\\ntwo small windows looking towards the regimental\\n164", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0174.jp2"}, "175": {"fulltext": "THE EMPEROR AT HOME\\ncamp. In one corner was the little camp-bed, with\\ngreen silk curtains, which the Emperor had used at\\nMarengo and Austerlitz. To hide the back door\\nthere was a screen, and between this screen and the\\nfireplace an old sofa, on which Napoleon passed most\\nof his day, though it was so covered with books that\\nthere was scarcely space for comfort. The walls\\nwere covered with brown nankeen, and amid the gen-\\neral squalor a magnificent wash-hand-stand with sil-\\nver ewers and basins displayed an incongenial splen-\\ndor. But the ornaments of the room were other than\\nthis they were the salvage of the wreck of his family\\nand his empire. There was, of course, a portrait (by\\nIsabey) of Marie Louise, then living in careless beati-\\ntude with Neipperg at Parma. There were the por-\\ntraits of the King of Rome, riding a lamb, and put-\\nting on a slipper, both by Thibault there was also a\\nbust of the child. There was a miniature of Jose-\\nphine. There hung also the alarm-clock of Frederick\\nthe Great taken from Potsdam, and the watch of the\\nFirst Consul when in Italy, suspended by a chain of\\nthe plaited hair of Marie Louise.\\nIn the second room there were a writing table, some\\nbook-shelves, and another bed, on which the Emperor\\nwould rest in the day-time, or to which he would\\nchange from the other, when he was, as was gener-\\nally the case, restless and sleepless at night.\\nO Meara gives a graphic picture of Napoleon in his\\nbedroom. He sat on the sofa, which was covered\\nwith a long white cloth. On this reclined Napo-\\nleon, clothed in his white morning gown, white loose\\ntrousers and stockings, all in one, a checkered red\\nmadras (handkerchief) upon his head, and his shirt\\ncollar open, without cravat. His air was melancholy\\nJ65", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0175.jp2"}, "176": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nand troubled. Before him stood a little round table\\nwith some books, at the foot of which lay in confusion\\nupon the carpet a heap of those he had already\\nperused.\\nHis usual costume was, however, more formal than\\nthis. He wore a limiting uniform, a green coat with\\nsporting buttons, and, when the cloth grew shabby,\\nhad it turned rather than wear English cloth. With\\nthese he wore white kerseymere breeches and stock-\\nings. He gave up wearing his uniform of the Chas-\\nseurs of the Guard six weeks after he arrived in the\\nisland. He retained, however, the famous little\\ncocked hat, but the tricolored cockade he laid aside\\nwith some ceremony two years after Waterloo, telling\\nhis valet to keep it as a relic, or in view of better days.\\nThese details are not wholly vapid, because he had\\nmethod and meaning even in such trifles. Moreover,\\nif we would picture to ourselves Napoleon in his final\\nphase, we must know them.\\nWhat was his manner of life?\\nHe breakfasted alone at eleven, dressed for the day\\nabout two, and dined, at first, at seven, though he\\nafterwards changed the hour to four. Just before\\nGourgaud left there was a new arrangement; the\\nmid-day breakfast was abolished there was dinner\\nat three, and supper at ten then, a few days after-\\nwards, dinner is to be at two changes suspected by\\nGourgaud as intended to suit the health and con-\\nvenience of Mme. de Montholon, but which were\\nprobably devised to beguile the long weariness of the\\nday, or to cheat the long wakefulness of the night.\\nFor he practically passed all his days in his hut,\\nreading, writing, talking, but withal bored to death.\\nThe world saw nothing of this shabby interior:\\ni66", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0176.jp2"}, "177": {"fulltext": "THE EMPEROR AT HOME\\nwhat it did see was totally different, for Napoleon\\nkept up, as part of his contention about title, the ut-\\nmost state consistent with his position. He drove\\nout with six horses to his carriage, and an equerry\\nin full uniform riding at each door. But the six\\nhorses, sometimes a source of danger from the sharp-\\nness of the turns and the pace at which he chose to\\nbe driven, were not a mere luxury. The roads at St.\\nHelena were such that the ladies of his party, when\\nthey went out to dinner, or to a ball, had to be con-\\nveyed in a Merovingian equipage drawn by several\\nyoke of oxen.\\nThe etiquette was not less severe indoors. Gour-\\ngaud and Bertrand and Montholon were kept stand-\\ning for hours, till they nearly dropped from fatigue.\\nOn one occasion Napoleon is annoyed by an irre-\\npressible yawn from Bertrand. The grand marshal\\nexcuses himself by stating that he has been standing\\nmore than three hours. Gourgaud, pale and almost\\nill with fatigue, would lean against the door. Antom-\\nmarchi, who, by-the-bj^e, had to put on a court dress\\nwhen he visited his patient, had to stand in his pres-\\nence till he nearly fainted. On the other hand, if one\\nof them was seated by the Emperor and rose when\\nMme. Bertrand or Mme. de Montholon entered the\\nroom, he was rebuked. The Emperor had always\\nbeen keenly alive to this ritual. He discourses on it\\ndiffusely to Las Cases. He noticed at once in the Hun-\\ndred Daj^s the advance of democracy when one of his\\nministers rose to leave him without permission. Even\\nin the agony of Rochefort he observed a small breach\\nof etiquette of the same kind. Indeed, when Gour-\\ngaud mentions to him that in China the sovereign is\\nworshipped as a god, he gravely replies that that is\\n167", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0177.jp2"}, "178": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nas it should be. At St. Helena the small court that\\nremained was chivalrously sedulous to observe the\\nstrictest forms to their dethroned Emperor. None\\nof them came to his room without being summoned.\\nIf they had something of importance to communicate,\\nthey asked for an audience. None uninvited joined\\nhim in a walk, and all in his presence remained bare-\\nheaded, until he became aware that the English were\\nordered to remain covered in speaking to him, when\\nhe desired his followers to do the same. None spoke\\nto him first, unless when conversation was in flow.\\nBut Bertrand once or twice contradicted his master so\\nabruptly that the Emperor at once remarked it, and\\nobserved that he would not have dared to behave so\\nat the Tuileries. Bertrand, too, incurred the im-\\nperial displeasure by not dining as grand marshal\\nregularly at the imperial table, for sometimes his wife\\nwished him to dine with her. Anything of this kind\\nthat savored of shortcoming and neglect seriously\\nannoyed Napoleon. Little things that might have\\nescaped his notice in the bustle of Paris weighed on\\nhim at St. Helena; they brought home to him, too,\\nthe change in his position. Then there was the\\nquestion of the title. But Bertrand, though he might\\nsometimes flag in observance, always sent out the\\nletters on behalf of his master sealed with the seal\\nand styled with the pomp of the grand marshal of\\nthe palace and of the Emperor, though there was little\\nat St. Helena to recall either the one or the other.\\nAt dinner Napoleon was served with great state, on\\ngold and silver plate, and waited on by his French\\nservants in a rich livery of green and gold. Twelve\\nEnglish sailors, chosen from the squadron, were at\\nfirst allotted to him, and dressed in the same costume,\\nl68", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0178.jp2"}, "179": {"fulltext": "THE EMPEROR AT HOME\\nbut they disappeared with the Northumberland, to\\nwhich ship they belonged; and Napoleon declined\\nLowe s offer to replace them with soldiers. A vacant\\nplace was reserved next him for the Empress, but this\\nwas sometimes given to some favored lady. There\\nwas a vast variety of dishes, of which the Emperor\\nate heartily; on an honored guest he would press\\nparticular dainties. As always, his dinner occupied\\nbut a short time. At the Tuileries it was an affair\\nof twenty minutes; at St. Helena five minutes more\\nwas allowed to enable Bertrand to have his fill of\\nbonbons. And in the earlier days at Longwood he\\nwould send at dessert for some volume of French\\ntragedy, which he would read aloud.\\nTo many this petty pomp may seem absurd, but\\nwith the suite we cannot help feeling a melancholy\\nsympathy, as we see these gallant gentlemen deter-\\nmined to prove that, whatever Napoleon might be to\\nothers, to them he was always their sovereign.\\nAnd we must here notice the strange composition\\nof the party. Montholon, as we are informed by\\nhis biographer, was hereditary grand huntsman of\\nFrance under the old dynasty a post to which Louis\\nXVIII. offered to restore him on the first Restoration.\\nLas Cases was a Royalist emigrant. Gourgaud was\\nthe foster-brother of the Due de Berry, and was one\\nof Louis XVIII. s guard during the first Restora-\\ntion. Of the four, Bertrand was the only one who\\ncould be described as free from all connection with\\nroyalism.\\nThe one pleasure of the captive s life was an arrival\\nof books. Then he would shut himself up with them\\nfor daj^s together bathing in them, revelling in them,\\nfeasting on them. But, indeed, he was always in-\\n169", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0179.jp2"}, "180": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nclined to remain in the house. He hated the signs\\nof prison, the sentries, the orderly officer, the chance\\nof meeting Lowe. By remaining at home, he tells\\nGourgaud, he preserves his dignity; there he is al-\\nways Emperor, and that is the only way in which he\\ncan live. So he tries to obtain exercise indoors.\\nLowe reports on one occasion that the Emperor had\\nconstructed a sort of hobby-horse made of cross-\\nbeams. He sat at one end of the beam, with a heavy\\nweight at the other, and played a sort of see-saw.\\nBut these specifics would fail, and in his deprivation\\nof exercise he would become ill, he would be touched\\nwith scurvy, his legs would swell, and he would de-\\nrive a morbid satisfaction from the reflection that\\nhe was suffering from the governor s restrictions.\\nThen, in the last year of his life, he determined to live\\nagain. He rode a little, but his main interest was\\nin his garden. Surrounded by a gang of Chinese\\nlaborers, he would plan and swelter and dig; for to\\ndig he was not ashamed. A great painter, says\\nMontholon, would have found a worthy subject in\\nthe mighty conqueror wearing red slippers and a vast\\nstraw hat, with his spade in his hand, working away\\nat dawn, directing the exertions of his impressed\\nhousehold, and, what Montholon confesses were more\\nefficacious, the labors of the Chinese gardeners.\\nPaul Delaroche painted a portrait of him in this cos-\\ntume, resting from his labors with a somewhat flabby\\nexpression of countenance. So strenuously did he\\nmove earth to make a shelter that Lowe became\\nalarmed. He feared that his sentinels might find\\ntheir supervision limited he gave a solemn warning\\nthat the work should not proceed. He took credit to\\nhimself that he did not demolish it. Little or no heed\\n170", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0180.jp2"}, "181": {"fulltext": "THE EMPEROR AT HOME\\nseems to have been taken of this futile fussiness, for\\nLowe was now practically ignored. Napoleon threw\\nhimself into the operations with his usual ardor\\nspent much time and money on them bought large\\ntrees and moved them, with the aid of the artillery\\nregiment and some hundreds of Chinese. All this\\ndistracted him for a time, and gave him exercise.\\nHis unlucky suite had to delve, v/hether they liked\\nor not. But this was, perhaps, a not unwelcome\\nchange of labor. For indoors their work was hard.\\nNapoleon hated writing, and had almost lost the art,\\nfor what he did write was illegible. It is recorded\\nthat on his marriage he, with incredible difficulty,\\nmanaged to write a short note to his father-in-law.\\nWith infinite pains his secretaries contrived to make\\nit presentable. He could only dictate; and he dic-\\ntated with a vengeance. On one occasion at Long-\\nwood he is stated to have dictated for fourteen hours\\nat a stretch, with only short intervals from time to\\ntime to read over what had been written. Short-\\nhand was unknown to his household, so the opera-\\ntion was severe; though Las Cases did invent for\\nhimself some sort of hieroglyphic system. More-\\nover, he sometimes dictated all night. Gourgaud\\nwould be sent for at four in the morning to take the\\nplace of the exhausted Montholon. He would cheer\\nhis secretaries by telling them that they should have\\nthe copyright of what they wrote, which would bring\\nthem in vast sums. But this illusion did not quench\\ntheir groans, and, indeed, in bitterer moments he\\ntold them that if they were under the impression\\nthat their work belonged to them, they made a great\\nmistake. What was the result of all this dictation\\nwe do not know some of it probably is yet unpub-\\n171", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0181.jp2"}, "182": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nlished. But there is a great bulk in print, and some\\nmaterial may have been utilized in other ways, as\\nin the Letters from the Cape. Gourgaud, indeed,\\nsuspected the Emperor of several compositions of\\nthe Manuscrit de Ste. Helene, for example, which\\nhe certainly did not write, and of an article in the\\nEdinburgh Review, which was composed by Allen\\nat Holland House, from information supplied by\\nCardinal Fesch and Louis Bonaparte. It is proba-\\nble that there was a good deal of dictated inspi-\\nration constantly proceeding from St. Helena to\\nEurope; and Gourgaud blames the Emperor for\\nproducing so many pamphlets. Some of these\\nmanuscripts were buried in a corner of the garden,\\nand did not, apparently, see the light.\\nBesides gardening, riding, reading, and dictation,\\nhe had few distractions. At one time he took to\\nbuying lambs and making pets of them, but this in-\\nnocent whim soon passed. Polo was played on the\\nisland, but not by him. Sport, strictly so called,\\nwas difficult and indifferent. Gourgaud, who was\\nindefatigable, would sometimes shoot turtle-doves,\\nsometimes a pheasant or a partridge, and sometimes\\na sow. Sir Hudson Lowe turned out some rabbits\\nfor Napoleon to shoot, but, with his unlucky inop-\\nportuneness, chose the moment when the Emperor\\nhad been planting some young trees. However,\\nthe rats killed the rabbits, and so saved the trees;\\nat any rate, the rabbits disappeared. Napoleon\\nonly began to shoot in his last days, and then per-\\nformed feats which would make a sportsman weep.\\nIt had always been so. At Malmaison in old days\\nhe had kept a gun in his room and fired at Jose-\\nphine s tame birds. And now he began, during his\\n172", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0182.jp2"}, "183": {"fulltext": "THE EMPEROR AT HOME\\ngardening enthusiasm, in defence of his enclosure,\\nby shooting Mme. Bertrand s pet kids, to her\\ninfinite distress, and any other vagrant animals\\nthat strayed within his boundary. Finding a bul-\\nlock there, he slew that beast also. Then he sent\\nfor some goats and shot them. This shooting, it\\nneed scarcely be said, caused uneasiness to the gov-\\nernor, and to Montchenu, his colleague, as well as\\na remote pang to Forsyth, his biographer. What\\nwould happen, asked Lowe, if Napoleon killed some\\none by mistake? Could Napoleon be tried and pun-\\nished for manslaughter? Such was the perturba-\\ntion that these questions were actually submitted\\nto the law officers of the crown.\\nAt first he rode, but the close attendance of an\\nEnglish officer was intolerable, and for four years\\nhe did not get on a horse. During this long repose\\nhe said comically of his horse that if ever there were\\na canon, it was he, for he lived well and never worked.\\nHe had never been nervous on horseback, he said,\\nfor he had never learned to ride. It may interest\\nsome to know that he considered the finest and best\\nhorse that ever he owned to be, not the famous\\nMarengo, but one named Mourad Bey.\\nHe played at some games billiards, in a careless\\nfashion reversi, which he had been used to play as\\na child; and chess. At chess he was eminently\\nunskilful, and it taxed all the courtliness of his suite\\nto avoid defeating him, a simple trickery which he\\nsometimes perceived. On the Northumberland he had\\nplayed vingt-et-un, but prohibited it when he found\\nthat it produced gambling. At all games he liked\\nto cheat, flagrantly and undisguisedly, as a joke but\\nrefused, of course, to take the money thus won, say-\\n173", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0183.jp2"}, "184": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\ning, with a laugh, What simpletons you are! It\\nis thus that young fellows of good family are\\nruined/\\nIt was apparently a solace to him to read aloud,\\nthough he did not read remarkably well, and had\\nno ear for the cadences of poetr}-. But one of the\\ndifficulties of those who like reading aloud is to find\\nan appreciative audience, and so it was in the present\\ncase. Montholon tells us of one, at least, who slum-\\nbered (we suspect Gourgaud at once), a circumstance\\nwhich the Emperor did not forget. On another oc-\\ncasion Gourgaud remarks of a French play The\\nAwakened Sleeper sends us to sleep. When the\\nEmperor reads aloud his own memoirs the same\\ngenial companion criticises them with such severity\\nthat Napoleon declines to read them aloud any more.\\nAt one reading, however, (of Paul and Virginia),\\nGourgaud weeps outright, while Mme. de Montho-\\nlon complains that recitals so harrowing disturb\\ndigestion.\\nHe was supposed to declaim like Talma, and pro-\\nlonged declamation of French tragedy in a warm\\nclimate may sometimes invite repose. Tragedy\\nwas his favorite reading, and Corneille his favorite\\nauthor in that department of literature. There is\\non record a discourse on Corneille s tragedies, pro-\\nnounced by the Emperor in the hazardous salons\\nof the Kremlin. Above all, I love tragedy, he\\nsaid, sublime and lofty, as Corneille wrote it. His\\ngreat men are more true to life than those in his-\\ntory, for one only sees them in the real crises, in the\\nsupreme moments; and one is not overloaded with\\nthe preparatory labor of detail and conjecture which\\nhistorians, often erroneously, supply. So much the\\n174", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0184.jp2"}, "185": {"fulltext": "THE EMPEROR AT HOME\\nbetter for human glory, for there is much that is\\nunworthy which should be omitted, much of doubt\\nand vacillation: and all this should disappear in\\nthe representation of the hero. We should see him\\nas a statue, in which the weakness and tremors of\\nthe flesh are no longer perceptible. Next to Cor-\\nneille he seems to have loved Racine. But he was\\ncatholic in his tastes, and w^ould readily turn to Beau-\\nmarchais and the Arabian Nights, though these\\nmay have been concessions to the frailty of his au-\\ndience. Like Pitt, his great adversary, he relished\\nGil Bias, but thought it a bad book for the young, as\\nGil Bias sees only the dark side of human nature,\\nand the youthful think that that is a true picture of\\nthe world, which it is not. He frequently read\\nthe Bible; sometimes, in translations. Homer and\\nVirgil, iEschylus, or Euripides. From English lit-\\nerature he would take Paradise Lost, Hume s\\nHistory of England, and Clarissa Harlowe. With\\nOssian, to whatever literature that poet may belong,\\nhe would commune as with an old friend. For Vol-\\ntaire s Zaire he had a positive passion. He had\\nonce asked Mme. de Montholon to choose a trag-\\nedy for the evening s entertainment she had chosen\\nZaire and thereafter they had Zaire till they\\ngroaned in spirit at the very name.\\nIt might seem strange at first sight that we see lit-\\ntle or no mention of Bossuet. For the great bishop\\nhad been the writer who, at the critical moment, had\\ntouched his trembling ears. The Discourse of\\nUniversal History had awakened his mind as Lodi\\nawoke his ambition. On the fortunate day when he\\nhappened on the discourse, and read of Caesar, Alex-\\nander, and the succession of empires, the veil of the\\n175", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0185.jp2"}, "186": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\ntemple, he tells us, was rent, and he beheld the move-\\nments of the gods. From that time, in all his cam- j\\npaigns, in Egypt, in Syria, in Germany, on his\\ngreatest days, that vision never quitted him. At j\\nSt. Helena it forsook him forever, and so we need\\nnot marvel that he avoids Bossuet.\\nHe had always been a great reader, though he de-\\nclared that in his public life he only read what was\\nof direct use for his purposes. When he was a scholar\\nat Brienne the frequency of his demands for books\\nwas the torment of the college librarian. When he\\nwas a lieutenant in garrison at Valence he read\\nravenously and indiscriminately everything he could\\nlay his hands on. When I was a lieutenant of ar-\\ntillery, he said, before the collected princes at Erfurt,\\nI was for three years in garrison at Valence. I\\nspent that time in reading and re-reading the library\\nthere. Later, we read of his tearing along to join\\nhis armies, his coach full of books and pamphlets,\\nwhich would be flung out of the window when he had\\nrun through them. When he travelled with Jose-\\nphine, all the newest books were put into the carriage\\nfor her to read to him. And though he declared that\\nhis reading was purely practical, he always had a\\ntravelling library of general literature, w4th which\\nhe took great pains. He had planned a portable col-\\nlection of three thousand choice volumes which should\\nbe printed for him. But when he found it would take\\nsix years, and a quarter of a million sterling, to com-\\nplete, he wisely abandoned the project. Even to\\nWaterloo he was accompanied by a travelling library\\nof eight hundred volumes in six cases the Bible,\\nHomer, Ossian, Bossuet, and all the seventy vol-\\numes of Voltaire. Three days after his final abdi-\\n176", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0186.jp2"}, "187": {"fulltext": "THE EMPEROR AT HOME\\ncation we find him writing for a library from Mal-\\nmaison, books on America, his chosen destination,\\nbooks on himself and his campaigns, a collection of\\nthe Moniteur, the best dictionaries and encyclopae-\\ndias. Now, in his solitude, he devoured them his-\\ntory, philosophy, st rategy and memoirs. Of these\\nlast alone he read seventy-two volumes in twelve\\nmonths. Nor was he by any means a passive reader\\nhe would scribble on margins, he would dictate notes\\nor criticisms. But the reading aloud was almost\\nentirely of works of imagination, and the selection\\ndoes not inspire one with an3^ passionate wish to\\nhave been present. Nor, as we have seen, did the\\nactual audience greatly appreciate the privilege.\\nWhat strikes one most in his habits is the weari-\\nness and futility of it all. One is irresistibly re-\\nminded of a caged animal walking restlessly and\\naimlessly up and down his confined den, and watch-\\ning the outside world with the fierce despair of his\\nwild eye. If Gourgaud was bored to death, what\\nmust the Emperor have been\\nHe is, as a rule, calm and stoical. Sometimes, in-\\ndeed, he consoles himself with a sort of abstract\\ngrandeur; sometimes he gives a sublime groan.\\nAdversity was, wanting to my career, he says.\\nHe takes up one of the official j^ear-books of his\\nreign. It was a fine empire. I ruled eighty-three\\nmillions of human beings more than half the popu-\\nlation of Europe. He attempts to control his emo-\\ntion, as he turns over the book, even to hum a tune,\\nbut is too visibly affected. Another time he sits in\\nsilence, his head resting on his hands. At last he\\nrises. After all, what a romance my life has been\\nhe exclaims, and walks out of the room. Nor does\\nM 177", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0187.jp2"}, "188": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nfame console him, for he doubts it. All the institu-\\ntions that I founded are being destroyed, such as\\nthe University and the Legion of Honor, and I shall\\nsoon be forgotten. And again: History will\\nscarcely mention me, for I was overthrown. Had I\\nbeen able to maintain my dynasty, it had been differ-\\nent. Misgiving of the future, self-reproach for the\\npast, the monotony of a suppressed life, these were\\nthe daily torments that corroded his soul. For six\\nyears he supped the bitterness of slow, remorseful,\\ndesolate death.\\nMoreover, with his restless energy thrown back on\\nhimself, he was devoured by his inverted activities.\\nHe could not exist except in a stress of work. Work,\\nhe said, was his element; he was born and made for\\nwork. He had known, he would say, the limits of\\nhis powers of walking or of seeing, but had never been\\nable to ascertain the limits of his power of work. His\\nmind and body, says Chaptal, were incapable of fa-\\ntigue. How was employment to be found at Long-\\nwood for this formidable machine? The powers of\\nbrain and nerve and body which had grappled with\\nthe world now turned on him and rent him. To\\nlearn enough English to read in the newspapers what\\nwas going on in the Europe which he had controlled,\\nto dictate memoirs giving his point of view of what\\ninterested him at the moment, to gossip about his\\ncustodians, to preserve order and harmony in his lit-\\ntle household, these were the crumbs of existence\\nwhich he was left to mumble. There is no parallel\\nto his position. The world has usually made short\\nwork of its Caesars when it has done with them.