Las Cases, Memorial de Sainte Hélène, volume 4, part 7

Count de Las Cases
Memorial de Sainte Hélène
London, 1823
My Residence with the Emperor Napoleon.

Volume 4, Part 7
page 32 - 86
1816, November 1 - 5

The Emperor becomes extremely feeble.—His Health declines visibly.—The Doctor expresses alarm.—French Prisoners in England, &c.

Friday, November 1st.—To-day, the weather being very fine, the Emperor went out about two o’clock. After walking a little in the garden, he felt fatigued, and called at Madame Bertrand’s to rest himself. He sat there, upwards of an hour, in an arm chair, without saying a word, and apparently suffering much from pain and weakness. He then returned, languidly, to his chamber, where he threw himself on his sofa, and fell into a slumber, as he did on the preceding day. I was very much distressed to observe the state of extreme debility to which he was reduced. He endeavoured to overcome his drowsiness ; but he could neither converse nor read. I withdrew, in order that he might take a little rest.

An English frigate arrived from the Cape, on her way to Europe. This circumstance has afforded us an opportunity of writing to our friends. I have, however, denied myself the happiness of doing so ; for the repeated complaints of the Governor, together with the consequences with which I was threatened, amount to an absolute prohibition of all correspondence with Europe. Perhaps a more favourable moment may arrive. At all events, I must be patient.

Doctor O’Meara called to see my son, who continued in a very precarious state. He was again bled yesterday, and fainted three or four times in the course of the day.

The Doctor took the opportunity of speaking to me on the subject of the Emperor’s health, and he assured me that he was by no means free of alarm as to the consequences of his confinement. He said, he was continually urging the necessity of exercise ; and he begged that I would endeavour to prevail on the Emperor to go out more frequently. It was obvious that an alarming change had taken place in him. The Doctor did not hesitate to affirm, that such complete confinement, after a life of activity, would be attended with the worst consequences ; for, that any serious disorder, produced by the nature of the climate, or any accident to which he might be exposed, would infallibly prove fatal to him. These words, and the tone of anxiety in which they were uttered, deeply affected me. From that moment, I observed the sincere interest which the Doctor felt for Napoleon, and of which he has since afforded so many proofs.

The Emperor sent for me about six o’clock. He was taking a bath ; and he appeared to be worse than when I had last seen him : this he attributed to going out yesterday. He, however, experienced some benefit from the bath ; and he took up Lord Macartney’s Embassy to China, which he continued reading for some time, making various observations as he proceeded.

When he laid aside the book, he began to converse ; and the situation of the French prisoners in England, was one of the subjects that happened to come under discussion. I will here put together some remarks on this subject that fell from the Emperor on the present and other occasions.

The sudden rupture of the treaty of Amiens, on such false pretences, and with so much bad faith on the part of the English Ministry, greatly irritated the First Consul, who conceived that he had been trifled with. The seizure of several French merchant ships, even before war had been declared, roused his indignation to the utmost. “To my urgent remonstrances,” said the Emperor, “they coolly replied, that it was a practice they had always observed ; and here they spoke truth. But the time was gone by when France could tamely submit to such injustice and humiliation. I had become the defender of her rights and glory, and I was resolved to let our enemies know with whom they had to deal. Unfortunately, owing to the reciprocal situation of the two countries, I could only avenge one act of violence by another still greater. It was a painful thing, to be compelled to make reprisals on innocent men ; but I had no alternative.

“ On reading the ironical and insolent reply that was returned to my complaints, I, that very night, issued an order for arresting, in every part of France, and in every territory occupied by the French, all Englishmen, of every rank whatever, and detaining them as prisoners, by way of reprisal for the unjust seizure of our ships. Most of these English were men of rank and fortune, who were travelling for their pleasure ; but the more extraordinary the measure, the greater the injustice, the better it suited my purpose. A general outcry was raised. The English appealed to me ; but I referred them to their own government, on whose conduct alone their fate depended. Several of these individuals proposed raising a subscription to pay for the ships that had been seized, in the hope of thereby obtaining permission to return home. I, however, informed them that I did not want money ; but merely to obtain justice and redress for an injury. Could it have been believed, that the English Government, as crafty and tenacious with respect to its maritime rights, as the Court of Rome is in its religious pretensions, suffered a numerous and distinguished class of Englishmen to be unjustly detained for ten years, rather than authentically renounce for the future an odious system of maritime plunder.

“ When I was first raised to the head of the consular government, I had had a misunderstanding with the English Cabinet, on the subject of prisoners of war ; but I now carried my point. The Directory had been weak enough to agree to an arrangement extremely injurious to France, and entirely to the advantage of England.

“ The English maintained their prisoners in France, and we had to maintain ours in England. We had but few English prisoners ; and the French prisoners in England were exceedingly numerous : provisions were to be had almost for nothing in France ; and they were exorbitantly dear in England. Thus the English had very trifling expenses to defray ; while we, on the other hand, had to send enormous sums into a foreign country ; and that at a time when we could but ill afford it. This arrangement, moreover, required an exchange of agents between the respective countries ; and the English Commissioner proved to be neither more nor less than a spy on the French Government ; he was the go-between and contriver of the plots that were hatched in the interior of France, by the emigrants abroad. No sooner was I made acquainted with this state of things, than I erased the abuse by a stroke of the pen. The English Government was informed that, thenceforward, each country must maintain the prisoners it should make, unless an exchange were agreed upon. A terrible outcry was raised, and a threat was held out that the French prisoners should be suffered to die of starvation. I doubted not that the English Ministers were sufficiently obstinate and inhuman to wish to put this threat into execution ; but I knew that any cruelty, exercised towards the prisoners, would be repugnant to the feelings of the nation. The English Government yielded the point. The situation of our unfortunate prisoners was, indeed, neither better nor worse than it had previously been ; but, in other respects, we gained great advantages, and got rid of an arrangement, which placed us under a sort of yoke and tribute. “ During the whole of the war, I incessantly made proposals for an exchange of prisoners : but to this, the English Government, under some pretence or other, constantly refused to accede, on the supposition that it would be advantageous to me. I have nothing to say against this. In war, policy must take place of feeling ; but why exercise unnecessary cruelty ? And this is what the English Ministers unquestionably did, when they found the number of prisoners increasing. Then commenced, for our unfortunate countrymen, the odious system of confinement in hulks ; a species of torture, which the ancients would have added to the horrors of the infernal regions, had their imaginations been capable of conceiving it. I readily admit there might be exaggeration on the part of the accusers ; but was the truth spoken by those who defended themselves ? We know what hind of thing a report to Parliament is. We can form a correct idea of it, when we read the calumnies and falsehoods that are uttered in Parliament, with such cool effrontery, by the base men who have blushed not to become our executioners. Confinement on board hulks, is a thing that needs no explanation : the fact speaks for itself. When it is considered that men, unaccustomed to live on shipboard, were crowded together in little unwholesome cabins, too small to afford them room to move ; that, by way of indulgence, they were permitted, twice during the twenty-four hours, to breathe pestilential exhalations at ebb tide ; and that this misery was prolonged for the space of ten or twelve years ; —the blood curdles at such an odious picture of inhumanity ! On this point, I blame myself for not having made reprisals. It would have been well had I thrown into similar confinement, not the poor sailors and soldiers, whose complaints would never have been attended to, but all the English nobility, and persons of fortune, who were then in France. I should have permitted them to maintain free correspondence with their friends and families, and their complaints would soon have assailed the ears of the English Ministers, and checked their odious measures. Certain parties in Paris, who were ever the best allies of the enemy, would, of course, have called me a tiger, and a cannibal ; but no matter, I should have discharged my duty to the French people, who had made me their protector and defender. In this instance, my decision of character failed me.”

