From Bontley's Miscellany.
THE EXILE AND THE GOVERNOR.

tolerant gaoler, that any attempt to show an opposite view of this picture will be received with hesitation, and can only hope to obtain credit on THIRTY-NINE years have swept over our heads, convincing evidence. The volumes of Mr. Forsince Napoleon Buonaparte landed in France syth, lately published, most certainly ought to from his island sovereignty of Elba, drove out succeed (as all lovers of fair dealing will hope the restored Bourbons at the point of the bayonet, they may) in rescuing the memory of an injured and re-ascended the throne which he had been officer from much unmerited obloquy.* He has reluctantly compelled to abdicate in 1814, at here collected a body of documentary proof, never Fontainebleau. An Emperor once more, for one before brought together, while he has examined hundred days he again shook the globe to its and weighed the whole with the perspicuity of a centre, just as it was subsiding into tranquillity, practised advocate. There is no special pleadand beginning to revolve comfortably on its axis. ing, no ingenious sophistry to make the worse Then the allied powers issued a manifesto, de- appear the better argument, but an appeal to diclaring that, by that act of unprovoked invasion, rect testimony, and conclusions drawn as truth he had violated existing treaties, nullified his ex- predominates. We have seldom seen a case more istence, and placed himself beyond the pale of civil logically argued, or decisions formed on more and social relations. They accordingly denoun- solid grounds. That Mr. Forsyth is always ced, and delivered him over to public vengeance right, is more than will be conceded; but that he as a common enemy, and disturber of the peace generally produces sound reasons for his concluof the world; at the same time binding them- sions, will be felt and admitted by all who take selves by one general league, never to make terms the trouble of perusing his pages. The work is with, or sheath the sword against, this restless rather voluminous, consisting of three goodly adversity, until he was rendered powerless for the octavos, but it could scarcely have been condenfuture. The manifesto was signed by the pleni-sed within a smaller compass, and one-third, at potentiaries of Great Britain, France (represent least, is occupied by the original despatches and ed by the government of Louis the Eighteenth), correspondence, on which the whole is based. Austria, Russia, Prussia, Spain, Portugal, and These are collected together at the end of each Sweden. Under this overwhelming coalition, volume, and referred to by marginal notes-a the star of the first Napoleon, which flickered convenient arrangement-which supplies the auwith a momentary blaze at Ligny, went down thority without interrupting the narrative. The at Waterloo, never to rise again. Another treaty, time for a dispassionate consideration of the or convention, consigned him to the rock of St. subject, in all its bearings, has now fully arrived; Helena, as a prisoner of war. Six years later, he men's minds are no longer biassed by the was borne to his lonely grave, in that distant re- ephemeral libels, which were readily caught up at gion, on the shoulders of British grenadiers. the moment and received as sober facts; when, Time, that unflinching policeman, who bids all in truth, they contained little beyond a string of "move on," and is never disobeyed, within ten extravagant inventions, but which political bigyears more saw another revolution and another otry, ever blind, and regardless of truth or jus family ruling in France, the younger branch su- tice, received and used for its own purposes. perseding the elder, elevated by the barricades O'Meara's "Voice from St. Helena" went rapidof 1830. The avenue through which they climbed ly through many editions, produced a large sum was less glorious and scarcely as legitimate as of money to the writer, and some current repu Montenotte, Rivoli, and Marengo. But France tation, which, however, soon dissipated into longed for the remains of her great Emperor to" thin air," when the man and his motives began repose on the banks of the Scine, according to to be correctly estimated. Meanwhile, it was exhis own expressed desire. The national glory tolled to the skies by every journal and periodirequired this propitiation-the wish was complied cal opposed to the Government of the day. This with. The body of Napoleon was transferred book had been anticipated by a kindred publiwith solemn funereal pomp, and now lies beneath cation, equally worthless, "The Letters of Dr the dome of the "Invalides," surrounded by the Warden, Surgeon of the Northumberland," print trophies of many battles. Successive revolutions ed in 1816, of which Napoleon himself said, and hurried on each other with startling rapidity, un- General Gourgaud echoed after him, that it was til, in 1853, the baffled adventurer of Boulogne," a mere tissue of falschoods," but which neverthe prisoner of Ham, is transformed into Napo-theless had a prodigious sale, and was eulogized leon the Third, Emperor of the French, chosen in the grave, oracular, didactic columns of the by the suffrages of eight millions of his country- Edinburgh Review, as a volume to be safely remen, acknowledged by all the sovereigns of Eu- commended to their readers, as one of the few rope-and the proscribed family of Buonaparte works on Napoleon, neither sullied by adulation, is enrolled amongst the reigning dynasties. These nor disgraced by scurrility. It is mere waste of events, which resemble Eastern fable rather than historical truth, are nevertheless recorded facts, registered in the annals of the world, and comprised within a narrow segment of little more than one-third of a century.

