  1.Note by M.B.C.—Bonaparte attached a high value to the proofs that his return was not effected by military manoeuvres. I am sorry that I have not by me six pages which he had written or dictated on this subject, and which he had carefully corrected. He put them into my hands at the time of the communication referred to here. He desired that I would reply to Lord Castlereagh, who, in a speech in parliament, had attributed all his success to the army. Not choosing to write at all, till I had ascertained that it was not a despot that I was restoring to France, I declined this task; and, in 1815, I entrusted the sketch which Napoleon had given me to one of my friends, who set out for England, and from whom I have hitherto neglected to get it back again. It was written with much warmth; it contained expressions singular, but powerful, a great rapidity of thought, and some strokes of real eloquence. 2.This event took place in the presence of twenty-two persons:—The Emperor.—Dubois, Corvisart, Bourdier and Ivan.—Madames de Montebello, de Lucay, and de Montesquiou. The six first ladies:—Ballant, Deschamps, Durant, Hureau, Nabusson, and Gerard. Five ladies of the bed-chamber.—Mademoiselles HonorÉ, Edouard, Barbier, Aubert, and Geoffroy. The Keeper;—Madame Blaise, and two maids of the wardrobe. 3.In an interesting work published some years since relative to the return from Elba, there is this passage: “When young Napoleon came into the world, he was supposed to be dead; he had neither warmth, motion, nor respiration. Repeated efforts were made to produce signs of life, when the hundred guns destined to proclaim his birth were successively fired. The commotion and shock which they occasioned acted so powerfully on the organs of the royal infant as to bring him to his senses.” 4.It is a singular fact that the person from whom I had this information on agriculture, in Languedoc, was the identical M. de VillÈle, who has since become celebrated. 5.One day at Longwood running over the list of the senators who had signed the deposition, one of us pointed out the name of M. de Valence, signed as secretary. But another explained that this signature was false, that M. de Valence had complained of it, and protested against it. “It is very true,” said the Emperor, “I know it; he has behaved well; Valence was true to the nation.” 6.See the plan of Longwood. 7.I have since learned that this watch, the faithful companion of his wonderful achievements during the Campaigns in Italy and Egypt, has passed into the hands of the Grand Marshal.—The Emperor complained that his watch did not go, or that it went ill; and we had in vain endeavoured to get it set to rights: when one day, looking at a watch which General Bertrand had just received from the Cape, he said: 8.Time, which explains all things, has shewn the little springs which brought about one of our greatest catastrophes. I received the following particulars from one who acted a part in the events of the day:— On hearing that Napoleon had arrived at the ElysÉe from Waterloo, FouchÉ flew to the dissatisfied and suspicious Members of the Chambers exclaiming, “To arms! He has returned desperate, and is about to dissolve the Chambers and seize the dictatorship. We cannot endure the restoration of tyranny.” He then hastened to the best friends of Napoleon. “Are you aware,” said he, “what a terrible fermentation has risen up against the Emperor among certain deputies? We can only save Napoleon by facing them boldly, by showing them the full power of our party, and how easily the Chambers may be dissolved.” The friends of Napoleon, easily duped in this sudden crisis, failed not to follow, perhaps even to overstep, the suggestions of FouchÉ, who now returned to the distrustful party and said, 9.Since my return to Europe, I have been assured that there exist two notes, written in pencil by the Emperor Alexander, urgently soliciting that he might be allowed to pass. If this be true, what a singular vicissitude of fortune presents itself! The magnanimous Conqueror was doomed to perish in captivity, far from Europe, and separated from his family; and this too, in the name of the conquered party, to whose prayers he had so generously listened. 10.On reading this reflection of Napoleon’s, an officer in the confidence of Admiral Villeneuve wrote to me that the letter of DecrÈs to that Admiral before the arrival of M. de Rosilly, appointed to supersede him, concluded thus;—"Sail as soon as you find a favourable opportunity: do not shun the enemy; on the contrary attack him wherever you fall in with him, since the Emperor cares little about losing ships, so he loses them with honour." This letter was the only one which the officer in question saved from the Admiral’s portfolio, before he threw it into the sea, at the moment of striking the flag. 11.I must however confess that my opinion is likely to be erroneous, if, as I have been informed, the statements of the registers in France, since the introduction of the equalization of punishments, when compared with those drawn up during a similar interval under the old penal laws, present a diminution in the number of criminals. 12.I was sorry to find, on perusing the Doctor’s work, that he has totally neglected the observations and corrections with which I furnished him; and has strangely misrepresented the particulars which I communicated. 13.This story is positively contradicted. It appears that a fondness for the marvellous produced this fable. 14.I have been assured that this circumstance is erroneous, and that relative to Prince EugÈne inaccurate. 