The Emperor asked me whether the French prisoners had been confined in hulks at the time when I was in England. I could not positively inform him ; but I replied, that I did not think they were, because I knew there were prisons for them in various parts of the country, where many of the English visited them, and purchased the productions of their industry. I added, that they were, in all probability, but ill provided for, and exposed to many hardships ; for a story used to be told of a government agent having visited one of the prisons on horseback, and no sooner had he alighted from his horse, and turned his back, than the poor animal was seized, cut to pieces, and devoured by the prisoners. I did not, of course, vouch for the fact ; but the story was related by the English themselves, and the ignorant and prejudiced class did not regard it as a proof of the extreme misery to which the prisoners must have been reduced, but merely as an example of their terrible voracity. The Emperor laughed, and said he considered the anecdote to be a mere fabrication ; observing, that if the fact were to be relied on, it was calculated to make human nature shudder ; for, that nothing but hunger, urged to madness, could drive men to such a dreadful extremity. I was the more inclined to believe that the plan of confinement on board the hulks had not been introduced when I was in England, because I recollected that a great deal had been said about establishing the French prisoners in some small islands between England and Ireland. It was proposed to convey them thither, and to leave them to themselves, in a state of complete seclusion ; and a few light vessels were to be kept constantly cruising about to guard them. To this plan it was, however, objected, that, in case of a descent on the part of the enemy, his grand object would be to land on these islands, distribute arms among the prisoners, and thus recruit an army immediately. Perhaps, added I, this idea might have led to the use of hulks ; for the prisoners were rapidly increasing in numbers, and it was not thought safe to keep them on shore among the people, as the latter betrayed a strong disposition to fraternize with the French.

“Well,” said Napoleon, “I can very readily conceive that there might be good grounds for rejecting the plan you have just mentioned. Safety and self-preservation before all things. But the confinement in the hulks is a stain on the English character for humanity ; an irritating sting, that will never be removed from the hearts of the French prisoners.”

“ On the subject of prisoners of war,” continued Napoleon, “the English Ministers invariably acted with their habitual bad faith, and with the machiavelism that distinguishes the school of the present day. Being absolutely determined to avoid an exchange, which they did not wish to incur the blame of having refused, they invented and multiplied pretences beyond calculation. In the first place, that I should presume to regard as prisoners, persons merely detained, was affirmed to be an atrocious violation of the laws of civilized nations, and a principle which the English Government would never avow, on any consideration whatever. It happened that some of the individuals detained, who were at large on parole, escaped, and were received triumphantly in England. On the other hand, some Frenchmen effected their escape to France. I expressed my disapprobation of their conduct, and proposed, that the individuals of either country, who had thus broken their parole, should be mutually sent back again. But I received for answer, that persons detained, were not to be accounted prisoners ; that they had merely availed themselves of the lawful privilege of escaping oppression ; that they had done right ; and had been received accordingly. After this, I thought myself justified in inducing the French to escape ; and the English Ministers filled their journals with the most insolent abuse, declaring me to be a man, who scrupled not to violate moral principle, faith, or law.

“ When, at length, they determined to treat for an exchange of prisoners, or, perhaps, I ought rather to say, when they took it into their heads to trifle with me on this point, they sent a commissioner to France. All the great difficulties were waived ; and with a fine parade of sentiment, conditions were proposed for the sake of humanity, &c. They consented to include persons detained, in the list of prisoners, and to admit, under that head, the Hanoverian troops, who were my prisoners, but who were at large on parole. This latter point had been a standing obstacle ; because, it was insinuated, the Hanoverians were not English. Thus far matters had proceeded smoothly, and there was every probability of their being brought to a conclusion. But I knew whom I had to deal with ; and I guessed the intentions that were really entertained. There were infinitely more French prisoners in England, than English prisoners in France ; and I was well aware, that the English being once safely landed at home, some pretence would be found for breaking off the exchange, and the rest of my poor Frenchmen might have remained on board the hulks to all eternity. I declared that I would accede to no partial exchange ; that I would be satisfied only with a full and complete one ; and, to facilitate matters, I made the following proposal. I admitted that there were fewer English prisoners in France, than French prisoners in England ; but, I observed, that there were among my prisoners, Spaniards, Portuguese, and other allies of the English, who had been taken under their banners, and fighting in the same cause. With this addition, I could on my part produce a far more considerable number of prisoners than there were in England. I therefore offered to surrender up all, in return for all. This proposition, at first, occasioned some embarrassment ; it was discussed and rejected. However, as soon as they had devised a scheme, by which they thought they could secure the object they had in view, they acceded to my proposition. But I kept a watchful eye on them ; I knew that if we began by merely exchanging Frenchmen for Englishmen, as soon as the latter should be secured, pretences would be found for breaking off the business, and the old evasions would be resumed ; for the English prisoners in France did not amount to one third of the French in England. To obviate any misunderstanding on either side, I therefore proposed that we should exchange by transports of only three thousand at a time ; that three thousand Frenchmen should be returned to me, and that I would send back one thousand English, and two thousand Hanoverians, Spaniards, Portuguese, and others. Thus, if any misunderstanding arose and put a stop to the exchange, we should still stand in the same relative proportions as before, and without having practised any deception upon each other : but if, on the contrary, the affair should proceed uninterruptedly to a conclusion, I promised to surrender up, gratuitously, all the prisoners that might ultimately remain in my hands. My conjectures respecting the real designs of the English Government proved to be correct : these conditions which were really so reasonable, and the principle of which had already been adopted, were rejected, and the whole business was broken off. Whether the English Ministers really sympathized in the situation of their countrymen, or whether they were convinced of my firm determination not to be duped, I know not ; but it would appear, that they were at length inclined to come to a conclusion, when I subsequently introduced the subject by an indirect channel. However, our disasters in Russia at once revived their hopes, and defeated my intentions.”

The Emperor next remarked upon the treatment of prisoners of war in France, which, he said, was as generous and liberal as it possibly could be ; and he thought that, on this subject, no nation could justly convey a reproach to us. “ We have,” said he, “in our favour the testimony and the sentiments of the prisoners themselves ; for, with the exception of those who were ardently attached to their local laws, or, in other words, to notions of liberty (and these were exclusively the English and Spaniards), all the rest, namely, the Austrians, Prussians, and Russians, were willing to remain with us : they left us with regret, and returned to us with pleasure. This disposition on the part of the Spaniards and English, has oftener than once influenced the obstinacy of their efforts, or their resistance.”