Helena; from the Letters and Journals of the late "History of the Captivity of Napoleon at St. Lient. Gen. Sir Hudson Lowe, and official documents, not before made public." By William Forsyth, M. A., Author of "Hortensius," and History of Trial by Jury," late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. Three Volumes, 8vo. Lon

Established opinions, whether founded on prejudice or conviction, are not easily shaken. It has been so long believed that Napoleon was a persecuted captive, and Sir Hudson Lowe an in-don, 1853.

time to look for veritable history in the avowed the law were so dilatory, and so long an interval organ of a party, no matter how high the stand- elapsed in selecting the obnoxious passages, and ard of its literary pretensions, or how brilliant the preparing the necessary affidavits, that the plaintiff, talent of its leading contributors. Political ani- ignorant of his being confined within a particular mosity crusades against every thing but its date, lost his plea under the statute of limitations own cherished dogmas, and would change in similar cases, which barred him out in point black into white to promote a political object. of time. The only consolation he derived under Sir Walter Scott remarks, with justice, that this disappointment was, that as the decision we are called upon to regard Napoleon as a man arose from a legal objection, he was not compellmore severely tried in the opposite extremes ofed to pay the costs of his adversary as well as his prosperity and adversity than any other sove-own. Had the case gone fairly before a jury on reign or conqueror recorded in history (Bajazet its merits, there can be little doubt that the result may, perhaps be named as a parallel); and that it scarcely falls within the capacity of ordinary judges, who have never sounded the same depths or moved beyond the middle paths of life, to pronounce on the want of equanimity he displayed, when patience and fortitude would have elevated his character, prolonged his life, and diminished his sufferings. Yet there can be no doubt that his conduct was below himself, and untrue to his reputation. His mind was shaken very soon after his arrival at St. Helena, and his mighty faculties gave way under the pressure of restraint and fretful irritation. He was unfortunate, too, in the selected companions of his exile, who were men of limited capacity, although faithful and devoted to their master in adversity; but, at the same time, in their intercourse with the English officers, habitual disciples of falsehood -deceitful, impracticable, and perpetually quarrelling with each other. Instead of assuaging, they invariably fomented every trifling cause of discontent or casual annoyance. Napoleon firmly persuaded himself that the British Government intended to assassinate him, and that Sir Hudson Lowe was their chosen executioner. And in this monstrous opinion, a British medical officer insinuates his own participation. Mr. Forsyth quotes a letter of O'Meara, which appeared in the "Morning Chronicle" of the 17th of March, 1823, wherein he says Sir Hudson Lowe ignored his appointment, and threatened to bundle him off the island back to England, and then adds,

From this specimen, an idea may be formed of the extent to which O'Meara ventured in his direct and implied libels against the unlucky governor; who remained silent, partly in ignorance, and probably in contempt, of the obloquy to which he was exposed, believing that the truth would find its level without his interference, but, at the same time, carefully accumulating do cuments and rebutting evidence, to be employed when occasion required. At length, in July 1822, O'Meara published his book called "Napoleon in Exile; or, a Voice from St. Helena." Then Sir Hudson Lowe, yielding to the advice of his warmest friends, instituted proceedings against O'Meara for libel; but the operations of

would have cleared Sir Hudson Lowe from many groundless accusations, and the punishment of the defendant would have furnished a memorable example for future reference. But, as the matter stood, the issue was most fortunate. Unreflecting or malicious people, who knew that the ex-governor of St. Helena had brought an action against O'Meara and failed, cared little to enquire how or why; it was enough for them that he could not obtain a verdict, and public opinion for a time remained even more than ever unfavorable to his reputation. He was urgently recommended by Lord Bathurst to draw up a full and complete justification of all the acts of his government, coupled with the documents then in his possession, and which are now used and referred to by Mr. Forsyth. Unhappily for himself, he refused to be guided by this counsel, and died without giving to the world any reply to his enemies, although continually intending to do so, and with the materials ready in his possession. A lamentable error in judgment, as accusations are too often received for truth, because they are uncontradicted. Procrastination in defence is readily construed into an admission of guilt.

