The Life of Napoleon I Part 80

[Footnote 549: Gourgaud, "Journal," vol. i., p. 64.]

[Footnote 550: "Last Voyages," p. 130.]

[Footnote 551: "Castlereagh Papers," 3rd series, vol. ii., pp. 423, 433, 505; Seeley's "Stein," vol. iii., pp. 333-344.]

[Footnote 552: See Gourgaud's "Journal," vol. ii., p. 315, for Napoleon's view as to our stupidity then: "In their place I would have stipulated that I alone could sail and trade in the eastern seas. It is ridiculous for them to leave Batavia (Java) to the Dutch and L'Ile de Bourbon to the French."]

[Footnote 553: Forsyth, "Captivity of Napoleon," vol. i., p. 218.

Plantation House was also the centre of the semaph.o.r.es of the island.]

[Footnote 554: Mrs. Abell ("Betsy" Balcombe), "Recollections," ch.

vii. These were compiled twenty-five years later, and are not, as a rule, trustworthy, but the "blindman's buff" is named by Glover.

Balcombe later on infringed the British regulations, along with O'Meara.]

[Footnote 555: Gourgaud, "Journal," vol. i., pp. 77, 94, 136, 491.]

[Footnote 556: Gourgaud, "Journal," vol. i., pp. 135, 298. See too "Cornhill" for January, 1901.]

[Footnote 557: Surgeon Henry of the 66th, in "Events of a Military Life," ch. xxviii., writes that he found side by side at Plantation House the tea shrub and the English golden-pippin, the bread-fruit tree and the peach and plum, the nutmeg overshadowing the gooseberry.

In ch. x.x.xi. he notes the humidity of the uplands as a drawback, "but the inconvenience is as nothing compared with the comfort, fertility, and salubrity which the clouds bestow." He found that the soldiers enjoyed far better health at Deadwood Camp, behind Longwood, than down in Jamestown.]

[Footnote 558: Despatch of Jan. 12th, 1816, in Colonial Office, St.

Helena, No. 1.]

[Footnote 559: Lord Rosebery ("Napoleon: last Phase," p. 67), following French sources, a.s.signs the superiority of force to Lowe; but the official papers published by Forsyth, vol. i., pp. 397-416, show that the reverse was the case. Lowe had 1,362 men; the French, about 3,000.]

[Footnote 560: From a letter in the possession of Miss Lowe.]

[Footnote 561: Forsyth, vol. i., pp. 139-147.]

[Footnote 562: See the interview in "Monthly Rev.," Jan., 1901.]

[Footnote 563: Bingham's Diary in "Cornhill" for Jan., 1901; Gourgaud, vol. i., pp. 152, 168.]

[Footnote 564: Forsyth, vol. i., pp. 171-177.]

[Footnote 565: Lowe's version (Forsyth, vol. i., pp. 247-251) is fully borne out by Admiral Malcolm's in Lady Malcolm's "Diary of St.

Helena," pp. 55-65; Gourgaud was not present.]

[Footnote 566: B. Jackson's "Waterloo and St. Helena," pp. 90-91. The a.s.sertion in the article on B. Jackson, in the "Dict. of Nat.

Biography," that he was related to Lowe, and therefore partial to him, is incorrect. Miss Lowe a.s.sures me that he did not see her father before the year 1815.]

[Footnote 567: "Mems. of a Highland Lady," p. 459.]

[Footnote 568: In "Blackwood's," Oct., 1896, and "Cornhill," Jan., 1901. I cannot accept Sturmer's hostile verdict on Lowe as that of an impartial witness. The St. Helena Records show that Sturmer persisted in evading the Governor's regulations by secretly meeting the French Generals. He was afterwards recalled for his irregularities. Balmain, the Russian, and Montchenu, the French Commissioner, are fair to him.

The latter constantly pressed Lowe _to be stricter with Napoleon_! See M. Firmin-Didot's edition of Montchenu's reports in "La Captivite de Ste. Helene," especially App. iii. and viii.]

[Footnote 569: "Waterloo and St. Helena," p. 104.]

[Footnote 570: Lowe had the "Journal" copied out when it came into his hands in Dec., 1816. This pa.s.sage is given by Forsyth, vol. i., p. 5, and by Seaton, "Sir H. Lowe and Napoleon," p. 52.]

[Footnote 571: An incident narrated to the present writer by Sir Hudson Lowe's daughter will serve to show how anxious was his supervision of all details and all individuals on the island. A British soldier was missed from the garrison; and as this occurred at the time when Napoleon remained in strict seclusion, fear was felt that treachery had enabled him to make off in the soldier's uniform.