The Emperor also made the following observation : “ It was my intention to have introduced into Europe, a change with respect to the treatment of prisoners. I intended to enrol them in regiments, and to make them labour under military discipline, at public works and monuments. They should have received whatever money they earned, and would thus have been secured against the misery of absolute idleness, and the disorders arising out of it. They would have been well fed and clothed, and would have wanted for nothing, without being a burden on the state. All parties would have been benefited by this plan. But my idea did not meet the approval of the Council of State, which, in this instance, was swayed by the mistaken philanthropy that leads to so many errors in the world. It was said, that it would be unjust and cruel to compel men to labour. It was feared lest our enemies should make reprisals ; and it was affirmed, that a prisoner was sufficiently unfortunate in the loss of his liberty, without being placed under restraint as to the employment of his time. But here was the abuse of which I complained, and which I wished to correct. A prisoner, said I, must and should expect to be placed under lawful constraint ; and that which I would impose on him, is for his own advantage, as well as that of others. I do not require, that he should be subject to greater misery or fatigue, but to less danger than he is exposed to in his present condition. You are afraid lest the enemy should make reprisals, and treat French prisoners in the same manner. Heaven grant it should be so ! I wish for nothing better ! I should then behold my sailors and soldiers occupied in wholesome labour, in the fields or the public roads, instead of seeing them burried alive on board those odious hulks. They would return home healthy, industrious, and inured to labour ; and in every country they would leave behind them some compensation for the fatal ravages of war. By way of concession, the Council of State agreed to the organization of a few corps of prisoners as voluntary labourers, or something of the sort ; but this was by no means the fulfilment of the scheme I had in view.”

Napoleon’s Designs with regard to Antwerp.—His refusal to surrender that City one of the Causes of his Fall.—His generous Sentiments in Rejecting the Treaty of Chatillon.—Maritime Works.—Official Report of the State of the Empire in 1813.—Total Amount of Expenditure in Public Works, during the Reign of Napoleon.

2d.—The Emperor did not leave his chamber to-day. When I waited on him, I found him very well from the effects of cold ; and the secretion of saliva still continued. I remained with him the greater part of the day. He sometimes endeavoured to converse, and sometimes tried to sleep. He was very restless, and often drew near the fire. He was evidently feverish.

In course of the day, the conversation turned upon Antwerp ; its arsenal, its fortifications, its importance, and the great military and political views he entertained with respect to that favourably situated place.

He remarked that he had done much for Antwerp, but that this was little in comparison with what he had proposed to do. He intended to have rendered it a fatal point of attack to the enemy by sea, and by land to have made it a certain resource, and a point of national security in ease of great disasters. He would have rendered Antwerp capable of receiving a whole army in its defeat, and holding out against a close siege for the space of a year, during which time, he said, a nation would be enabled to rally in a mass for its deliverance, and to resume the offensive. Five or six places of this kind were, he added, to constitute the new system of defence, which he intended to have established. The works which had been completed in so short a time at Antwerp, the numerous dock-yards, magazines, and canals, were already the subject of admiration ; but all this the Emperor declared to be nothing. Antwerp was as yet, he said, merely a commercial town ; the military town was to be constructed on the opposite bank of the river. For this purpose, ground had been purchased at a low rate, and it was to have been sold again at a high profit for the purpose of building ; so that by this speculation, the expenses attending the enterprise would have been considerably diminished. The winter docks would have been capable of admitting three-deck ships with all their guns on board ; and covered dry docks were to have been constructed for laying up vessels in time of peace.

The Emperor remarked, that the scheme he had formed, would have rendered Antwerp a stupendous and colossean bulwark ; and that it would have been a whole province in itself. Adverting to this superb establishment, he observed, that it had been one of the causes of his exile to St. Helena ; that the demand for the cession of Antwerp, was one of the circumstances that led him to reject the conditions of peace proposed at Chatillon. If the Allies had agreed to leave him in possession of Antwerp, he would in all probability have concluded peace ; and he questioned whether he had not done wrong, in refusing to sign the proposed ultimatum.

“At that period,” said be, “I had doubtless many resources and chances ; but yet, how much may be said in favour of the resolution I adopted. I did right,” added he, “in refusing to sign the ultimatum, and I fully explained my reasons for that refusal ; therefore, even here, on this rock, amidst all my misery, I have nothing to repent of. I am aware, that few will understand me ; but, in spite of the fatal turn of events, even the common mass of mankind must now be convinced that duty and honour left me no other alternative. If the Allies had thus far succeeded in degrading me, would they have stopped there ? Were their offers of peace and reconciliation sincere ? I knew them too well, to put faith in their professions. Would they not have availed themselves of the immense advantages afforded them by the treaty, to finish by intrigue what they had commenced by force of arms ? Then where would have been the safety, independence, and future welfare of France ? Where would have been my honour, my vows ? Would not the Allies have ruined me in the estimation of the people, as effectually as they ruined me on the field of battle ? They would have found the public opinion too ready to receive the impression which it would have been their aim to give to it ! How would France have reproached me, for suffering foreigners to parcel out the territory that had been intrusted to my care ? How many faults would have been attributed to me by the unjust, and the unfortunate ? Could the French people, full of the recollections of their glory, have patiently endured the burdens that would inevitably have been imposed on them ? Hence would have arisen fresh commotions, anarchy, and desolation ! I preferred risking the last chances of battle, determining to abdicate in case of necessity.”*

I acknowledged the justice of the Emperor’s observations. He had lost the throne, it is true, but voluntarily ; and, because he preferred to renounce it, rather than compromise our welfare and his own honour. History will appreciate this sublime sacrifice. Power and life are transitory ; but glory endures, and is immortal.

“ But, after all,” said the Emperor, “the historian will, perhaps, find it difficult to do me justice, for the world is so overwhelmed with libels and falsehoods ; my actions have been so misrepresented, my character so darkened and misunderstood.” To this, some one present replied, that doubt could exist only during his life ; that injustice would be confined solely to his contemporaries ; that, as he had himself already remarked, the clouds would disperse in proportion as his memory advanced in posterity ; that his character would rise daily and become the noblest subject for the pen of history ; and that, though the first catastrophe might have proved fatal to his memory, owing to the outcry that was then raised against him, yet, the prodigies of his return, the acts of his brief government, and his exile to St. Helena, now left him, crowned with glory in the eyes of nations and posterity. “ That, is very true,” replied, the Emperor, with an air of satisfaction, “and my fate may be said to be the very opposite of others. A fall, usually has the effect of lowering a man’s character ; but, on the contrary, my fall has elevated me prodigiously. Every succeeding day divests me of some portion of my tyrant’s skin.”

After a few moments of silence, the conversation was again resumed, on the subject of Antwerp and the English expedition. “ The English Government, and its General,” said the Emperor, “seemed to vie with each other in want of skill. If Lord Chatham, to whom our soldiers gave the nick name of My Lord J’attends, had resolved to make an energetic movement, he might, doubtless, have destroyed our valuable establishment, by a coup de main ; but the first moment being lost, and our fleet returned, the place was secure. There was a great deal of exaggeration respecting the efforts and measures taken for the safety of Antwerp. The zeal of the citizens was excited only for secret and criminal designs.”

On mentioning same facts, of which I had been a witness, I happened to observe, that it was generally marshals who reviewed armies ; but that here the rule had been reversed, and armies reviewed their marshals ; three of whom had succeeded each other in a very short time. “ Political circumstances,” said the Emperor, “called for this change. I sent Bessieres to Antwerp, because the crisis demanded a firm and confidential man ; but as soon as the critical period was expired, I sent another to succeed Bessieres, because I wished to have the latter near me.”