\\nNapoleon had sought death in battle, and by sui-\\ncide, in vain. The constant efforts of assassination\\n178", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0188.jp2"}, "189": {"fulltext": "THE EMPEROR AT HOME\\nhad been fruitless. The hope of our ministers that\\nthe French government would shoot or hang him had\\nbeen disappointed. So Europe buckled itself to the\\nunprecedented task of gagging and paralyzing an\\nintelligence and a force which were too gigantic for\\nthe welfare and security of the world. That is the\\nstrange, unique, hideous problem which makes the\\nrecords of St. Helena so profoundly painful and fas-\\ncinating.", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0189.jp2"}, "190": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER XIII\\nTHE CONVERSATIONS OF NAPOLEON\\nIt is not wise to record every word that falls from\\na great man in retirement. The mind which is ac-\\ncustomed to constant activity, and which is sudden-\\nly deprived of employment, is an engine without guid-\\nance; the tongue without a purpose is not always\\nunder control. The great man is apt to soliloquize\\naloud, and then the suppressed volume of passion,\\nof resentment, of scorn, bursts all dams. Napoleon\\nwas aware of this danger. You are right to check\\nme. I always say more than I wish when I allow my-\\nself to talk of subjects which so thrill with interest.\\nThere is not so much of this as might be expected\\nin the conversation of Napoleon at St. Helena. He\\nsometimes lashes himself into a rage over the gov-\\nernor, and the restrictions, and the rock itself, but as\\na rule he is calm and meditative, thinking aloud,\\noften with contradictory results. This detachment\\nof mind had been noticed on his return from Elba by\\nLavallette. Never did I see him more impertur-\\nbably calm not a word of bitterness with any one\\nno impatience listening to everything, and discuss-\\ning everything, with that rare sagacity and that\\nelevation of mind which were so remarkable in him;\\navowing his faults with a touching ingenuousness,\\nor discussing his position with a penetration which\\nhis enemies could not equal.\\ni8o", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0190.jp2"}, "191": {"fulltext": "CONVERSATIONS OF NAPOLEON\\nThe recorded conversations of Napoleon present a\\ncertain difficuUj^ After the first two years of the\\nConsulate he rarely unbuttoned himself in talk. And\\nthose with whom he may have done so most fre-\\nquently, such as Duroc, or Berthier, or Bertrand, are\\nmute. He was no doubt a great talker in public, but\\nwhen he talked in public he said not what he thought,\\nbut what he wished to be considered as his ideas.\\nAt St. Helena we have a great mass of these disqui-\\nsitions, for he was alwa3^s in the presence of diarists,\\nand knew it. Las Cases and Montholon record noth-\\ning else. But all through his reign there are abun-\\ndant notes of the clear, eloquent, pungent discourse\\nwhich he affected in public. Villemain gives some\\nadmirable specimens on the authority of Narbonne.\\nThese are almost too elaborate to be exact. There\\nis, however, scarcely one of the innumerable memoirs\\npublished on the Napoleonic era which does not at-\\ntempt to give specimens of Napoleon s talk.\\nBut to get at the man, or what little is accessible of\\nthe man, we must go elsewhere. In our judgment,\\nRoederer is the author who renders most faithfully the\\nconversation of Napoleon. He gives us specimens\\nof the earlier consular style when Napoleon was still\\na republican in manner and surroundings, when he\\nwas still a learner in civil government, before he eyed\\na crown specimens of his discourse at the council of\\nstate chats at the Malmaison or St. Cloud, and also\\nlong conversations of the later period, reported ver-\\nbatim, with life-like accuracy, so far as one can now\\njudge. Read, for example, Roederer s report of his\\nconversations with Napoleon in January and Feb-\\nruary, 1809, in 181 1, and especially in 1813. They\\nform, in our judgment, the most vivid representa-\\n181", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0191.jp2"}, "192": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\ntions of the Emperor that exist. Concise, frank,\\nsometimes brutal, but always interesting such seems\\nto have been the real talk of Napoleon. The secret\\nof the charm is that he can bring his whole mind in-\\nstantaneously into play on a subject, and so he lights\\nit up in a moment with reminiscence, historical paral-\\nlel, native shrewdness, knowledge of mankind in\\ngeneral and of the men with whom he has had deal-\\nings in particular.\\nIt is not possible to give a digest of Napoleon s con-\\nversation at St. Helena. It is set forth in a score of\\nvolumes of very unequal merit and trustworthiness\\nit is not always easy to separate the wheat from the\\nchaff. Some of these are filled with dictations by\\nNapoleon, which have, of course, an interest and dis-\\ntinction of their own, but which are not conversations.\\nFor talk, as revealing the man, we feel convinced\\nthat Gourgaud s is the most faithful transcript, and\\nfar superior to the other records. Montholon is not\\nso reliable, or so intelligent. Las Cases pads and\\nfabricates, O Meara s book is a translation into\\nEnglish of conversations carried on in Italian. It is\\nboth spirited and interesting, but does not inspire\\nany confidence. Gourgaud gives, we believe, an hon-\\nest narrative and, wiping off the bilious hues of jeal-\\nousy and boredom, an accurate picture. His are,\\nindeed, reminiscences of high interest. But what is\\nreally remarkable is the air of rough truth about all\\nthat he records. They are not full-dress reminis-\\ncences; they are, as it were, the sketch of the mo-\\nment on the wristband and the thumbnail. Where\\nhe differs from Las Cases and Montholon we have\\nno doubt which to believe. On state occasions they\\nhasten to drape their hero in the toga or the dalmatic", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0192.jp2"}, "193": {"fulltext": "CONVERSATIONS OF NAPOLEON\\nGourgaud takes him as he is, in his bath, in his bed,\\nwith a Panama hat or a red Madras handkerchief\\nround his head, in a bad temper or in a good. We\\nwill give two instances of what we mean the execu-\\ntions of Ney and Murat.\\nMontholon records the Emperor as saying, on Feb-\\nruary 2ist, that the death of Ney is a crime. The\\nblood of Ney was sacred for France. His conduct in\\nthe Russian campaign was unequalled. It should\\nhave covered with a holy aegis the crime of high trea-\\nson, if, indeed, Ney had really committed it. But\\nNey did not betray the King, and so forth. This\\nexpression of feeling is what the public would expect\\nNapoleon to have uttered, though hardly on February\\n2ist, as he did not receive the news of Ney s execu-\\ntion till the middle of March. Gourgaud records no\\nsuch language; he reports Napoleon as varying in\\nhis view. Once he says that they have assassinated\\nNey; at another time he declares that he only got^\\nhis deserts. No one should break his word; I de-\\nspise traitors. Ney has dishonored himself. He\\nwas precious on the field of battle, but too immoral\\nand too stupid to succeed. Napoleon even goes so\\nfar as to say that he ought never to have made Ney a\\nmarshal of France; that he should have left him a\\ngeneral of division for he had, as Caffarelli had said\\nof him, just the courage and honesty of a hussar.\\nHe says that in 1814 he was a mere traitor; that he\\nbehaved, as always, like a rascal. Contrast this\\nwith the Duchesse d Angouleme s remorse on read-\\ning Segur s History of the Russian Campaign.\\nHad we known in 1815, she says, what Ney did\\nin Russia, he would never have been executed. Con-\\ntrast this with Napoleon himself when in Russia,\\n183", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0193.jp2"}, "194": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nWhat a man What a soldier Ney is lost I have\\nthree hundred millions in the cellars of the Tuileries.\\nI would give them all to get him back. We can only\\nconclude from this cruel change that Napoleon never\\nforgot or forgave the terrible interview with Ney at\\nFontainebleau in April, 1814, nor the vaunt of Ney\\nin 1 81 5 to bring him back in a cage. He only sum-\\nmoned him to the army, indeed, at the last moment\\nbefore Ligny. At the end there was, in truth, no love\\nlost between the two heroes.\\nAgain there comes the news of the death of Murat.\\nAs in the case of Napoleon s discourse to Montholon\\nabout Ney s death, there is a strange particularity\\nin this event, in that it is first announced to Napo-\\nleon by three separate people. Las Cases reads him\\nthe news. At these unexpected words the Em-\\nperor seizes me by the arm, and cries, The Calabri-\\nans were more humane, more generous, than those\\nwho sent me here. This was all. After a few mo-\\nments of silence, as he said no more, I continued\\nreading. This, perhaps, is the authorized version,\\nas it is that given in the Letters from the Cape.\\nO Meara also brought the first news. He heard\\nit with calmness, and immediately demanded if Mu-\\nrat had perished on the field of battle. At first I\\nhesitated to tell him that his brother-in-law had been\\nexecuted like a criminal. On his repeating the ques-\\ntion, I informed him of the manner in which Murat\\nhad been put to death, which he listened to without\\nany change of countenance.\\nThen Gourgaud brings the first tidings. I an-\\nnounce the fatal news to His Majesty, who keeps\\nthe same countenance, and remarks that Murat\\nmust have been mad to risk such an enterprise. I\\n184", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0194.jp2"}, "195": {"fulltext": "CONVERSATIONS OF NAPOLEON\\nsay that it grieves me to think of a brave man hke\\nMurat, who had so often faced death, dying by\\nthe hands of such people. The Emperor cries out\\nthat it is horrible. I urge that Ferdinand should\\nnot have allowed him to be killed. That is your\\nway of thinking, young people, but one does not\\ntrifle with a throne. Could he be considered as a\\nFrench general? He was one no longer. As a\\nking? But he had never been recognized (by the\\nBourbons?) as one. Ferdinand had him shot, just\\nas he has had a number of people hanged. But\\nGourgaud watches him, as they read the newspa-\\npers to him, and says that he suffers.\\nWe cannot tell which of the three chroniclers really\\nfirst reported the news to Napoleon, but we feel that\\nGourgaud s narrative is vivid and true. Long af-\\nterwards Napoleon says to Gourgaud Murat only\\nt^got what he deserved. But it is all my fault, for I\\nshould have left him a marshal, and never have\\nmade him King of Naples, or even Grand Duke of\\nBerg.\\nSo in the few specimens that we propose to give\\nof Napoleon s conversation at St. Helena we shall\\nmainly confine ourselves to the notes taken by Gour-\\ngaud. Napoleon, however, repeated himself con-\\nstantly, and so we obtain corroborative versions of\\nmany sayings in all the chronicles of the exile.\\nOne of the chief topics was religion, and one of\\nthe books that Napoleon most loved to read aloud\\nwas the Bible. The reading was not always for the\\nhighest motive, for on one occasion he reads up the\\nbooks of Samuel and Kings to see what is their tes-\\ntimony in favor of legitimate monarchy. But on\\nother occasions the Bible is read with no such ob-\\n185", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0195.jp2"}, "196": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nject; and he was, we are told, a great admirer of\\nSt. Paul. His thoughts, indeed, in this dark hour,\\nturn much to questions of faith, not altogether to\\nedification. We have, of course, often read anec-\\ndotes in which he is represented as pointing to the\\nfirmament, and declaiming a vague deism. New-\\nman, too, in a noble passage, has given from tra-\\ndition the final judgment passed on Christianity by\\nNapoleon at St. Helena, wherein Napoleon is re-\\nported to have compared the shadowy fame of Caesar\\nand Alexander with the living force of Christ, and\\nto have summed up with, Can He be less than di-\\nvine? But the real Napoleon talked in a very dif-\\nferent fashion. Gourgaud talks of the stars and\\ntheir Creator in the way attributed to Napoleon, but\\nthe latter snubs him. Briefly, Napoleon s real lean-\\ning seems to be to Mahometanism his objection\\nto Christianity is that it is not sufficiently ancient.\\nHad it existed, he says, since the beginning of the\\nworld, he could believe it. But it had not nor could\\nit have sustained itself till now without the Cruci-\\nfixion and the Crown of Thorns, for mankind is thus\\nconstituted. Nor can he accept that form of religion\\nwhich would damn Socrates, Plato, and, he courte-\\nously adds, the English. Why, in any case, should\\npunishment be eternal? Moreover, he declares that\\nhe was much disturbed by the arguments of the\\nsheiks in Egypt, who contended that those who\\nworshipped three deities must necessarily be pagans.\\nMahometanism, on the other hand, is more sim-\\nple, and, he characteristically adds, is superior to\\nChristianity in that it conquered half the world in\\nV ten years, while Christianity took three hundred\\nyears to est^bhgh itself. Another time he declares\\ni86", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0196.jp2"}, "197": {"fulltext": "CONVERSATIONS OF NAPOLEON\\nMahometanism to be the most beautiful of all relig-\\nions. And once he even sa3^s, We Mahometans.\\nAlthough he prefers Mahometanism to Christian-\\nity, he prefers the Roman to the Anglican commun-\\nion, or, at any rate, the Roman to the Anglican ritual.\\nHe gives as the reason for his preference that in the\\nRoman Church the people do not understand the\\nprayers, and that it is not wise to try and make such\\nmatters too clear. And yet he thinks that the clergy\\nshould marry, though he should hesitate to confess\\nhimself to a married priest, who would repeat every-\\nthing to his wife. He declares that he himself, hav-\\ning been anointed, is capable of confessing a peni-\\ntent. He is not so favorable to the hierarchy as to the\\nritual of Rome. He is hostile to the papacy. Britain\\nand northern Europe have wisely, he says, emanci-\\npated themselves from this yoke, for it is ridiculous\\nthat the chief of the state should not be chief of the\\nchurch of the state. For this reason he regrets that\\nFrancis I. did not, as he nearly did, emancipate him-\\nself and his people by adhering to the Reformation.\\nHe himself had regretted in old days, when wearied\\nwith his disastrous struggle against the papacy, that\\ninstead of concluding the concordat, he had not de-\\nclared himself a Protestant. The nation would have\\nfollowed him, and would have thus freed itself from\\nthe yoke of Rome.\\nBut, as he proceeds, he becomes more hostile to\\nChristianity. As for me, he breaks out on one\\noccasion, my opinion is formed that (the divine?)\\nChrist never existed. He was put to death like any\\nother fanatic who professed to be a prophet or a mevS-\\nsiah. There were constantly people of this kind.\\nThen I look back from the New Testament to the Old.\\nJ87", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0197.jp2"}, "198": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nI find one able man Moses but the Jews are cow-\\nardly and cruel. And he ends by returning to the\\nBible with a map and declaring that he will write\\nthe campaigns of Moses.\\nSo slight is his belief in the Saviour that he men-\\ntions as an extraordinary fact that Pope Pius VIL\\ndid actually believe in Christ.\\nAs to man, he proclaims himself a materialist.\\nSometimes he thinks that man was created in some\\nparticular temperature of the air sometimes that he\\nwas produced from cla3% as Herodotus narrates that\\nNile mud was transformed into rats, that he was\\nwarmed by the sun, and combined with electric fluids.\\nSa3^ what you like, everything is matter, more or less\\norganized. When out hunting I had the deer cut open\\nand saw that their interior was the same as that of\\nman. A man is only a more perfect being than a dog\\nor a tree, and living better. The plant is the first link\\nin a chain, of which man is the last. I know that\\nthis is all contrary to religion, but it is my opinion\\nthat we are all matter. Again: What are elec-\\ntricity, galvanism, magnetism? In these lies the\\ngreat secret of nature. Galvanism works in silence.\\nI think m3^self that man is the product of these fluids\\nand of the atmosphere, that the brain pumps up these\\nfluids and imparts life, and that the soul is composed\\nof these fluids, which after death return into the atmos-\\nphere, whence they are pumped into other brains.\\nAgain: When we are dead, my dear Gourgaud,\\nwe are altogether dead. What is a soul Where is\\nthe soul of a sleeper or of a madman or of a babe?\\nAnother time he breaks out Were I obliged to\\nhave a religion, I would worship the sun the source\\nof all life the real god of the earth.\\n1 88", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0198.jp2"}, "199": {"fulltext": "CONVERSATIONS OF NAPOLEON\\nThe editors think that Napoleon talked in this way\\nin a spirit of opposition to Gourgaud, who was a be-\\nliever more or less orthodox. He did, we think, often\\nargue thus to bring out the strength of the orthodox\\nposition. But often he is only thinking aloud in the\\nbitterness of his heart as when he says that he can-\\nnot believe in a just God punishing and rewarding, for\\ngood people are always unfortunate and scoundrels\\nare always lucky. Look at Talleyrand he is sure\\nto die in his bed.\\nBertrand thinks, says Gourgaud, that the Em-\\nperor has religion, and we certainly think that\\nNapoleon was more religious than these conversa-\\ntions represent. But he had much leeway to make\\nup. He was the child of that Revolution which ab-\\njured religion. And yet there was strength in him\\nto perform the most courageous acts of his life, the\\nrestoration of the French Church, the conclusion of\\nthe concordat, and the compelling his scoffing com-\\npanions at arms to follow him to church.\\nWhatever may have been his motives, they must\\nhave been potent to make him break with the tradi-\\ntions of his manhood. For religious faith and ob-\\nservance which still lurked timidly in the civil life\\nof France had disappeared from among its soldiers.\\nThe French army at this time, says Count Laval-\\nlette of the army of Egypt, was remarkably free\\nfrom any feeling of religion.\\nAnd the same author tells a curious anecdote of\\na French officer who was with him on a boat which\\nwas nearly wrecked. The officer says the Lord s\\nPrayer from beginning to end. When the danger\\nis over he is much ashamed, and apologizes thus\\nI am thirty-eight years old, and I have never uttered\\n189", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0199.jp2"}, "200": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\na prayer since I was six. I cannot understand how\\nit came into my head just then, for I declare that at\\nthis moment it would be impossible for me to remem-\\nber a word of it. And this hostility to religion\\nseems to have continued, in spite of concordats, to\\nthe end of Napoleon s reign for, as we are told on\\nthe same authority, when mass was celebrated in the\\nEmperor s presence at the great function of the Champ\\nde Mai during the Hundred Days, thirteen years after\\nthe concordat, every one turned their backs to the\\naltar.\\nHis life of camps, his revolutionary associations,\\nhis conflict with the papacy, kept Napoleon aloof from\\nthe faith in which he was born. Talleyrand told\\nCharles Greville that Louis XVIIL was surprised,\\non arriving in Paris, to find that the ante-library\\nof his predecessor s cabinet consisted principally of\\nbooks on theological subjects, and that these were his\\nfavorite study. Greville asked in reply if Talleyrand\\nthought that Napoleon was a believer. Je suis\\nporte a croire qu il etait croyant, mats il avait le gout\\nde ces sujet.s, said Talleyrand. We can only offer\\nthe commentary that the religious faith of Napoleon\\nwas at least equal to that of his successor on the\\nthrone, or to that of his prince of Benevento.\\nAll that we can safely gather from his conversa-\\ntion at St. Helena is that his mind turns greatly on\\nthese questions of religion. He ponders and strug-\\ngles. A remark which he lets fall at St. Helena ex-\\nplains probably his normal state of mind. Only a\\nfool, he says one day, says that he will die without\\na confessor. There is so much that one does not\\nknow, that one cannot explain. And as he spoke of\\nthe mysteries of religion, we may speak of his frame\\n190", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0200.jp2"}, "201": {"fulltext": "CONVERSATIONS OF NAPOLEON\\nof mind with regard to them. There is so much that\\none does not know, that one cannot explain.\\nBesides this high and engrossing topic. Napoleon\\nranges over a hundred others, characteristic of the\\nman, and interesting to us, besides his discursive\\nreminiscences and his acute views of the future.\\nThese last, as recorded by Las Cases and Montholon,\\ngive one the idea rather of political programmes,\\ndestined for external consumption, than of his own\\ninner thoughts. Some are professedly so. Montho-\\nlon, as it were, suddenly produces from his port-\\nfolio a constitution dictated by Napoleon for the em-\\npire of France under his son. We do not know if it\\nbe authentic, but we observe that the editors of the\\nEmperor s works coldly ignore it. We ourselves in-\\ncline to the belief that it was composed in the seclu-\\nsion of Ham with an eye to the Bonaparte restora-\\ntion, which soon afterwards took place. The official\\neditors print, however, Montholon s record of the in-\\nstructions dictated by the dying man for his son on\\nApril 17, 1 82 1, which seems to be a genuine mani-\\nfesto.\\nTo us, of course, what he says of the English is\\nof rare interest. He had all his life been waging war\\nagainst Britain in some form or another, and yet he\\nhad always been strangely ignorant with regard to\\nus. Metternich, who had been in England, noticed\\nwhen Napoleon was on the throne, that as regards\\nEngland he believed only what he chose to believe,\\nand that these ideas were totally false. This is the\\nmore strange, for the cause of his victories lay largely\\nin the care with which he studied his adversaries.\\nAnd, throughout his reign, he had kept a keen ej^e\\non British journalism and British politics. His sen-\\n191", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0201.jp2"}, "202": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nsitiveness to the criticism of English newspapers,\\nwhich, after all, was the only newspaper criticism i\\nthat he had to face, was no secret to his household.\\nHe insisted on every abusive phrase being translated\\nto him, and was furious at the result. In spite of\\nthis painful education he never at St. Helena touched\\non the English without betraying the strangest ig-\\nnorance of their character and habits of mind. Had\\nI, he says, been allowed to go to London in 1815, i\\nI should have been carried in triumph. All the popu- i\\nlace would have been on my side, and my reasoning\\nwould have convinced the Greys and the Grenvilles.\\nEven had he entered London as a conqueror, he j\\nseems to have persuaded himself that the result would j\\nhave been the same. He told Las Cases that four j\\ndays after landing in England he would have\\nbeen in London. 1 should have entered it, not as i\\na conqueror, but as a liberator. I should have been 1\\nWilliam III. over again, but more generous and more\\ndisinterested. The discipline of my army would have\\nbeen perfect, and the troops would have behaved as 1\\nif they were in Paris. No sacrifices, not even an\\nindemnity, would have been exacted from the Eng- j\\nlish. We should have presented ourselves, not as\\nconquerors, but as brothers who came to restore to t\\nthem their liberties and their rights, I should have\\nbade the English work out their own regeneration\\nthemselves for, as they were our elders in polit- i\\nical legislation, we wished to have nothing to do with f\\nit except to enjoy their happiness and prosperity;\\nand I should have acted in good faith. So that in a\\nfew months the two nations, so long hostile, would\\nhave become identical by their principles, their max-\\nims, and their interests. It is scarcely necessary to\\n192 1", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0202.jp2"}, "203": {"fulltext": "CONVERSATIONS OF NAPOLEON\\npoint out that he did not beHeve a word of this ridicu-\\nlous rhodomontade, but that he should have launched\\nit at all indicates an amazing ignorance of the people\\nwhom he proposed to assimilate.\\nHe liked to listen to the stories of Las Cases s resi-\\ndence in England, the scandals of the court, and of\\nCarlton House, where Las Cases had been presented.\\nAnd what the devil were you doing there? the\\nEmperor not unnaturally asked at this point. Other-\\nwise he derived but little assistance from his suite in\\nthe elucidation of the British character. Gourgaud,\\nfor example, thought that the riots, of which so much\\nwas being said in England, were a political sect or,\\nas his editors explain it, the advanced guard of the\\nWhig party.\\nWhat did he think of the English? Though he\\nsometimes broke out against them, not unnaturally,\\nhe seems to have held them in a certain unspoken\\nrespect. The British nation would be very incap-\\nable of contending with us if we had only their na-\\ntional spirit, he said on one occasion. When he is\\nmost bitter he quotes Paoli, the real author of the\\nfamous phrase, They are a nation of shopkeepers.\\nSono mercanti, as Paoli used to say.\\nSometimes he gibed, not unreasonably, at the na-\\ntion which had been his most persistent enemy and\\nwhich had accepted the invidious charge of his cus-\\ntody. But once he paid them a noble tribute. He\\nbegins quaintly enough The English character is\\nsuperior to ours. Conceive Romilly, one of the lead-\\ners of a great party, committing suicide at fifty be-\\ncause he had lost his wife. They are in everything\\nmore practical than we are: they emigrate, they\\nmarry, they kill themselves, with less indecision\\nN 193", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0203.jp2"}, "204": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nthan we display in going to the opera. They are\\nalso braver than we are. I think one can say that\\nin courage they are to us what we are to the Rus-\\nsians, what the Russians are to the Germans, what\\nthe Germans are to the Italians. And then he pro-\\nceeds: Had I had an English army I should have\\nconquered the universe, for I could have gone all over\\nthe world without demoralizing my troops. Had I\\nbeen, in 1815, the choice of the English, as I was of\\nthe French, I might have lost the battle of Waterloo\\nwithout losing a vote in the Legislature or a soldier\\nfrom my ranks. I should have won the game. Has\\nthere been, considering the speaker and the circum-\\nstances, more signal praise of our national character?