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the suggestions above hazarded may seem less suitable to the altered circumstances under which that event has placed us and all Europe; and indeed at this moment, so far from reducing one man of the line, we should not be surprised at a speedy call to convert every four-company depôt into a second battalion 600 strong. Meantime it would be unwise surely to defer bringing all the defensive force we now muster into the best trim-and the more we think of it, the more we are persuaded that the plan of the Dutch Militia deserves to be taken into the most serious consideration. Si vis pacem, para bellum.

ART. VI-1. Récits de la Captivité de l'Empereur Napoléon à Sainte Hélène. Par M. le Général Montholon, Compagnon de sa Captivité, et son premier Exécuteur Testamentaire. Paris, 1847. 8vo. 2 tomes.

2. History of the Captivity of Napoleon at Saint Helena. By General Count Montholon, the Emperor's Companion in Exile, and Testamentary Executor. London, 1846-7. 8vo.

4 vols.

WE thought we had seen the last of formal and avowed

attempts to prove that the ministers of George IV., especially the late excellent Earl Bathurst, and the officers employed by them, especially Sir Hudson Lowe, were guilty of systematic barbarity in the treatment of Bonaparte: but here is one more— and, as we understand that it meets with favour at Paris, we think it our duty to give a brief notice of its merits. Indeed, having taken some pains to show the true character of, we believe, all the former works of the class, from the forgeries of Santini to the fictions of O'Meara, we could hardly receive in silence the elaborate performance, put forth after the lapse of sixand-twenty years by an officer of high rank in his profession, and also, as it now appears, in the eye of the Heralds. It was well known that M. Montholon was one of the generals who accompanied Napoleon to St. Helena-it was also known that this warrior assisted in the invasion of Boulogne, and partook in consequence of the detention at Ham-but we learn now for the first time, what would probably have astonished even Sir William Dugdale, that the Count is lineally sprung from a hero who saved the life of Richard Coeur-de-Lion at the siege of Ascalon in A.D. 1192, and was then created by that grateful monarch Baron O'Brion and Earl of Lee' (French Preface, p. lxxxii.). By the way, in case the Bonaparte countship must now be dropped, we hope there

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will be no objection in any quarter to the resumption of these ancient titles.

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He ushers in his work by telling us that during six years he shared the captivity of the greatest man of modern times, and relieved the agony of his martyrdom by attentions which He denominated filial—that he was employed in writing from dictation the commentaries of this second Cæsar'-that he watched the deathbed upon that political Golgotha of St. Helena'-and that 'everything which he states shall be verified by proof.' Though extracts from his papers had appeared in different publications, the whole story is only now produced in a complete and satisfactory shape.— 'Jaloux de perfectionner son œuvre, désormais le plus grand intérêt de sa vie, l'auteur l'a enrichie de quantité de faits et de détails nouveaux, puisés dans ses notes et ses souvenirs.' And all this is echoed by the authoritative critics of La Presse, who say:

Unexpected light will be diffused by the recital of General Montholon. Numbers of facts are for the first time made public in this work-numbers of false statements completely refuted. Sir Hudson Lowe is no longer on the scene; at this moment his Memoirs are in preparation for the press in London. It behoves France to be careful that the history of this illustrious yet odious captivity be not TRAVESTIED. It was time that the truth respecting the Emperor should be given to the world. General Montholon writes history-history, serious and authentic; he brings in support of his assertions documents-proofs. He had a right to be believed on his mere word-he asks to be judged only by the evidence he can produce.'

The English edition, as well as the French, comes out under M. Montholon's own orders: but the English version was done from a MS., and many passages which that MS. had contained are either suppressed or greatly altered in the Parisian text. The MS. had been rather an illegible one, it seems, for the proper names are sadly travestied in the English text: but we cannot compliment the translator on having always understood what he could spell: for example, in rendering officier d'ordonnance' by officer of ordnance,' instead of orderly officer. We are afraid, too, the English scribe must take some of the blame incurred by such occasional metamorphoses as that of Rear-Admiral Pamplin into 'Lord-Admiral Pamplin,' &c. &c. On the whole the French edition is far the best of the two. Especially, it has more documents than the other, and more dates!— but we see good reason for keeping them both before us on the present occasion; and the reader will understand this by and bye. After the removal of Count Las Cases in December, 1816, Count Montholon became Napoleon's amanuensis; and these volumes profess to give us the Emperor's own account of

many

many events in his wonderful career. Upon these matters, however, it is not our present intention to touch. The value of any report depends upon the accuracy and good faith of the reporter, and this article will enable those who may consult the Count's recital of Bonaparte's narratives to judge of his pretensions to those essential attributes. The other part of his work relates to what he says occurred at St. Helena; and it is with this alone that we now mean to deal.

Of Bonaparte's life at St. Helena before Sir Hudson Lowe arrived, M. Montholon says—

'This kind of life, monotonous and melancholy though it was, without doubt was regarded as too endurable in the eye of the malicious_genius which then presided over the destiny of Napoleon; for Sir Hudson Lowe arrived, and with him the outrages which were to kill the august victim delivered up to his ferocious hatred by the inconsiderate rancour of the Holy Alliance.'-Ed. Paris, vol. i. p. 197; ed. Lond. i. 178.

Though he admits that Sir Hudson possessed talents as an administrator,' that he was of extreme probity,' and had other good qualities, yet he tells us

'Sir Hudson Lowe doubtlessly yielded to those inspirations of savage hatred of which he received the first impressions while commanding the battalion of Corsican and Calabrese deserters in Sicily.'-Ed. Paris, i. 304. All his relations with Longwood were marked with the stamp of insatiable hatred, outrages, and useless vexations; and I should say, with a profound conviction of its truth, that the death of the Emperor was his object, had he not said to me on the 6th of May, 1821, all the accent of truth, "His death is my ruin!"' (Ed. Lond. i 183; ed. Paris, i. 246.)