The maritime works of Antwerp, notwithstanding their immense extent, are but a small portion of those which were executed by Napoleon. Having been attached, as a member of the Council of State, to the department of the marine, I possess, ex officio, an account of these works, a list of which I will here insert, in geographical order, proceeding from south to north.

1. Fort Boyard, constructed for the purpose of enlarging and defending the anchorage of the Isle of Aix, whence, by dint of perseverance and intrepidity, a passage had been discovered out of sight of the enemy, between Oleron and the mainland, by which even vessels of the line could reach the anchoring grounds of the Gironde and its outlets.

2. The extensive and superb works of Cherbourg. The dike, which was commenced under Louis XVI. and which had suffered considerable injury during the Revolution, was repaired ; the central part being elevated nine feet above the highest level of the sea, and along an extent of 100 toises, for the purpose of mounting a battery of twenty guns of the largest calibre. This work was executed in less than two years, from 1802 t4 1804, and with such success, that though it has been neglected since 1813, it has suffered no decay, and still retains all its original strength.

A large elliptical tower of granite, was built in the centre, and within the dike, which it supports, and by which, it is, in its turn, covered. The huge foundation of this work, which, being constructed in the open sea, of course presented enormous difficulties, was completed at the end of 1812, and raised to the height of six feet above the level of the highest tides. The solidity which it has preserved since that period, though in a state of neglect, and exposed to the violent action of the waves, is a manifest proof of the strength of the defensive works that were projected on this artificial rock, when the time should arrive for the full completion of the plan. This plan consisted in raising at the height of one story, a barrack, capable of containing the garrison, a powder magazine, reservoir, &c.; this was to be surmounted by an arched platform, bomb proof, and capable of receiving a casemated battery of nineteen thirty-six pounders, and above this, was to be a second platform, capable of receiving mounted guns, if necessary ; the whole crowning the central battery, already existing on the dike itself. Thus the enemy’s attack would have been resisted by four ranges of batteries, one above another.

In less than eight years, a military post was formed by digging into the live rock. It was capable of containing forty-five ships of the line, a proportional number of frigates, three slips for building, &c. This asylum, so necessary for ships of the line, owing to the natural situation of the roads of Cherbourg, which are too much exposed to the violence of the waves, was dug thirty feet beneath the level of the sea, at the lowest neap tide, in order to afford, at all times, a secure station for the largest ships. When it was opened in 1813, the moles and dikes were fully completed along its whole extent. At that time, the Empress Maria Louisa and all her court, witnessed the magnificent and sublime spectacle of the sudden irruption of the sea, which was admitted, simply by the spontaneous rupture of the immense dam that had hitherto repelled its efforts. The largest vessels immediately entered the enclosure, which has since afforded a convenient station for shipping, together with the requisite accommodations for building, repairing, and fitting out : in short, it possesses every advantage that might be expected in so important a creation of art, and is justly considered to be one of the noblest monuments of Napoleon’s reign. According to the Emperor’s plan, this stupendous work was intended only as a first or outward port ; he had determined on constructing, in a lateral direction, at a little distance beyond it, a second or inward port, which was to be commenced immediately, and which would have been speedily completed, owing to the precautions that were previously adopted. It was to be large enough to receive twenty-five ships of the line, and behind these two ports, and extending along their whole length, in a semicircular form, there were to be built thirty covered docks, where an equal number of sail of the line might be kept in constant readiness to put to sea. Such were the immense works executed or planned at Cherbourg alone.

3. The numerous works occasioned by raising the flotilla for the invasion of England.—It was necessary to provide anchorages, to render the preparations simultaneous, and to execute every offensive and defensive operation. All this required, at various points, the construction of forts in stone and wood work, quays, basins, jetées, dams, sluices, &c.

Boulogne was chosen as the central point of assemblage ; and Vimereux, Ambleteuse, and Etaples, were the secondary points. Boulogne itself was rendered capable of receiving 2,000 ships of different kinds. Besides its natural port, an artificial basin was formed, by means of a dam, closed in the middle by a sluice, twenty-four feet wide. This basin was capable of containing 8 or 900 ships afloat, and in a constant state of readiness ; and the sluice, by its power of resistance, had the advantage, when closed, of producing runs of water, which increased the depth of the natural port, and freed its entrance from the obstruction of sand banks. Vimereux, Etaples, and Ambleteuse, were simultaneously rendered capable of receiving a proportional number of ships : all these undertakings were completed in the space of two years.

4. Important local repairs and improvements in all the ports of the coast.—Havre was rendered accessible to frigates, by destroying, by means of a strong sluice, the gravel bank that obstructed its entrance. Improvements were made at St. Valery, Dieppe, Calais, Gravelines, and Dunkirk ; the port of the latter was cleared, and the marsh that covered the town was drained. A second flotilla was to be assembled at Ostend, to which a free entrance had been effected by clearing its canal.

5. The works of Flushing.—This town having momentarily fallen into the hands of the English, they destroyed all its military establishments when they evacuated it. The Emperor ordered the reconstruction of the works on a much more extensive scale than before. Fully appreciating the important geographical situation of the place, he ordered the basin to be re-dug and enlarged, as well as its entrance. The canal was also to be deepened, so that the basin might be rendered capable of admitting even vessels of eighty tons, and affording a winter station for a squadron of twenty ships, always ready to put to sea in one or two tides. This advantage was to be procured by means of a very ingenious plan, suggested by the naval Commandant of the place, and which consisted simply in confining the water, at high tide, in the ditches of the town. The basin was a most important acquisition, as it afforded the means of making naval preparations, free of all the inconveniences of the Scheldt. Our ships would have been enabled to sail directly to the coasts of England ; and the English would thus have been compelled to keep cruisers constantly on the watch ; whereas, hitherto, as soon as they knew that our ships were disarmed in Flushing, or returned to Antwerp, on the approach of winter, they tranquilly went into port, having nothing to apprehend until the return of spring. But it was necessary to render the fortifications of Flushing equal to the protection of a whole squadron : consequently, defensive works were multiplied on various points ; magazines and other establishments were reconstructed ; and orders were issued for rendering them bomb proof, and surmounting them with batteries. Flushing would have been thickly planted with cannon on all points, and would, in short, have been rendered impregnable.

6. Works commenced at Terneuse.—The importance of the western mouth of the Scheldt, for enabling our fleet to sail in and out, and the inconveniences attending the return of our ships to Antwerp, every year during the winter season, suggested to the Emperor the idea of establishing a still greater arsenal than Flushing, near the mouth of the river. Terneuse, on the left bank of the Scheldt, three leagues from the mouth of the river, was the point fixed on, and the works were immediately commenced. They were, however, suspended, on account of the great length of time, as well as the enormous expense, that would have been requisite for their completion.