\\nOn two other occasions, when on the throne, he\\nhad, in confidential talk, paid rare compliments to\\nBritain. To Auguste de Stael, who had declared\\nthat he could not serve under the French Govern-\\nment, for it had persecuted his mother. Napoleon\\nsaid, Then you must go to England, for after all\\nthere are only two nations, France and England the\\nrest are nothing. Still more remarkable was his\\nlanguage to Foy. In the midst of the Peninsular\\nWar Foy came to Paris and had two or three inter-\\nviews with the Emperor. One day Napoleon said to\\nhim abruptly: Tell me, are my soldiers fighting\\nwell? What do you mean. Sire? Of course\\nYes, yes, I know. But are they afraid of the Eng-\\nlish soldiers? Sire, they respect them, but do not\\nfear them. Well, you see, the English have al-\\nways beaten them Cressy, Agincourt, Marlborough.\\nBut, Sire, the battle of Fontenoy. Ah the bat-\\ntle of Fontenoy. That is a day that made the mon-\\narchy live forty years longer than it would otherwise.\\n194", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0204.jp2"}, "205": {"fulltext": "CONVERSATIONS OF NAPOLEON\\nOn another occasion, at St. Helena, when Napo-\\nleon conceived Ladj?^ Malcolm to be saying that he\\nhated England, he interrupted her with much ani-\\nmation, saying she was mistaken, he did not hate\\nthe English on the contrary, he had always had the\\nhighest opinion of their character, I have been\\ndeceived, and here I am on a vile rock in the midst\\nof the ocean/ I believe there are more honorable\\nmen in England, proportionately, than in any other\\ncountry but then there are some very bad; they\\nare in extremes. Again: The English are quite\\na different race from us they have something of the\\nbulldog in them; they love blood. They are fero-\\ncious, they fear death less than we do, have more\\nphilosophy, and live more from day to day.\\nHe thought well and justly of our blockades {les\\nanglais bloquent tres hien), but ill, and with even\\nmore justice, of our diplomacy. He could not un-\\nderstand, and posterity shares his bewilderment,\\nwhy the British had derived so little benefit from\\ntheir long struggle and their victory. He thinks\\nthat they must have been stung by the reproach\\nof being a nation of shopkeepers, and have wished\\nto show their magnanimity. Probably for a thou-\\nsand years such another opportunity of aggrandiz-\\ning England will not occur. In the position of affairs\\nnothing could have been refused to you. It was\\nridiculous, he sa d, to leave Batavia to the Dutch,\\nand Bourbon and Pondicherry to the French. He\\nwould not have given a farthing for either, had it\\nnot been for his hope of driving the English out of\\nIndia. Your ministers, too, he says, should have\\nstipulated for a commercial monopoly in the seas\\nof India and China. You ought not to have allowed\\n195", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0205.jp2"}, "206": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nthe French or any other nation to put their nose be-\\nyond the Cape. At present the Enghsh can\\ndictate to the world, more especially if they with-\\ndraw their troops from the Continent, relegate Wel-\\nlington to his estates, and remain a purely maritime\\npower. She can then do what she likes. You\\nwant old Lord Chatham for a prime minister, he\\nsays another day.\\nAgain: You English have imposed a contribu-\\ntion on France of seven hundred millions of francs,\\nbut, after all, I imposed one of ten milliards on your\\ncountry. While you raised yours by your bayonets,\\nI raised mine through your Parliament.\\nHe set himself to learn English, and Las Cases to\\nteach him. The lessons were pursued for three\\nmonths, sometimes with an admirable ardor\\nsometimes with a visible disgust, from January to\\nApril, 1816, and then ceased entirely. There had\\nalready been an abortive attempt on the voyage.\\nLas Cases, who had himself since his return to France\\nsomewhat forgotten the spoken language, says that\\nhis illustrious pupil managed to some extent to un-\\nderstand English as he read it, but that his pronun-\\nciation was so extraordinary as to constitute to sotne\\nextent a new language. The longest specimen that\\nwe possess of Napoleon s English is thus phonet-\\nically given by Henry, who heard it, Veech you\\ntink de best town? He wrote an English letter\\nunder an assumed name to Las Cases, which the\\nfacile courtier declares to have deceived him. We\\ngive it here as the only written English of Napo-\\nleon s that we possess, and as a proof of the polite\\ncredulity of Las Cases.\\nCount Lascases. Since sixt wek, y learn the\\n196", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0206.jp2"}, "207": {"fulltext": "CONVERSATIONS OF NAPOLEON\\nenglish and y do not any progress. Sixt week do\\nfourty and two day. If might have learn fivty word,\\nfor day, i could know it two thousands and two hun-\\ndred. It is in the dictionary more of foorty thou-\\nsand even he could most twenty hot much of tems.\\nFor know it or hundred and twenty week which do\\nmore two years. After this you shall agree that\\nthe study one tongue is a great labor who it must do\\ninto the young aged.\\nLongwood, this morning, the seven march thurs-\\nday one thousand eight hundred sixteen after na-\\ntivity the yors (sic) (lord) Jesus Christ.\\nIt was thus addressed:\\nCount Lascases, chambellan of the S.M., Long-\\nwood; into his polac very press.\\nHe read English history with interest, having\\nread none since he left school. I am reading Hume,\\nhe said one day. These English are a ferocious\\nrace; what crimes there are in their history. Think\\nof Henry VIII. marrying Lady Seymour the day\\nafter he had had Anne Bole3 n beheaded. We should\\nnever have done such a thing in our country. Nero\\nnever committed such crimes. And Queen Mary!\\nAhli^the Salic law is an excellent arrangement.\\nBuf the most interesting resuk of this is that he dis-\\ncourses on the analogies between Cromwell and him-\\nself. There is no doubt, he thinks, some resem-\\nblance between the reign of Charles I. and the French\\nRevolution, but there can be no real comparison\\nbetween the position of Cromwell and himself. Na-\\npoleon was thrice chosen by the free election of the\\npeople, and the French army had only waged war\\nwith strangers. Cromwell had one essential qual-\\nity, dissimulation; he had also great political tal-\\n197", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0207.jp2"}, "208": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nents, and consummate judgment, for there was no\\naction in his Hfe which could be criticised as being\\nill calculated. Was he a great general? Napoleon\\ndoes not know enough of him to judge.\\nOn French history he makes one or two interesting\\nand indeed startling remarks. St. Louis he consid-\\nered an imbecile. To Lady Malcolm he said that\\nHenry IV. was undoubtedly the greatest man that\\never sat on the throne of France. But this judg-\\nment was only for external use in his interior circle\\nhe spoke very differently. Henry IV., he declared,\\nnever did anything great. Voltaire made him the\\nfashion by the Henriade, and then he was ex-\\nalted in order to depreciate Louis XIV., who was\\nhated. Napoleon laughed when he saw Henry de-\\nscribed as the greatest captain of ancient or modern\\ntimes. He was, no doubt, a good sort of man, brave,\\nand would charge sword in hand; but, after all, an\\nold graybeard pursuing women in the streets of Paris\\ncould only be an old fool.\\nLouis XIV., in the opinion of the Emperor, was\\nthe greatest King that France had had. There are\\nonly he and I. He had four hundred thousand men\\nunder arms, and a King of France who could collect\\nsuch a host could be no ordinary man. Only he or\\nI was able to raise such armies. Had he himself\\nlived under the old monarchy, he thinks he would\\nhave risen to be a marshal. For, as it was, he had\\nbeen remarked as a lieutenant he would soon have\\nbecome a colonel and been placed on the staff of a\\nmarshal, whom he would have guided, and under\\nwhom he would have distinguished himself.\\nHe utters one speculation on contemporary French\\nhistory, which must not be taken too seriously,\\n198", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0208.jp2"}, "209": {"fulltext": "CONVERSATIONS OF NAPOLEON\\nWould to God, he says, that the King and the\\nprinces had remained (in March, 1815). The troops\\nwould have come over to me: the King and the\\nprinces would have been massacred; and so Louis\\nXVIII. would not be on the throne. Sometimes\\nin his wrath he flies out against France herself:\\nShe has been violated, she is henceforth only a\\ncowardly, dishonored country. She has only had\\nher deserts, for instead of rallying to me, she deserted\\nme.\\nHe talks freely of his family. And it is perhaps\\nhis frankness in this respect that chiefly distinguishes\\nhim from a sovereign born in the purple. No one\\ncan conceive the contemporary emperors, Alexander\\nor Francis, conversing with their suites on the most\\nintimate family matters. One might almost say\\nthat this is the note of distinction between the legiti-\\nmate and the parvenu sovereign. At any rate, the\\nEmpress Catherine, who was born remote from the\\nprospect of a throne, had this surprising candor.\\nHis family was, he says, among the first in Cor-\\nsica, and he had still a great number of cousins in the\\nisland. He reckons them, indeed, at eighty. He\\nwas sure that a number of these were among the\\nband of Corsicans who followed Murat in his mad\\nand fatal attempt at Pizzo; though as a matter of\\nfact the clan Bonaparte in Corsica would have noth-\\ning to do with Murat or his expedition. But he did\\nnot care to be considered a Corsican at all. In the\\nfirst place, he was French I was born in 1769, when\\nCorsica had been united to France though his ene-\\nmies accused him of having exchanged birthdays\\nwith Joseph, who was born in 1768, and so before\\nthe union. A tactless mayor of Lyons, under this\\n199", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0209.jp2"}, "210": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nbelief, had innocently complimented him on having\\ndone so much for France, though not a Frenchman.\\nBut, secondly, putting his French nationality aside,\\nhe protested that he was rather Italian or Tuscan\\nthan Corsican. Two centuries ago his family lived\\nin Tuscany. I have one foot in Italy, and one in\\nFrance. It is obvious to the candid reader that both\\nfeet were politically of use to him, for he reigned in\\nFrance and Italy. His Corsican origin was of no\\nuse to him, and was, therefore, minimized.\\nHe makes some curious remarks about his de-\\nscent. There was a tendency at one time to prove\\nit from the Man in the Iron Mask. It came about\\nin this way. The Governor of Pignerol, where the\\nmysterious prisoner was confined, was named Bom-\\npars he was said to have married his daughter to\\nthe captive (who was, in the belief of Napoleon, the\\nbrother of Louis XIV.), and smuggled them off to\\nCorsica under the name of Bonaparte. I had only\\nto say the word, said the Emperor, and this fable\\nwould have been believed.\\nWhen he married Marie Louise, the Emperor Fran-\\ncis became anxious as to his son-in-law s nobility of\\nbirth, and sent him a packet of papers establishing\\nhis descent from the Dukes of Florence. Napoleon\\nreturned them to Metternich with the remark that he\\nhad nothing to do with such tomfoolery that in any\\ncase the Dukes of Florence were inferior to the Em-\\nperors of Germany; that he would not be inferior to\\nhis father-in-law, and that his nobility dated from\\nMontenotte.\\nNapoleon himself seems to incline to one illustri-\\nous connection, for he saj^s that the name of Bona-\\nparte is the same as Bonarotti or Buenarotti. Did\\n200", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0210.jp2"}, "211": {"fulltext": "CONVERSATIONS OF NAPOLEON\\nhe, then, beheve himself related to Michael Angelo?\\nHe regrets, too, that he did not allow an ancestor of\\nhis, Bonaventure or Boniface Bonaparte, to be can-\\nonized. The Capucins, to which order the monk be-\\nlonged, were eager for the distinction, which would\\nhave cost a million francs. The Pope, when he came\\nto Paris, spontaneously offered this compliment,\\nwhich Napoleon was inclined to accept, as it would,\\nhe thought, conciliate the priesthood. But it was\\nfinally decided that it might afford matter for ridi-\\ncule, so dangerous anywhere, so fatal in France.\\nNapoleon seems to have no family secrets from his\\ncompanions. His father died at Montpellier at the\\nage of thirty-five, he says at one time, thirty-nine at\\nanother. Fie had been a man of pleasure all his life,\\nextravagant, wishing to play the great noble, but\\nat the last he could not have enough monks and\\npriests round him, so that at Montpellier they con-\\nsidered him a saint. Napoleon s great -uncle, to\\nsome extent, restored the family fortunes, and died\\nwealthy, so much so that Pauline thought it worth\\nwhile to steal the purse from under his pillow as he\\nwas dying. The Emperor discusses quite calmly a\\ncommon report that Paoli was his father, but gives\\na conclusive, but not very refined or decorous, rea-\\nson for disbelieving it. Still Paoli took a semi-pa-\\nternal interest in him. You, Bonaparte, are all\\nPlutarch, you have nothing modern about you, the\\ngeneral said to him. And of him to others That\\nyoung man bears the head of Caesar on the body of\\nAlexander: there is the stuff of ten Scyllas in him.\\nBoth his father and mother were very handsome.\\nShe, during her pregnancy, followed the army of\\nindependence. The French generals took pity on\\n201", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0211.jp2"}, "212": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nher, and allowed her to come to her own house for her\\nconfinement. She availed herself of the permission,\\nand was delivered of Napoleon. So that I can say\\nI was conceived when Corsica was independent, and\\nborn when Corsica was French. This last point\\nwas, of course, capital for him and for his dynasty.\\nHere perhaps may be noted the singular connec-\\ntion of Napoleon with Corsica. He was born there.\\nHe lived there till he was nine. With the first free-\\ndom of manhood he returns there. Of the period be-\\ntween January i, 1786, and June, 1793, he spends\\nmore than three years and two months in Corsica.\\nThen he drifts away, never to see the island again,\\nexcept for a moment on his return from Eg3 pt, and\\nin outline from Elba. Nevertheless, Corsica follows\\nhim and profoundly influences his career. During\\nhis early j^ears on the island he had contracted a\\nlife-long feud, after the Corsican fashion, with Pozzo\\ndi Borgo. That vendetta was fateful, if not mortal.\\nFor to Pozzo di Borgo, more than to any other single\\nman, is due the first overthrow of Napoleon.\\nAfter her flight from Corsica and her arrival at\\nMarseilles, the Emperor s mother was once more, he\\ntells us, in a desperate plight. She and her daugh-\\nters had not a farthing to live upon. He himself was\\nreduced to an assignat of five francs, and was on the\\nverge of suicide, being indeed on the brink of the\\nSeine for that purpose, when a friend lent him money\\nand saved him. His mother had thirteen children,\\nof whom he was the third. C est une maitresse\\nfemme.\\nHe receives a letter from his mother, and, though\\nhe tore it up, is sufficiently moved by it to quote it\\nto his companions. Its tenderness, indeed, might\\n202", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0212.jp2"}, "213": {"fulltext": "CONVERSATIONS OF NAPOLEON\\nwell affect a son; for she wishes, old and blind as\\nshe is, to come to St. Helena. I am very old,\\nshe writes, to make a journey of tliree thousand\\nleagues. I should die perhaps on the way, but,\\nnever mind, I should die nearer you. His nurse,\\nwho long survived him, and whom he remembered\\naffectionately in his will, came to Paris for the coro-\\nnation, where the Pope took so much notice of her\\nthat his mother was almost jealous. His foster-\\nbrother, her son, became captain of a vessel in the\\nBritish navy.\\nEven of his wives he is not chary of talking, nor\\nis he sparing of the most intimate details about both.\\nHe wonders if he ever really loved anybody. If so,\\nit w^s Josephine a little. She indeed almost al-\\nways lied, but always cleverly, except with regard to\\nher age. As to that she got into such a tangle that\\nher statements could only be reconciled on the hy-\\npothesis that Eugene was twelve years old when he\\nwas born. She never asked anj^hing for herself or\\nher children, but made mountains of debt. Her\\ngreatest defect was a vigilant and constant jealousy.\\nHowever, she was not jealous of Marie Louise, though\\nthe latter was extremely susceptible as to her prede-\\ncessor. When the Emperor tried to take his second\\nwife to see his first, the former burst into tears, and\\nshe endeavored by every possible ruse and device to\\nprevent his going there.\\nMarie Louise, he declares, was innocence itself and\\nreally loved him. Had she not been influenced by\\nthat wretch (canaille) Mme. de Montebello, and by\\nCorvisart. who was a scoundrel (miserable), she,\\ntoo, would have followed him to Elba. And then\\nher father has placed that polisson Neipperg by\\n203", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0213.jp2"}, "214": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nher side. This is perhaps the only avowal which\\nwe have from Napoleon, who kept up appearances\\ngallantly to the last, that he was aware of his wife s\\ninfidelity; though Lavallette informed him of it\\nduring the Hundred Days, and his suite were all gos-\\nsiping about the scandal. Still he always praises\\nMarie Louise and gives, in sum, the following ac-\\ncount of her. She was never at ease with the French,\\nremembering they had killed her aunt Marie An-\\ntoinette. She was always truthful and discreet, and\\ncourteous to all, even those whom she most detested.\\nShe was cleverer than her father, whom alone of her\\nfamily she loved she could not bear her stepmother.\\nDifferent in this from Josephine, she was delighted\\nwhen she received ten thousand francs to spend.\\nOne could have trusted her with any secret, and she\\nhad been enjoined at Vienna to obey Napoleon in\\neverything. She was a charming child, a good\\nwoman, and had saved his life. And yet, all said\\nand done, he loved Josephine better. Josephine was\\na true woman, she was his choice, they had risen\\ntogether. He loved her person, her grace. She\\nwould have followed me to Elba, he says, with\\noblique reproach. Had she had a child of his, he\\nwould never have left her. It would have been better\\nso for her, and for France. For it was Austria that\\nlost him. But for the Austrian marriage, he would\\nnever have made war on Russia. He declares that\\nhe has made up his mind, should Marie Louise die,\\nnot to marry again. Considering the circumstances\\nin which he was placed, and the area of choice pre-\\nsented to him at St. Helena, there is something half\\ncomic, half tragic, in the declaration.\\nTo his little son he makes one bitter allusion,\\n204", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0214.jp2"}, "215": {"fulltext": "CONVERSATIONS OF NAPOLEON\\nGourgaud, on the 15th of August, the imperial fes-\\ntival, presents the Emperor with a bouquet as if from\\nthe King of Rome. Bah! says Napoleon rudely,\\nthe King of Rome thinks no more of me than he\\ndoes of you. But that his thoughts were always\\nwith the boy his will and, indeed, his conversations\\nsufficiently prove. It was his intention, he says, to\\nhave given the Kingdom of all Italy, with Rome as\\nthe capital, to his second son, had he had one.\\nCaroline, who married Murat, was considered, he\\ntells us, in childhood to be the dunce and Cinderella\\nof the family. But she developed favorably, and be-\\ncame a capable and handsome woman. He cannot,\\nhowever, disguise his fury with her second marriage.\\nHe can scarcely believe it after twenty years of\\nmarriage, within fifteen months of the violent death\\nof her husband, with children grown up, that she\\nshould marry again, publicly, and where, of all\\nplaces? at Vienna. If the news be true, it will have\\nastonished him more than anything that ever hap-\\npened. Human nature is indeed strange. And then\\nexplodes his inmost thought: Ah! la coquine, la\\ncoquine, V amour la toujours conduite.\\nWe have seen that he considered Louis XIV. the\\ngreatest of French sovereigns, and this news of Caro-\\nline s marriage produces the strangest of analogies\\nbetween them. Readers of St. Simon will recollect\\nthe vivid description he gives of the day when Louis\\nXIV. received the tidings that his cherished son, the\\nDue du Maine, had, on a signal occasion, behaved\\nwith something less than conspicuous courage.\\nHow the King, then at Marly, perceives a scullion\\npocketing a biscuit how his suppressed fury breaks\\nout and wreaks itself on the relatively innocent ob-\\n205", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0215.jp2"}, "216": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nject how he rushes up before the astonished court\\nand breaks his stick on the servant s back how the\\nman flies, and the King stands swearing at him, and\\nimpotently brandishing the stump of his cane. The\\ncourtiers cannot beheve their eyes, and the King re-\\ntires to conceal his agitation. So, on hearing of\\nCaroHne s nuptials, Napoleon sits down to dinner\\nbursting with uncontrollable wrath. He declares that\\nthe pastry is gritty, and his anger, expending itself\\non the cook, passes all restraint. Rarely, says Gour-\\ngaud never, says Montholon has the Emperor been\\nseen in such a rage. He orders that the man shall\\nbe beaten and dismissed. The scene is grotesque\\nand painful enough, but it is Caroline, not the cook,\\nthat is the cause.\\nIt was not, we may surmise, his sister s marriage\\nalone that provoked this explosion. The news had\\nprobably brought back to him that day, in 1814, when\\nhe received the news that Murat had betrayed him\\nand turned his arms against France. The Em-\\nperor s feeling for Murat then was a bitter contempt\\nfor the barber, as he called him, whom he had\\nraised to be a king. His anger he reserved for his\\nsister, who, as he knew, governed and directed her\\nhusband. His language about her, too, was such,\\nas reported by Barras (who is, however, a question-\\nable witness in matters relating to Napoleon), that a\\nFrench editor, by no means squeamish, is unable to\\nprint it. In any case, whether indelicate or not, we\\nmay be sure that it was forcible, and that on this day\\nof petulance the misalliance of Caroline brought to\\nhis mind a darker tragedy and a direr wrath.\\nOf his brothers he says little that is worth record-\\ning, in view of other and fuller revelations elsewhere.\\n206", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0216.jp2"}, "217": {"fulltext": "CONVERSATIONS OF NAPOLEON\\nHe declares compendiously that they have done him\\nmuch harm. He made a great mistake, he says,\\nin making Joseph a king, especially in Spain, where\\na firm and military sovereign was required whereas\\nJoseph thought of nothing but gallantry at Madrid.\\nJoseph, in his great brother s opinion, was not a sol-\\ndier, though he fancied himself one, nor was he even\\nbrave. It may here be mentioned that as Napoleon s\\nappearance deteriorated at St. Helena it strikingly\\nresembled that of Joseph. Las Cases declares that\\non at least one occasion he could have sworn that\\nit was Joseph and not Napoleon whom he saw. With\\nregard to Louis and Lucien, their mania for publish-\\ning indifferent verses, and dedicating them to the\\nPope, is a constant perplexity to him. Of both poet-\\nasters he remarks at different times faut avoir\\nle diable au corps. Lucien, says Napoleon, wished,\\nafter Brumaire, to marry the Queen of Etruria, and\\nthreatened if this were refused to marry a woman of\\nbad character a menace which he carried out. He\\nwas, in his brother s judgment, useless during the\\nHundred Days but aspired after Waterloo to the dic-\\ntatorship. He pointed out that his relations to the\\nRepublican party would make him acceptable to\\nthem, and that he would give the military command\\nto the Emperor. Napoleon, without answering this\\nstrange rhapsody, turned to Carnot, who declared\\nunhesitatingly that he could speak on behalf of the\\nRepublicans, not one of whom would prefer Lucien s\\ndictatorship to the Emperor s. Eliza, the member of\\nhis family who most resembled him in character and\\ntalents, and whom, perhaps for that reason, he dis-\\nliked, he scarcely mentions; nor does he say much\\nof the exquisite and voluptuous Pauline. And in-\\n207", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0217.jp2"}, "218": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\ni\\ndeed from the world at large the fainilj^ has scarcelj\\nreceived sufiicient attention. For it was an aston-\\nishing race. Born and reared in povert3 and ob- i\\nsciirit^^ it assumed a divine right with eas}^ grace, f\\nNo Bourbons or Hapsburgs were so imbued with\\ntheir ro3 al prerogatives as these princes of an hour.\\nJoseph believed firmly- that he would easil}^ have i\\nestablished himself as King of Spain if Napoleon\\nwould only have withdrawn his troops. Louis had\\nthe same conviction with regard to Holland. Mu- I\\nrat and Caroline were not less fatuous at Naples.\\nJerome promptlj established the state and etiquette\\nof a pettj^ Louis XIV. Not less remarkable was j\\ntheir tenacity of character. An unfriendl} com- ,j\\nmentator is forced to admit that their qualities or\\ndefects were all out of the common. The women\\neven approached greatness. Caroline and Eliza i\\nhad striking qualities. And all, brothers and sisters,\\nhad something of the inflexibilit}^ of their mighty\\nhead, and the fullest possible measure of his self-\\nconfidence. Thej frequentlj^ defied him. Some i\\ndid not scruple to abandon him. The two governing 1\\nsisters tried to cut themselves adrift from his fortunes,\\nand make terms as independent sovereigns with the\\nenenty. Lucien believed that he could more than\\nfill the place of Napoleon. In this astounding race,\\nsays Pasquier, the most binding engagements and\\nthe most sacred affections melted away at the first\\naspect of a political combination,\\nHis confidences do not end with his family, for he\\nlikes to talk of his loves. He has had, as he counts I\\non his fingers, seven mistresses in his life: C est j\\nbeaiicoup. But, after all, it is not much when we i\\nremember that a learned and competent historian\\n208", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0218.jp2"}, "219": {"fulltext": "CONVERSATIONS OF NAPOLEON\\nis devoting three thick volumes to this side of Na-\\npoleon s character. Of the most famous. Mme.