1. These remarks of Napoleon are confirmed by the following:—

“Sir,—A work by M. Koch, entitled “Campagne de 1814,” contains several fragments of letters written by me to the Emperor and to the Prince of NeufchÂtel, during the sitting of the Congress at Chatillon.

“I think it incumbent on me to declare that this correspondence has been obtained and published without my knowledge. The high sources whence the author affirms he has derived his materials confers a degree of historical importance on his work; and therefore in so far as I am concerned, I cannot allow myself to sanction, by my silence, the errors it contains. Most of the details relative to the negotiations which took place subsequently to the 31st of March, are incorrect.

“With regard to the Congress of Chatillon, if events have justified the desire I entertained for the establishment of peace, it would be wrong to withhold from France and history the motives of national interest and honour which prevented the Emperor from subscribing to the conditions which foreigners wished to impose on us.

“I therefore fulfil the first of duties, that of acting justly and candidly, in developing these motives, by the following extract from the Emperor’s orders to me.

“.... The point on which the Emperor most urgently insists is the necessity of France retaining her natural limits: this is my sine qua non. All the powers of Europe, even England, acknowledged these limits at Frankfort. France, if reduced to her old limits, would not now possess two thirds of the relative power which she had twenty years ago. The territory she has acquired in the direction of the Rhine does not balance what Russia, Prussia, and Austria have acquired merely by the dismemberment of Poland; all these states have increased in magnitude. To restore France to her old limits would be to humble and degrade her. France without the departments of the Rhine, without Belgium, Ostend, and Antwerp, would be nothing. The plan of limiting France to her old frontiers is inseparable from the restoration of the Bourbons; for they alone can offer a guarantee for the maintenance of such a system. England knows this; with any other government, peace on such a basis would be impossible, and could not endure. Neither the Emperor nor the Republic (should revolution again restore it), would ever subscribe to such a condition. As far as regards his Majesty, his determination is irrecoverably fixed: he will not leave France less than he found her. Should the Allies wish to alter the bases that have been proposed and accepted,—namely, that France should preserve her natural limits, the Emperor finds only three courses open to him: to fight and conquer; to fight and perish gloriously; or, finally, if the nation should not support him, to abdicate. The Emperor attaches but little importance to sovereignty; he will never purchase it by degradation.”

“I hope. Sir, that your impartiality will induce you to grant this letter a place in your Journal, and I take this opportunity of presenting to you assurances of my respect,” &c.

2. I had but one copy of it at St. Helena, and this was constantly in his bed-room. If I happened to fetch it for reference, or to make corrections, it was asked for again almost immediately. At the moment of my departure, Count Bertrand begged me to leave it him, for the instruction of his children. He has since told me that he could never use it. The Emperor took entire possession of it, and when in his last moments, he pointed out the books which were to be selected from his private library for his Son, the Atlas was among them. If I could not refrain from mentioning such a signal mark of approbation, I hope I shall be forgiven.

3. Since my return to Europe, some Letters from St. Helena have been published, in which the above anecdotes are related, almost word for word. This and other circumstances induced me to make some inquiry respecting the publication; and I am enabled to affirm that, though anonymous, its contents are derived from the most authentic sources, and are entitled to full credit.

4. This was written in 1816, before those events took place in India, by which the subjection of the whole peninsula seems to have been accomplished.

5.

6. On this very subject, Napoleon thus expressed himself: “The presence of the General is indispensable; he is the head, he is the whole of an army. It was not the Roman army that subdued Gaul, but CÆsar; it was not the Carthaginian army that made the Republic tremble at the gates of Rome, but Hannibal; it was not the Macedonian army that was on the Indus, but Alexander; it was not the French army that carried the war to the Weser and the Inn, but Turenne; it was not the Prussian army that for seven years defended Prussia against the greatest powers of Europe, but Frederick the Great.”Great.” (Memoires de Napoleon, tom. 2. p. 90.)

7. So important a determination, as that of the future abandonment of Italy, thus pronounced for the first time, and in a manner so indifferent, without the development of any object, or the support of any proof, would be, I confess, entitled to no higher consideration, than the assertions that are so frequently hazarded and excused in the warmth of conversation. But time and intimacy have taught me that every declaration made by Napoleon, under such circumstances, carried along with it its full, whole, and literal meaning. I have always found this to be the case whenever I have had the means of verification. I make this observation, lest the reader should also be led to doubt, too hastily, without obtaining, or, at least, without seeking for proof.

I now find, for example, in vol. i. of Napoleon’s Memoirs, dictated to Count Montholon, so complete and satisfactory a confirmation of the remark which I collected from the Emperor’s conversation at St. Helena, that I cannot refrain from transcribing it.