15.I received from the mouth of the Prince Primate some curious details concerning Josephine’s marriage and divorce. Madame de Beauharnais was married to General Buonaparte, by a non-juring priest, who, by mere accident, had neglected to procure the requisite authority from the curate of the parish. This, or some other informality in the marriage, afterwards occupied the attention of Cardinal Fesch; and, whether from his own scruples or otherwise, he succeeded at the time of the coronation in persuading the Emperor and Empress to be married over again by him, privately; or at least to go over as much of the ceremony as he thought necessary. At the divorce, the civil separation was pronounced by the Senate. With regard to the religious separation, the Emperor would not apply to the Pope, and there was no necessity for so doing. Cardinal Fesch having re-married the parties without witnesses, the Officiality of Paris declared that no marriage had taken place. On this judgment being delivered, the Empress Josephine summoned Cardinal Fesch to Malmaison, and asked him whether he could bear witness and sign a declaration that she had been married and lawfully married. “Doubtless,” replied the Cardinal, “I can bear testimony to the fact, and will sign the declaration,” which he accordingly did. “But,” said I to the Prince Primate, “what judgment was pronounced by the Officiality of Paris?”—"The only proper one," replied the Prince.—"What then became of the declaration of Cardinal Fesch? was it false?"—"Not in his opinion," said the Prince. “He had acted upon the Italian doctrine, by which Cardinals assume the right of marrying without witnesses, which however is not recognised in France, where a marriage is thereby rendered null.” It appears, however, that Josephine required this declaration only for her own satisfaction, and that she never made any other use of it. 16.How justly did the Emperor paint his mother’s character! On my return to Europe I was delighted to witness the literal confirmation of all that he had said respecting her. As soon as I disclosed to Madame MÈre the Emperor’s real situation, and declared my resolution to exert all my efforts to alleviate his misery, the answer returned to me by the courier was, that her whole fortune was at her son’s disposal, and that she would earn her livelihood if necessary by going to service. She at the same time, authorised me, though I was not personally known to her, to draw immediately in her name for any sum that I might think necessary for the Emperor’s use. Cardinal Fesch also tendered his services in the most affectionate way; and I must take this opportunity of mentioning that all the different members of the Emperor’s family evinced equal love, zeal, and devotedness. So long as my health permitted me to keep up a correspondence with them, I received a multitude of letters, which form altogether a most interesting collection. They reflect honour on the hearts of the writers, and they would have proved a source of consolation to the Emperor, had the restrictions of the English government permitted me to submit them to his perusal. 17.The Emperor had been informed that two or three of the widows of his most distinguished generals had lately re-married. This, however, is untrue. 18.Essai sur les Revolutions Anciennes et ModÉrnes. 19.Professor of Natural History. 20.I have been since told that part of these jokes had nothing to do with Le Tourneur, but related to a man of the name of Letourneux, who was a Minister about that time. 21.The oriflamme was a flag which was carried before the kings of France. 22.We who have been at St. Helena, we who have seen and been concerned in the facts alleged by Lord Bathurst, before the parliament of Great Britain, we all can affirm, before God and man, that the British Ministers have on that occasion fully deserved the just reproaches which they incurred at the time of Lord Whitworth. Many Englishmen, who were then at St. Helena, have acknowledged it to us, and have confessed that they blushed for their country!! 23.The “Memoires de Napoleon” (published at Paris by Bossange, in 1823) contain notes by the Emperor on a history of St. Domingo, which furnish precise and curious particulars respecting the expedition against that colony, the causes which led to the undertaking, to its failure, &c. 24.Flax is actually now spun like cotton at Verviers and Liege. 25.Napoleon, in his will, has given proof of this sentiment by a bequest in favour of Baron Duthiel, his old chief of artillery, or his children, “as a token of gratitude,” so he wrote with his own hand, “for the attention which that brave general paid to us, when, as lieutenant and captain, we were under his command.” 26.The author seems not to be aware that this is the very attempt to which he had just adverted.—Translator. 27.Since this was said, the great victim has fallen. I, his servant, saw his torments begin; others have communicated to me his last sufferings and protracted agonies. He expired! His enemies never ceased to strike him, in the name of the Prince! This immortal victim accordingly left with his own hand, these dreadful words: “I bequeath the infamy of my death to the reigning family of England!” 28.Director of a theatre at Paris, similar to Astley’s here. Transcriber’s Note Certain conventions of the text have been modified. For instance, a series of dots (....) were employed where a name was elided. These have been replaced with long dashes (———) in order to avoid awkward line breaks. Given the publication date, spelling has been generally allowed to stand as printed. But errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected, and are noted here. There were a number of instances in the text where quoted words were missing either an opening or closing quotation mark. The proper placement is not always obvious, but the most plausible choice has been made. The paragraph beginning at the foot of p. 294 was particularly obscure and has been left to the reader to decipher. The issues tabulated below should be noted, along with the resolutions. The references below are to the page and line in the original.
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