\\nWalewska, to whom at one time he seems to have\\nbeen sincerely attached (though he thought all Po-\\nlish women addicted to intrigue), he speaks with\\ngreat detachment. She was obtained for him, he\\ndeclares, by Talleyrand. He avers to Gourgaud,\\nwhen vexed with the general, that when they started\\nfor St. Helena he would have given her to Gourgaud\\nas a wife, but not now, such was the change of his\\nsentiments. He hears with complacency that she\\nhas married M. d Ornano. She is rich and must\\nhave saved, and I settled a great deal on the two chil-\\ndren. Your Majesty, says the tactless ecjuer-\\nry, paid Mme. Walewska ten thousand francs a\\nmonth. The Emperor blushes, and asks him how\\nhe knows this. Lord! says Gourgaud, as if I\\nwere not too close to Your Majesty not to know that\\nsort of thing: your household knew ever3 thing.\\nOn another occasion Napoleon declares that one of\\nhis main grievances against Murat was that King\\nJoachim had sequestrated, in 1814, the Neapolitan\\nestates of Mme. Walewska.\\nHe speaks with candor of his relations with Mile.\\nGeorges and Mme. Grassini, with Mme. Duchatel,\\nMme. Gallieno, and a Alme. Pellaprat. Of another\\nlady, whose name Gourgaud does not record, but\\nwho is sufficiently described to be recognized as\\nMme. Foures, he vSays, She was seventeen, and I\\nwas commander-in-chief! He was supposed when\\nEmperor to disdain female society: he admits the\\nfact and explains it. He declares that he was nat-\\nurally susceptible, and feared to be dominated by\\nwomen. Consequently he had avoided them, but\\nO 209", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0219.jp2"}, "220": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nin this, he confesses, he made a great blunder.\\nWere he again on the throne he should make a\\npoint of spending two hours a day in conversation\\nwith ladies, from whom he should learn much.\\nHe had endeavored during the Hundred Days, in-\\ndeed, to repair the fault of his former indifference.\\nBut whatever he may have been in France, he is\\ndiffuse on this topic at St. Helena. When he finds\\nhimself engaged in a gloomy retrospect, he turns\\nthe conversation by saying, Let us talk about\\nwomen, and then, like a good Frenchman, he dis-\\ncusses the subject with a zest worthy of Henry the\\nFourth. During one dinner, for example, the con-\\nversation turns entirely on the question w^hether fat\\nwomen are more admirable than thin. He discourses\\non his preference for fair women over dark. Time\\nhas to be killed.\\nNaturally, he likes most to talk of his battles of\\nwhich he counts no less than sixty and speaks of\\nthem with simple candor. War, he says, is a\\nstrange art. I have fought sixty battles, and I as-\\nsure you that I have learned nothing from all of\\nthem that I did not know in the first. Look at Caesar\\nhe fights in the first battle as in the last.\\nHe takes full responsibility for the Russian cam-\\npaign. I was master; all blame rests on me\\n(though he cannot bring himself to make the same\\nadmission with regard to Waterloo). When he knew\\nat Dresden that he would not have the support of\\nSweden or Turkey, he should not have proceeded\\nwith the expedition. But even then, had he not re-\\nmained in Moscow, he would have been successful.\\nThat was his great fault. I ought to have only\\nremained there a fortnight. After arriving there I\\n210", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0220.jp2"}, "221": {"fulltext": "CONVERSATIONS OF NAPOLEON\\nshould have crushed what remained of Kutusow s\\narmy, marched on Malo -Jaroslavetz, Toula, and\\nKaluga, proposing to the Russians to retire without\\ndestroying anything.\\nHe constantly repeats that his marriage with\\nMarie Louise was the cause of the war with Russia,\\nfor it made him feel sure of the support of Austria.\\nPrussia, too, was, as usual, he says, pining for ag-\\ngrandizement, and so he reckoned with confidence\\non these two powers, though he had no other allies.\\nBut I was in too great a hurry. I should have re-\\nmained a year on the Niemen and in Prussia, and\\nthen devoured Prussia. It is strange, indeed, to ob-\\nserve how heartily, as if by a foreboding, he hates\\nPrussia. He bitterly regrets that at Tilsit he did\\nnot dispose of the King and proclaim that the house\\nof Hohenzollern had ceased to reign. He is confi-\\ndent that Alexander would not have opposed such a\\ncourse, provided Napoleon did not himself annex the\\nkingdom. A petty Hohenzollern prince on his staff\\nhad, he tells us, asked for the Prussian throne, and\\nNapoleon would have been disposed to give it him\\nhad he been descended from the great Frederick (who,\\nby-the-bye, was childless). But his family was a\\nbranch which had separated three centuries ago\\nfrom the royal stock. And then, says the Emperor,\\nwith less verisimilitude, I was overpersuaded by the\\nKing of Prussia.\\nHe made, he admits, a fatal mistake in not send-\\ning Ferdinand back to Spain after the Russian cam-\\npaign, for that would have restored to him one hun-\\ndred and eighty thousand good soldiers. The Span-\\nish blunder began, he confesses, from his having\\nsaid to himself, on watching the quarrels of the\\n211", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0221.jp2"}, "222": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nSpanish Bourbons: Let us get rid of them, and\\nthere will be no more Bourbons left. He apparently\\ncounted the Sicilian Bourbons for nothing.\\nStill it is to Austria, in his judgment, that he owes\\nhis fall. Without Essling he would have destroyed\\nthe Austrian monarchy, but Essling cost him too\\ndear Austria is, he thinks, the real enemy of France,\\nand he regrets having spared her. At one moment\\nhe had thoughts of causing a revolution there; at\\nanother, of carving her into three kingdoms Aus-\\ntria, Hungary, and Bohemia.\\nWhat, does he think, was his most brilliant vic-\\ntory? Austerlitz? Perhaps, he answers. But he\\nhas a leaning for Borodino; it was superb; it was\\nfought so far from home. At Austerlitz was the\\nbest army, and at Wagram the largest army, that he\\nhad ever commanded in battle. After Austerlitz the\\nquality of his army declined. He recurs with con-\\nstant pride to the strategy of Eckmiihl that superb\\nmanoeuvre, the finest that I ever executed, where,\\nwith fifty thousand men, he defeated a hundred and\\ntwenty thousand. Had he slept the previous night,\\nhe could never have won that victory. As it was, he\\nhad to kick Lannes awake. A commander-in-chief\\nshould never sleep; it is then that he should work.\\nThat is why he used a carriage to avoid unnecessary\\nfatigue in the day-time. Joseph lost the battle of\\nVittoria by his somnolence.\\nA great general, he says, is rarely found. Of all\\nthe generals produced by the Revolution, Desaix\\nand Hoche are the only ones, he thinks, who had the\\nmakings of one. The campaign of Dumouriez in\\nChampagne was extremely fine and bold he was\\nthe only man produced out of the nobility. Kleber,\\n212", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0222.jp2"}, "223": {"fulltext": "CONVERSATIONS OF NAPOLEON\\nsays Napoleon, oddly enough, had the qualities and\\ndefects of a tall man. Turenne is the greatest of\\nFrench generals; he is the only one who became\\nbolder with old age. He does exactly what I should\\nhave done in his place. Had he come to me at\\nWagram, he would at once have understood the\\nposition. So would Conde, but not Caesar or Han-\\nnibal. Had I had a man like Turenne to second me\\nin my campaigns, I should have been master of the\\nworld but I had nobody. When I was absent my\\nlieutenants were always beaten. Conde was\\na general by intuition, Turenne by experience. I\\nthink much more highly of Turenne than of Fred-\\nerick. In the place of that sovereign he would have\\ndone much more, and would not have committed\\nFrederick s mistakes. Frederick, indeed, did not\\nthoroughly understand artillery.\\nI count mj^self for half in the battles I have won,\\nand it is much even to name the general in connection\\nwith a victory, for it is, after all, the army that wins\\nit. And yet he sets great store by officers. A\\nperfect army, he says, on another occasion, would\\nbe that in which each officer knew what to do accord-\\ning to circumstances; the best army is that which\\nis nearest to this.\\nIn his judgment of hostile generals, when in ac-\\ntive life, he had been politic. A trustworthy as-\\nsociate of his in those days records that Napoleon\\noften said that Alvinzy was the best general that\\nhe had ever had opposed to him in Italy, and for that\\nreason he had never mentioned Alvinzy in his bul-\\nletins, whereas he constantly commended Beaulieu,\\nWiirmser, or the Archduke Charles, whom he did\\nnot fear. It seems probable that he afterwards en-\\n213", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0223.jp2"}, "224": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\ntertained a higher opinion of the archduke. He\\ndechned, as we have seen, to confide his opinion\\nof Welhngton to Warden, and at St. Helena he could\\nnot be fair to the duke. But, when on the throne,\\nhe had coupled Wellington s name with his own in a\\nstrange connection. It was because Wellington had\\ndevastated the country in his retreat on Lisbon.\\nOnly Wellington and I are capable of executing\\nsuch measures. And he adds, with perversity, that\\nhe regards the ravaging of the Palatinate as the\\ngreatest act of Louvois.\\nHe regretted Elba. This day year I was at El-\\nba/ he says, gloomily. Had the stipulated income\\nbeen paid, he would have kept open house for the\\nlearned men of Europe, for whom he would have\\nformed a centre. He would have built a palace\\nfor them, and led a country-house life surrounded\\nby men of mark. He would, too, have enriched the\\nisland by throwing open its little ports. Lucien,\\nwho seems not to have thoroughly understood his\\nbrother, wished to have the minerals of the island\\nfor nothing.\\nBut Bertrand confided to Gourgaud that St. He-\\nlena was better than Elba; that, at any rate, they\\nwere more unhappy at Elba. It was terrible to leave\\nthe most splendid throne in the world for a tiny island\\nwhere one was not even sure of a good reception;\\nand for four months they were deeply depressed.\\nHere the greatness of the fall was less sensible they\\nhad become accustomed to it. Napoleon on this\\npoint declared conflicting opinions. Sometimes he\\nregrets Elba: often he abuses St. Helena, but on\\none occasion he launches into praise of it, at any\\nrate as a residence for his suite. We are very happy\\n214", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0224.jp2"}, "225": {"fulltext": "CONVERSATIONS OF NAPOLEON\\nhere we can ride, we have a good table, we can go\\naway whenever we hke, we are well received every-\\nwhere, and covered with glory, records the unhappy\\nGourgaud, at whom this discourse was aimed.\\nIn speaking of Elba, the Emperor gives one cu-\\nrious detail. When he left Fontainebleau, in 1814,\\nhe had little hope of returning. The first hope that\\nhe conceived arose from his perceiving that no of-\\nficers wives were invited to the banquets at the\\nHotel de Ville.\\nOne of his favorite topics, in treating which he re-\\nveals the practical character of his mind, is that of\\nprivate budgets. He is always discussing them. At\\none time it s the budget of a man of two hundred\\nthousand francs a year. The imaginary person is\\nFrench, of course; for a Dutchman, he declares, in\\na tone of approbation, would with such an income\\nonly spend thirty thousand francs a year. Another\\ntime he reckons up the expenditure of a man with\\nfive hundred thousand francs a year. This is the\\nfortune he would himself prefer to live in the country\\nwith five hundred thousand or six hundred thousand\\nfrancs a year, and with a little house in Paris like\\nthe one that he had in the Rue Chantereine. But\\nhe could live very comfortably on twelve francs a day.\\nHe would dine for thirty sous; he would frequent\\nreading-rooms and libraries, and go to the play in the\\npit. His room would cost him a louis a month. But\\nsuddenly he remembers that he must have a servant,\\nfor he can no longer dress himself, and so he raises\\nhis figure and says that one could be very happy\\nwith twenty francs a day it is only a question of\\nlimiting one s wants. He would amuse himself\\ngreatly, living only with people of a similar fortune.\\n215", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0225.jp2"}, "226": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nThe most comical result of this habit, or game of cal-\\nculation, appears when he re-reads Clarissa Harlowe.\\nHe cannot wade through it, though he devoured it at\\neighteen, and so forth. But what really perplexes\\nhim is the personal expenditure of Lovelace. He\\nhas only two thousand a year I made out his budget\\nat once.\\nIn the same practical spirit of detail, when waiting\\nfor a moment in Montholon s sitting-room, he hastily\\nvalues the furniture piece by piece, and appraises it\\nat thirty napoleons at most.", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0226.jp2"}, "227": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER XIV\\nTHE SUPREME REGRETS\\nHe seems to concentrate the main regrets of his\\nsoHtude on three capital points that he could not\\nhave died at some supreme moment of his career;\\nthat he left Egypt and gave up his Eastern ambi-\\ntions; and, of course, Waterloo. As to the first, he\\ndiscusses the right moment with his suite. For\\nthe sake of history, I should have died at Moscow,\\nDresden, or Waterloo. Again I should have died\\nafter my entry into Moscow or I should have died\\nat La Moskowa. Gourgaud thinks either Moscow\\nor Waterloo, and only leans to the latter date as in-\\ncluding the return from Elba. Las Cases protests\\nagainst Moscow, as omitting so much.\\nOn another occasion Napoleon again leans to Mos-\\ncow. Had a cannon-ball from the Kremlin killed\\nhim, his greatness would have endured, because his\\ninstitutions and his dynasty would, he declares, have\\nsurvived in France. As it is, he will be almost noth-\\ning to posterity, unless his son should come to mount\\nthe throne. Had I died at Moscow, he says on\\nanother occasion, I should have left behind me a\\nreputation as a conqueror without a parallel in his-\\ntory. A ball ought to have put an end to me there.\\nAgain: To die at Borodino would have been to\\ndie like Alexander; to be killed at Waterloo woulcj\\n^17", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0227.jp2"}, "228": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nhave been a good death; perhaps Dresden would\\nhave been better but, no, better at Waterloo. The\\nlove of the people, their regret.\\nThe greatest moment in his life, he thinks, was his\\nstay at Dresden in 1812, when every sovereign in\\nEurope, except the Sultan, the Russian Emperor, and\\nthe King of Great Britain, was at his feet. What was\\nhis happiest? To O Meara he says the march from\\nCannes to Paris. But on another occasion he asks\\nhis suite to guess. Gourgaud guesses the occasion\\nof his (second) marriage. Mme. Montholon thinks\\nhis nomination as First Consul. Bertrand, the birth\\nof the King of Rome. Napoleon answers: Yes,\\nI was happy as First Consul, at the marriage, at\\nthe birth of the King of Rome, mais alors je n etais\\npas assez d aplomb. Perhaps it was at Tilsit: I\\nhad gone through vicissitudes and anxieties, at\\nEylau among others, and I had come out victorious,\\nwith emperors and kings paying court to me. Per-\\nhaps I was happiest after my victories in Italy what\\nenthusiasm, what cries of Long live the Liberator\\nof Italy and all at twenty-five. From that time I\\nsaw what I might become. I already saw the world\\nbeneath me, as if I were being carried through the\\nair.\\nThen he is sorry that he ever left Egypt. He re-\\ngrets the career that Asia offered to him; he would\\nrather have been Emperor of the East than Emperor\\nof the West, for in the former case he would have\\nbeen still on the throne. His later dreams, as well\\nas his earlier, turn to the Orient. At the first glimpse\\nof St. Helena from the ship he says, criticising the\\naspect of the place, that he should have done better\\nto remain in Egypt, for he would now be Emperor of\\n218", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0228.jp2"}, "229": {"fulltext": "THE SUPREME REGRETS\\nthe entire East. That empire, he declares, would\\nhave suited him; for the desert had always had a\\nparticular attraction for him, and his own name Na-\\npoleon means, he saj^s, lion of the desert. Ara-\\nbia awaits a man. With the French in reserve, and\\nthe Arabs as auxiliaries, I should have seized Judea\\nI should have been master of the East. Had I\\ntaken Acre, I should have gone to India. I should\\nhave assumed the turban at Aleppo, and have headed\\nan army of two hundred thousand men. The East,\\nhe goes on repeating, only awaits a man. Had\\nI, he says another time, been able to make allies\\nof the Mamelukes, I should have been master of the\\nEast. Arabia awaits a man.\\nIt was not, however, because of Arabia or Judea\\nthat Napoleon regretted Eg3^pt. He reveals his se-\\ncret aim in a laconic sentence. France, mistress of\\nEgypt, would be mistress of India. And again:\\nThe master of Egypt is the master of India. And\\nagain: Egypt once in possession of the French,\\nfarewell India to the British. This was one of the\\ngrand projects I aimed at. He would have con-\\nstructed two canals one from the Red Sea to the\\nNile at Cairo, the other from the Red Sea to the Med-\\niterranean. He would have extended the dominion\\nof Egypt to the south, and would have enlisted the\\nblacks of Sennaar and Darfur. With sixty or seven-\\nty thousand of these, and thirty thousand picked\\nFrenchmen, he would have marched in three col-\\numns on the Euphrates, and, after making a long\\nhalt there, would have proceeded to conquer India.\\nOn arriving in India, he would have allied himself\\nwith the Mahrattas, and had hopes, apparently, of\\nseducing the sepoy troops. The British, he declares,\\n219", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0229.jp2"}, "230": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nwere much afraid of this scheme of his. Gorgotto,\\nI have been reading three volumes on India. What\\nrascals the English are! If I had been able to get\\nto India from Egypt with the nucleus of an army, I\\nshould have driven them from India. The East only\\nwants a man. The master of Egypt is the master of I\\nIndia. But now we shall see what will come to them i\\nfrom Russia. The Russians, already in Persia, have I\\nnot far to go to reach India. And then he repeats\\nhis constant preoccupation. Russia is the power f\\nthat marches the most surely, and with the greatest\\nstrides, towards universal dominion, for now\\nthere is no France and, therefore, no equilibrium.\\nHe had been, in effect. Emperor of the West, and\\nMontholon tells Gourgaud that, from his instructions\\nas ambassador, he inferred that Napoleon meant to i\\nbe crowned by that title. The Confederation of the\\nRhine was being influenced in this direction, and at j\\nErfurt, it is said, the matter would have been settled,\\nhad not Alexander demanded Constantinople as a i\\ncounterbalance. At St. Helena, however, his re- j\\ngrets are not for that position, but for the empire of\\nthe East. And the reason is twofold: as ruler of i\\nthe East he would have struck a great blow at the\\nBritish, and would have emulated Alexander the\\nGreat. For here let us note that his real hero and i\\nmodel is Alexander. It is not merely his campaigns j\\nthat Napoleon admires, for these one cannot, he says,\\nwell conceive, but his statesmanship. In his thirty-\\nfourth year he leaves an immense and well-estab-\\nlished empire. He had, too, the art of making friends j\\nof the peoples that he conquered. It was a great act i\\nof policy to go to the temple of Ammon, for it was\\nthus that he conquered Egypt. So I, had I re-\\n220", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0230.jp2"}, "231": {"fulltext": "THE SUPREME REGRETS\\nmained in Egypt, should probably have founded an\\nempire like Alexander, by going on a pilgrimage to\\nMecca. Even as he leaves France in the Bellero-\\nphon he says to Captain Maitland Had it not been\\nfor you English I should have been Emperor of the\\nEast; but wherever there is water to float a ship, w^e\\nare sure to find you in our way.\\nNor did his admiration for Alexander the Great,\\nhis passion for the East, his aims on India, ever for-\\nsake him, until he had lost his empire on the plains\\nof Russia and Germany. Not long before he passed\\nthe Niemen, in the midst of a conversation with Nar-\\nbonne, he broke off, with a sudden flash in his eyes\\nAfter all, he exclaimed, as if under the inspiration\\nof a vision, this long journey is the way to India.\\nAlexander had to make as long a march as that\\nfrom Moscow to India in order to gain the Ganges.\\nI have always said so to myself since the siege of\\nAcre. Without the English filibuster and the French\\nemigrant who directed the Turkish artillery, and\\nwho, with the plague, made me raise the siege, I\\nwould have conquered half Asia, and come back\\nupon Europe to seek the thrones of France and Italy.\\nI must now do just the reverse, and from the extrem-\\nity of Europe invade Asia in order to attack Eng-\\nland. You are aware of the missions of Gardanne\\nand Jaubert to Persia; there has been no outward\\nresult but I have all the maps and statistics of pop-\\nulation for a march from Erivan and Tiflis to India.\\nThat would be a campaign less formidable, perhaps,\\nthan that which awaits us in the next three months.\\nSuppose Moscow taken, Russia crushed, the\\nCzar reconciled or assassinated in some palace plot,\\nsucceeded, perhaps, by a new and dependent dynasty.\\n221", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0231.jp2"}, "232": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nWould it not then be possible for a great French army,\\nwith auxiliaries from Tiflis, to attain the Ganges?\\nOnce touched by a French sword, the scaffolding of\\nmercantile power in India would fall to the ground.\\nIt would be a gigantic expedition, I admit, but prac-\\nticable in this nineteenth century. Who will main-\\ntain, who reads this, that absolute powder had not had\\nits usual effect, and that Napoleon had preserved,\\nin 1812, the balance and sanity of his judgment?\\nThe third great subject of regret is, of course, Wa-\\nterloo, over which we sometimes seem to hear him\\ngnash his teeth. Ah! if it were to begin again!\\nhe exclaims. He cannot understand how he lost it.\\nPerhaps the rain of the 17th? Had he had Suchet\\nat the head of Grouchy s army, had he had Andre- f\\nossi in Soult s place, could Bessieres or Lannes have\\ncommanded the Guard, had he given the command\\nof the Guard to Lobau, had Murat headed the caval- f\\nry, had Clausel or Lamarque been at the War Office,\\nall might have been different. Should he have waited\\na fortnight longer? He would then have had the\\ntwelve thousand men employed in La Vendee. But ,1\\nwho could tell that La Vendee would be so soon paci- t\\nfied? Should he have attacked at all? Should he\\nnot have concentrated all his troops under Paris, and j\\nawaited events? Perhaps then the allies would not j\\nhave attacked him. It is noteworthy, he says, that\\nall their proclamations are dated after Waterloo. He j\\nshould not, he thinks, have employed Ney or Van- j\\ndamme. More than once he says he lost it because\\nof the fault of an officer who gave Guyot the order to\\ncharge with the Horse Grenadiers, for had they been\\nkept in reserve they would have retrieved the day but\\nMontholon declares that there is no doubt that the Em-\\n222", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0232.jp2"}, "233": {"fulltext": "THE SUPREME REGRETS\\nperor gave the order himself. He had not been able\\nto see the battle well. But the men of 1815 were not\\nthe men of 1792; the generals had become timid.\\nHe is too apt, indeed, to blame his generals, such as\\nNey and Vandamme. Gourgaud begs him to be\\nmore lenient; he replies, One must speak the truth.\\nHe goes so far as to declare that the whole glory of\\nthe victory belongs to the Prince of Orange. Without\\nhim the British army would have been annihilated,\\nand Blucher hurled back beyond the Rhine. This is\\na good instance of his occasional petulance. He ex-\\nhausts himself in reasons for his defeat, but begins\\nat last to perceive that some part of the result may\\nhave been due to the character of the enemy. The\\nEnglish won by the excellence of their discipline,\\nhe admits; then wanders on to other reasons. But\\nthis may be taken to be his summing up It was a\\nfatality, for, in spite of all, I should have won that\\nbattle. Poor France, to be beaten by those\\nscoundrels But tis true there had already been\\nCressy and Agincourt. A thought w^hich, as we\\nhave seen, had long been present to his mind.\\nThen, what should he have done after Waterloo?