7. The immense works at Antwerp.—This town, which is nearly twenty leagues distant from the sea ; from which it is separated by a winding road, seemed to be divested of every desirable advantage for the formation of a maritime arsenal ; and it had hitherto presented only petty commercial establishments. A fleet raised at Antwerp would, with difficulty, have been able to descend the river, and would have been but ill defended against the inclemencies of the weather, or the attempts of the enemy. It would have been useless during one third of the year ; for the approach of winter forced the ships to come higher up, to avoid the current and ice of the river ; there being no floating basins. But these numerous difficulties seemed as nothing in the eyes of Napoleon. In his impatience to make the English feel the dangers of the Scheldt, which they had themselves so frequently acknowledged to be formidable, he speedily concerted his plans, and in less than eight years Antwerp assumed the aspect of an important maritime arsenal, and a considerable fleet was already riding in the Scheldt. Every thing was done thoroughly and completely. Magazines, quays, dock-yards, &c. were newly constructed. A provisional asylum was assigned for the shipping in the Rupel, while two great floating basins were dug in the town of Antwerp, capable of receiving vessels of every size, with all their guns on board. Twenty slips for building, were raised all on a line, as if by enchantment, and twenty vessels, lying in these slips at once, presented to the traveller, arriving by the Tête de Flandres, the imposing and singular spectacle of twenty vessels of the line, ranged as a squadron. Most of these works, however, Napoleon regarded merely as a provision momentarily borrowed from commerce. He intended to establish a complete and much larger arsenal facing Antwerp, on the bank of the river, opposite to the Tête de Flandres. He at first conceived the bold design of throwing a bridge across the Scheldt ; but he at length determined in favour of flying-bridges, of a very ingenious construction. The Emperor, as I have already observed, had formed the grandest ideas respecting the improvements at Antwerp, and the details of his plan extended as far as the sea. He used to say, that he intended to make Antwerp a province, a little kingdom, in itself. To this object he devoted himself with that degree of interest which he might be expected to evince in the execution of one of his most favourite projects. He made several journeys to Antwerp, for the purpose of personally inspecting the works in their most trivial details.

On one of these occasions, he happened to fall in with a Captain or Lieutenant-Colonel of Engineers, who was modestly assisting in the fortifications of the place, and with whom he entered into the discussion of certain points connected with the business in which he was engaged. Shortly after, the officer unexpectedly received a letter, informing him, that he was appointed Aide-de-camp to the Emperor, and directing him to repair to the Tuileries to enter upon his duties. The poor officer was filled with astonishment : he thought he was dreaming, or, that the letter had been misdirected. He was so extremely diffident, and possessed so little knowledge of the world, that this announcement of his promotion threw him into great perplexity. He recollected having once seen me at Antwerp, and he begged I would render him my assistance. Accordingly, on his arrival in Paris, he came and assured me of his total ignorance of court manners, and the embarrassment he felt in presenting himself to the Emperor. However, I soon succeeded in encouraging him ; and before he reached the gate of the palace, he had mustered a tolerable degree of confidence. This officer was General Bernard, whose great talents were brought into notice by this circumstance, and who, at the time of our disasters, proceeded to America, where he was placed at the head of the military works of the United States.

Napoleon loved to take people thus by surprise. Whenever he discovered talent, he never failed to raise it to its proper sphere, without suffering himself to be swayed by any secondary considerations. This was one of his striking characteristics.

8. The works in Holland.—No sooner had Holland fallen into the hands of Napoleon, than his creative ardour was immediately directed to all the different branches of her political economy. He repaired and enlarged the arsenals of the Meuse, Rotterdam, and Helvoetsluys. Hitherto ships of the line could not reach Amsterdam, and could only be conveyed thence by dint of vast expense and labour ; it being necessary to convey them on buoys, unladen and without their guns, to the opening of the Zuyderzee. This operation did not suit the rapidity necessary in the great enterprises of the period ; and the Emperor determined to remove the northern arsenal to a situation in which it would be exempt from these disadvantages. He accordingly gave orders for the establishment or improvement of the Nievendip, where, in a short time, twenty-five ships of the line were provided with a safe winter station, and laid up beside magnificent quays. This important point was defended by the military establishments of the Helder, which formed the key of Holland. Napoleon’s plan was to make the Nievendip the Antwerp of the Zuyderzee.

9. Works of the Weser, the Embs and the Elbe.—When Napoleon joined Bremen, Hamburgh, and Lubeck, to the Empire, his plans and works extended with his dominion. He took measures for rendering the Elbe accessible to ships of the line, and projected a maritime arsenal at Delfzyl at the mouth of the Embs. But the object which particularly engrossed the attention of Napoleon, was the cutting of a line of canals, which, with the help of the Embs, the Weser, and the Elbe, would have effected a junction between Holland and the Baltic. We should thus have been enabled to communicate safely, and by a simple system of inland navigation, from Bordeaux and the Mediterranean, with the powers of the North. We should easily have obtained from them all kinds of naval productions for our ports, and we should have been able to send out against them when we chose, our flotillas from the Channel, Holland, &c.

All these important works were planned, and most of them executed, with amazing rapidity. The creative genius of Napoleon conceived them, and the minister Decres indefatigably prosecuted the designs that were suggested. The plans were drawn, and the works executed by Prosny, Sganzin, Cachin, and others. The names attached to such monuments, are imperishable !

If, to what has here been described, be added other simultaneous prodigies in every other branch of the public service, and in every other part of he territory ; and if it be considered that all were executed amidst perpetual war, and without more, perhaps, even with less burdens, than now, after a long peace, weigh on the countries that composed the vast French Empire, it is impossible to repress astonishment and admiration. All these miracles were effected by steadiness of determination, talent armed with power, and finances wisely and economically applied ! Certainly, if in addition to what has already been mentioned, the mass of fortifications, the multitude of public roads, bridges, canals, and edifices of various kinds be taken into, account, it must be acknowledged, that no sovereign in the world ever did so much in so short a time, and by imposing so few burdens on his people.

Italy, of which Napoleon was king, also enjoyed her share of his magnificent improvements. He cut fine roads across the Alps and the Apennines ; established a maritime arsenal at Genoa; fortified Corfu, so as to make that island the key of Greece ; repaired and enlarged the port of Venice ; and, while the works were proceeding, it was rendered capable of admitting French ships of the line, by means of the floating buoys used in Holland. To obviate the risk of the ship being attacked by the enemy, during this hazardous conveyance, a plan was proposed by which they were to be enabled to carry their own guns ; and it was, I believe, successfully adopted. Napoleon, moreover, intended to establish a naval arsenal at Ragusa, another at Pola, in Istria, and a third at Ancona. He conceived the happy and bold idea of forming a junction between the gulfs of Venice and Genoa, by the help of the Po, and a canal extending from Alessandria to Savona, through the Apennine. This plan would have been attended with the most important results ; for independently of its immense commercial and military advantages, it would have established a direct and safe communication between Venice and Toulou ; and the latter port would thus have received all the naval productions of the Adriatic, free from any chance of their being attacked by the enemy. Finally, Napoleon cleared Rome of the rubbish with which she was encumbered, restored many ancient vestiges of the Romans, and formed the design of draining the Pontine marshes, &c.

I here subjoin the preamble of the report on the state of the Empire, presented to the Legislative Body, in the sitting of the 25th of February, 1813, by Count Montalivet, Minister of the Interior. This superb report, which is founded in all its points on authentic documents, is calculated to afford a just idea of the wonders of Napoleon’s government. I think I may properly close the present subject, by inserting an official statement of the expenses in public works, during the memorable reign of the Emperor.

