H. Letter from Count Bertrand to the Governor, Sir Hudson Lowe. Longwood, 30th September, 1817. GOVERNOR, I have made known to the Emperor, that you did me the honor to come to me the day before yesterday (Sunday), that you told me some anxieties had been excited in you respecting his ill health, and that as this was attributed to want of exercise, why did he not ride out on horseback? I replied to you, what had been said in various circumstances; and I have the honor to repeat to you now, that the existence of the Emperor, particularly for the last six weeks, is extremely painful; that the swelling of his legs increases every day; that the symptoms of scurvy which had been remarked in his gums, are already such as to occasion him almost constantly acute pains; that the medical men attribute this to want of exercise; that even since the month of May, 1816, that is to say, for 17 or 18 months, the Emperor has not been on horseback, has scarcely ever been out of his apartment, except sometimes, and very rarely, when he came about 40 toises, to visit my wife; that you know perfectly well what has prevented, and does prevent, the Emperor from going out; namely, the restrictions of the 9th October, 1816, which began to be put in execution six weeks after your arrival; that those restrictions contain, among others, a prohibition from speaking or listening to any person we may meet, and from going into any house; this makes him think that your intention was to compromise him with the sentries, and to outrage his character. You have observed to me, that you have suppressed that part of the restrictions, and such is the case. Admiral Malcolm, on his return from the Cape, made some observations to you on the subject, and you decided on suspending them, which you did by your letter of the 26th December, 1816, three months afterwards. But you have several times insinuated, and you believe yourself authorised to re-establish them at any moment, as well as others equally unreasonable. The restrictions of the 9th October, 1816, contain other articles of the same extravagant nature, which are not suspended. Fresh restrictions which you made on the 14th March, 1817, prescribe that we are not to quit the extent of a road twelve feet wide. It would thence result, that if the Emperor were to quit that road, or enter any house, the sentries might fire upon him. The Emperor ought not to recognise such ignoble treatment. Several Englishmen of distinction, at present in the island, on that passage being read to them, not being acquainted with the VOL. XII. Pam. NO. XXIV. 2.C restrictions of the 9th October, 1816, and of the 14th March, 1817, reproached the Emperor for sacrificing his health by not going out; but as soon as they were made known to them, they changed their opinion, and declared that no man of honor could act differently, and that, without pretending to compare themselves with him, they would in such a case have done as he did. I added, that if you wished to consult the officers who are in this colony, there is not one among them who does not regard the restrictions of the 9th October, 1816, and those of the 14th March, 1817, as unjust, useless, and oppressive, and that all, in the Emperor's place, would do as he did, holding such a conditional leave to go out, as an absolute prohibition. I had also the honor to tell you, that according to the terms of the Bill in Parliament of the 11th April, 1816, you have not a right to make restrictions; that the bill grants that right only to the Government, which cannot delegate it even to one of its Ministers, and still less to an individual officer; that Lord Bathurst in his speech, in the month of March, in the House of Peers, declared that you had made no new restriction, that all his correspondence had been in favor of the detained persons, and that you had the same instructions as your predecessor; that your predecessor had adapted the restrictions of Government to local circumstances, in a manner if not convenient, at least tolerable; that things remained in this state for nine months, during which time the Emperor used to go out, received even some English officers at his table, and sometimes had in his society the officers and inhabitants of the island; that this order of things was not changed by an act of your Government; that during those nine months, no inconvenience took place, and that nothing can have authorised you to substitute for an order of things so reasonable, that which you have esta blished; that the Emperor would go out, ride on horseback, and resume the same way of life, if you would restore things to the state they were in at the time of your arrival; that in defect of this, you would be responsible for the results of the restrictions of the 9th of October, 1816, and the 14th March, 1817, which you have no right to make, and which, to the Emperor, are equiva Íent to