\\nThere is only one point on which he is always clear\\nand constant that he should have had Fouche\\nhanged or shot at once. He had the military com-\\nmission all ready to try him; it was that which had\\ntried the Due d Enghien, men who ran the danger of\\nbeing hanged themselves. But beyond that it is all\\ndarkness. Sometimes he thinks he should have shot\\nSoult, but when, or why, does not clearly appear. He\\nw^ould, he says at other times, have beheaded Lafay-\\nette, Lajuinais, and a dozen, sometimes even a hun-\\ndred, others. Gourgaud and he often discuss this\\n223", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0233.jp2"}, "234": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\ninteresting point. On one occasion Napoleon alludes\\nto the plan of convoking at the Tuileries the council\\nof state, the six thousand men of the Imperial\\nGuard in Paris, the faithful part of the National\\nGuard, and the federes, haranguing them, and\\nmarching on the Chambers, which he would have\\nadjourned or dissolved. He thinks he could thus\\nhave gained a respite of a fortnight, in which he\\nwould have fortified the right bank of the Seine and\\ncollected one hundred thousand men. Gourgaud\\ngloomily replies that in the state of public opinion\\nthis would not have been practicable, and hints\\nat a Decius, who with a pistol shot would have\\nkilled the Emperor. Las Cases also felt that this\\ncourse would have been futile, and have damned\\nthe Emperor in history. Gourgaud s own plan was\\ndifferent. He thinks that the Emperor should have\\ngone straight from Waterloo to the Chambers, ex-\\nhorted them to union, and made them feel that all de-\\npended on it. In reply. Napoleon thinks aloud. He\\nhad been three days without eating, and he was worn\\nout. Had he gone to the Chambers, it would have\\nbeen no use simply to harangue he must have gone\\nlike a Cromwell, and thrown a certain number of\\ndeputies into the river. By this he means, as he ex-\\nplains more in detail, that he would have demanded\\nthe purification of the Chamber, and have hanged\\nseven or eight deputies, with Fouche, of course, at\\ntheir head. But to do this he must have thrown him-\\nself into the arms of the Jacobins it would have been\\nanarchy. Putting that on one side, he doubted of\\nsuccess; he would have disappeared in bloodshed\\nand abhorrence. Another time he says, frankly, he\\nhad not the courage to do it. Could one at such a\\n224", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0234.jp2"}, "235": {"fulltext": "THE SUPREME REGRETS\\nmoment revolutionize the populace and raise the guil-\\nlotine? In 1793 it was the only way, but not then.\\nAnd, indeed, he would not have succeeded, for he had\\ntoo many enemies it would have been a horrible risk,\\nmuch blood, and little result. He preferred, there-\\nfore, to abdicate in favor of his son, and make it clear\\nto the nation that the allies were the enemies, not of\\nhimself alone, but of France. So he said to the\\nChambers: Well, gentlemen, you think me an ob-\\nstacle to peace? Very well, then, get out of the\\nscrape without me.\\nGougaud is not satisfied; he presses the Emperor,\\nand says that his mere presence would have electri-\\nfied the deputies, and so forth.\\nNapoleon replies, with a sepulchral truth, Ah\\ntnon cher, j etais battu. As long as I was feared,\\nhe continues, great was the awe I inspired; but not\\nhaving the rights of legitimate sovereignty, when I\\nhad to ask for help, when, in short, I was defeated,\\nI had nothing to hope. No. I only reproach myself\\nfor not having put an end to Fouche, and he but\\njust escaped. Then he returns again. Yes, I\\nought to have gone to the Chambers, but I was tired\\nout, and I could not anticipate that they would turn\\nagainst me so quickly, for I arrived at eight o clock,\\nand at noon they were in insurrection they took me\\nby surprise. He passes his hand over his face, and\\ncontinues in a hollow voice After all, I am only a\\nman. But I ought to have put myself at the head of\\nthe army, which was in favor of my son, and, what-\\never happened, it would have been better than St.\\nHelena.\\nThen again, the allies would have declared that\\nthey were only warring against me, and the army\\nP 225", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0235.jp2"}, "236": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nwould have come to believe it. History will perhaps\\nreproach me for having succumbed too easily. There\\nwas a little pique on my part. I offered at Malmaison\\nto place myself once more at the head of the army,\\nbut the government would not have it, so I left them\\nto themselves.\\nThe fact is that I came back too soon from Elba,\\nbut I thought the Congress was dissolved. No doubt\\nI ought to have declared myself dictator, or have\\nformed a council of dictatorship under Carnot, and\\nnot to have called the Chambers together but I hoped\\nthat the allies would feel confidence in me when they\\nheard of my convoking a parliament; and that the\\nChambers would give me resources that, as dictator,\\nI could not obtain. But they did nothing for me;\\nthey were injurious before Waterloo, and abandoned\\nme after it. In any case, it was a mistake to trouble\\nmyself about a constitution, as, had I been victorious,\\nI should soon have sent the Chambers to the right-\\nabout. I was wrong, too, to quarrel with Talley-\\nrand. But this sort of talk puts me out of temper.\\nLet us go into the drawing-room and talk of our early\\nloves.", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0236.jp2"}, "237": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER XV\\nNAPOLEON AND THE DEMOCRACY\\nOne point is clear in all these discussions on Water-\\nloo and its sequel so clear, and yet so unnoticed, that\\nit seems worth a short digression. Whatever Na-\\npoleon may occasionally say in retrospect, with\\nregard to placing himself at the head of a popular\\nand revolutionary movement after Waterloo, we are\\nconvinced that he was only deluding himself, or toy-\\ning with his audience. The recollections of my\\nyouth deterred me, he said with truth at St. Helena.\\nHe had seen too much of the Revolution to face\\nany such contingency. He had been the friend of\\nRobespierre, or rather of Robespierre s brother, but\\nafter having reigned over France as a sovereign he\\nentertained, it is clear, the profoundest repugnance\\nto anything resembling revolution, or even disorder.\\nNo eye-witness of the Terror was affected by a more\\nprofound reaction than Napoleon. It had left him\\nwith a horror for excess, and a passion for order.\\nHe could have uttered with absolute truth the proud\\nwords which his dynastic successor uttered with\\nmore imperfect fulfilment: Pour I ordre, j en re-\\nponds.\\nThis was no secret to his intimates. He feared\\nthe people, said Chaptal the least discontent or dis-\\nturbance, the slightest rising affected him more than\\n227", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0237.jp2"}, "238": {"fulltext": "NAI^OLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nthe loss of a battle. He was perpetually vigilant on\\nthis point. He would send for his ministers and\\nsay that there was not enough work, that the artisans\\nwould lend an ear to agitators, and that he feared an\\ninsurrection from loss of bread more than a battle\\nagainst two hundred thousand men. He would then\\norder stuffs and furniture, and he would advance\\nmoney to the principal manufacturers. One of these\\ncrises cost him in this way more than two millions\\nsterling. When I hear people, writes Mme. de Re-\\nmusat, saying how easy it is to govern by force, I\\nthink of the Emperor of how he used to harp on the\\ndifficulties arising from the use of force against citi-\\nzens of how, when his ministers advised any strong\\nmeasure, he would ask, Will you guarantee that the\\npeople will not rise against it? He would take pleas-\\nure in talking of the emotions of battle, but would\\nturn pale at the narration of the excesses of a re-\\nvolted people. The Revolution had, indeed, set her\\nseal on him; he had never forgotten it. He repre-\\nsented and embodied it, but was always silently con-\\ntending against it. And he knew it to be a hopeless\\nbattle. I, and I alone, stand betw^een society and\\nthe Revolution, he would say; I can govern as I\\nlike. But my son will have to be a Liberal. And\\nhe was right, for in the ten months during which he\\nwas absent at Elba the Revolution reared its head\\nonce more. It was always present to him, not as\\nhis source or inspiration, but as a nameless terror to\\nbe averted at any cost. He was, indeed, the child\\nof the Revolution, but a child whose one object was\\nparricide.\\nHe dreaded the idea of firing upon the people he\\npreserved a life-long regret for his action in the Yen-\\n22S", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0238.jp2"}, "239": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON AND THE DEMOCRACY\\ndemiaire outbreak, which he feared the people would\\nnever forget he was prepared, as we have seen, at\\nalmost any cost to avert and buy off the material\\ndiscontent of the people. But his hatred of the Rev-\\nolution and its methods went far beyond such dem-\\nonstrations as these, considerable though they be.\\nFor he would not touch the Revolution, even to save\\nhis crown or himself. Hostility to the Revolution\\ncould not go beyond this. He had seen, and seen with\\nbitter outspoken contempt, Louis XVL bow to the\\nmultitude from the balcony of the Tuileries with the\\ncap of liberty on his head. Not to preserve his lib-\\nerty or his dynasty would Napoleon for a moment\\nassume that cap.\\nAfter Waterloo the multitude {canaille, as Na-\\npoleon generally called them at St. Helena) thronged\\nround his palace and begged him to lead them; for\\nthey considered him the only barrier against feudal-\\nism, against the resumption of the confiscated prop-\\nerty, and against foreign domination. What do\\nthese people owe me? Napoleon, as he hears them,\\nbreaks out with sudden candor. I found them poor\\nI leave them poor. Montholon preserves for us\\none of these scenes. Two regiments and a vast mul-\\ntitude from the Faubourg St. Antoine come to de-\\nmand that he shall lead them against the enemy.\\nOne of their spokesmen alludes to the Eighteenth of\\nBrumaire. Napoleon replies that circumstances are\\nchanged, that what was then the summary expres-\\nsion of the unanimous wish of the people would now\\nrequire an ocean of French blood, and that he would\\nshed none on behalf of a personal cause. And when\\nthe multitude is dispersed he explains himself more\\nfully to Montholon. Were I, he said, to put into\\n229", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0239.jp2"}, "240": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\naction the brute force of the masses, I should no\\ndoubt save Paris, and assure the crown to myself\\nwithout having recourse to the horrors of civil war,\\nbut I should also risk a deluge of French blood.\\nWhat power would be sufficient to dominate the\\npassions, the hatred, the vengeance, that would be\\naroused? No! I cannot forget that I was brought\\nfrom Cannes to Paris amid sanguinar3^ cries of Down\\nwith the priests Down wath the nobles I prefer\\nthe regrets of France to her crown. During that\\nfamous march the passion of the people, stirred by\\nthe brief government of the Bourbons, had made the\\ndeepest impression on him. Had he consented to\\nassociate himself with their fury at the suspected\\nattempt to resume the land and privileges which were\\nlost in the Revolution, he could, he was convinced,\\nhave arrived in Paris at the head of two millions of\\npeasants. But he would not be the king of the mob\\nhis whole being, he declared, revolted at the thought.\\nOnce, indeed, at Longwood he abandoned himself\\nfor a moment to a different dream. Were I to re-\\nturn, he said, I should found my empire on the\\nJacobins. Jacobinism is the volcano which threat-\\nens all social order. Its eruption w^ould be easily\\nproduced in Prussia, and by the overthrow of the throne\\nof Berlin I should have given an immense impetus\\nto the power of France. Prussia has always been since\\nthe time of Frederick, and will always be, the greatest\\nobstacle to my projects for France. Once the red cap\\nof liberty supreme at Berlin, all the power of Prussia\\nwould be at my disposal. I would use it as a club to\\nsmash Russia and Austria. I should resume the\\nnatural frontier of France, the Alps and the Rhine\\nand, having effected that, I should set about the\\n230", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0240.jp2"}, "241": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON AND THE DEMOCRACY\\ngreat work of founding the French empire. By my\\narms and by the force of Jacobinism, by avaihng my-\\nself of every favorable circumstance and conjuncture\\nof events, I should convert Europe into a federation\\nof small sovereigns, over which the French Emperor\\nshould be paramount. I should fix its limits at the\\nNiemen Alexander should only be the Czar of\\nAsiatic Russia. Austria would be only one of three\\nkingdoms Hungary and Bohemia being the other\\ntwo into which I should divide the empire of Maria\\nTheresa. Then Europe would be protected from Rus-\\nsia, and Great Britain would become a second-rate\\npower. Only thus can peace be secured for Europe.\\nMontholon records this strange rhapsody, and de-\\nclares that it was spoken on March lo, 1819, two\\nyears before the Emperor s death. It is very unlike\\nhis other estimates of Prussia, or his real views as\\nto Jacobinism. We may take it to be a sort of medi-\\ntation as to the possibilities of an alternative policy.\\nPossibly, indeed, he may have come to the convic-\\ntion, after the experience of the Hundred Days, that\\nwere he ever again to find himself in France, there\\nwas no other way of maintaining himself. He had,\\nhowever, made an allusion of the same kind to Met-\\nternich in their famous interview at Dresden. It\\nmay be that I shall succumb, but if so, I shall drag\\ndown with me all other crowns and the whole struc-\\nture of society itself. I\\nAnd Talleyrand, with his cold instinct of judg-\\nment, had seen at the very outset of the Hundred\\nDays that the one chance for Nap/oleon was to nation-\\nalize the war. His army would not suffice him;\\nhe must rely on the party from which he sprang, on\\nthe ruins of which he had raised himself, and which\\n231", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0241.jp2"}, "242": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nhe had so long oppressed. Nor was Alexander in-\\nsensible to the danger. He pointed out to Lord\\nClancarty that it was necessary to detach the Jacobins\\nfrom Napoleon, though that would not seem to have\\nbeen an easy task for a Russian Emperor. Still it is\\nwell to note that the clearest and best-informed\\namong the assembled princes at Vienna realized\\nthat the one chance for Napoleon was to become\\nagain what he had been at the outset of his career\\nthe Revolution incarnate.\\nLavaliette tells us the truth in one pregnant sen-\\ntence the eleven months of the reign of Louis XVIIL\\nhad thrown France back into 1 792. Even during that\\nshort period discontent had crystallized into conspi-\\nracies. But their object was to place Louis Philippe\\nas a constitutional monarch on the throne, not to\\nbring back the banished despot. On his return the\\nEtnperor was alarmed. He found that the face of\\nParis was changed respect and regard for him had\\nvisibly waned. Had he realized at Elba, he said, the\\nchange which had taken place in France, he would\\nhave remained on his island. He would send for\\nLavaliette sometimes two or three times a day\\nand would discuss the new situation for hours. Even\\nhad he returned victorious, he would, saj^s Laval-\\niette, have had to face great danger from internal\\ntroubles. Indeed, it was soon evident that what the\\ncountry desired was less the return of the Emperor\\nthan the departure of the Bourbons. When these\\nhad gone, enthusiasm promptly cooled. Napoleon,\\nwith characteristic perception, had seen this at once.\\nTo a minister who congratulated him on the miracle\\nby which he, almost alone, had reconquered France,\\nhe replied, Bah! the time for compliments is past;\\n232", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0242.jp2"}, "243": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON AND THE DEMOCRACY\\nthey let me come as they let the others go, One\\ninstance will perhaps suffice. Napoleon had re-\\nsumed his former title of Emperor by the Grace of\\nGod and the Constitutions of the Empire. This was\\ndistasteful to the new spirit, and the council of state\\nreplied by proclaiming the sovereignty of the people,\\na decree not less distasteful to the Emperor, but which\\nhe could not resent. He had to put up with slights,\\nand a peremptory insolence from his Chambers.\\nNevertheless, he faced this new situation with im-\\nperturbable calm. He felt, no doubt, that in case\\nof victory he could easily put things right. But in\\ncase of defeat? There he saw the new spirit would\\noverwhelm him, unless he could summon a mightier\\npower still to outbid it, and proclaim a new revolu-\\ntion. Why, then, did he not accept the last alter-\\nnative? Why did he not put himself at the head\\nof an uprising of revolutionary France? Once, no\\ndoubt, in earlier days, the personal leadership of a\\nrevolution would have been a dazzling object of de-\\nsire. The First Consul would not have hesitated.\\nBut the Emperor saw clearly, we think, that there\\nwould in that case have been no question of a dy-\\nnasty, that the dictatorsliip would have been a per-\\nsonal one, that he would have been Sylla or Marius,\\nnot Augustus or Charlemagne. It will be observed\\nthat, in his remark to Montholon, cited above, he\\nsays, I should secure the crown to myself there\\nis no mention of, or illusion as to, a succession. Such\\na position seemed degrading after that which he had\\nfilled: and, as we have seen, everything connected\\nwith revolution was odious to him. It was, conse-\\nquently, impossible for him to become the prophet\\nor general of a new Revolution after Waterloo. Had\\n233", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0243.jp2"}, "244": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nhe known what awaited him St. Helena, its sordid\\nmiseries, its petty jailers, its wearisome and hopeless\\nyears of living death he might possibly have over-\\ncome his repugnance. But all this he could not fore-\\nsee; and no less would have moved him; so he pre-\\nferred to fold his arms and watch the inevitable ca-\\ntastrophe of the rhetoricians; to fold his arms and\\nawait events. Better, he thought, the life of an Amer-\\nican farmer than the presidency of a committee of\\npublic safety.\\nBetween Napoleon and the Chambers there reigned\\nfrom the first a scarcely disguised hostility. Ap-\\npearances were to some limited extent maintained.\\nBut both parties were playing a part, with little, if\\nany, disguise; and neither was the dupe of the\\nother. The Chambers were willing to use Napoleon\\nas a consummate general to resist invasion and the\\nreturn of the Bourbons, hoping to be able to subor-\\ndinate or get rid of him when the victory was won.\\nAs soon as he is gone to the army, said Fouche,\\nwe shall be masters of the situation. I wish him\\nto gain one or two battles. But he will lose the third,\\nand then it will be our turn. This was the com-\\nplacent calculation of the Chambers. But they were\\nin the position of the mortal in the fairy tale who\\nsummons a genie which he cannot control. Napo-\\nleon, on the other hand, submitted to the Chambers,\\nas a pledge to the world of his reformed character,\\nand with the hope of obtaining supplies through\\nthem, but with the fixed intention of getting rid of\\nthem, if he should be victorious. After Ligny he\\nstated categorically his intention of returning to\\nParis and resuming absolute power when he had\\ndefeated the English. Each party was perfectly\\n234", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0244.jp2"}, "245": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON AND THE DEMOCRACY\\naware of the policy of the other. There were no\\ndoubts and no illusions. It seems certain that the\\ntemper of the Parliament was such that manj^ of its\\nmembers hoped that their arms might be defeated,\\nand were able to rejoice over Waterloo. And it was\\nNapoleon s consciousness of the hostility of the Cham-\\nbers that compelled his return to Paris after the dis-\\naster. He has been blamed for not remaining on\\nthe frontier and endeavoring to rally his shattered\\ntroops. But of what avail would this have been if\\nbehind him his own Parliament were deposing and\\ndisavowing him? Yet no one can doubt that these\\nwoidd have been the first acts of the Chambers\\non hearing of his defeat. Outlawed by all Europe,\\nand by his own country, he could hardly have con-\\ntinued to struggle, even with much greater military\\nforces than any that he could have collected.\\nThis digression leads inevitably to another. The\\nrelations of the Emperor and his Parliament are clear\\nand patent. What is more difficult to understand is\\nthat, in spite of this last sombre struggle between\\nconstitutionalism and Napoleon, his name should\\nhave been cherished as a watchword for some thirty\\n3^ears by the Liberals of the Continent. For with l^\\nliberty and its aspirations he had no sympathy;\\nhe relegated them to those whom he contemptuous-\\nly termed idealogues. Order, justice, force, sj^mme-\\ntry, these were his administrative ideals, tempered\\nalways by the personal equation. The legend of\\nhis liberalism can only be explained by the fact\\nthat, the constitution-mongers of 1815 having dis-\\nappeared on the return of the Bourbons in a storm\\nof contempt, this episode of the Hundred Days was\\nforgotten. All that was remembered was the fact\\n235", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0245.jp2"}, "246": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nthat Napoleon was the child of the Revolution, who\\nhad humbled and mutilated the old djmasties of\\nEurope without regard to antiquitj^ or jjrescription,\\nor title. To the people he stood for the Revolution,\\nand to the armj^ for glor^^ No one remembered, or\\nat any rate cared to recall, that he had knowingly\\nceded his throne and 3 ielded himself a prisoner rather\\nthan place himself at the head of a popular insurrec-\\ntion.\\nBut had it been remembered, it would have been\\nheld to be expiated b}- the mart3Tdom of St. Helena.\\nNapoleon was quite aware of the advantage that his\\nmemory and cause would derive from his imprison-\\nment. His death in lonely captivit3^ cancelled all\\nhis errors and all his shortcomings. His memorj^\\npurged of all recollection of his iron rule, of his insa-\\ntiable demands on the blood and resources of France,\\nof the two invasions of her territor}^ which he had\\nbrought about, became a tradition and a miracle.\\nThe peasantry of France had always been, next to\\nthe arm} his main support, for ihey had considered\\nhim their sure bulwark against an} return of feudal\\nrights or feudal lords, against any restitution of the\\nestates confiscated during the Revolution. The peas-\\nantr} then were the jealous guardians of his fame.\\nAmong them long lingered the tradition of his super-\\nnatural achievements. Beranger, it has been re-\\nmarked, was able to condense the popular conception\\nin the narrative of an old peasant woman who does\\nnot mention a single one of his victories.\\nLong, long, sa3 s the poet in that exquisite piece,\\nwill the3^ talk of his glor3^ under the thatched roof;\\nin fifty years the humble dwelling will know no other\\nhistor3\\\\ And he goes on to give the key-note in a\\n23^", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0246.jp2"}, "247": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON AND THE DEMOCRACY\\ncouplet. Children, through this village I saw him\\nride, followed by kings.\\nIt is too much to say, perhaps, that Napoleon re-\\nceived the honors of apotheosis, but short of that\\npoint it is difficult to exaggerate. He received, at\\nany rate, the most singular and sublime honor that\\nhas ever been awarded to humanity. For he was\\nknown in France not as General, or Consul, or Em-\\nperor, or even by his name, but simply as The\\nMan {V Homme). His son was the Son of the\\nMan he himself was always The Man. He was,\\nin fact, the Man of the popular imagination, and it\\nwas thus that Liberals swore by him. His intense\\nindividuality, even more than his horror of anarchy,\\nhad made him an absolute ruler. But as the product\\nof the Revolution, as the humbler of kings, a glamour\\nof liberty grew round his name. He had gratified\\nthe passion for equality by founding the fourth dy-\\nnasty, though sprung from nothing he had kept out\\nthe Bourbons he had, above all, crushed and abased\\nthe chiefs of that Holy Alliance which weighed so\\nheavily on Europe, which endeavored to tread out\\nthe last embers of the French Revolution, and which\\nrepresented an embodied hostility to freedom. So\\nregarded, it is not wonderful that the image of\\nNapoleon became the idol of Continental Liberalism.\\nLater on, again, it was stamped on a more definite\\nplan. Authoritative democracy, or, in other words,\\ndemocratic dictatorship, the idea which produced the\\nSecond Empire in France, which is still alive there,\\nand which, in various forms, has found favor else-\\nwhere, is the political legacy, perhaps the final mes-\\nsage, of Napoleon.\\n237", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0247.jp2"}, "248": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER XVI\\nTHE END\\nIt is unnecessary to dwell further on these last\\nscenes or glimpses of the great drama of Napoleon s\\nlife. It is strange, however, to note that, in spite of\\nthe atmosphere of vigilance in which he lived, the\\nend was unexpected. His death came suddenly.\\nThis we gather from the scanty record of Arnott;\\nfor Antommarchi we put, for reasons already ex-\\nplained, entirely on one side. Arnott was evidently\\nunaware of his patient s grave condition. Though\\nhe was called in on April ist, only thirty-five days\\nbefore Napoleon s death, he did not then, or for some\\ntime afterwards, suspect the gravity of the illness.\\nIndeed, it was not till April 27th or 28th, a bare week\\nbefore the end, that he realized that the malady was\\nmortal. Nor had the governor or the British gov-\\nernment any suspicion that the end was near.\\nFor the last nine days of his life he was constantly\\ndelirious. On the morning of May 5th he uttered some\\nincoherent words, among which Montholon fancied\\nthat he distinguished, France armee\\ntete d armee. As the patient uttered these words\\nAntommarchi, characteristically enough, states that three\\nhours afterwards he heard Napoleon say ti:te arm/e and that\\nthese were his last words. Montholon expressly states that An-\\ntommarchi was not in the room at two o clock when Napoleon said\\n238", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0248.jp2"}, "249": {"fulltext": "THE END\\nhe sprang from the bed, dragging Montholon, who\\nendeavored to restrain him, on the floor. It was the\\nlast effort of that formidable energy. He was with\\ndifficulty replaced in bed by Montholon and Archam-\\nbault, and then lay quietly till near six o clock in\\nthe evening, when he yielded his last breath. A\\ngreat storm was raging outside, which shook the\\nfrail huts of the soldiers as with an earthquake, tore\\nup the trees that the Emperor had planted, and up-\\nrooted the willow under which he was accustomed\\nto repose. Within, the faithful Marchand was cov-\\nering the corpse with the cloak which the young\\nconqueror had worn at Marengo.