The passage is as follows:—

“It was Napoleon’s desire to create anew the Italian Nation, and to re-unite the Venetians, Milanese, Piedmontese, Genoese, Tuscans, Parmesans, Modenese, Romans, Neapolitans, Sicilians, and Sardinians, in one independent nation, bounded by the Alps and the Adriatic, the Ionian, and the Mediterranean seas: such was the immortal trophy he was raising to his glory! This great and powerful kingdom would have been, by land, a check to the House of Austria; whilst, by sea, its fleets, combined with those of Toulon, would have ruled the Mediterranean, and protected the old course of trade to India, by the Red Sea and Suez. Rome, the capital of this state, was the eternal city; covered by the three barriers of the Alps, the Po, and the Apennines; nearer than any other to the three great Islands. But Napoleon had many obstacles to surmount. He said, at the Consultum of Lyons, It will take me twenty years to re-establish the Italian Nation.

“There were three impediments to this grand design; first, the possessions of Foreign Powers in Italy; secondly, the influence of locality; and, thirdly, the residence of the Popes at Rome.

“Scarcely ten years had elapsed, from the date of the Consultum of Lyons, before the first obstacle was entirely removed. Foreign Powers no longer possessed any portion of Italy; which was entirely under the immediate influence of the Emperor. The destruction of the Republic of Venice, the deposition of the King of Sardinia and of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, the annexation of Saint Peter’s patrimony to the Empire, had set aside the second obstacle. As founders, who have to transform several guns of small calibre into one forty-eight pounder, first throw them all into the furnace to reduce them to a state of fusion, so the small States had been united to Austria and France, that they might be reduced to an elementary state, freed from their old recollections and pretensions, and thus prepared for re-casting. The Venetians having been annexed to the Austrian Monarchy, had for several years experienced the bitterness of subjection to the Germans. When these people should have been restored to an Italian Government, they would have cared little whether their city was to be the capital of Italy, or whether their government was to be more or less aristocratic. A similar change would have taken place in Piedmont, Genoa, and Rome, which had all been disorganized by the change of the French Empire.

“There were now no Venetians, Piedmontese, or Tuscans: the inhabitants of the whole Peninsula were only Italians. All was prepared for forming the great Italian Nation. The Grand Duchy of Berg was vacant for the dynasty which, for the time, occupied the throne of Naples. The Emperor impatiently awaited the birth of a second son, to crown him King of Italy; and to proclaim the independence of the beautiful Peninsula, under the Regency of Prince Eugene.”

8. Among others, Baron Stassard, in whose well known fidelity Napoleon reposed such confidence, that he sent him to the Congress of Vienna, to negotiate for the maintenance of the peace of Paris. But the Baron was unfortunately prevented from proceeding farther than Lintz; the most furious and inveterate in the Allied Cabinets having adopted the precaution of securing the absolute prohibition of all communication with Napoleon. It was, however, indirectly intimated to Baron Stassard, that if, before the commencement of hostilities, the Emperor chose to abdicate in favour of his son, Austria would accede to that condition, provided Napoleon would surrender himself into the hands of his father-in-law, who would again guarantee to him the sovereignty of the Isle of Elba, or any analogous sovereignty.

9. Baron Fain, first cabinet secretary to Napoleon, has published a volume entitled, The Manuscript of 1814. This work presents an animated and interesting detail of the important but imperfectly known events of the period, and in particular of the short but immortal campaign of 1814. It is an episode of miracles, in which Napoleon throughout appears supernatural in the resources of genius, the energy of mind, the celerity of motion, the steadiness of views, and the sublimity of courage, which he there evinced. Nothing can be compared with the prodigies he performed, except indeed the indefatigable ardour of a handful of brave men, who, as if strangers to the wants of nature, when deprived of food and rest, seemed to multiply before the enemy’s legions, were incessantly engaged, and always victorious.

Baron Fain has presented us with a record of national glory, and he is justly entitled to the gratitude of his countrymen. In his picture of war, confusion and trouble, the characteristic traits of the mind and heart of Napoleon frequently shine forth with lustre. To me, who have especially devoted my attention to these latter objects, it is peculiarly gratifying, while at the same time, it must be curious to all readers to trace the correspondence between details recorded by two men, total strangers to each other, and alluding to periods and circumstances wholly distinct.

10. The Emperor departed from Fontainebleau on the 20th of April, 1814, escorted by a party of horse grenadiers. Count Bertrand was with him in the carriage.

On the evening of the 20th, he reached Briare.

On the 21st, he arrived at Nevers.

On the 22nd, at Rouanne.

On the 23rd, at Lyons.

On the 24th, at Montelimart.

On the 25th, at Orgon.

On the 26th, he slept near Luc.

On the 27th, at Frejus.

On the 28th, at eight in the evening, he embarked on board the English Frigate, The Undaunted, commanded by Captain Usher.

