The Works of Lord Byron Volume V Part 140

[261] {544}[In a speech delivered in the House of Commons, February 17, 1800, "On the continuance of the War with France," Pitt described Napoleon as the "child and champion of Jacobinism." Coleridge, who was reporting for the _Morning Post_, took down Pitt's words as "nursling and champion" (unpublished MS. note-book)--a finer and more original phrase, but subst.i.tuted "child" for "nursling" in his "copy." (See _Letters of S. T. Coleridge_, 1895, i. 327, note i.) The phrase was much in vogue, _e.g._ "All that survives of Jacobinism in Europe looks up to him as its 'child and champion.'"-_Quarterly Review_, xvi. 48.]

[dx] Lines 55-58 not in MS.

[262] [O'Meara, under the dates August 19, September 5, September 7, 13, etc. (see _Napoleon in Exile_, 1888, i. 95, 96, 114, 121, etc.), reports complaints on the part of Napoleon with regard to the reduction of expenses suggested or enforced by Sir Hudson Lowe, and gives specimens of the nature and detail of these reductions. For a refutation of O'Meara's facts and figures (as given in _Napoleon in Exile_, 1822, ii.

Appendix V.), see the _History of the Captivity of Napoleon_, by William Forsyth, Q.C., 1853, iii. 121, _sq_.; see, too, _Sir Hudson Lowe and Napoleon_, by R. C. Seaton, 1898. It is a fact that Sir Hudson Lowe, on his own responsibility, increased the allowance for the household expenses of Napoleon and his staff from 8000 to 12,000 a year, and it is also perfectly true that opportunities for complaint were welcomed by the ex-Emperor and his mimic court. It was _la politique de Longwood_ to make the worst of everything, on the off-chance that England would get to hear, and that Radical indignation and Radical sympathy would gild, perhaps unbar, the eagle's cage. It is true, too, that a large sum of money was spent on behalf of a prisoner of war whom the stalwarts of the Tory party would have executed in cold blood. But it is also true that Napoleon had no need to manufacture complaints, that he was exposed to unnecessary discomforts, that useless and irritating precautions were taken to prevent his escape, that the bottles of champagne and madeira, the fowls and the bundles of wood were counted with an irritating preciseness, inconsistent with the general scale of expenditure, which saved a little waste, and covered both princ.i.p.als and agents with ridicule. It is said that O'Meara, in his published volumes, manipulated his evidence, and that his own letters give him the lie; but there is a ma.s.s of correspondence, published and unpublished, between him and Sir Thomas Reade, Sir Hudson Lowe, and Major Gorrequer (see Addit. MSS.

Brit. Mus. 20,145), which remains as it was written, and which testifies to facts which might have been and were not refuted on the spot and at the moment. With regard to "disputed rations," the Governor should have been armed with a crus.h.i.+ng answer to any and every complaint. As it was, he was able to show that champagne was allowed to "Napoleon Buonaparte,"

and that he did not exceed his allowance.]

[263] {545}[In his correspondence with Lord Bathurst, Sir Hudson Lowe more than once quotes "statements" made by Dr. O'Meara (_vide post_, p.

546). But the surgeon may be William Warden (1777-1849), whose _Letters written on board His Majesty's s.h.i.+p the Northumberland, and at St, Helena_, were published in 1816.]

[264] [Henry, Earl of Bathurst (1762-1834), Secretary for War and the Colonies, replied to Lord Holland's motion "for papers connected with the personal treatment of Napoleon Buonaparte at St. Helena," March 18, 1817. _Parl. Deb._, vol. 35, pp. 1137-1166.]

[265] [A bust of Napoleon's son, the Duke of Reichstadt, had been forwarded to St. Helena. O'Meara (_Napoleon in Exile, etc._, 1822, i. p.

100) says "that it had been in the island fourteen days, during several of which it was at Plantation House," before it was transferred to Longwood. Forsyth (_History of Napoleon in Captivity_, 1853, ii. 146) denies this statement. It was, no doubt, detained on board s.h.i.+p for inspection, but not at Plantation House.]

[266] [The book in question was _The Substance of some Letters written by an Englishman in Paris_, 1816 (by J. C. Hobhouse). It was inscribed "To the Emperor Napoleon." Lowe's excuse was that Hobhouse had submitted the work to his inspection, and suggested that if the Governor did not think fit to give it to Napoleon, he might place it in his own library.

(See _Napoleon in Exile_, 1822, i. 85-87; and Forsyth, 1853, i. 193.)]

[dy] _Weep to survey the Tamer of the Great_.--[MS.]