\\nThe governor and his staff were waiting below to\\nhear the last news. On learning the event Lowe spoke\\na few manly and fitting words. But the inevitable\\nwrangling soon broke out again over the corpse.\\nLowe insisted on an immediate autopsy, which the\\nFrench strenuously resisted. He also declined to\\nallow the removal of the remains to France. Here,\\nhe had no choice. The unexpected arrival of the\\ndead Napoleon in Europe would have been second\\nonly in embarrassment to the arrival of the living.\\nLastly, as we have seen, he insisted that the name\\nBonaparte should be appended if Napoleon,\\nas was proposed, were engraved on the coffin. Com-\\nment on this is superfluous.\\nDuring the next morning the body lay in state, and\\nMontchenu obtained his only view of the captive.\\nFour days afterwards the funeral took place with\\nsuch simple pomp as the island could afford. The\\ntete d arm/e. The point is of little importance except as showing\\nto the very last the difficulty of ascertaining the exact truth at\\nLongwood.", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0249.jp2"}, "250": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\ncoffin, on which lay the sword and the mantle of\\nMarengo, was borne by British soldiers to a car\\ndrawn by four of the Emperor s horses, and thence j\\nagain by relays of British soldiers to a spot which\\nhe had himself chosen, should burial in France be\\nrefused. It was in a garden at the bottom of a deep i\\nravine. There, under the shade of two willows, by I\\nthe side of a spring which had supplied the Emperor\\nwith water to drink, had the grave been dug. The j\\ninmates of Longwood followed as chief mourners. i\\nThen came Lowe, Montchenu, and the officials, civil,\\nnaval, and military, of the island. As the body was\\nlowered into the earth there were salvoes of mus-\\nketry and cannon. 3\\nNineteen years afterwards a French frigate, under 1\\nthe command of the Prince of Joinville, anchored at\\nJamestown. It had come for the purpose of con-\\nveying back to France the Emperor s remains. They i\\nhad been surrendered in the hope expressed by the\\nBritish government that the last traces of national\\nanimosity would be buried in the tomb of Napoleon.\\nBut before the vessel had returned with her precious\\nburden the two countries were on the very brink of\\nwar. In the Belle-Poule there returned on this last\\npious pilgrimage to St. Helena Bertrand and Gour- i\\ngaud, the young Las Cases, and Arthur Bertrand\\nthe first French visitor who entered St. Helena]\\nwithout Lord Bathurst s permission There, too,\\nwere Marchand, the most faithful and trusted of the\\nEmperor s attendants, Noverraz, Pierron, and Ar- j\\nchambault, as well as St. Denis, who, disguised under\\nthe name of Ali, had acted as second Mameluke with i\\nRustan, and whom Napoleon had often used as an\\namanuensis at St. Helena. Together these sombre j\\n240", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0250.jp2"}, "251": {"fulltext": "THE END\\nand devoted survivors visited the scene of their ex-\\nile, and amid the shame and embarrassment of the\\nBritish authorities, witnessed the degradation of\\nLongwood into a stable. Together they surrounded\\ntheir master s grave at midnight on October 15, 1840\\n(the twenty-fifth anniversary of his arrival at St.\\nHelena), and when, after ten hours strenuous labor,\\nthe coffin was disinterred, they beheld once more\\nthe features of the Emperor, unaltered and unim-\\npaired. Together they followed the corpse in a pro-\\ncession which savored less of a funeral than a triumph\\nto Paris. It was then that the dead conqueror made\\nthe most majestic of his entrances into his capital.\\nOn a bitter December morning the King of the French,\\nsurrounded by the princes and ministers and splen-\\ndors of France, sat in silent state under the dome\\nof the Invalides, awaiting the arrival of the corpse.\\nSuddenly a chamberlain appearing at the door an-\\nnounced, in a clear and resonant voice, I Empe-\\nreur, as if it were the living sovereign, and the vast\\nand illustrious assembly rose with a common emo-\\ntion as the body was borne slowly in. The spec-\\ntators could not restrain their tears as they realized\\nthe pathos and significance of the scene. Behind\\nthe coffin walked the surviving exiles of St. Helena\\nit was the undisputed privilege of Bertrand to lay\\nhis master s sword upon the pall.\\nOne point in the Emperor s last illness should be\\nnoticed once for all. The policy of Longwood, ac-\\ntively supported by O Meara, was to declare that\\nthere was a deadly liver complaint, indigenous to the\\nisland, to which Napoleon was a victim, and which\\ncould, of course, only be cured by his removal. We\\nthink that the Emperor himself, who combined a\\nQ 241", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0251.jp2"}, "252": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nshrewd interest with a rooted disbehef in the art of\\nmedicine, knew better. He would, for example, put\\nhis hand on the pit of his stomach, and say, with a\\ngroan, Oh, nwn pylore mon pylore He, how-\\never, as we have seen, gravely condoled with Gour-\\ngaud, who was in the best of health, on being an-\\nother victim of this insular malady. Within two\\nmonths of his own death he wrote to Pauline that\\nthe liver complaint with which he has been afflicted\\nfor six years, and which is endemic and mortal at\\nSt. Helena, has made alarming progress during the\\nlast six months. Within a month of his death he\\nmade the same complaint to Arnott. Montholon,\\non his return to Europe, in spite of the post-mortem\\nexamination, still gallantly maintained the theory of\\na liver complaint. But Napoleon s liver was found\\nto be quite sound; he died of the cancer in the\\nstomach which had killed his father.\\nHis last days, before the agony began, were tragi-\\ncal enough, as we gather from the jejune chronicles\\nof Montholon. Even these records do not give the\\nimpression of having been written from day to day,\\nbut retrospectively, perhaps from notes. Bertrand,\\nin a letter to King Joseph, says that after August,\\n1820, the Emperor remained almost always in his\\nchair, and in his dressing-gown, able to read and\\ntalk, but not to work or dictate. He and his suite\\nwould sometimes build castles in the air of a new\\nlife in America, but he well knew that he was djang.\\nHe devoted much time to his will, and was extremely\\nanxious that the collection of letters from European\\nsovereigns to himself, as well as a few that Mme.\\nde Stagl had written to him from Italy, should be\\npublished. On this point he was strenuous and in-\\n242", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0252.jp2"}, "253": {"fulltext": "THE END\\nsistent. He believed them to be in the hands of\\nJoseph. But they had been stolen, and had been\\noffered to and refused b}^ Murray the publisher.\\nThe Russian government had intervened and pur-\\nchased, for a large sum, the letters of Alexander:\\nthe fate of the others is not known. He would still\\nread aloud, and would still discuss the past. But it\\nis strange how little we know of it all, and we infer\\nthat Napoleon s suite were as much in the dark as\\nthe rest of the world with regard to their master s\\napproaching end. Otherwise, they would surely\\nhave recorded with pious care these remarkable mo-\\nments.\\nIt is these last moments that we chiefly grudge to\\noblivion. Otherwise, one may well ask what is the\\nuse of recalling these sere records of the captivity of\\nSt, Helena? They can scarcely be called history;\\nthey are not, unhappily, romance; they can hardly\\nbe held to possess any healthy attraction. They\\nonly narrate, with obtrusive inaccuracy, an episode\\nwhich no one has any interest in remembering, and\\nwhich all would fain forget. Why, then, collate\\nthese morbid, sordid, insincere chronicles? Does\\nnot history tell us that there is nothing so melan-\\ncholy as the aspect of great men in retirement, from\\nNebuchadnezzar in his meadow to Napoleon on his\\nrock?\\nThe first answer to this question is incidental\\nand personal. To the present writer Lord Beacons-\\nfield once explained why he wrote Count Alarcos, a\\ndrama nearly, if not quite, forgotten. It was pro-\\nduced, he said, not in the hope of composing a great\\ntragedy, but of laying a literary ghost. The story\\nhaunted him, and would, he felt, haunt him until he\\n243", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0253.jp2"}, "254": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nshould have put it into shape. And so it is with this\\nHttle book. It cannot help embod3^ing a tragedy,\\nbut it was written to lay a literary ghost, dormant\\nfor years, only quickened into activity by the analy-\\nsis of Gourgaud s last journals, and by stimulating\\nleisure.\\nSecondly, it is an episode on which History has\\nyet to record her final judgment. Nor is it clear that\\nshe is yet in a position to do so. The actors, indeed,\\nhave long passed away the blood heated by twenty\\nyears of warfare is now cold enough; on the one\\nside the faint inextinguishable hopes, on the other\\nthe apprehensions and the suspicions, all are dead.\\nAnd yet the subject still seems warm. It is doubt-\\nful if one side is yet cool enough to own any error it\\nis doubtful if the other side has wholly forgiven.\\nNations have silent, stubborn memories. The fires\\nof Smithfield have left in England embers that still\\nsmoulder. Ireland has remembered much which it\\nwould be for her own happiness to forget. The\\nScots are still Jacobites at heart.\\nAgain, we have more chance of seeing the man\\nNapoleon at St. Helena than at any other period of\\nhis career. In the first years of the consulate the\\nman was revealed, but then he was undeveloped.\\nOn the throne he ceased to be human. At Elba he\\nhad no present existence he was always in the past\\nor the future.\\nAnd, again, what was published about him during\\nhis life, and for long after his death, has little value.\\nA sure test of great men of action is the absence of\\nlukewarmness with regard to them. They are de-\\ntested or adored. The idolatry and hatred which Na-\\npoleon inspired survived him too long to allow of the\\n244", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0254.jp2"}, "255": {"fulltext": "THE END\\nplay of reason. No one seemed able then, or for long\\nafterwards, to put on a pair of smoked glasses and\\ngaze dispassionately at this dazzling luminary. Nor\\nis it easy now. One has to sift evidence and passion,\\nand make allowance for it all. His correspondence,\\nespeciall}^ that part which was suppressed, furnishes,\\nof course, the great picture of his manifold activities\\nand methods. This is, however, but a small frac-\\ntion of the literature which concerns him. Of books\\nand memoirs about Napoleon there is indeed no end.\\nOf reliable books, which give a sure, or even remotely\\nimpartial, picture of the man, there are remarkably\\nfew.\\nSome judicious observers, who knew Napoleon well,\\nwrote their real impressions, but wrote them very se-\\ncretly, and the result is only now oozing out. Of these\\nwitnesses we incline to put Chaptal first. He was for\\nsome time Napoleon s confidential minister, and he\\nanalyzes his character with the dispassionate science\\nof an eminent chemist. Pasquier we are inclined to\\nplace next, as being on the whole unfavorably fair.\\nWith him we should perhaps bracket Segur, whose\\nmemoirs, which include the classical history of the\\nRussian expedition, give a brilliant portrait, the work\\nof an admirer, but by no means a blind admirer.\\nWe should put it as a pendant to that of Pasquier,\\nand say that it is favorably fair. And the beauty of\\nthe style, the exquisite eloquence of some of the pas-\\nsages, would lure on the sternest and sourest critics\\nof the hero. Lavallette, though he does not tell us\\nmuch, and though the Duke of Wellington, on the\\nslightest grounds, stigmatized him as a liar, seems\\nsufficiently reliable, on the partial side. Roederer,\\nfrom among a number of massive volumes contain-\\n245", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0255.jp2"}, "256": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\ning his unreadable works, yields some pure gold,\\npriceless notes of Napoleonic conversation. Mme. de\\nRemusat, with heavy deductions, leaves something\\nof value. But we can never forget that she burned\\nher real, contemporary memoirs in 1815, and that\\nthose now published were composed three years af-\\nterwards, during the bitterest reaction of the Restora-\\ntion, when it was considered indecent to allude to\\nthe Emperor, much less pronounce his name, in polite\\nsociety. Moreover, she was the close friend of Talley-\\nrand, Napoleon s unremitting enemy; was lady-in-\\nwaiting to Josephine, whose wrongs she resented;\\nand, worst of all, was a woman who could not forgive\\nNapoleon s clumsiness and deficiencies as a lady s\\nman. On a lower scale we may mention Meneval\\nand Beausset. On a lower still there is Constant,\\nConstant (the valet, not Benjamin) gives many de-\\ntails of interest, though the memoirs which bear his\\nname were probably written by another hand from\\nhis notes. To him, in despite of the proverb, his\\nmaster was a hero. We place some confidence in\\nMiot de Melito, and in the dry humor of Beugnot.\\nNor do we desire to disparage the authors, some of\\nthem conspicuous, whom we do not name; we only\\ndesire to indicate those who seem most worthy of\\nconfidence. Scores of memoirs throw here and there\\na flash of light on the man. But the light is usually\\naccidental, as the writers are generally idolaters or\\nenemies. To Marbot and Thiebault we owe the most\\nvivid snap-shots of Napoleon. The extraordinary\\nlife-like scene of Napoleon at the masked ball mop-\\nping his hot head with a wet handkerchief, and mur-\\nmuring, Oh que c est bon, que c est hon is re-\\ncorded by Marbot. The fleeting vision of Napoleon\\n246", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0256.jp2"}, "257": {"fulltext": "THE END\\ngalloping homewards through Spain alone with an\\naide-de-camp, whose horse the Emperor is flogging\\nwith a postilion s whip, is the little masterpiece of\\nThiebault. We wish we felt sure of the conscientious\\naccuracy of either author.\\nAt length, in this final phase, we have some chance\\nof seeing something of the man. The artifice and\\ndrapery still encompass him, but not always; and\\nthrough the perplexed and adulatory narratives there\\ncome glimpses of light. From one there even comes\\nillumination. Had Gourgaud remained till the end,\\nit is scarcely too much to say that we should have\\nknown from him more of the naked Napoleon than\\nfrom all the existing library of Napoleonic literature.\\nBut Gougaud leaves before we most require him.\\nThe remaining records tell us little or nothing of that\\nperiod when there may have been in all probability\\nmost to be learned at that supreme opportunity for\\nself -revelation when the vanities and passions of life\\nwere paling before the infinite shadow of death. It\\nwas then that, left alone with history and with eter-\\nnity, the man, as apart from the warrior and states-\\nman, might possibly, but not probably, have re-\\nvealed himself, and confessed himself, and spoken\\nwhat truth was in him. Indeed, the declaration\\nabout the Due d Enghien s death, made five weeks\\nbefore his own, shows that the dying man did assert\\nhimself with passionate impatience to clear others\\nand to tell the truth.\\nBut, even without the last revelations, which he\\nmay have made, but which we have not got, it is\\nto St. Helena that the world must look for the final\\nglimpse of this great human problem. For a problem\\nhe is, and must ever remain. Mankind will always\\n247", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0257.jp2"}, "258": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\ndelight to scrutinize something that indefinitely\\nraises its conception of its own powers and possibil-\\nities. For this reason it loves balloons and flying\\nmachines, apparatus that moves below earth or sea^\\nthe men who accomplish physical or intellectual feats\\nwhich enlarge the scope of human achievement. For\\nthis reason also it seeks, but eternally in vain, to\\npenetrate the secret of this prodigious human being.\\nIn spite of all this delving, mining, and analysis,\\nwhat secret there is will probably evade discovery.\\nPartly, it may be argued, because it is so complex.\\nPartly, it may be contended, because there is none\\nthere are only the play and procession of destiny.\\nAs to the complexity of the problem, as to the va-\\nriety of the man, there can be no doubt. But the\\nstudy, even if illusory, will always remain absorbing.\\nThere will always be alchemists, and always investi-\\ngators of Napoleon s character. Nor can this be con-\\nsidered surprising. He is so multifarious, luminous,\\nand brilliant that he gives light from a thousand\\nfacets. Sometimes he invents, sometimes he talks\\nsomething perilously like nonsense; sometimes he\\nis petty, theatrical, or outrageous, but in the main,\\nwhere you get at the man himself, he is intensely\\nhuman and profoundly interesting. Study, then, of\\nNapoleon s utterances, apart from any attempt to\\ndiscover the secret of his prodigious exploits, cannot\\nbe considered as lost time whether it be pursued\\nwith the view of imitating, or avoiding, or simply\\nof learning, it can scarcely fail to be stimulating.\\nHis career, partly perhaps because it is not scientifi-\\ncally divided into acts or phases, gives rise to a num-\\nber of questions, all obvious and pertinent, but sel-\\ndom admitting of a direct or satisfactory reply.\\n248", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0258.jp2"}, "259": {"fulltext": "THE END\\nWhat was his conception of hfe? What was his fixed\\nobject? Had he any such dehberate conception or\\nobject Was he always sane Was he in any degree\\na charlatan? Was he simply a lucky fatalist of vast\\nnatural powers? Or was his success due to the most\\nremarkable combination of intellect and energy that\\nstands on exact record?\\nTo all these questions, and scores of others, manj^\\ncapable men will be ready with a prompt reply. But\\nthe more the student examines the subject, the less\\nready will he be with an answer. He may at last ar-\\nrive at his own hypothesis, but it will not be a con-\\nfident one; and he will find, without surprise, that his\\nfellows, equally laborious and equally conscientious,\\nwill all supplj^ excellent solutions, totally at variance\\nwith his own and with each other.\\nBy the philosopher, and still more by the philoso-\\npher who believes in the divine guidance of human\\naffairs, the true relation of Napoleon to the world s\\nhistory will be reduced to a very simple conception\\nthat he was launched into the world as a great natural\\nor supernatural force, as a scourge and a scavenger,\\nto effect a vast operation, partly positive, but mainly\\nnegative; and that when he has accomplished that\\nwork he is w^ithdrawn as swiftly as he came. Caesar,\\nAttila, Tamerlane, and Mahomet are forces of this\\nkind the last a much more potent and abiding fac-\\ntor in the universe than Napoleon another proof, if\\nproof were needed, of how small is the permanent\\neffect of warfare alone on the history of mankind.\\nThese men make great epochs; they embody vast\\ntransitions; they perplex and appall their contem-\\nporaries; but when viewed at a distance, they are\\nseen to be periodical and necessary incidents of the\\n249", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0259.jp2"}, "260": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nworld s movement. The details of their career, their\\nmorals, their methods, are then judged, interesting\\nthough they may be, to be merely subordinate details.\\nScavenger is a coarse word, yet it accurately rep-\\nresents Napoleon s first function as ruler. The vol-\\ncano of the French Revolution had burned itself\\nout. He had to clear away the cold lava the rubbish\\nof past destruction; the cinders and the scoriae; the\\nfungus of corruption which had overgrown all, and\\nwas for the moment the only visible result. What\\nhe often said of the crown of France is absolutely true\\nof its government. T found it in the gutter, and\\nI picked it up on my sword s point. The gutter\\ngovernment he replaced by a new administrative\\nmachine, trim, pervading, and efficient; efficient,\\nthat is to say, so long as the engineer was a man\\nof extraordinary energy and genius.\\nThen he is a scourge. He purges the floor of\\nEurope with fire. As the sword and spirit of the\\nRevolution, though in all the pomp of the purple, he\\nvisits the ancient monarchies, and compels them to\\nset their houses in order. True, after his fall, they\\nrelapse. But it is only for a space, and reform, if not\\nrevolt, is soon busy among them. Had it not been for\\nNapoleon this could not have happened for, when he\\nassumed the government, Europe seemed at last to\\nhave stemmed the Revolution.\\nWe do not discuss his military greatness; that is\\nuniversally acknowledged. It would, moreover, re-\\nquire an expert and a volume to discuss it with\\nauthority. To the civilian eye he seems, at his best,\\nthe greatest of all soldiers. His rapidity of move-\\nment and apprehension, his power of inspiring his\\narmies to perform extraordinary feats, his knowledge\\n250", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0260.jp2"}, "261": {"fulltext": "THE END\\nof detail combined with his gigantic grasp, his pro-\\ndigious triumphs, make cool judgment difficult.\\nLater on, even civilians may see faults the grand\\narmy, for example, becoming, before it struck a blow,\\nlittle more than a mob, without discipline and without\\nprovisions, for want of practical foresight and com-\\nmissariat. There is a disposition, too perhaps a\\ngrowing one to attribute a larger share of credit to\\nhis lieutenants for some of his great victories; to\\nDesaix, for instance, at Marengo to Davoust for Jena,\\nBut, let what will be subtracted, there remains an\\nirreducible maximum of fame and exploit. After\\nall, the mass of mankind can only judge of results.\\nAnd, though there may be no one achievement equal\\nto Caesar s victory at Alesia, the military genius of\\nNapoleon in its results is unsurpassed.\\nWe do not, of course, imply that the negative and\\nwarrior work of Napoleon, immense though it was,\\nrepresents anything like his whole career. He was a\\ngreat administrator. He controlled every wheel and\\nspring, large or small, of his vast machinery of gov-\\nernment. It was, as it were, his plaything. He\\nwas his own War Office, his own Foreign Office, his\\nown Admiralty, his own ministry of every kind. His\\nminister of police, when he was Fouche, had no\\ndoubt a department of some independence; but then\\nNapoleon had half a dozen police agencies of his own.\\nHis financial management, by which he sustained\\na vast empire with power and splendor, but with\\nrigid economy, and without a debt, is a marvel and\\na mystery. In all the offices of state he knew every-\\nthing, guided everything, inspired everything. He\\nhimself aptly enough compared his mind to a cup-\\nboard of pigeon-holes; to deal with any subject Iiq\\n251", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0261.jp2"}, "262": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nopened the pigeon-hole relating to it and closed the\\nothers; when he wished to sleep he closed them ail.\\nMoreover, his inexhaustible memory made him fa-\\nmiliar with all the men and all the details, as well as\\nwith all the machinery, of government, Daru, one\\nof Napoleon s most efficient ministers, told Lamarque\\na curious story which illustrates the Emperor s un-\\nflagging vigilance of administration. One day, in\\nthe Eylau campaign, Daru left the Emperor, say-\\ning that he had to open his letters. What letters\\ncan you receive, asked the Emperor, derisively, in\\nthis Arab camp, where we live on the country as we\\nmarch? Your Majesty shall see, replied Daru,\\nand in a short time returned, followed by half a dozen\\nsecretaries laden with papers. Napoleon opened the\\nfirst at hazard it contained a demand from the hos-\\npital at Mayence for a hundred syringes. What!\\nDo you provide syringes for the hospital at Ma-\\nyence? Yes, and Your Majesty pays for them.\\nThe Emperor spent four hours opening and reading\\nall the letters; he continued to do so for eight suc-\\ncessive days; then he said: For the first time I\\nunderstand the mechanism of an army. On his\\nreturn to Paris after Tilsit he pursued the same course\\nwith all the other ministers successively. After this\\nprocess, which lasted six weeks, he carried a similar\\ninvestigation into the ranks of the subordinates.\\nWhat a force in itself was this quick yet laborious ap-\\nprehension, this detailed probing of his vast admin-\\nistration! The inherent defect of such an execu-\\ntive was that no less an energy or intellect could\\nhave kept it going for a week. So completely did\\nit depend on the master that it was paralyzed by the\\nleast severance from him. The conspiracy of Mal-\\n252", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0262.jp2"}, "263": {"fulltext": "THE END\\nlet, in 1812, and the conduct of affairs by the council\\nof regency, in 1814, are eminent instances of this.\\nThen he was a great legislator. The positive and\\npermanent part of his work is, of course, the Code.\\nWars end, and conquests shrink so much so, that\\nNapoleon, after all, left France less than he found it.