When Sir Walter Scott's "Life of Napoleon" appeared in 1828, Sir Hudson Lowe, then in command of the forces at Ceylon, looked eagerly to the pages of a high-minded and conscientious writer in the hope of finding a complete refutation of the calumnies of hired or dishonest scribblers. But even here he was doomed to another disappointment, and found only a qualified and imperfect defence. In this work, Sir Walter wrote hurriedly, against time, under the pressure of pecuniary engagements, and with incomplete materials, which he dismissed hastily, without sufficient examination. Had he carefully perused and weighed the value of the official correspondence placed at his command, he surely could not have said that "The new governor was vulnerable; he could be rendered angry, and might therefore be taken at advantage." This is distinctly disproved by unanswerable evidence, showing that Napoleon was irritated, not by the anger of the governor, but by his impassive coolness. The French officers themselves, in attendance upon their chief, repeatedly acknowledged the governor's politeness, and when in the mood to speak the truth (which seldom occurred), admitted, more than once, that an angel from heaven would not have given them satisfaction in his place, and that their giant grievance lay, not in the details of St. Helena, but in the fact of being there at all. Perhaps the limited vindication of Sir Walter Scott did more harm to the public character of Sir Hudson Lowe than the

unmeasured calumnies of such unscrupulous ac- Jenemy Ana Capri, the key of the island; and the cusers as O'Meara, Las Cases, and Antommar-supineness of the naval department, which sufchi. He felt this bitterly, and on his return to fered the island, after a siege of ten days, to fall England, he consulted Lord Bathurst on the ex- into the hands of an enemy unsupported by a pediency of publishing an answer. This time, fleet, and who might have been easily cut off and the minister discouraged the idea, and underva- surrounded by the English cruisers. To this unlued the unfavorable effect of the remarks, assur- accountable negligence the loss of Capri must be ing him that the sentiments of the Government attributed, while the conduct of Sir Hudson towards him were unchanged, and that they re- Lowe was warmly commended and approved by quired no refutation of the charges they did not his superiors. Twenty years later, it was rather believe. Nevertheless, he failed to obtain the ap-hard to be abused by a brother soldier for an pointment of Governor of Ceylon, which had been indirectly held out to him.

event which had first brought him into notice, and became a stepping-stone in his subsequent In 1833, Lord Teynham, in the course of a de- promotion. It was unquestionably discreditable bate in the House of Lords, most unnecessarily to England, the queen of the seas, to lose a marand invidiously dragged in the name of Sir Hud- itime post which she desired to keep; and still son Lowe, in a manner which called up the Duke more so not to recover it, at the opportunity of of Wellington in an indignant reply. "I rise," 1809, when the large army and fleet under Sir said he, "for the purpose of defending the charac- John Stuart entered the Bay of Naples, took ter of a highly respectable officer, not a member Ischia and Procida, gave them up in a month, of this House, from the gross imputation thrown and made a great show, but did nothing. In fair upon him (by implication) by the noble lord; dealing, the fall of Capri should be fastened on and certainly a grosser one I never heard uttered the shoulders of higher authorities, and not on within these walls. I have the honor to know Sir Hudson Lowe's, which have enough to bear Sir Hudson Lowe, and I will say in this House, without this unenviable addition. or elsewhere, wherever it may be, that there is During the whole period of Napoleon's captivnot in the army a more respectable officer than ity, the governor seldom saw him, having been Sir Hudson Lowe, nor has his Majesty a more driven from his presence by the most offensive faithful subject." Lord Bathurst too loudly violence, which he neither provoked nor retortechoed this opinion, and plainly charged the ac-ed; although a general impression prevailed, owcusers of the ex-governor with direct falsehood. ing to systematic misrepresentation, that he There was no standing against this honest, constantly intruded himself on the ex-empestraightforward battery, and Lord Teynham was driven to an ample apology for his unwarrantable attack. Sir Hudson Lowe long unaccustomed to hear a friendly voice raised in his behalf, wrote to the Duke, and warmly thanked him for his prompt and generous defence; his Grace replied in a note, which Mr. Forsyth has inserted, and which may safely weigh down many volumes of calumny.