[267] [Lieutenant-General Sir Hudson Lowe, K.C.B. (1769-1844), was the son of an army surgeon, John Hudson Lowe. His mother was Irish. He was appointed Governor of St. Helena, August 23, 1815, and landed in the island April 14, 1816. Byron met him at Lord Holland's, before he sailed for St. Helena, and was not impressed by his remarks on Napoleon and Waterloo (_Letters_, 1901, v. 429). He was well-intentioned, honourable, and, in essentials, humane, but he was arrogant and tactless. The following sentence, from a letter written by Lowe to O'Meara, October 3, 1816 (Forsyth, i. 318, 319), is characteristic: "With respect to the instructions I have received, and my manner of making them known, never having regarded General Bonaparte's opinions in any point whatever as to _matter_ or _manner_, as an oracle or criterion by which to regulate my own judgment, I am not disposed to think the less favourably of the instructions, or my mode of executing them." It must, however, be borne in mind that this was written some time after Lowe's fifth and last interview with his captive (Aug. 18, 1816); that Napoleon had abused him to his face and behind his back, and was not above resorting to paltry subterfuges in order to defy and exasperate his "paltry gaoler."]

[268] {546}[There is reason to think that "the staring stranger" was the traveller Captain Basil Hall (1788-1844), who called upon Byron at Venice (see _Letters_, 1900, iv. 252), but did not see him. His account of his interview with Napoleon is attached to his narrative of a _Voyage to Java_, 1840. It is not included in the earlier editions of Hall's _Voyage to the Corea and the Loochoo Islands_, but is quoted by Scott, in his _Life of Napoleon_, 1827.]

[269] [Barry Edward O'Meara (1786-1836) began life as a.s.sistant-surgeon to the 62nd Regiment, then stationed in Sicily and Calabria. In 1815 he was surgeon on board the _Bellerophon_, under Captain F. L. Maitland.

Napoleon took a fancy to him because he could speak Italian, and, as his own surgeon Mengeaud would not follow him into exile, requested that O'Meara might accompany him, in the _Northumberland_, to St. Helena. His position was an ambiguous one. He was to act as Napoleon's medical and, _quoad hoc_, confidential attendant, but he was not to be subservient to him or dependent on him. At St. Helena Lowe expected him to be something between an intermediary and a spy, and, for a time, O'Meara discharged both functions to the Governor's satisfaction (statements by Dr. O'Meara are quoted by Lowe in his letter to Lord Bathurst [_Life of Napoleon, etc._, by Sir W. Scott, 1828, p. 763]). As time went on, the surgeon yielded to the glamour of Napoleon's influence, and more and more disliked and resented the necessity of communicating private conversations to Lowe. He "withheld his confidence," with the result that the Governor became suspicious, and treated O'Meara with reprobation and contempt. At length, on July 18, 1818, on a renewed accusation of "irregularities," Lord Bathurst dismissed him from his post, and ordered him to quit St. Helena. He returned to England, and, October 28, 1818, addressed a letter (see Forsyth's _Napoleon, etc._, iii. 432, 433) to J. W. Croker, the Secretary to the Admiralty, in which he argued against the justice of his dismissal. One sentence which a.s.serted that Lowe had dwelt upon the "benefit which would result to Europe from the death of Napoleon," was seized upon by Croker as calumnious, and in answer to his remonstrance, O'Meara's name was struck off the list of naval surgeons. He published, in 1819, a work ent.i.tled _Exposition of some of the Transactions that have taken place at St.

Helena since the appointment of Sir Hudson Lowe as Governor_, which was afterwards expanded into _Napoleon in Exile, or a Voice from St. Helena_ (2 vols., 1822). The latter work made a great sensation, and pa.s.sed through five editions. It was republished in 1888. O'Meara was able, and generously disposed, but he was not "stiff" (_vide infra_, 489). "He was," says Lord Rosebery (_Napoleon, The Last Phase_, 1900, p. 31), "the confidential servant of Napoleon: unknown to Napoleon, he was the confidential agent of Lowe; and behind both their backs he was the confidential informant of the British Government.... Testimony from such a source is ... tainted." Neither men nor angels will disentangle the wheat from the tares.]

[270] {547}[Buonaparte died the 5th of May, 1821.]

[271] [At the end of vol. ii. of O'Meara's _Voice, etc._ (ed. 5), there is a statement, signed by Count Montholon, to the effect that he wished the following inscription to be placed on Napoleon's coffin--

"Napoleon.

Ne a Ajaccio le 15 Aout, 1769, Mort a Ste. Helene le 5 Mai, 1821;"

but that the Governor said, "that his instructions would not allow him to sanction any other name being placed on the coffin than that of 'General Bonaparte.'" Lowe would have sanctioned "Napoleon Bonaparte,"

but, on his own admission, _did_ refuse the inscription of the one word "Napoleon."--Forsyth, iii. 295, 296, note 3.]