\\nIndeed, the only trace of his reign now visible on the\\nface of Europe is the Bernadotte dynasty in Sweden,\\nwhich was not the direct result of conquest, or,\\nindeed, the direct work of Napoleon. All that of\\nthis kind he planned and fashioned passed away\\nwith him. But the Code remains, and profoundly af-\\nfects the character of the nation, as well as of the\\nother races to which it has been extended. Few en-\\nactments, for example, have had a more potent effect\\nin moulding the social and political life of a commu-\\nnity than the provision of the Code for the compul-\\nsory division of property. It checks population, it\\nenforces equality, it constitutes the most powerful\\nand conservative of landed interests.\\nTo achieve such work required a puissant organi-\\nzation, and, indeed, his physical constitution was\\nnot less remarkable than his intellectual mechanism.\\nHis digestion endured for a life-time, without resent-\\nment, hearty meals devoured in a few moments at\\nodd times. His first tooth was extracted at St. He-\\nlena, and then, it appears, unnecessarily. But this\\noperation was the only one that he ever underwent.\\nIt appeared in other ways that his exceptional mind\\nwas lodged in an exceptional body. In his prime,\\nbefore his passion for hot baths had weakened him,\\nhe was incapable of fatigue. He fought Alvinzy\\nonce for five consecutive days without taking off his\\nboots or closing his eyes; when he had beaten the\\n253", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0263.jp2"}, "264": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nAustrian he slept for thirty-six hours. On arriving I\\nat the Tuileries after his breathless journey from\\nValladolid, when he had only paused for a few hours\\nat Bayonne, he insisted on at once inspecting, with-\\nout an instant s delay, the entire palace, and the\\nLouvre, where new constructions were proceeding, i\\nHe would post from Poland to Paris, summon a coun-\\ncil at once, and preside at it with his usual vigor and\\nacuteness. And his councils were no joke. They\\nwould last eight or ten hours. Once, at two o clock\\nin the morning, the councillors were all worn out the j\\nMinister of Marine was fast asleep; Napoleon still\\nurged them to further deliberation: Come, gentle- I\\nmen, pull yourselves together it is only two o clock\\nwe must earn the money that the nation gives us,\\nThroughout these sittings his mind was always ac-\\nfive and predominant. Never did a council separate\\nwithout being the wiser, either from what he taught j\\nor from the close investigation which he insisted\\nupon. He would work for eighteen hours at a stretch,\\nsometinies at one subject, sometimes at a variety.\\nNever, says Roederer, have I seen his mind weary; i\\nnever have I seen his mind without its spring not in\\nstrain of body, or wrath, or the most violent exercise.\\nSometimes he carried physical force to an extreme\\npoint. He kicked Volney in the stomach for saying\\nthat France wanted the Bourbons, and the philoso- i\\npher was carried away senseless. On another occa-\\nsion he knocked down his chief justice and bela-\\nbored him with his fists. He is said to have attacked j\\nBerthier with the tongs. These were the rare erup- 2^\\ntions of a nervous system occasionally yielding to\\ncontinuous strain. Nor was the primitive Corsican i-^^\\naltogether smothered under the robe of empire.\\n\u00e2\u0096\u00a0254", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0264.jp2"}, "265": {"fulltext": "THE END\\nAgain, there were reactions. Witness that strange\\nscene at the httle mansion of Diiben, where he sits for\\ntwo days on a sofa, heedless of the despatches which\\nare massed on his table calling for a reply, engaged\\nin vacantly tracing capital letters on sheets of paper,\\nin a prostration of doubt whether he shall march on\\nLeipsic or Berlin. Witness the apathy at Malmaison\\nafter Waterloo.\\nOne other positive result, which is in truth scarcely\\nless substantial than the Code, may be laid to his\\naccount. He has left behind the memory of a period\\nof splendor and dominion, which, even if it does not\\nkeep the imagination of his people in a perpetual\\nglow, remains a symbol, as monumental and visible\\nas the tomb in the Invalides, to stimulate the nation-\\nal ambition. The terrible sacrifices which he ex-\\nacted are forgotten, and, if they be remembered, com-\\npare not unfavorably (on paper, at all events) with\\nthose entailed by the modern system, even in time\\nof peace, without foreign supremacy or the empire\\nof the West to be placed to the credit side. And so\\nthey may obliterate the eagles and the initials if they\\nwill it avails nothing. France, in chill moments of\\ndisaster, or of even of mere material and commercial\\nwell-being, will turn and warm herself at the glories\\nof Napoleon. The atmosphere is still imbued with\\nthe light and heat of the imperial era, with the blaze\\nof his victories, and with the lustre of those years\\nwhen Europe was the anvil for the hammer of France,\\nThe details of method and morals are, in cases\\nlike Napoleon s, as we have said, subordinate mat-\\nters subordinate, that is, for History, which only\\nconcerns itself with his effect and result. But, none\\nthe less, they are profoundly interesting for mankind.\\n255", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0265.jp2"}, "266": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nThey will not, indeed, enable us to discover his se-\\ncret. We study them as we would the least facts\\nconcerning a supernatural visitant, a good or bad\\nspirit, something alien to ourselves, and yet linked\\nto ourselves by the bond of humanity not merely\\nhuman shape and human utterance, but human fail-\\ning and human depravity.\\nWhat, after all, is the story? fi\\nInto a career of a score of years he crowded his own\\ndazzling career, his conquests, his triumphant as-\\nsault on the Old World. In that brief space we see\\nthe lean, hungry conqueror swell into the sovereign,\\nand then into the sovereign of sovereigns. Then\\ncomes the catastrophe. He loses the balance of his\\nV judgment and becomes a curse to his own country, i\\n\\\\/and to all others. He cannot be still himself, or give l\\nV mankind an instant of repose. His neighbors land-\\nV marks become playthings to him he cannot leave\\nV them alone he manipulates them for the mere love\\nof moving them. His island enemy is on his nerves\\nhe sees her everywhere; he strikes at her blindly\\nand wildly. And so he produces universal unrest, I\\nuniversal hostility, the universal sense of his incom-\\npatibility with all established society. But he pur-\\nsues his path as if possessed, as if driven by the in-\\nward sting of some burning devil. He has ceased\\nM to be sane. The intellect and energy are still there,\\nbut, as it were, in caricature; they have become\\nmonstrosities. Body and mind are affected by the\\nprolonged strain to be more than mortal. Then there\\nis the inevitable collapse; and at St. Helena we are J\\nwatching, with curious compassion, the reaction and\\ndecline.\\nThe truth we take to be this. The mind of man j\\n256 i", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0266.jp2"}, "267": {"fulltext": "THE END\\nhas not in it sufficient ballast to enable it to exercise,\\nor endure for long, supreme uncontrolled power.\\nOr, to put it in other words, the human frame is un-\\nequal to anything approaching omnipotence. All\\nhistory, from the Caesars onward, teaches us this.\\nStrong as was the intellect of Napoleon, it formed no\\nexception to the rule.\\nFor in the first period of his consulate he was an\\nalmost ideal ruler. He was firm, sagacious, far-\\nseeing, energetic, just. He was, moreover, what\\nis not of less importance, ready and anxious to learn.\\nHe was, indeed, conscious of extreme ignorance on\\nthe civil side of his administration. But he was\\nnever ashamed to ask the meaning of the simplest\\nword or the most elementary procedure; and he\\nnever asked twice. He thus acquired and assimi-\\nlated all necessary information with extraordinary\\nrapidity. But when he had learned all that his\\ncouncillors could teach him, he realized his immeas-\\nurable superiority to all men with whom he had been\\nbrought into contact. He arrived at the conclusion\\nprobably a just one that his genius was as unfailing\\nand supreme in the art of statesmanship as in the\\nart of war, and that he was as much the first ruler\\nas the first captain of the world. That discovery,\\nor conviction, backed by the forces and resources\\nof France, inspired him with an ambition, at first\\nvague, but growing as it was fed at last immeasur-\\nable and impossible. Nothing seemed impracticable,\\nnothing illusory. Why should it? He had never\\nfailed, except, perhaps, at Acre. He beheld around\\nhim incapable monarchs, incapable generals, inca-\\npable ministers, the languid barriers of a crum-\\nbling society. There seemed nothing in the world to\\nR 257", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0267.jp2"}, "268": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\ncheck a second Alexander, even one more reckless\\nand enterprising than he whose career had inspired\\nhis own boyish dreams.\\nHad he proceeded more slowly, had he taken time to\\nrealize and consolidate. his acquisitions, it is difficult\\nto limit the extent to which his views might have\\nbeen realized. But the edifice of his empire was so\\nprodigiously successful that he would not pause,\\neven a moment, to allow the cement to harden. And,\\nas he piled structure on structure, it became evident\\nthat he had ceased to consider its base. That base\\nwas France, capable of heroic effort and endurance,\\nof all, indeed, but the impossible. The limit at last\\nwas reached. Great as were her resources, she could\\nno longer supply the reckless demands of her ruler.\\nIn 1 812 he left three hundred thousand Frenchmen\\namid the snows of Russia. In 18 13 he summoned\\none million three hundred thousand more under\\narms. And these were only the culminating fig-\\nures of a long series of overdrafts, anticipations of\\nthe annual conscription, terrible drains on the popu-\\nlation of France proper a population of some thirty\\nmillions.\\nHe, no doubt, had convinced himself, with that\\nfaculty of self-persuasion which is at once the weak-\\nness and the strength of extraordinary minds, that\\nhe had in reality enlarged his foundation that it had\\nincreased in exact proportion to the increase of his\\ndominions that the Germans and Italians and Dutch-\\nmen and Spaniards who served under his banners\\nformed a solid accretion to it; that his empire rested\\non a homogeneous mass of eighty millions of equally\\nloyal subjects. He seemed to consider that each an-\\nnexation, however procured, added as many valid\\n258", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0268.jp2"}, "269": {"fulltext": "THE END\\ninstruments of his policy as it did human beings to\\nhis reahn. It added, as a rule, nothing but veiled\\ndiscontent and expectant revolt. Frederick the\\nGreat was wont, it is true, to compel the prisoners\\nwhom he captured in battle to serve in his ranks.\\nBut he was under no illusions as to the zeal and\\nfidelity of these reluctant recruits. Napoleon, how-\\never, considered, or professed to consider, that the\\npopulations that he had conquered could be relied\\nupon as subjects and soldiers. This strange hallu-\\nY cination indicated the loss of his judgment, and,\\nmore than any other cause, brought about his fall.\\nWhom God wishes to destroy, says the adage. He\\nfirst deprives of sanity. And so we see Napoleon,\\ny with incredible self-delusion, want of insight, or both,\\npreparing his own destruction by dealing with men\\nas if they were checkers, and moving them about\\nthe board according to his own momentary whim,\\nwithout a thought of their passions, or character, or\\ntraditions; in a word, by ignoring human nature.\\nTake, for one example, the singular apportionment\\nof souls, in a despatch of February 15, 181 0: I ap-\\nprove of this report with the following modifications\\nI. Only to take from the Italian Tyrol two hundred\\nand eighty thousand souls, a population equal to\\nthat of Bayreuth and Ratisbon. 2. That Bavaria\\nshould only give up for the Kingdom of Wurtem-\\nburg and the Duchies of Baden and Darmstadt a\\npopulation of one hundred and fifty thousand souls.\\nSo that, instead of one hundred and eighty -eight\\nthousand souls, Bavaria should gain two hundred\\nand forty thousand or two hundred and fifty thou-\\nsand. Out of the one hundred and fifty thousand\\nsouls ceded by Bavaria, I think one must give one\\n259", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0269.jp2"}, "270": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nhundred and ten thousand to Wurtemburg, twenty-\\nfive thousand to Baden, and fifteen thousand to\\nDarmstadt. It is only fair to add that the congress\\nof his enemies at Vienna proceeded, with flattering\\nimitation, on the same principles.\\nBut the exasperation of the transferred and re-\\ntransferred souls was not the only result of this mania\\nfor cutting and carving. It produced a moral effect\\nwhich was disastrous to the new empire. The\\nfounder of such a dynasty should have attempted\\nto convince the world of the stability of his arrange-\\nments. He himself, however, spared no exertion to\\nprove the contrary. Moving boundaries, shifting\\nrealms, giving and taking back, changing, revising,\\nand reversing, he seemed to have set before himself the\\nobject of demonstrating that his foundations were\\nnever fixed, that nothing in his structure was defi-\\nnite or permanent. It was the suicide of system.\\nHis bitterest enemies could hardly have hoped to\\nsuggest that conquests so dazzling were transient\\nand insecure, had he not taken such infinite pains\\nto prove it himself.\\nAustria and Prussia he had conquered Spain and\\nItaly he had annexed; he reckoned these, therefore,\\nas submissive auxiliaries. Russia he had both\\ndefeated and cajoled so all was at his feet. He never\\nseems to have given a thought to the storm of undying\\nhatred, rancor, and revenge that was chafing and\\nraging below.\\nHe added a Spanish contingent to his grand army,\\nwhen the Spaniards were cutting the throat of every\\nFrenchman whom they could find. He added a\\nPrussian contingent, when he must have known, had\\nhe been sane, that no Prussians could ever forgive\\n260", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0270.jp2"}, "271": {"fulltext": "THE END\\nhim the humihations which he had heaped upon\\ntheir country. He added an Austrian contingent\\nat a time when a much less clear-sighted observer\\nmust have been aware that it was merely a corps\\nof hostile observation.\\nN^ Supreme power, then, destroyed the balance of his\\nV judgment and common-sense, and so brought about\\nhis fall. But it was not the only cause. There was\\nanother factor. He was deeply imbued with the\\npassion of warfare. It is difficult to realize the full\\nstrength of this fascination, for, though all soldiers\\nfeel the fever of the field, it is rarely given in all the\\ncountless generations of the world to experience it\\nin its full strength, as one who enjoys, as absolute\\nruler, the sole direction, responsibility, and hazard\\nof great wars. But if common men love to risk\\nchances in the lottery or with the dice, on the race-\\ncourse or the stock exchange, if there they can find\\nthe sting of excitement, war is the gambling of the\\ngods. The haunting risk of disaster; the unspeak-\\nable elation of victory; the gigantic vicissitude of\\ntriumph and defeat; the tumult and frenzy and\\ndivine sweat; the very scorn of humanity and all\\nthat touches it, life and property and happiness,\\nthe anguish of the dying, the horror of the dead\\nall these sublimated passions not merely seem to\\nraise man for a moment beyond his fellows, but\\nconstitute a strain which human nerves are not able\\nlong to endure. And Napoleon s character was pro-\\nfoundly affected by the gambling of warfare. The\\nstar of his destiny, which bulked so largely in his\\nmind, was but the luck of the gambler on a vast\\nscale. He had indeed his full measure of the gross\\nand petty superstition which ordinarily accompa-\\n261", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0271.jp2"}, "272": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nnies the vice. And so, even in his most desperate\\nstraits, he cannot brin^ himself to close the account\\nand sign a peace; for he always cherishes the gam-\\nbler s hope that fortune, or the star of destiny, or\\nwhatever it be called, may yet produce another trans-\\nformation, and restore all his losses by a sudden\\nstroke.\\nGenerals, as a rule, are, fortunately, controlled\\nby governments in matters of policy. But when\\nthe supreme captain is also the supreme ruler, there\\nis nothing to restrain him from the awful hazard:\\nhe stakes once too often, and ruins his country,\\nhaving already lost himself. Charles XIL was\\noften in the mind and on the lips of Napoleon during\\nthe Russian campaign.\\nOf scarcely any sovereign warrior but Frederick\\ncan it be said that he sheathed the sword at the right\\ntime, and voluntarily kept it in the scabbard. But\\nhis case was peculiar. He had had terrible lessons,\\nV He had been within an ace of ruin and suicide. No\\nV conqueror had ever seen so much of the horrors of\\ndefeat. There are not many examples in history\\nof annihilation so complete as that of Kunersdorf:\\nthere are few indeed of triumphant resuscitation after\\nsuch a disaster. And when Frederick had recovered\\nthe material waste and loss of his long war, his\\nblood had cooled; he had the good fortune to have\\npassed, and, what was more important, to know\\nthat he had passed, that season of war in the life\\nof man which Napoleon defined. So he consolidated\\nhis conquests and died in peace.\\nNapoleon sometimes spoke lightly of him as a\\ngeneral when at St. Helena. We doubt, however,\\nif he thought lightly of Frederick as a man. Fred-\\n265", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0272.jp2"}, "273": {"fulltext": "THE END\\nerick had been his immediate prototype. Had\\nFrederick never Hved, Napoleon might have had a\\ndifferent career. And indeed, as it was, he might\\nhave learned other lessons from the Prussian king;\\nfor Frederick, though inferior to Napoleon in all\\nelse, in force and scope and scale, was his superior\\nin two respects. Had Napoleon possessed the astute\\nmoderation and the desperate tenacity of Frederick,\\nthe destinies of France and of Europe would have\\ntaken a different turn.\\nWe hold, then, that the Emperor had lost the\\nbalance of his faculties long before he finally fell.\\nBut this is not to say that he was mad; except,\\nperhaps, in the sense of Juvenal s bitter apostrophe\\nto Hannibal. Sanity is a relative term. Napoleon\\nat his outset was phenomenally sane. His cool,\\ncalculating shrewdness and his intense common-\\nsense were at least in proportion to his vast, but\\nstill bounded, ambition. From such singular sanity\\nto the limits of insanity there is an immeasurable\\ndistance. Napoleon s impaired sanity was superior\\nto the judgment of the vast majority of mankind but\\nhere lay the fatal change it had ceased to bear\\nany proportion to, or exercise any control over, his\\nambition. When that check was removed he was\\na lost man.\\nAt what precise period the overbalancing of this\\ngreat intellect took place it is of course impossible\\nto say, for the process was of necessity gradual and\\nalmost imperceptible. Some may incline to think\\nthat it was apparent even before he became Em-\\nV peror; that the lawless abduction and wanton ex-\\necution of Enghien may mark the beginning. That\\nproceeding, no doubt, denotes not merely a criminal\\n263", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0273.jp2"}, "274": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nlawlessness, but an irritability, a want of decency\\nand control, a recklessness of cause and effect which\\nwere new in Napoleon. Some may surmise that\\nthere is a visible alteration after Wagram. That\\nperiod seems too late; though he was then standing\\non a pinnacle, from which he saw all the kingdoms\\nof the earth spread out before him a pinnacle, lofty\\nand sublime, but with a foothold both giddy and\\ninsecure. Any attempt, however, to fix exact dates\\nfor a psychological change would need a volume\\nin itself. It is sufficient for our purpose to point\\nout that the alteration did occur, and that the\\nNapoleon of 1810, for example, was a very different\\nbeing to the Napoleon of 1801. The Napoleon who\\ndeclared at one time that all the countries of Europe\\nshould keep their archives in Paris, and at an-\\nother that the French empire would become the\\nmother country of all sovereignties, that all the kings\\nof the earth should have palaces of residence in Paris,\\nand attend in state the coronations of the French\\nEmperors; the Napoleon who refused to make peace\\nin 1813 and 1814, had obviously lost the balance of\\n/^his reason. So obvious was this that, in the last\\ndays of his first reign, there was a conspiracy in\\nParis to dethrone him on the ground of insanity.\\nIt is easy, too, to pronounce with absolute certainty\\nthat the loss of balance and soundness had occurred\\nat Bayonne in 1808, and on the Niemen in 1812.\\nHe had then ceased to calculate coolly, and to see\\nany bounds moral, physical, or international\\nto any freak of ambition which might occur to him.\\nIn the Russian campaign there is visible a feverish,\\nreckless desire to strain his fortune to the utmost,\\nto push his luck, as gamblers say, and to test, as it\\n264", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0274.jp2"}, "275": {"fulltext": "THE END\\nwere, the extreme limits of his destiny. He himself\\nsaid of the Treaty of Leoben that he had played at\\nvingt-et-un and stopped at twenty. Later in life he\\ndemanded twenty-one at every coup.\\nAnd in another way this overbalanced, overween-\\ning individuality contributed to his fall. He had no\\ncheck or assistance from advice, for his ministers\\nwere ciphers. It is not too much to say that the\\nblind idolatry of Bassano had much to do with the\\nimperial catastrophe. Great responsibility, too, is\\nattributed to the compliance and deference of Ber-\\nthier. Napoleon was apparently safe from all rivalry.\\nBut yet he could not endure that there should be ap-\\nproved merit or commanding ability near him to share\\nthe lustre of his government. That government,\\nindeed, was so conducted as to render it impossible\\nfor men of independent ability to serve under it. For\\nsuch an administration mediocrity was a necessity,\\nand high capacity an embarrassing superfluity. Had\\nhe died suddenly, he would have left behind him a\\nvast number of trained subordinates and a few\\nbrilliant malecontents. In itself this fact sufficiently\\nproves the weakness of his government, without tak-\\ning into account its morbid centralization. His\\nsystem, putting his impracticable ambition on one\\nside, must have brought the empire to ruin at his\\ndeath, unless he had been able, which for a man of his\\ntemperament was in the last degree improbable, to\\nmake a complete change, and fashion a new system\\nwhich would give ability fair play and which might\\nexist without himself. Some young men of promise,\\nsuch as Mole and Pasquier, he did indeed train, but he\\nsecured none of their devotion. It is probable that\\nthey perceived that as they rose in the hierarchy they\\n265", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0275.jp2"}, "276": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nwould lose his patronage, and that brilliancy could not,\\nin the long run, be otherwise than distasteful to him.\\nIt is strange that jealousy, if jealousy it were, should\\nenter into the composition of so rare a supremacy.\\nOne feature of this attitude was that he was always\\non his guard, says one who knew him well, against\\nthe ambition of his generals. That and popular dis-\\ncontent were what he most feared. So he kept his\\ngenerals at arm s length, blamed them easily, com-\\nmended them parsimoniously. It was only the dead,\\nvsuch as Desaix and Kleber, whom he praised with\\nwarmth. Thus, except two or three who had known\\nhim in his youth, they approached him with fear and\\ntrembling. And even these early friends loved him\\nin spite of themselves. Lannes would deplore, be-\\ntween smiles and tears, in Napoleon s presence, his\\nunhappy passion for cette catin, and the Emperor\\nwould laugh at his rueful tirades, being sure of his\\nLannes. The awe of the others was not ill-founded.\\nTake, for example, this authentic incident. One day\\nat a levee Napoleon sees St. Cyr, one of his ablest\\nlieutenants. He goes up to him and says, placidly\\nGeneral, you come from Naples? Yes, Sire,\\nafter giving up the command to General Perignon,\\nwhom you had sent to replace me. You have, no\\ndoubt, received the permission of the Minister of\\nWar? No, Sire, but I had nothing more to do at\\nNaples. If, within two hours, you are not on the\\nroad to Naples, I will have you shot on the plain of\\nGrenelle before noon, replied Napoleon, in the same\\ntranquil tone. He rewarded them with titles and\\nappanages, but not with credit. Indeed, he would\\nhave no glory but his own, he only believed in his\\nown talents.\\n266", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0276.jp2"}, "277": {"fulltext": "I\\nTHE END\\nStendhal, who was a man of genius, and whose\\nopinions are, therefore, worth noting, thinks that one\\nof the two main causes of the fall of the Emperor\\nwas this taste for mediocrity. The mediocrity for\\nwhich Mirabeau is said to have prayed. Napoleon\\navowedly loved. For of this preference he made no\\nsecret. What he wanted was instruments and not\\nministers. What he feared and disliked was not so\\nmuch the competition as the ambition and criticism\\nof superior ability. Two men of eminent parts were\\nlong in his employment and necessary to his em-\\npire. When he discovered that they were consid-\\nered indispensable to him, his vigilant egotism took\\nalarm, and he got rid of them. It is difficult in all\\nhistory to cite a personage more infamous and more\\nloathsome than Fouche. But he was a master of\\nthose vile arts which despotism requires in a minister\\nof police. He was, in truth, a pestilent instrument\\nwhich it was equally dangerous to utilize or to neg-\\nlect. Napoleon did both, a course which combined\\nboth disadvantages. Talleyrand, cynical and igno-\\nble as he was in many respects, stands on a higher\\nlevel, and may find some excuse, not merely in the\\nlaxity and exigencies of a revolutionary epoch, but\\nin a cool foresight which gives color to the plea that,\\nwhile doing his best for himself, he was doing the\\nbest for France. That question does not concern\\nus. But, in spite of indolence, and in spite of cor-\\nV ruption, he was a consummate foreign minister and\\nV an unrivalled diplomatist. Up to the time of the\\nSpanish imbroglio he was Napoleon s close confi-\\ndant, as he had been one of the earliest associates\\nof his fortunes. Napoleon charged him with ad-\\nvising the policy with regard to Spain and then de-\\n267", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0277.jp2"}, "278": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nnouncing it. Talleyrand denied the charge. We\\nare inclined to think that both were right. Talley-\\nrand, as we learn from his intimate friend, Mme.