The mystery was solved a few days after, when a large shark was caught near the sh.o.r.e, and on its being cut open the remains of the soldier were found!

It should be remembered that Lowe prevailed on the slave-owners of the island to set free the children of slaves born there on and after Christmas Day, 1818.]

[Footnote 572: Quoted by Forsyth, vol. i., p. 289. This letter of course finds no place in O'Meara's later malicious production, "A Voice from St. Helena"; the starvation story is there repeated _as if it were true_!--That Napoleon was fastidious to the last is proved by the archives of our India Office, which contain the entry (Dec. 11th, 1820): "The storekeeper paid in the sum of 105 on account of 48 dozen of champagne rejected by General Bonaparte" (Sir G. Birdwood's "Report on the Old Records of the India Office," p. 97).]

[Footnote 573: Forsyth, vol. i., pp. 330-343, 466-475.]

[Footnote 574: I have quoted this _in extenso_ in "The Owens College Historical Essays." May not the words "domiciled" and "employed" have aroused Lowe's suspicions of Balcombe and O'Meara? Napoleon always said that he did not wish to escape, and hoped only for a change of Ministry in England. But what responsible person could trust his words after Elba, where he repeatedly told Campbell that he had done with the world and was a dead man?]

[Footnote 575: Forsyth, vol. i., p. 310, vol. ii., p. 142, vol. iii., pp. 151, 250; Montholon, "Captivity of Napoleon," vol. iii., ch. v.; Firmin-Didot, App. vi. The schemes named by Forsyth are ridiculed by Lord Rosebery ("Last Phase," p. 103). But would he have ignored them, had he been in Bathurst's place?]

[Footnote 576: Gourgaud, "Journal," vol. i., p. 105.]

[Footnote 577: He said to Gourgaud that, _if he had the whole island for exercise he would not go out_ (Gourgaud's "Journal," vol. ii., p.

299).]

[Footnote 578: Gourgaud's "Journal," vol. i., pp. 262-270, 316. Yet Montholon ("Captivity of Napoleon," vol. i., ch. xiii.), afterwards wrote of Las Cases' departure: "_We all loved the well-informed and good man, whom we had pleasure in venerating as a Mentor.... He was an immense loss to us!_"]

[Footnote 579: Gourgaud, vol. i., p. 278; Forsyth, vol. i., pp.

381-384, vol. ii., p. 74. Bonaparte wanted this "Journal" to be given back to him: but Las Cases would not hear of this, as it contained "_ses pensees_." It was kept under seal until Napoleon's death, and then restored to the compiler.]

[Footnote 580: Henry, vol. ii., p. 48; B. Jackson, pp. 99-101; quoted by Seaton, pp. 159-162.]

[Footnote 581: Forsyth, vol. iii., p. 40; Gourgaud's "Journal," vol.

ii., pp. 531-537.]

[Footnote 582: "Apostille" of April 27th, 1818. As to the new house, see Forsyth, vol. i., pp. 212, 270; vol. iii., pp. 51,257; it was ready when Napoleon's illness became severe (Jan., 1821).

If the plague of rats was really very bad, why is it that Gourgaud made so little of it?]

[Footnote 583: "Journal" of Oct. 4th, 1817. On the return voyage to England Mme. Bertrand told Surgeon Henry that secret letters had constantly pa.s.sed between Longwood and England, through two military officers; but the pa.s.sage above quoted shows who was the culprit.]

[Footnote 584: Forsyth, vol. iii., pp. 153, 178-181.]

[Footnote 585: Sturmer's "Report" of March 14th, 1818; Gourgaud's "Journal" of Sept. 11th and 14th, 1817.]

[Footnote 586: Described by Bertrand to Lowe on May 12th, 1821 ("St.

Helena Records," No. 32).]

[Footnote 587: Lord Holland, "Foreign Reminiscences," p. 305.]

[Footnote 588: Gourgaud, vol. i., pp. 297, 540, 546; vol. ii., pp. 78, 130, 409, 425. See Las Cases, "Memorial," vol. iv., p. 124, for Napoleon's defence of polygamy. See an Essay on Napoleon's religion in my "Napoleonic Studies" (1904).]

[Footnote 589: Lord Holland's "Foreign Reminiscences," p. 316; Colonel Gorrequer's report in "Cornhill" of Feb., 1901.]