ror, when he had nothing else to do, for the mere wanton amusement of tormenting him by a quarrel or a scene. Napoleon, in his moments of unimpassioned reflection, admitted that the breach had been made and widened by himself, and on his death-bed enjoined Bertrand and Montholon to seek a reconciliation with Sir Hudson Lowe, by every means consistent with their honor. They called at Plantation House in consequence, and were courteously received, all previous misunderstandings being buried in oblivion. It cannot be said that Sir Hudson Lowe was a person of elegant or prepossessing manners, neither were his subordinate satraps, Colonel Reade and Major Gorrequer, exact types of Bayard or Sir Philip Sidney. In their infe rior positions they were busy and meddling, and much more on the qui-vive to magnify and encourage, than to hush up or smooth down a grievance or a complaint. Little and unskilful men, unfitted for difficult or delicate negotiation. The writer of this article knew them well, and speaks from personal recollection.

Stronger evidence to character was never delivered, and yet Sir Hudson Lowe locked this up in his bureau with other defences equally convincing, and went down into the grave in silence, unhonored, unpensioned, and calumniated to the hour of his death, leaving to others the rescue of his reputation. Never did an injured man pursue a more injudicious course. He cannot hear the reversed opinion of an unbiassed generation, should that result be obtained, or draw consolation from the tardy justice which may clear his character. He died in 1844, in the seventy-fifth year of his age, leaving his family ill-provided for, although he was accused of having amassed a fortune. His unmarried daughter, through the But the coarse and vulgar language which recommendation of Sir Robert Peel, received a O'Meara charges on Sir Hudson Lowe as his small pension from her Majesty," "in recogni- habitual characteristic, and which, as Mr. Forsyth tion of the services of her father." Sir W. Na- remarks, would degrade a British officer of high pier is unjust in his severe sentence on Sir H. rank into a sort of military Squire Western, a Lowe for his loss of Capri in 1807. The post compound of vulgarity and ignorance, had no should have been maintained, but the fault lay existence except in his own mendacious invennot with the officer in command, who defended tion. There have been governors, it is true, who himself as well as he could with the means at his were sometimes rude and unpolished-nay, even disposal, and also made honorable terms when brutal in their colloquial style of which those who compelled to surrender. There was something remember the late Sir Thomas Maitland, better wrong somewhere, but Sir Hudson, then Colonel known to all who have served in the MediterraLowe, could not foresee the shameful miscon- nean as "King Tom," may form a tolerable idea duct of the Maltese regiment which opened to the as a specimen. But the Governor of St. Helena

convenience of the governor, in this instance, ought to have given way before that of his prisoner. There appears, too, something mean and little in stinting the table and household expenditure of the ex-emperor and his family. They were known to be supplied with funds, and am