11. A friend of mine, travelling in Germany, assures me that he received from the commander of the Russian parks, several years after the event, a confirmation of the accuracy of the assertion contained in the above proclamation.

12. It is worthy of remark that Marshal Ney does not here take the title of Prince of the Moskowa, from delicacydelicacy to the Emperor Alexander.

13. Austrian Observer, 1817 or 1818.

14. MontvÉran’s Historie critique et raisonnÉeraisonnÉe

15. Lord Castlereagh actually had the assurance to make this declaration, and nearly in the words above quoted, during a debate in Parliament, relative to the Constitution of Baden or Bavaria.

16. I have been informed that, since my departure, the Emperor, reading the complaints of the Ionian Islands, and indignantly enumerating the acts of the Allies, who, while they talked loudly about morality, justice, and the independence of nations, vied with each other in appropriating to themselves the wrecks of the Great Empire, and scrupled not to parcel out millions of people,—said, “These insolent and hypocritical men presumed, in the face of the world, to declare that I was selfish, faithless and tyrannical!”

On learning the fate of unfortunate Parga, he exclaimed, “Parga! Parga! Certainly, this act is enough to brand a man and mark his forehead for ever!”

17. This idea again occurs in the last lines written by Napoleon before his death.

18. A man of great understanding and information, who had enjoyed much of the Emperor’s confidence, and had had a great deal to do with the Emperor directly, said to me, after the first abdication, with the appearance of intimate conviction, that Napoleon’s plan had been to abandon Paris, after he should have completed his conquests, and to make Rome the capital of the Empire. I had, at that time, so little knowledge of the Emperor that this intelligence staggered me; but now I cannot help inquiring where my informant could have got this idea?

19. It is well known to how many different versions, to how many various conjectures, this sad event gave rise.

20. A Royalist.

21. A man of the revolutionary party.

22. See Letters from the Cape.

23. Mr. O’Meara’s work informs me, after a lapse of six years, that I had guessed precisely the Emperor’s feeling on this occasion.

24. “This letter is similar to eight or ten others, which you have written to the same person, and which you have sent unsealed. The Governor having had the indelicacy to pry into the expressions which you confide to friendship, has latterly reproached you with them, threatening to send you out of the island, if your letters continued to be the bearers of complaints against him. He has thus violated the first duty of his situation, the first article of his instructionsinstructions, the first sentiment of honour; he has thus authorized you to seek for means to open your heart to your friends, and inform them of the guilty conduct of this Governor. But you have been very simple; your confidence has been easily beguiled!

“A pretext was wanting to seize upon your papers; but your letter to your friend in London could not authorize a visit from the police to you; since it contained no plot, no mystery: since it was only the expression of a heart noble and sincere. The illegal and precipitate conduct observed on this occasion bears the stamp of a base feeling of personal animosity.

“In countries the least civilized, exiles, prisoners, and even criminals, are under the protection of the laws and of the magistrates; those persons who are intrustedintrusted with the keeping of them have superior officers in the administration who watch over them. On this rock, the man who makes the most absurd regulations, executes them with violence, and transgresses all laws; there is nobody to check the outrages of his passions.

“The Prince Regent can never be informed of the acts carried on under his name; they have refused to forward my letters to him; they have, in a violent manner, sent back the complaints made by Count Montholon; and Count Bertrand has since been informed that no letters would be received if they continued to be libellous as they had hitherto been.

“Longwood is surrounded by a mystery which it is sought to render impenetrable, in order to conceal a guilty line of conduct which is calculated to create a suspicion of the most criminal intentions!!!

“By reports insidiously circulated, it is endeavoured to deceive the officers, the travellers, the inhabitants, of this island, and even the agents whom, it is said, Austria and Russia have sent hither. No doubt the English Government is deceived, in like manner, by artful and false representations.

“They have seized your papers, amongst which, they know there were some belonging to me, without the least formality, in the room next to mine, with a ferocious eclat and manifestation of joy. I was informed of it a few moments afterwards, and looked from the window, when I saw that they were hurrying you away. A numerous staff was prancing round the house; me thought I saw the inhabitants of the Pacific Ocean dancing round the prisoner whom they are about to devour.”

25. “There is in this country a German botanist, who has been here for the last six months, and who saw them in the gardens of Shoenbruna, a few months before his departure. The barbarians have carefully prevented him from coming to give me any news respecting them.”

26. “The last moments of which will be an opprobrium to the English name; and Europe will one day stigmatize with horror that perfidious and wicked man; all true Englishmen will disown him as Briton.”

27. This letter was written by one of Napoleon’s suite; but the Emperor himself, with his own hand, marked the punctuation. I have mentioned in a former part of my Journal that, in his writing, the Emperor was perfectly careless of orthography; yet it is singular that, in the letter here alluded to, he has himself corrected the slightest errors.