“ GENTLEMEN,—His Majesty has directed me to make you acquainted with the situations of the interior of the Empire, during the years 1811 and 1812.

“ You will have the satisfaction to observe, that notwithstanding the great armies which a state of war, both maritime and continental, has rendered indispensably necessary, the population has continued to increase ; that French industry has made new progress ; that the soil was never better cultivated, or our manufactures more flourishing ; and that at no period of our history, has wealth been more equally diffused among all classes of society.

“ The farmer now enjoys benefits to which he was formerly a stranger. He is enabled to purchase land at the highest price ; his food and clothing are better, and more abundant than before ; and his dwelling is more substantial and convenient.

“ Improvements in agriculture, manufactures ; and the useful arts, are no longer rejected merely because they are new. Experiments are made in every branch of labour, and the methods that prove to be most advantageous, are substituted for old ones. Artificial meadows are multiplied ; the system of fallow lands is abandoned ; routines are better understood, and improved plans of cultivation augment the produce of the soil. Cattle are multiplied, and the different breeds improved. Even the poor labourer finds means to purchase, at a high price, Spanish rams and stallions of the finest breed. They are now sufficiently enlightened to know their real interests, and they do not scruple to make these valuable purchases. Thus the demands of our manufacturers, our agriculturists, and our armies, are every day better supplied.

“ This high degree of prosperity is to be attributed to the liberal laws by which this great Empire is ruled, to the suppression of feudalism, tithes, mortmains, and monastic orders ; measures which have created or set at liberty numerous private estates, which are now the free patrimony of a multitude of families, formerly mere paupers. It is also to be ascribed to the more equal division of wealth, to the clearness and simplification of the laws relative to landed property and mortgages, and to the promptitude observed in the decision of lawsuits, which are now daily decreasing in number. To these same causes, and to the influence of vaccination, must be attributed the increase of the population. It may even be said, that the conscription, which annually enrols under our banner the flower of the French youth, has had some share in contributing to this increase, by multiplying the number of marriages ; because marriage fixes for ever the fate of the young Frenchman, who has once served in obedience to the law.”

Official statement of the expenditure in public works, from Napoleon’s accession to the imperial throne ; presented, together with the vouchers, to the Legislative Body, by the Minister of the Interior.

Imperial palaces and buildings, belonging to the         Francs.
         crown                . . . . . . . . . . . . 62,000,000 
Fortifications                 ......................144,000,000
Sea Ports                      . . . . . . . . . . . 117,000,000
Roads, highways, &c.         ........................277,000,000
Bridges in Paris and the departments   . . . . . . . .31,000,000
Canals, navigation and draining . . . . . . . . . .  123,000,000
Works in Paris               . . . . . . . . . . . . 102,000,000 
Public buildings of the departments and great towns . . . 149,000,000 
                 Total              . . . . . . . 1,005,000,000

The Emperor indisposed and melancholy.—Amusing Anecdotes.—Two Aides-de-camp.—Mallet’s Plot.

3d. —The Emperor still continued to seclude himself like a hermit. Towards evening he sent for me :— he informed me that he was somewhat relieved of his toothache, though he was not better in other respects. He said he felt extremely weak and depressed in spirits, and that during the whole day, his mind had been possessed with gloomy ideas. He was taking the bath, and after a few moments silence, he said, as if making an effort to rouse himself, “ Come, my Dinarzade, if you are not too drowsy, tell me one of your stories. It is long since you have told me any thing about your friends of the Faubourg St. Germain.” — “Sire,” I replied, “I have related so much on that subject, that I fancy I have exhausted my whole stock of tales, whether true or false. Only the scandalous stories now remain untold, and in these your Majesty knows, that you yourself were never spared. However, a droll anecdote just now occurs to me. One day, M. de Talleyrand on leaving home to attend to his ministerial duties, informed his wife that he should bring back M. Denon with him to dinner. He wished the distinguished traveller to be treated with the utmost attention ; and he told Madame de Talleyrand that the best thing she could do, would be to look over his work, so that she might be enabled to pay some handsome compliments to the author ; at the same time informing her in what particular part of the library the book was to be found. Madame de Talleyrand set about her task : she found the book exceedingly interesting, and was delighted at the thought of speedily being introduced to the hero. No sooner were the company seated at table, than she informed M. Denon, whom she had taken care to place beside her, that she had been reading his work, and that she had been very much pleased with it. M. Denon bowed, and the lady proceeded to remark on the singular countries he had visited, and the hardships he had endured, at the same time taking pains to assure him how deeply she sympathized in his troubles. M. Denon bowed again ; and all went on very smoothly until Madame de Talleyrand still addressing herself to M. Denon, declared how very much delighted she had been when he found his man Friday, and made him the companion of his solitude. On hearing this, M. Denon started, and turning to the person who sat on his other hand, he said : Is it possible she takes me for Robinson Crusoe ? The fact is, or I should more properly say, as the story goes, poor Madame de Talleyrand had been reading the Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, instead of Denon’s Travels in Egypt.” The Emperor laughed heartily, and afterwards several times related the anecdote himself.

The conversation turned on the inventive malignity of Parisian society, and the fine story that was got up about the cabinet-maker, who awkwardly discovered to B . . . . . . . the concealed drawer of a bureau, which happened to contain many secrets connected with his own family : the violent anger of B ....... against Ventre de Biche, the sympathy expressed for him by Madame de V ........ and the singular consolation she afforded him,—all were described. The Emperor was much amused by these details, most of which were new to him, and he expressed his belief that the story was not entirely an invention. He once more repeated his censure of the saloons of Paris ; which, he said, might truly be styled the infernal regions. He observed, that they kept up a constant system of slander and calumny, and that, therefore, they might with justice have engaged the constant attention of all the tribunals of correctional police in the capital.

The Emperor had now become animated, and he conversed for a considerable time. He happened to mention an officer whom, he said, he had not treated very well ; and I ventured to observe that I believed he had, notwithstanding, been Aide-de-camp to a distinguished General. “What signifies that ?” resumed the Emperor. “Don’t you know,” continued he, smiling, “that a general frequently has two aides-de-camp ; one for the field, and one for the household ? ”