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We may remind our readers that Sir Hudson, a Major-General of 1814, held the local rank of Lieutenant-General at St. Helena; but, after Bonaparte's death in 1821, reverted to his former position, and did not again become a Lieutenant-General until 1830. We believe few need to be told that, except a temporary appointment at Ceylon, he never subsequently received any good thing whatever from the British Government: but we may add, that he died an exceedingly poor man-in fact, leaving his daughter as well as his son as bare as any brave old officer's children ever could have been left. But to proceed. M. Montholon represents Bonaparte to have spoken thus of Sir Hudson Lowe to Lord Amherst :

"Tell the Prince Regent, tell the Parliament of which you are a principal member, that I await as a favour the axe of the executioner to put an end to the outrages of my gaoler.... Crime and hatred towards me are equally in this man's nature. It is necessary to him to torture

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me; like the tiger, who tears with his claws the prey whose agonies he takes pleasure in prolonging.'-Ed. Lond. ii. 495; ed. Paris, ii.

140.

Bonaparte may have spoken this to somebody-or he may not -but he certainly never so spoke to Lord Amherst.

In 1818 some of the restrictions were relaxed, and in the same year Dr. O'Meara was sent to England in consequence of gross misconduct. Of these transactions the Count says,

'Sir Hudson Lowe himself observed with a certain degree of alarm the effect of his restrictive measures. A struggle was evidently taking place in his mind between a vague fear of the terrible result which might be the consequence of the state of affairs, and the vices of his character, which incessantly urged on his inclination to torture his captive. His evil genius gained the supremacy. At length he dared to lay hands on the physician of his victim, not reflecting that this barbarous act would be the most striking testimony in support of the accusation which would brand his name, should the Emperor die at St. Helena.'-Ed. Lond. iii. 1, 2; ed. Paris, ii. 243-4.

Again :

'He seemed to consider us as slaves under the whip.' (Ed. Paris, ii. 267.) 'This man's character was a very singular one; he required constant nourishment for the uneasy and restless workings of his imagination; and when this nourishment was not the natural result of the danger of his prisoner's escape, he sought for it everywhere, as the bloodhound seeks for the track of the stag.' (Ed. Lond. iii. 151; ed. Paris, ii. 478.) 'The bad temper of Sir Hudson Lowe increased continually, and at last became such that Bertrand and I did not know what means to use so that the Emperor might not hear of his outrages."-Ed. Lond. ii. 354. . During five years

he transformed the office of Governor of St. Helena to the functions of the goaler, or rather, I may venture to say, to the functions of executioner' (the English edition adds) of Napoleon.'-Ed. Paris, i. 246; ed. Lond. i. 184.

It was the puff of M. Montholon already quoted from La Presse' which suggested to ourselves the propriety of applying for access to the Lowe papers, now at last nearly ready for publication. As these MSS. contain the evidence we shall make use of on the present occasion, we must begin with a brief description of them. They consist, then, mainly of the registration, in about twenty-five folio volumes, of every instruction, despatch, and other letter, which Sir Hudson Lowe, or Sir Thomas Reade, or any other of his staff, received or wrote, that in any way whatever related to his prisoner; and of copious notes of every conversation which he or they ever had with Bonaparte or with any of his followers, or with any other person, on any subject connected with Bonaparte-notes made at the time with extraor

dinary care by Major Gorrequer, the acting Military Secretary.* Many of these conversations are extremely dramatic, and such of them as were held with MM. Bertrand and Montholon, and with Bonaparte himself, afford very curious revelations of his sentiments, habits, and character. The letters from Bertrand and Montholon to Sir Hudson were in fact Bonaparte's own, as they avowedly wrote them from his dictation. But the richest particulars concerning Napoleon and his family at Longwood are contained in O'Meara's unpublished communications to Sir Hudson before their quarrel, and in a series of private letters to a London friend of the distinguished surgeon's. Sir Hudson had all along meant these records to be published. He very soon felt that nothing but a complete imprint of the contemporary documents could set the question of his own conduct entirely at rest; but was from time to time persuaded to wait, whether on representations of a political cast from people in power here, or by the advice of personal friends, we do not at present inquire. Shortly before his death he set to work in earnest, and had even put some pages into type. His plan was clearly indicated: it was that of a man strong in the sense of rectitude; and we are assured that Sir Harris Nicolas has undertaken to carry out that plan in its honest comprehensiveness-nothing, whether favourable to the governor or the reverse, is to be omitted or tampered with. From these papers, therefore, the world will at last learn, as it ought long ago to have learnt, the truth and the whole truth respecting the captivity of Napoleon. Justice will, consequently, at last be rendered to the fairness and generosity of this country; to the conscientious minister who presided over the War Department during the whole of the period; and to the memory-alas! that it can only be his memory-of one of the most able, zealous, and humane public servants that ever fell a sacrifice to slander and cowardice.

Before we put General Montholon formally into the box, our readers may like to learn something of the character which the witness bore at the time when, and place where, the transactions took place-especially, perhaps, what was the opinion which Bonaparte himself entertained of his veracity. The reporter whom we shall cite on these matters is Dr. O'Meara; and though we have no very exalted opinion of the Doctor's truthfulness, Count Montholon cannot well object to him; for, notwithstanding the most material part of what we are going to state was communicated to

In the English edition of Count Montholon's work (i. 179), Major Gorrequer is described as one of whose conduct we had always occasion to speak in terms of the highest praise; but the eulogy is omitted in the French edition.

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