28. I must here introduce a correction respecting General Gourgaud. It was, by mistake, mentioned in the early part of this work that General Gourgaud negotiated for permission to proceed to St. Helena. He was one of the individuals selected by the Emperor.

29. Chance has thrown in my way a document, which affords a decided proof of the manner in which Lord Charles Somerset acted. I have now in my possession a duplicate of a letter from Mr. Goulburn, the Under Secretary of State, addressed to Madame Las Cases, at Paris, and dated February 21st, 1817. The letter states that Mr. Goulburn is commissioned, by Lord Bathurst, to inform Madame Las Cases of the departure of her husband from St. Helena for the Cape; and that, in case he should determine on returning to Europe, he might be expected about the month of May. Yet I did not leave the Cape until three months later, namely, about the end of August! Thus it would appear that Lord Bathurst had no intention of detaining me there; and that Lord Charles Somerset, instead of executing the orders of the English Minister, merely obeyed the suggestions of Sir Hudson Lowe. I certainly have no reason to suppose that Lord Bathurst would, in the slightest degree, regret this irregularity, however fatal it might be to me. But, if I know any thing of the character of Lord Charles, I am sure he must have been sorry for it. Being fully persuaded of this, I sincerely forgive him for the treatment I experienced.

30. See the Letter from the Emperor Napoleon to Count Las Cases, after his removal from Longwood.

31. Letter from Count Montholon in answer to Sir Hudson Lowe.

32. Similar letters had been addressed to the Emperor of Austria and to the King of Prussia, varied only in some particulars, as the individual circumstances of these Princes respectively required.

33. Unless this should be what a Minister intended to allude to in the British Parliament, on the 14th May, 1818. Endeavouring to justify the persecutions exercised against Count de Las Cases, he said that he had been found out in an attempt to establish a correspondence in Europe through the medium of England. But the noble Lord only made the assertion orally, and refused to exhibit the official documents that would have afforded a proof of it. An opinion may be formed on this subject from this latter circumstance.

34. This letter was only made public a year after it had been written; the motive which led to its publication has already been seen, and will be further explained in the sequel of these pages.

35. The Statement of the Grievances of Longwood, addressed to Sir Hudson Lowe.

36. All solicitations in this respect with the English Ministry have proved vain. This demand, frequently repeated, remains without an answer, or has produced only a refusal; as may be particularly seen in one of the letters in this collection.

37. This letter was put into the post at Vienna. I know not whether it ever reached its destination; but most probably it did not.

38. A similar letter was addressed to the Emperor Alexander, and the King of Prussia.

39. See those letters in the sequel of these pages.

40. Experience seems to have proved too clearly that there existed more knowledge of mankind at Longwood than in the Frankfort correspondent.

41. See these letters in the following pages.

42. We have thought it right to insert here this letter, because it affords additional details respecting the interior of Longwood, and adds new features to all that has been said of its real situation.

43. It has been thought necessary to introduce here the following letters of Count de Las Cases; 1.—Because they are alluded to in the preceding letter from Count Bertrand, and help to complete the sense and understanding of it; 2.—Because they evince the candour and good faith with which this correspondence with Longwood was carried on; 3.—In short, because they enable the reader to give its due value to the extraordinary assertion of Mr. Goulburn, who, whilst he received these letters, and acknowledged with courtesy the receipt of them, nevertheless ventured to affirm in the House of Commons, on a certain occasion, that the author’s expressions were always clothed in language admitting of a twofold interpretation. How can a man of candour, such as the person to whom the aforesaid letters were addressed, who had received, and must have read my letter to Lord Bathurst particularly, take upon himself to assert that the author’s expressions were always given in language that admitted of a double interpretation? Surely, Mr. Goulburn must be very fastidious in point of explicit and positive meaning, or else he does not understand French. But has he read? Has he misunderstood? Did he wish to misunderstand, and, in imitation of Lord Bathurst, may he not, like his noble patron, on the occasion of his famous denials to Lord Holland in the House of Peers, have founded his arguments not upon what really existed, but upon what appeared to his advantage? The communication of these letters is made chiefly from the necessity of enabling every one to judge of the degree of credit which is due to Mr. Goulburn’s assertion. That they were not intended to be made public is sufficiently evident from the careless and unaffected style in which they are written.

44. Colonel Planat, who had accompanied us as far as Plymouth, and who had lately obtained leave to repair to St. Helena himself.

45. A similar letter was addressed to the other Allied Sovereigns, with slight appropriate alterations.

46. Speech of Lord Holland. Pilot of the 3rd of August, 1822.

47. A room in which dead bodies lie in state.

48. Weakness.

49. They were to carry the coffin, when the bad state of the roads should prevent the hearse from advancing.

50. A velvet hat, with a flat crown, and brims turned up.