was a very different kind of man from the auto-part he had acted in the drama of the world. It crat of the Ionian Islands. He had more of Be- is true, England had been no party to the Treaty lial in his composition, and though sufficiently of Fontainebleau, which gave him he sovereignabsoulte, was smooth rather than rough in habi-ty of Elba, but we had recognized him as First tual demeanor, and too practical a diplomatist Consul at the Peace of Amiens, in 1801; the to be easily thrown off his guard, or subdued by Whig Government through their envoy, Lord a hasty temper. We once heard an officer of his Lauderdale, treated with him as Emperor of staff, who disliked him, and formed one of the France de facto, in 1806, and it was by no fault garrison of St. Helena under his command, say, of theirs that pacific overtures were broken off; that to his certain knowledge (the usual formula we had negotiated with him at Chatillon in 1814, when people know very little) Sir Hudson Lowe and would have acknowledged him as sovereign cared not a fig for public opinion or anything of France, had he then accepted the terms proelse, and thought only of "feathering his own posed. To call him General Bonaparte after all nest." But the fact that he died poor, refutes this, was a mere technical quibble, unworthy and the second charge, and the papers so sedulously unnecessary in the politics of a great union. preserved, on which his present vindication rests, Still more injudicious was it to refuse the incogentirely repudiate the first. The whole subject nito he afterwards proposed and was anxious to resolves itself into two very simple questions, assume; an easy mode of getting over many mieasily answered when prejudice and preconceived nor difficulties, which proved the source of great opinions are thrown out of the inquiry. "Were vexation. We also think he should have been the English Ministry justified in treating Napo-accommodated on his arrival at St. Helena, with leon Buonaparte as a prisoner of war? And Plantation House, the best residence in the isl did Sir Hudson Lowe in any manner exceed his and, instead of Longwood, the second best. The instructions?" To the first query, we answer unhesitatingly, Yes-to the second, No. The chain of reasoning adopted by Mr. Forsyth, and drawn from facts, will satisfy all except those (and they are a tolerably numerous section) who are determined not to be convinced either by argument or instance. Napoleon, when he surren-ple means of raising more; they plotted and dered himself to England, was hunted into a cor- contrived means of escape; they adopted subterner, and had no other resource. Escape was im- fuge and deceit; and there were sound reasons possible. Before him lay the ocean, with the for stringent regulations and unremitting guard; passage to America blocked out by the English but none for humiliating discussions on the price cruisers. Behind him the ditch of Vincennes, of poultry, eggs, and meat, or for a parliamen to which the tender mercies of Blucher would tary debate as to whetherthe allowance for their have consigned him, without trial; the deserts supply should be eight, ten, or twelve thousand of Siberia, if he had trusted to the vaunted friend- per annum. The expense of keeping our great ship of Alexander of Russia; or the tribunal of enemy at St. Helena was nothing, compared with Ney and Labedoyère, had he thrown himself on the enormous cost of the war from which we the clemency of Louis le Desiré. Failing to die were happily delivered by his dethronement. at Waterloo, to retire with the relics of the That point once accomplished, fallen majesty French forces behind the Loire, might have been had a right to every sympathy and indulgence, the lion's part; but it must have ended in uncon- less for its own deserts than for the honor of the ditional captivity, as both army and people were victors. In the complaints to which minor vexequally powerless in a land which bristled with ations gave rise, there was an appearance of jusmore than half a million of foreign bayonets. tice, which gave color to others that were totally His calling himself the guest of England, and groundless. Napoleon would not have lived to announcing that he came like Themistocles to old age anywhere. His hereditary disease preclaim her hospitality, was an empty theatrical cluded longevity. But, undoubtedly his death flourish, as vapid, and almost as ridiculous as was hastened by the circumstances of his conLord Ellenborough's proclamation relative to the finement, the perpetual state of irritation to gates of Somnauth. It imposed on no one-not which he abandoned himself, and the habits of even on himself. He had shown that he was not indolence he contracted, so diametrically opposed to be trusted; the Allied powers had declared to his constitutional activity. For the French that they would never treat with him again, and writers, as might be supposed, the subject has it would have been folly, amounting to deep cri- been an endless theme of invective against the minality, had he been allowed another opportu- English Ministry and their selected governor. nity of unsettling the trraquillity of Europe. They can find no terms sufficiently base in which The triumph of Waterloo had been purchased to convey their detestation of the unhappy offi by a general mourning. But we agree with Mr. cial. He is a perpetual nightmare to their restForsyth that the imperial title, on which he set the bête noire of their imaginations. One French so much value, might have been accorded to him author alone (Lamartine) has had a clear perwithout derogating from he honor of Great Bri- ception of the truth, and the courage to declare tain. On his part, it was puerile and weak, un- it honestly. Where he has fallen into partial worthy of his lofty intellect, to desire a mockery mistakes, the error has arisen not from prejuof royal state, when the substance had passed dice, but from the necessity he was under of from him for ever. It was degrading to a winnowing out the facts of the case from calumtravestie or a burlesque the grand and gorgeous | nious statements, rather than authentic materials,

and this gives additional weight and value to his opinion.

atrocity was quite as likely to have been perpetrated by his successor.

tempting to describe the moral lineaments of one who, in all leading features, so little resembled, and bore such slight affinity to ordinary beings. The subject has been so amply discussed by able pens, that it is difficult to invest it with novelty, or to avoid repetition.