an absolute prohibition to quit his apartments. You told me, Sir, that the Emperor's room was too small; that Longwood House was altogether bad, as you had declared it to be to your Government; that the Emperor having had a tent erected last year because there was no alley where he could walk in the shade, you proposed to establish a soldier's wooden barrack near the house where the Emperor might take his walks: I undertook to make known to him your proposition. He considered this offer as amockery (those were his words), and analogous to the conduct pursued for these two years. If the house where he is be inconvenient, why has he been left there for these two years, and why do not they give him one of those in the island, situated in the midst. of gardens, trees, shades, and water? Why leave him upon this uncultivated point, exposed to the winds, and having nothing that can contribute to the preservation of life? Let me be allowed, Sir, to point out to your observation, that if you do not suppress the restrictions of the 9th of October, 1816, and of the 14th March, 1817, and if you do not re-establish things as they were in the time of the Admiral, the Emperor cannot go out. He considers, and will consider that determination as a willingness on your part to occasion his death. He is entirely at your disposal. You make him die of sickness; you can make him die of hunger; it would be a benefit if you would make him die by a musket-shot. If you assemble the military and naval officers of this place, and the principal officers of health, there is not one of them but will tell you that your restrictions are disgraceful, and that a man of honor should sooner die than acknowledge them; that they are of no avail to the security of the detention; that they are illegal. The text of the Bill, and the speech of your Minister, cannot leave any kind of doubt on this point. The medical officers will tell you that there is no more time to be lost; that in three or four weeks perhaps it will be too late; and although this great Prince be abandoned by fortune, and there is an open field for calumnies and libels in Europe, yet a cry of indignation will be raised among all people; for there are here several hundreds of persons, French, English, and foreigners, who will bear witness to all that has been done to put an end to the life of this great man. I have, Sir, always spoken to you to this effect, more or less forcibly. I shall speak to you of it no more; for denials, subtilties and arguments, are very useless. The question lies in two words; do you or do you not wish to kill the Emperor? If you persist in your conduct, you will yourself have answered in the affirmative; and unhappily, the object will probably be attained after some months of agony. Permit me, in concluding, to answer, on the part of the officers who are with the Emperor, and also on my own, to your letters of the 26th and 29th July last. Sir, you misunderstand our character: menaces have no power upon us. For twenty years we have braved every danger in his service. By remaining voluntarily at St. Helena in the horrible situation in which we are, and exposed to the strangest proceedings, we sacrifice to him more than our lives, and those of our families. Insensible to your menaces and your insinuations, we shall continue to fulfil our duty; and if there were any subjects of complaint against us before your Government, we do not doubt that the Prince Regent, Lord Liverpool, and so many estimable men who form it, would know very well how to appreciate them. They know the respect due to the holy ministration which we fulfil; and even had we to apprehend persecution, we should adhere to our maxim, " Do your duty, come what may." IV. ON THE BEST MEANS OF PROMOTING ITS By G. DYER, A. B. FORMERLY OF EMMANUEL COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. Ce n'est point à moi à examiner si les Anglois jouissent actuellement de cette liberté, ou non. Il me suffit de dire qu'elle est établie par leurs loix, et je n'en cherche pas davantage. Montesquieu De l'Esprit des Loix. It is not my business to examine, whether the English actually enjoy this liberty, or It is sufficient for me to say, that it is established by their laws, and I inquire no farther. Montesquieu's Spirit of Laws. not. Nam non nisi optimis legibus populum regere licet, etiam ut dicit Philosophus; Natura deprecatur optima-Non sunt hæc tantis celata mysteriis, ut deliberatione egeant ingenti. Fortescue de Laudibus Legum Angliæ, cap. vii. For a people should not be governed, but by the best Laws, even as the Philosopher saith, Nature seeketh the things which are best.-These things are not concealed in so great mysteries, as to require great deliberation. Fortescue on the Praises of the Laws of England, ch. vii. FOURTH EDITION, WITH ADDITIONS. The First and Second Letters were printed in No. XXIII. LONDON. |