[272] {548}[Hall, in his interview with Napoleon at St. Helena, _Narrative of a Voyage to Java_, 1840, p. 77, testifies that, weeks before the vessel anch.o.r.ed at St. Helena, August 11, 1817, "the probability of seeing him [Napoleon] had engrossed the thoughts of every one on board.... Even those of our number who, from their situation, could have no chance of seeing him, caught the fever of the moment, and the most cold and indifferent person on board was roused on the occasion into unexpected excitement."]

[273] [The Colonne Vendome, erected to commemorate the Battle of Austerlitz, was inaugurated in 1810.]

[274] [Pompey's, i.e. Diocletian's Pillar stands on a mound near the Arabian cemetery, about three quarters of a mile from Alexandria, between the city and Lake Mareotis.]

[275] [Napoleon was buried, May 9, 1821, in a garden in the middle of a deep ravine, under the shade of two willow trees.]

[276] [Byron took for granted that Napoleon's remains would one day rest under the dome of the Pantheon, where Mirabeau is buried, and where cenotaphs have been erected to Voltaire and Rousseau. As it is (since December 15, 1840) he sleeps under the Dome des Invalides. Above the entrance are these words, which are taken from his will: "Je desire que mes cendres reposent sur les bords de la Seine, au milieu de ce peuple Francais que j'ai tant aime."]

[277] {549} Guesclin died during the siege of a city; it surrendered, and the keys were brought and laid upon his bier, so that the place might appear rendered to his ashes. [Bertrand du Guesclin, born 1320, first distinguished himself in the service of King John II. of France, in defending Rennes against Henry Duke of Lancaster, 1356-57. He was made Constable of France in 1370, and died before the walls of Chateauneuf-de-Randon (Lozere). July 13, 1380. He was buried by the order of Charles V. in Saint-Denis, hard by the tomb which the king had built for himself. In _La Vie vaillant Bertran du Guesclin_ [_Chronique, etc._ (par E. Charriere), 1839, tom. ii. p. 321, lines 22716, _sq._], the English do not place the keys of the castle on Du Guesclin's bier, but present them to him as he lies tossing on his death-bed ("a son lit agite"). So, too, _Histoire de Messire Bertrand du Guesclin_, par Claude Menard, 1618, 540: "Et Engloiz se accorderent a ce faire. Lors issirent dudit Chastel, et vindrent a Bertran, et lui presenterent les clefs. Et ne demora gueres, qu'il getta le souppir de la mort."]

[278] [John of Trocnow, surnamed Zika, or the "One-eyed," was born circ. 1360, and died while he was besieging a town on the Moravian border, October 11, 1424. He was the hero of the Hussite or Taborite crusade (1419-1422), the _malleus Catholicorum_. The story is that on his death-bed he was asked where he wished to be buried, and replied, "that it mattered not, that his flesh might be thrown to the vulture and eagles; but his skin was to be carefully preserved and made into a drum, to be carried in the front of the battle, that the very sound might disperse their enemies." Voltaire, in his _Essai sur Les Murs et L'Esprit des Nations_ (cap. lxxiii. s.f. _uvres Completes, etc._, 1836, iii. 256), mentions the legend as a fact, "Il ordonna qu' apres sa mort on fit un tambour de sa peau." Compare _Werner_, act i. sc. I, lines 693, 694.]

[279] {550}["Au moment de la bataille Napoleon avait dit a ses troupes, en leur montrant les Pyramides: 'Soldats, quarante siecles vous regardent.'"--_Campagnes d'egypte et de Syrie_, 1798-9, par le General Bertrand, 1847, i. 160.]

[280] [Madrid was taken by the French, first in March, 1808, and again December 2, 1808.]

[281] [Vienna was taken by the French under Murat, November 14, 1805, evacuated January 12, 1806, captured by Napoleon, May, 1809, and restored at the conclusion of peace, October 14, 1809. Her treachery consisted in her hospitality to the sovereigns at the Congress of Vienna, November, 1814, and her share in the Treaty of Vienna, March 25, 1815, which ratified the Treaties of Chaumont, March 1, and of Paris, April 11, 1814.]

[282] [At Jena Napoleon defeated Prince Hohenlohe, and at Auerstadt General Davoust defeated the King of Prussia, October 14, 1806. Napoleon then advanced to Berlin, October 27, from which he issued his famous decree against British commerce, November 20, 1806.]

[283] [The part.i.tion of Poland. "Henry [of Prussia] arrived at St.