He said a great deal respecting the national inaptitude of the French to close a revolution ; or to adhere to any fixed order of things ; and he alluded to the celebrated affair of Mallet, which he jokingly said might be called a miniature or a caricature of his own return from the Isle of Elba. “Mallet’s absurd plot,” said he, “might have been truly regarded as a hoax. A prisoner of state, an obscure individual, effected his own liberation, and, in his turn, imprisoned the Prefect, and even the Minister of Police, those keepers of dungeons, and detectors of plots, who suffered themselves to be caught in the snare like so many sheep. A Prefect of Paris, the born sponsor of his department, and moreover a very devoted subject, readily lent himself to every plan for assembling a government that had no existence. Ministers, appointed by the conspirators, were engaged in making their round of visits, when those who nominated them, were again safely lodged in prison. Finally, the inhabitants of the capital learned, in the morning, the sort of political debauch that had taken place during the night, without having been in the least disturbed by it. Such an extravagant attempt,” said the Emperor, “could never have produced any result. Even had it succeeded, it must have fallen, of itself, in the space of a few hours ; and the victorious conspirators would have thought only of escaping from amidst their success. I was, therefore, far less incensed at the attempt of the criminal, than at the facility with which those, who appeared most attached to me, had been prevailed on to become his accomplices. On my arrival, each candidly related to me the details that concerned himself, and which served to criminate all ! They frankly avowed that they had been caught, and had, for a moment, placed full faith in my overthrow. They did not deny that in the delirium of the moment, they had entered into the designs of the conspirators ; and they rejoiced with me at their happy escape. Not one of them mentioned the slightest resistance, or the least effort made to defend and perpetuate the existing government. This seemed never to have entered their heads : so accustomed were they to changes and revolutions, that all were perfectly resigned to the establishment of a new order of things. All therefore changed countenance, and manifested the utmost embarrassment ; when, in a resolute tone of voice, I said, ‘Well, Gentlemen, it appears you thought my reign at an end ; to that I have nothing to say. But where were your oaths to the King of Rome ? What became of your principles and doctrines ? You make me tremble for the future.’ I found it necessary to make an example, were it only for the sake of putting weak men on their guard for the future ; and judgment fell upon poor Frochot, the Prefect of Police, who, I am sure, loved me well. Yet, at the mere request of one of these mountebank conspirators, instead of the resistance which his duty required ; instead of manifesting a firm determination to perish at his post rather than yield ; he very contentedly issued orders for preparing a place for the sitting of the new government ! — Indeed,” said the Emperor, “the readiness with which the French people accommodate themselves to change, is calculated to prolong vicissitudes, which no other nation but themselves could endure. Thus, individuals of every party seem to be well convinced, that all is not yet settled ; and Europe shares this opinion, which is founded no less on our natural inconstancy and volatility, than on the mass of events that have risen up during the last thirty years.”

The Emperor’s continued Indisposition and Confinement.—He observes that he ought to have died at Moscow or Waterloo.—Eulogium on his Family.

4th.—To-day, the Emperor would not receive any one during the whole of the morning. He sent for me at the hour he had appointed for taking the bath, during which, and for some time after, he conversed on the knowledge of the ancients, the historians by which it has been transmitted to modern times, the connecting links formed by different writers, &c. His reflections on this subject, all led to the conclusion, that the world was yet in its infancy, and human nature still more so. We then took a view of the structure of the globe, the irregularities of its surface, the unequal division of sea and land, the amount of its population, the scale by which that population was dispersed, the different political societies into which it was formed, &c. I calculated that Europe contained 170,000,000 of inhabitants. The Emperor remarked that he himself had governed 80,000,000; and, I added, that after the alliance with Prussia, he had marched at the head of more than 100,000,000. The Emperor then suddenly changed the conversation. He asked for my atlas, and while he looked over it, he several times remarked that it was a truly invaluable work for youth.

Afterwards, when speaking of the wonders of his life, and the vicissitudes of his fortune, the Emperor remarked that he ought to have died at Moscow ; because, at that time, his military glory had experienced no reverse ; and his political career was unexampled in the history of the world. He then drew one of those rapid and animating pictures, which he sketches off with so much facility, and which frequently rise to a degree of sublimity. Observing that the countenance of one of the individuals, who happened to be present, was not exactly expressive of approbation, he said, “ This is not your opinion ? You do not think I ought to have closed my career at Moscow ?” “No, Sire,” was the reply ; “for in that case, history would have been deprived of the return from Elba, of the most generous and most heroic act that ever man performed ; of the grandest and most sublime event that the world ever witnessed.” “Well,” returned the Emperor, “there may be some truth in that ; but what say you to Waterloo ? Ought I not to have perished there ?” “Sire,” said the person whom he addressed, “if I have obtained pardon for Moscow, I do not see why I should not ask it for Waterloo also. The future is beyond the will and the power of man ; it is in the hands of God alone.”

At another time, the Emperor spoke of the different members of his family, the little assistance he had received from them, the many embarrassments they had occasioned him, &c. He particularly alluded to the mistaken notion they had conceived, that being once placed at the head of a people, they should become identified with them, so as to prefer their interests to those of the common country. This idea, he said, might have originated in honourable feeling ; but it was most erroneous and mischievous in its application. In their mistaken notions of independence, the members of his family sometimes seemed to consider their power as detached, forgetting that they were merely parts of a great whole, whose views and interests they should have aided instead of opposed. “But, after all,” continued he, “they were very young and inexperienced, and were surrounded by snares, flatterers, and intriguers, with secret and evil designs.” Then, passing suddenly from their faults to their good qualities, he added, “And yet, if we judge from analogy, what family, in similar circumstances, would have acted better ? Every one is not qualified to be a statesman : that requires a combination of powers that does not often fall to the lot of one. In this respect, all my brothers were singularly situated ; they possessed at once too much and too little talent. They felt themselves too strong to resign themselves blindly to a guiding counsellor, and yet too weak to be left entirely to themselves. But take them all in all, I have certainly good reason to be proud of my family.

“ Joseph would have been an ornament to society in any country ; and Lucien would have been an honour to any political assembly. Jerome, as he advanced in life, would have developed every qualification requisite in a sovereign. Louis would have been distinguished in any rank or condition of life. My sister Eliza was endowed with masculine powers of mind : she must have proved herself a philosopher in her adverse fortune. Pauline, perhaps the most beautiful woman of her age, has been, and will continue to the end of her life, the most amiable creature in the world. As to my mother, she deserves all kind of veneration. How seldom is so numerous a family entitled to so much praise ! Add to this, that, setting aside the jarring of political opinions, we sincerely loved each other. For my part, I never ceased to cherish fraternal affection for them all ; and I am convinced that in their hearts they felt the same sentiments towards me, and that, in case of need, they would have given me every proof of it.”

After dinner, the Emperor received all his suite, and we remained with him for upwards of an hour. He was in bed ; but he conversed with facility, and was evidently better. We took leave of him with the hope of soon seeing him recovered. We remarked that he had not dined with us for the space of twelve days ; and that without him our lives, our hours, our moments were deranged and devoid of interest.

Geography the Passion of the Moment.—State Bed arrived from London.—The Emperor calls it a Rat-Trap.—Anecdotes related by the English.—Letters from St. Helena, &c.

5th.—The Emperor continued confined to his room. He sent for me, as he had done for several days past, at the hour appointed for taking his bath. He was somewhat relieved of the soreness in his mouth ; but he was still occasionally troubled with toothache. He resumed the conversation of the preceding day, on the structure of the globe, &c. for the Emperor now evinced an absolute passion for geography. He took my map of the world, and remarked on the irregular distribution of land and sea. He paused for a time on the continent of Asia ; and from the vast Pacific Ocean passed to the more contracted limits of the Atlantic. He started many questions relative to the variable and the trade winds, the monsoons of the Indian Ocean, the calm of the Pacific, the hurricanes of the Antilles, &c.; and he found at the respective places, on the map, the physical and speculative solutions which science furnishes on these subjects. This pleased him exceedingly, and he continued his perusal of the map, making remarks as he went over it : “ Tables,” said he, “are of the highest use in assisting the mind to draw comparisons : they awaken and excite ideas. You have fallen on an excellent plan, in thus making your tables of history and geography embrace all the remarkable circumstances and phenomena connected with these sciences.”