\\nde Remusat, openly declared, and had no doubt ad-\\nvised the Emperor, that a Bourbon was an incon-\\nvenient neighbor to Napoleon, and it was doubtful\\nwhether such a neighbor could be tolerated. But\\nhe entirely disapproved of Napoleon s proceedings.\\nIn a word, he probably gave the impulsion and in-\\nspired the idea, while Napoleon found the methods.\\nPossibly something of the same kind occurred with\\nregard to the Enghien affair. The fact, however,\\nthat we have to deal with is the rupture, not its cause.\\nFor we are persuaded that, had Napoleon been able\\nto retain and work with Talleyrand, his fall would\\nnot have taken place. He quarrelled with both Tal-\\nleyrand and Fouche, and was never able to replace\\nthem.\\nHis relations to both these officials throw an in-\\ninstructive light on the cynical side of his character.\\nHe grossly and publicly insulted Talleyrand on more\\nthan one occasion, outrages in essence and style so\\nintolerable that no man could forgive them. Yet\\nNapoleon in his troubles sent for Talleyrand, and\\nbegan talking to him confidentially about politics.\\nIn the midst of their conversation, Talleyrand calmly\\nremarks, But, by-the-bj^e, I thought we had quar-\\nrelled. Napoleon dismisses the remark with a\\nBah! Talleyrand, however, had then been long\\nin close relations with Russia, and was not to be won\\nback. Fouche, too, was dismissed with disgrace.\\nHe openly hated Napoleon, and passed his exile in\\nintriguing against him. Napoleon was ignorant\\nneither of the hatred nor the intrigues. But in 1815,\\n268", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0278.jp2"}, "279": {"fulltext": "THE END\\nas we have seen, he whistles him back, and intrusts\\nhim with one of the most dehcate and important of-\\nfices at his disposal, the one which gives the best\\nopportunity for betrayal.\\nMany other causes for his overthrow have been\\nalleged, but, in our judgment, they are ancillary to\\nthose that we have cited. And, as a rule, they are,\\nstrictly considered, rather effects than causes it was\\nthe causes of his overthrow which produced these\\ndisastrous errors. His faults of policy were, no\\ndoubt, in his later reign, numerous and obvious\\nenough. But they were not, as is often popularly\\nstated, th^ causes which effected his ruin, but rather\\nthe effects and outcome of the causes which pro-\\nduced his ruin. And this much more must be\\nsaid in fairness for them, that, viewing them from\\ntheir political aspect, and putting aside all moral\\ntests, they were grand and not wholly extravagant\\nerrors. Life was too short for his plans. The sense\\nof this made him impatient and violent in his pro-\\nceedings. And so his methods were often petty\\nnot so his policy. His gigantic commercial struggle\\nwith England was an impossible effort, but it was one\\nwhich distinguished economists have, on a smaller\\nscale, often since endeavored to repeat. Nor is it\\neasy to see, in the absence of an efficient fleet, what\\nother weapon was available with which to attack\\nhis world-wide enemy. Again, the Spanish ex-\\npedition was a blunder in method but not neces-\\nsarily in policy. Louis XIV. had carried out the\\nsame policy with conspicuous success. And Napo-\\nleon could not foresee that a people which had\\nlong supported dynasties so contemptible would\\nrise like one man against his own. Again, the\\n269", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0279.jp2"}, "280": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nRussian expedition was a blunder, but Russia was\\nthe fatal leak in his continental system, and he\\nmight well refuse to believe that the Russia, which\\nhad succumbed after Friedland, would burn her\\nancient capital and her secular shrines rather than\\nagain submit. Again, the contest with the Pope\\nwas a blunder, so grave that some thinkers believe\\nthat it mainly contributed to his fall. But it was\\nthe blunder of the Holy Roman Emperor and most\\nCatholic King, Charles V., who had aspired to add\\nthe sacred crowns of the papacy to his own diadem,\\nand accumulate in his own person all the preroga-\\ntives, secular and divine, of supreme authority.\\nNapoleon s methods towards the Holy See were\\nbrutal, but Charles sacked Rome.\\nWe have no doubt that Napoleon, after bringing\\nRussia into his system, and crippling or crushing\\nGreat Britain, aspired vaguely to becoming in some\\nway Lord Paramount of Europe. We question,\\nhowever, whether the idea ever assumed actual\\nshape, except in regard to the West, or was ever\\nmore than a dream of dominion. He must have\\nknown that he could not bequeath so personal a\\npower to his son, but he probably thought that a\\nmere remnant of his empire would be a rich inherit-\\nance for his posterity. For himself, he would have\\noutstripped those dead rivals who looked back on him\\nfrom the page of history, and lured him on his only\\nrivals, on whom his inner eye was always emulously\\nfixed. And he would have bequeathed a name\\nbefore which all others would pale, and all future\\ngenerations yield unquestioned homage.\\nThere is one question which English people ask\\nabout great men, which one cannot put with regard\\n270", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0280.jp2"}, "281": {"fulltext": "THE END\\nto Napoleon without a sense of incongruity which\\napproaches the grotesque. Was Napoleon a good\\nman? The irresistible smile with which we greet\\nthe question proves, we think, not the proved in-\\niquity, but the exceptional position of this unique per-\\nsonality. Ordinary measures and tests do not ap-\\npear to apply to him. We seem to be trying to span\\na mountain with a tape. In such a creature we ex-\\npect prodigious virtues and prodigious vices, all\\nbe3^ond our standard. We scarcely remember to\\nhave seen this question seriously asked with regard\\nto Napoleon, though Metternich touches on it in a\\nfashion; it seems childish, discordant, superfluous.\\nBut asked nakedly in the ordinary sense, without\\nreference to the circumstances of the time, it can\\nadmit but of one prompt reply. He was not, of\\ncourse, good in the sense that Wilberforce or St.\\nFrancis was good. Nor was he one of the virtuous\\nrulers: he was not a Washington or an Antonine.\\nSomewhere or another he has said that he could\\nnot have achieved what he did had he been religious,\\nand this is undoubtedly true. In England his name\\nwas a synonym for the author of all evil. He was,\\nindeed, in our national judgment, a devil seven times\\nworse than the others. But then we knew nothing\\nat all about him. He, had he been himself asked\\nthe question and understood it, would at once have\\ndiscriminated between the public and the private\\nman. He would have said that private morality\\nhad nothing to do with statecraft, and that state-\\ncraft, if it had a morality at all, had a morality of\\nits own. His own morals, he would have said, and\\nindeed thought, were extremely creditable to so alto-\\ngether exceptional a being. To use a common vul-\\n271", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0281.jp2"}, "282": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST IPHASE\\ngarism, he was not, we think, so black as he is\\npainted. The tone of his age, the accepted and\\nspecial latitude accorded to monarchs in the eigh-\\nteenth century, the circumstances and temptations of\\nhis position must be taken into account. Men must\\njudge men not absolutely but relatively, as they\\nwould themselves be judged. Circumstance, epoch,\\nenvironment, training, temptation, must all be taken\\ninto account if you would test the virtues of man-\\nkind. An abstinent man when starving will choke\\nhimself with a meal from which a glutton would\\nshrink. A temperate man in extreme weakness\\nwill swallow without injury draughts of brandy\\nwhich would drown a drunkard. And so with Na-\\npoleon. His lot was not cast in a monastery or\\nin a pulpit. He came from Corsica a little pagan,\\nviewing the world as his oyster. He was reared in\\nthe life of camps and in the terrors of revolution.\\nHe was raised to rule a nation, which, in the horrors\\nof a great convulsion, had formally renounced and\\npractically abjured Christianity. He had to fight\\nfor his own hand against the whole world. It was\\nbreathless work which gave little time for reflection.\\nWhat he said of religion we have seen. What\\nhe thought of religion we do not know. He grasped,\\nno doubt, its political force. He would have un-\\nderstood the military value of the loyal piety of the\\nTyrolese, or the stern fanaticism of the Covenanters.\\nThat he deemed religion essential to a nation he\\nproved by his bold achievement of the concordat.\\nIt is clear, too, that he thought the same of morality,\\nof the sanctity of the family, of public and even\\nprivate virtue. He was never weary of inculcating\\nthem. But it never even occurred to him that these\\n272", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0282.jp2"}, "283": {"fulltext": "THE END\\nrules were applicable to himself, for he soon re-\\ngarded himself as something apart from ordinary-\\nmen. He did not scruple to avow his conviction.\\nI am not a man like other men/ he would say;\\nthe laws of morality and decorum could not be in-\\ntended to apply to me. He was, it may be fairly-\\nalleged, indulgent and affectionate to his family,\\nparticularly in his first, better years; dutiful to his\\nmother; kind to his early friends. He wished to be\\na good husband according to his lights. He would\\nhave cherished his son had he been allowed. He\\nwas a tender brother in his early years, especially to\\nLouis, who rewarded him by the grossest suspicions\\nof a hypochondriac. He was free from the sordid\\ncares of personal wealth or personal avarice. He\\nwas quick to wrath, but, according to the best and\\nkeenest judges, easily appeased. Always kind,\\npatient, and indulgent, says Meneval. Mme. de\\nRemusat, a hostile and observant chronicler, nar-\\nrates several instances of his consideration and\\ntenderness, as well as of his susceptibility to the\\npleading fondness of Josephine. Mme. de Remusat\\nwitnessed in 1806 a scene of almost hysterical and\\ninsurmountable emotion when Napoleon embraced\\nTalleyrand and Josephine, declaring that it was\\nhard to part from the two people that one loved\\nthe most; and, utterly unable to control himself,\\nfell into strong convulsions. This was no comedy.\\nThere was nothing to gain. It was the sudden and\\npassionate assertion of his heart.\\nBut, it must be admitted, this was an exceptional\\ncase. In the final deteriorated phase of his charac-\\nter there is no trace of friendship. In one or two in-\\nstances he may have felt it. But he had no friends.\\nS 273", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0283.jp2"}, "284": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nDuroc most nearly approached to that intimate char-\\nacter. Napoleon, on assuming the crown, had bade\\nDuroc continue to call him thou, a rare if not a\\nsingular privilege. Duroc he called his conscience.\\nFrom Duroc he was said to have no secrets. But\\nDuroc stood alone. Great masses, who knew him\\nonly in his public capacity, chiefly as a general,\\nadored him to the last. The private soldiers who\\nmarched from France to Waterloo were inspired with\\nan enthusiasm for him which at least equalled that of\\nthe soldiers at Marengo or Austerlitz. But that en-\\nthusiasm diminished in proportion to remoteness from\\nthe rank and file. Officers felt it less in an ascend-\\ning scale, and when the summit was reached it was\\nno longer perceptible. It had long since ceased to\\nbe felt by those who knew the Emperor most inti-\\nmately. Friendship, as we have seen, he had delib-\\nerately discarded as too close a relation for other mor-\\ntals to bear to himself. Many, too, of his early\\nfriends had died on the field of battle, friends such\\nas Lannes, Desaix, and Duroc. But some had sur-\\nvived and left him without ceremony, or even decency.\\nBerthier, his life-long comrade, the messmate of his\\ncampaigns, his confidant, deserted him without a\\nword, and did not blush to become captain of Louis\\nXVIII. s bodyguard. His marshals, the compan-\\nions of his victories, all left him at Fontainebleau,\\nsome with contumely. Ney insulted him in 1814,\\nDavoust in 18 15. Marmont, the petted child of his\\nfavor, conspicuously betrayed him. The loyal Cau-\\nlaincourt found a limit to his devotion at last. Even\\nhis body attendants. Constant and Rustan, the valet\\nwho always tended him, and the Mameluke who\\nslept against his door, abandoned him. It was dif-\\n274", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0284.jp2"}, "285": {"fulltext": "THE END\\nficult to collect a handful of officers to accompany\\nhim to Elba, much more difficult to find a few for St.\\nHelena. The hopeless followers of ungrateful mas-\\nters, the chief mourners of misfortune who haunted\\nthe barren antechambers of the Bourbons and the\\nStuarts, had no counterpart in the exile of Napoleon.\\nWe need not reproach a nation, for that nation found\\nmany faithful adherents for their ancient kings.\\nMoreover, his wife, who left him without a sigh, who\\nwrote, when under his roof, that she was only happy\\nby his side, and who, after his death, wrote that she\\nhad never felt any real affection for him, was an Aus-\\ntrian. We must regretfully attribute this alienation,\\ndiscreditable as it is to the deserters, as more dis-\\ncreditable to Napoleon himself. Bertrand, as we\\nhave seen, who, if alone, can claim the halo of fidel-\\nity, avowed the truth at St. Helena, not in anger,\\nbut in sorrow The Emperor is what he is we can-\\nnot change his character. It is because of that char-\\nacter that he has no friends, that he has so many\\nenemies, and, indeed, that we are at St. Helena.\\nAnd yet we must not distribute this judgment over\\nhis whole career; it applies only to that part of it\\nwhich w^as essentially imperial and partially insane.\\nUntil he chose to make a demigod of himself, and de-\\nliberately cut himself off from humanity, he was\\nkind, generous, and affectionate; at any rate, if\\nthat be too partial a judgment, he was certainly not\\nthe reverse.\\nBut in the full swell of his career it would never\\nhave crossed his mind that these attributes, any more\\nthan veracity or sympathy, had any relation to him.\\nThey were right and proper for others, but for him\\nsomething more or something less was required.\\n275", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0285.jp2"}, "286": {"fulltext": "NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE\\nThey were qualities for mere men and the ordinary-\\nrestraints, hke the ordinary objects, of mere men had\\nceased to have any meaning for him.\\nWas he a great man? That is a much simpler\\nquestion, but it involves definitions. If by great\\nbe intended the combination of moral qualities with\\nthose of intellect, great he certainly was not. But\\nthat he was great in the sense of being extraordi-\\nnary and supreme we can have no doubt. If great-\\nness stands for natural power, for predominance,\\nfor something human beyond humanity, then Na-\\npoleon was assuredly great. Besides that indefina-\\nble spark which we call genius, he represents a com-\\nbination of intellect and energy which has never\\nperhaps been equalled, never, certainly, surpassed.\\nHe carried human faculty to the farthest point of\\nwhich we have accurate knowledge. Alexander is\\na remote prodigy, too remote for precise comparison.\\nTo Caesar the same objection is applicable. Homer\\nand Shakespeare are impersonal names. Besides,\\nwe need for comparison men of action and business.\\nOf all these great figures, it may be said that we do\\nnot know enough. But Napoleon lived under the\\nmodern microscope. Under the fiercest glare of\\nscrutiny he enlarged indefinitely the limits of human\\nconception and human possibility. Till he had lived\\nno one could realize that there could be so stupen-\\ndous a combination of military and civil genius, such\\ncomprehension of view united to such grasp of de-\\ntail, such prodigious vitality of body and mind.\\nHe contracts history, said Mme. d Houdetot,\\nand expands imagination. He has thrown a\\ndoubt, said Lord Dudley, on all past glory; he\\nhas made all future renown impossible. This is\\n276", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0286.jp2"}, "287": {"fulltext": "THE END\\nhyperbole, but with a substance of truth. No name\\nrepresents so completely and conspicuously domin-\\nion, splendor, and catastrophe. He raised himself\\nby the use, and ruined himself by the abuse, of su-\\nperhuman faculties. He was wrecked by the ex-\\ntravagance of his own genius. No less powers than\\nthose which had effected his rise could have achieved\\nhis fall.", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0287.jp2"}, "288": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0288.jp2"}, "289": {"fulltext": "I\\nAPPENDIX\\nI. CAPTAIN MAITLAND\\nNapoleon Bonaparte, when he came on board\\nthe Bellerophon, on the 15th of July, 1815, wanted ex-\\nactly one month of completing his forty-sixth year, being\\nborn the 15th of August, 1769. He was then a remark-\\nably strong, well-built man, about five feet seven inches\\nhigh, his limbs particularly well formed, with a fine\\nankle and very small foot, of which he seemed rather\\nvain, as he always wore while on board the ship silk\\nstockings and shoes. His hands were also very small,\\nand had the plumpness of a woman s rather than the\\nrobustness of a man s. His eyes light gray, teeth good\\nand when he smiled the expression of his countenance\\nwas highly pleasing when under the influence of dis-\\nappointment, however, it assumed a dark, gloomy\\ncast. His hair was of a very dark brown, nearly ap-\\nproaching to black, and, though a little thin on the top\\nand front, had not a gray hair among it. His com-\\nplexion was a very uncommon one, being of a light\\nsallow color, differing from almost any other I ever met\\nwith. From his having become corpulent, he had lost\\nmuch of his personal activity, and, if we are to give credit\\nto those who attended him, a very considerable portion\\nof his mental energy was also gone. His general\\nappearance was that of a man rather older than he then\\nwas. His manners were extremely pleasing and affa-\\nble he joined in every conversation, related numerous\\n279", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0289.jp2"}, "290": {"fulltext": "APPENDIX\\nanecdotes, and endeavored, in every way, to promote\\ngood-humor he even admitted his attendants to great\\nfamiHarity and I saw one or two instances of their con-\\ntradicting him in the most direct terms, though they\\ngenerally treated him with much respect. He possessed,\\nto a wonderful degree, a facility in making a favorable\\nimpression upon those with whom he entered into con-\\nversation: this appeared to me to be accomplished by\\nturning the subject to matters he supposed the person\\nhe was addressing was well acquainted with, and on\\nwhich he could show himself to advantage.\\n2. SENHOUSE\\nJuly 15, 1815.\\nHis person I was very desirous of seeing, and I felt\\ndisappointed. His figure is very bad he is short, with\\na large head, his hands and legs small, and his body so\\ncorpulent as to project very considerably. His coat,\\nmade very plain, as you see it in most prints, from be-\\ning very short in the back, gives his figure a more ridic-\\nulous appearance. His profile is good, and is exactly\\nwhat his busts and portraits represent but his full face\\nis bad. His eyes are a light blue, with a light yellow\\ntinge on the iris, heavy, and totally contrary to what I\\nexpected his teeth are bad but the expression of his\\ncountenance is versatile, and expressive beyond meas-\\nure of the quick and varying passions of the mind. His\\nface at one instant bears the stamp of great good-\\nhumor, and immediately changes to a dark, penetrating,\\nthoughtful scowl, which denotes the character of the\\nthought that excites it.\\n3. BUNBURY\\nJuly 31, 1815.\\nNapoleon appears to be about five feet six inches high.\\nHis make is very stout and muscular. His neck is short,\\n38q", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0290.jp2"}, "291": {"fulltext": "I\\nAPPENDIX\\nand his head rather large; it is particularly square\\nand full about the jaw, and he has a good deal of double\\nchin. He is bald about the temples, and the hair on\\nthe upper part of his head is very thin, but long and\\nragged, looking as if it were seldom brushed. In the\\nmanagement of his limbs Napoleon is ungraceful; but\\nhe used very little gesture, and the carriage of his head\\nis dignified. He is fat, and his belly projects but this\\nis rendered more apparent by the make of his coat, which\\nhas very short lapels turned back, and it is hooked tight\\nover the breast to the pit of the stomach, and is there\\ncut suddenly away, leaving a great display of white\\nwaistcoat. He wore a green uniform with scarlet collar\\nand scarlet edging to the lapels, but without lace or em-\\nbroidery; small gilt buttons, and gold epaulettes. He\\nhad a white neckcloth, white waistcoat and breeches,\\nsilk stockings, and shoes with small gilt buckles. A\\nvery small old-fashioned sword, with a worked gold hilt,\\nwas buckled tight to his hip. He wore the ribbon of the\\nLegion of Honor over his waistcoat, and the star, in sil-\\nver embroidery, on his coat. There were also three very\\nsmall orders hanging together at one of his button-holes.\\nHis hat, which he carried most of the time under his arm,\\nwas rather large, quite plain, and having an extremely\\nsmall tricolor cockade. Napoleon took snuff frequently\\nduring the interview; the box was not showy; it was\\nrather long, and appeared to have four coins or medals\\nset in its top.\\nNapoleon s eyes are gray, the pupils large not much\\neyebrow hair brown complexion sallow, and the flesh\\nsodden. His nose is finely formed, his upper lip very\\nshort, and the mouth beautiful. His teeth are bad\\nand dirty, but he shows them very little. The general\\ncharacter of his countenance was grave and almost mel-\\n281", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0291.jp2"}, "292": {"fulltext": "APPENDIX\\nancholy but no trace of severity or violent passion was\\nallowed to appear. I have seldom seen a man of stronger\\nmake, or better fitted to endure fatigue.\\n4. LADY MALCOLM\\nJune 25, 1816. The following is Lady Malcolm s\\nidea of his figure: His hair of a brown -black, thin\\non the forehead, cropped, but not thin in the neck,\\nand rather a dirty look light blue or gray eyes a ca-\\npacious forehead; high nose; short upper lip; good\\nwhite even teeth, but small (he rarely showed them)\\nround chin; the lower part of his face very full; pale\\ncomplexion; particularly short neck. Otherwise his\\nfigure appeared well proportioned, but had become too\\nfat a thick, short hand, with taper fingers and beauti-\\nful nails, and a well-shaped leg and foot. He was dressed\\nin an old threadbare green coat, with green velvet collar\\nand cuffs silver buttons with a beast engraven upon\\nthem, his habit de chasse (it was buttoned close at the\\nneck) a silver star of the Legion of Honor white waist-\\ncoat and breeches; white silk stockings; and shoes\\nwith oval gold buckles. She was struck with the kind-\\nness of his expression, so contrary to the fierceness she\\nhad expected. She saw no trace of great ability; his\\ncountenance seemed rather to indicate goodness.\\n5. HENRY\\nSept. I, 1817.\\nHe was dressed in a plain dark green uniform coat with-\\nout epaulettes, or anything equivalent, but with the star\\nof the Legion of Honor on the breast, which had an eagle\\nin the centre. The buttons were gold, with the device\\nof a mounted dragoon in high relief. He had on white\\nbreeches and silk stockings, and oval gold buckles in\\n282", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0292.jp2"}, "293": {"fulltext": "APPENDIX\\nhis shoes with a small opera hat under his arm. Na-\\npoleon s first appearance was far from imposing, the\\nstature was short and thick, his head sunk into the shoul-\\nders, his face fat, with large folds under the chin the\\nlimbs appeared to be stout and well proportioned, com-\\nplexion olive, expression sinister, forbidding, and rather\\nscowling. The features instantly reminded us of the\\nprints of him which we had seen. On the whole his gen-\\neral look was more that of an obese Spanish or Portu-\\nguese friar than the hero of modern times.\\nA fascinating prestige, which we had cherished all our\\nlives, then vanished like gossamer in the sun. The\\ngreat Napoleon had merged in an unsightly and obese\\nindividual and we looked in vain for that overwhelming\\npower of eye and force of expression, which we had been\\ntaught to expect by a delusive imagination.\\nTHE END", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0293.jp2"}, "294": {"fulltext": "LBJe 08\\nC 768", "height": "2959", "width": "1671", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0294.jp2"}, "295": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0295.jp2"}, "296": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0296.jp2"}, "297": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0297.jp2"}, "298": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2919", "width": "1666", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0298.jp2"}, "299": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2915", "width": "1641", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0299.jp2"}, "300": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3096", "width": "1853", "jp2-path": "napoleonlastphas00rose_0300.jp2"}}