Petersburg, December 9, 1770; and it seems now to be certain that the first open proposal of a dismemberment of Poland arose in his conversations with the Empress.... Catherine said to the Prince, 'I will frighten Turkey and flatter England. It is your business to gain Austria, that she may lull France to sleep;' and she became at length so eager, that ... she dipt her finger into ink, and drew with it the lines of part.i.tion on a map of Poland which lay before them."--_Edinburgh Review_, November, 1822 (art. x. on _Histoire des Trois Demembremens de la Pologne_, par M. Ferrand, 1820, etc., vol. 37, pp. 479, 480.)]

[284] {551} [Napoleon promised much, but did little for the Poles. "In speaking of the business of Poland he ... said it was a whim (_c'etait un caprice_)."--_Narrative of an Emba.s.sy to Warsaw_, by M. Dufour de Pradt, 1816, p. 51. "The Polish question," says Lord Wolseley (_Decline and Fall of Napoleon_, 1893, p. 19), "thrust itself most inconveniently before him. In early life all his sympathies ... were with the Poles, and he had regarded the part.i.tion of their country as a crime.... As a very young man liberty was his only religion; but he had now learned to hate and to fear that term.... He had no desire ... to be the Don Quixote of Poland by reconst.i.tuting it as a kingdom. To fight Russia by the re-establishment of Polish independence was not, therefore, to be thought of."]

[285] [The final part.i.tion of Poland took place after the Battle of Maciejowice, October 12, 1794, when "Freedom shrieked when Kosciusko fell." Tyrants, _e.g._ Napoleon in 1806, and Alexander in 1814 and again in 1815, approached Kosciusko with respect, and loaded him with flattery and promises, and then "pa.s.sed by on the other side."]

[286] [The reference is to Charles's chagrin when the Grand Vizier allowed the Russians to retire in safety from the banks of the Pruth, and a.s.sented to the Treaty of Ja.s.sy, July 21, 1711. Charles, "impatient for the fight, and to behold the enemy in his power," had ridden above fifty leagues from Bender to Ja.s.sy, swam the Pruth at the risk of his life, and found that the Czar had marched off in triumph. He contrived to rip up the Vizier's robe with his spur, "remonta a cheval, et retourna a Bender le desespoir dans le cur" (_Histoire de Charles XII._, Livre v. _s.f._).]

[287] {552}["Naples, October 29, 1822. Le Vesuve continue a lancer des pierres et des cendres."--From _Le Moniteur Universel_, November 21, 1822.]

[dz] _For staring tourists_----.--[MS.]

[288] [The material for this description of Napoleon on his return from Moscow is drawn from De Pradt's _Narrative of an Emba.s.sy to Warsaw and Wilna_, published in 1816, pp. 133-141. "I hurried out, and arrived at the Hotel d'Angleterre.... [Warsaw, December 10, 1812]. I saw a small carriage body placed on a sledge made of four pieces of fir: it had stood some crashes, and was much damaged.... The ministers joined me in addressing to him ... wishes for the preservation of his health and the prosperity of his journey. He replied, 'I never was better; if I carried the devil with me, I should be all the better for that (_Quand j'aurai le diable je ne m'en porterai que mieux_).' These were his last words.

He then mounted the humble sledge, which bore Caesar and his fortune, and disappeared." The pa.s.sage is quoted in the _Quarterly Review_, October, 1815, vol. xiv. pp. 64-68.]

[289] {553}

["Soldats Francais! Serrez vos rangs!

Intendez Roland qui vous crie!

Armez vous contre vos tyrans!

Brisez les fers de la patrie."

"L'Ombre de Roland," _Morning Chronicle_, October 10, 1822.]

[290] [Gustavus Adolphus fell at the great battle of Lutzen, in November, 1632. Napoleon defeated the allied Russian and Prussian armies at Lutzen, May 2, 1813.]

[291] [On June 26, 1813, Napoleon re-entered Dresden, and on the 27th repulsed the allied sovereigns, the Emperors of Russia and Prussia, with tremendous loss. Thousands of prisoners and a great quant.i.ty of cannon were taken.]

[ea]

_Dresden beholds three nations fly once more_ _Before the lash they oft had felt before_.--[MS. erased.]

[292] [At the battle of Leipzig, October 18, 1813, on the appearance of Bernadotte, the Saxon soldiers under Regnier deserted and went over to the Allies. Napoleon, whose army was already weakened, lost 30,000 men at Leipzig.]

[293] [Joseph Buonaparte, who had been stationed on the heights of Montmartre, March 30, 1814, to witness if not direct the defence of Paris against the Allies under Blucher, authorized Marmont to capitulate. His action was, unjustly, regarded as a betrayal of his brother's capital.]