The Emperor wished to refer to some of the oldest books of travels ; and the works of the monk Rubrugius, and the Italian Marco Polo were brought to him. He glanced over them, and remarked that they contained no information, and possessed no other merit than their old age.

On leaving the bath he proceeded to his bedchamber, to see the grand bed that had been sent to him from London, and which had just been put up. It was surmounted by a sort of canopy, supported on, four large posts, so high that it was found necessary to cut the feet before it could be put up in the Emperor’s little bed-chamber, which it almost filled. Besides, it had, from some cause or other, a very disagreeable smell, and was altogether so bulky and unsteady, that it suggested the idea of a tottering castle. The Emperor said it was an absolute rat-trap ; but, that he would take care not to be caught in it. He ordered it immediately to be removed ; remarking, that he did not wish to be troubled with such lumber. It was accordingly taken down, and the old camp bed was substituted in its place. The confusion and inconvenience occasioned by these changes put the Emperor very much out of humour.

In course of the day, I had a long conversation with an English seaman, an enthusiastic admirer of the Emperor, who related to me several anecdotes which pleased me the more as they were entirely new to me. But though not generally known, they are not the less true ; for some of the facts the narrator had obtained from unquestionable authority, and to others he had himself been a witness. When I afterwards mentioned some of these particulars to the Emperor, he immediately recollected them and acknowledged their correctness. However, my informant assured me, that to his great astonishment, these anecdotes had been but little circulated in England ; and that there, as well as in France, whatever reflected honour on Napoleon, or showed his character in an advantageous light, was lost by that fatality to which I have so often alluded : for calumny and falsehood constantly overwhelmed all that was good, beneath the mass of evil that was invented. The following are some of the anecdotes to which I have just now alluded.

“ We were treated,” said my narrator “in the best manner possible. At Verdun, the depot of the English prisoners of war, we enjoyed the same privileges as the inhabitants. Verdun is a very pleasant town, and we found provisions and wine exceedingly cheap. We were allowed to walk several miles beyond the town, without the trouble of asking permission ; and we could, if we pleased, obtain leave to absent ourselves for several days at a time. In short, we were so well protected against all sorts of vexations, that the General under whose command we were placed, having been guilty of some irregularities in his treatment of us, was ordered to Paris, by the special command of Napoleon, and from fear of the punishment that awaited him he committed suicide. It once happened that we received orders to confine ourselves to our lodgings, and we were informed that we should not be allowed to quit them for several days ; the reason assigned for this measure was, that the Emperor intended to pass through Verdun, and that it was not thought safe to allow him to be surrounded by so many of the enemy’s prisoners. Besides the disappointment of our curiosity (for we very much wished to see Napoleon), this order hurt us exceedingly. Do they distrust brave English seamen we thought. Is it possible that they confound us with assassins ? Be this as it would, we were doomed to be close prisoners ; when, on the day of Napoleon’s arrival, we were, to our surprise, informed that we were again at liberty, and that the Emperor very much disapproved of the order that had been given for our confinement. We eagerly thronged to see the Emperor and he passed by us unattended by any escort, with an air of perfect security, and even with an expression of kindness, which quite delighted us. Our acclamations were no less sincere than those of the French themselves.

“ Napoleon and Maria Louisa returning from their Journey in Holland, arrived at Gevet on the Meuse, where several hundred were at that time assembled. A sudden storm arose ; there was a heavy fall of rain, the river overflowed its banks, and the pontoon bridge was broken, and rendered impassable. However, the Emperor, anxious to continue his journey, and not being in the habit of thinking any thing impossible, resolved to cross the river at all hazards. All the boatmen in the neighbourhood were collected together ; but not one would attempt to cross. ‘However,’ said Napoleon, ‘I am determined to be on the other side of the river before noon.’ He immediately ordered some of the principal English prisoners to be brought to him : ‘Are there many of you here ?’ said he, ‘and are there any sailors among you?’ ‘There are 500 of us, and we are all seamen,’ was, the reply. ‘Well, I want to know whether you think it possible to cross the river, and whether you will undertake to convey me to the opposite bank.’ It was acknowledged to be a hazardous attempt, but some of our veterans undertook to accomplish it. Napoleon got into the boat with a degree of confidence that surprised us, and he reached the opposite bank in safety. He heartily thanked those who had rendered him this act of service, and ordered that they should be provided with new clothes. To this he added a pecuniary present, and granted them their liberty.

“ A young English sailor, seized with an ardent longing to return to his country, escaped from a depot, and succeeded in making his way to the sea coast, in the neighbourhood of Boulogne, where he concealed himself in the woods. His eager desire to return home suggested to him the idea of making a little boat, to enable him to reach some of the English cruizers, which he spent the greater part of the day in watching, from the tops of the trees on the sea shore. He was seized just at the moment when he was about to put to sea with his little boat, and to make a desperate attempt to secure his liberty. He was imprisoned on suspicion of being a spy or a robber. This circumstance reached the ears of Napoleon, who was then at Boulogne, and he felt a curiosity to see the boat, of which he heard so much. When it was shown to him, he could not bring himself to believe that any rational being would have ventured to put to sea with it. He ordered the sailor to be brought to him, and the young man declared that he had really intended to escape, with the aid of his boat, and the only favour he asked, was permission to execute his project. ‘You appear very eager to return to England,’ said the Emperor ; ‘Perhaps you have left a sweetheart behind you ?’ ‘No,’ replied the young man, ‘but I have a mother, at home, who is old and infirm, and I am anxious to return to her.’ ‘Well, you shall return,’ said Napoleon ; and he immediately ordered that the young man should be provided with new clothes, and sent on board the first English cruizer that might appear in sight. He also directed, that he should be provided with a sum of money, as a present to his mother, remarking that she must be a good mother, to have so good a son.”^[2]

Among the many acts of kindness which the Emperor exercised towards the English, who were detained in France, there is one which happened to come within my own knowledge, and of which a Mr. Manning was the object. This gentleman, whom I knew very well in Paris, and who had been induced to travel for the sake of scientific investigation, thought he might obtain his liberty by addressing a petition to Napoleon, praying for permission to visit the interior of Asia. His friends laughed at his simplicity ; but he turned the laugh against us when, at the expiration of a few weeks, he triumphantly informed us of the success of his application. I find it mentioned in Dr. O’Meara’s work, that this same Mr. Manning, after a peregrination of several years, touched at St. Helena, on his return to Europe, and urgently requested leave to see Napoleon, in order to express his gratitude by laying a few presents at his feet, and answering any inquiries he might make respecting the Grand Lama, whom he had had an opportunity of visiting, through the Emperor’s indulgence.

* These remarks of Napoleon are confirmed by the following : —
    Letter from M. de Caulincourt, to the Editor of the Constitutionnel. (Inserted in that Journal on the 21st of January 1820.)
    “ 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 negociations 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.
7nbsp;   “ 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.

Paris, January 19, 1814.
“ . . . . . 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 irrevocably 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.
(Signed) “ CAULINCOURT, Duke of Vicenza.”

2 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.