Whether for good or evil, the name of Sir Towards the close of his work, Mr. Forsyth Hudson Lowe is inseparably connected with that draws an able and impartial summary of the of his illustrious prisoner. It is impossible to character of Napoleon, which he opens by obthink of the captive without recurring to the cus-serving, that a writer ought to be diffident in attodian. The chain of events which brought them into contact, while it led to the most important, undoubtedly produced the most unfortunate episode in the life of the latter. In the office he was called to and undertook, it was impossible to give entire satisfaction, or to escape without calumny. We do not believe that one man in ten, When we turn from the consideration of his even of a superior stamp, would have done bet- character and endowments to the actions by ter under under the same difficulties, or have had which both were illustrated, we find them brilthe moral courage or stoical insensibility, to leave liant and imposing, whether in the capacity of his memory to posthumous vindication, when he general or legislator, beyond any other example might have enjoyed the triumph of acquittal in the annals of history. But examine closely through his own exertions, and while he yet their effects on the condition of mankind, and lived to feel and estimate its value. Sir H. Lowe the true picture presents itself in hideous dehas found an able advocate, but prejudiced judg-formity. ment has taken such deep root, from time and Even warlike France became at last weary of the absence of contradiction, that even the most battles, which appeared to multiply with each palpable evidence may be found unequal to its successive victory; and the first fall of Napoleon overthrow. The hump of Richard the Third is in 1814 may be attributed quite as much to the a poetical imagination, แ a thing devised by his apathy of the people, who looked on with pasenemies, but it has been too long fixed on him to sive submission, and the exhausted spirit of the be moved. He will never be relieved from it; nei-armies and generals, who longed for an interval ther can we persuade ourselves that he was inno- of repose, as to the overwhelming rush of invadcent of the murder of his nephews, although the ing foreigners, accumulated in masses, which renproof of his guilt is utterly defective, and that dered resistance hopeless.

From The Spectator, 29 July. THE COALITION GOVERNMENT AND

THE WAR.

BEFORE the breaking up of Parliament for the six months' vacation, Ministers have at last distinctly stated their position in reference to the war, at home and abroad. No point appears to be left in doubt, which they could be at all justified in explaining. The duty was so easily performed, that the only matter of surprise is their having left it to be performed so late, and having consented to undergo so much misconstruction where a few simple words would have completely set them straight.

First, as opposed to Russia, whether in the East or in the North, the position is now as clear as crystal. The two principal objects of the war are to deprive Russia of the power of renewing such aggressions as the one which is now repelled, and the complete security of Turkey in the future by admitting her Government to a place with other Governments in the European system. Much has been said as to the impracticability of propping up the decayed Ottoman empire; but recent experience may have taught us how useless it is to enter into these presumptive speculations. Turkey exists as a power. If on the invasion of Russia in 1829 she showed an unexpected incapacity for fighting, so upon the invasion by Russia in 1853 she has shown an energy and a strength of resistance which she was supposed to

have lost; and what is more, her Government has shown a capacity for adapting itself to European alliances, totally alien from the preconceiv ed idea of the Porte. Whatever may be our notions about the past and future of Islam, the fact is, that Turkey is now a power possessing the faculty of self-defence and the faculty of adapting herself to the European system; and statesmen can only deal with the facts as they exist, however they may shape their conduct and their precautions to harmonize with the future.

While indicating the principal objects of the war, Lord John Russell threw out a hint that Russia cannot be permitted to retain a strong fleet in a fortified hold like Sebastopol, giving her the power which she has used for converting a sea common to Turkey and to herself, into a Russian lake. Other States have expressed great jealousy of the maritime strength of England, but nowhere can it be said that England claims the right to exclude the vessels of other powers from the shore of a foreign state. Lord John Russell was interpreted to have advertised the method of reducing the power of Russia in that respect; but we are now dealing with the substantial statements of Ministers, not with the fallacies imputed to them. In the Baltic, Sir C. Napier possesses a fleet capable of mastering any maritime force which Russia can bring against it; and he will be supported by a land force from France, which, we presume, is intended to strengthen his force for attack or for maintaining his position when winter shall harden the Baltic.