and the Admiral have received positive orders to forward to his Majesty’s Government any request or representation he may think proper to make: nothing is left to their discretion on this point; but the paper on which such representations shall be written is to remain open, in order that they may subjoin such observations as they may think expedient.”
It would not be easy to conceive the intensity and nature of our feelings at this decisive moment, in which outrage, violence, and injustice, were accumulated on our heads.
Constrained to reduce his suite to three persons, the Emperor selected the Grand Marshal, M. de Montholon and myself. Gourgaud, in despair at the idea of being left behind, entered into a negotiation on the subject, and succeeded. As the instructions only allowed Napoleon to take three officers, it was agreed that I should be considered purely in a civil capacity, and to admit a fourth by the aid of this interpretation.
CONVERSATION WITH LORD KEITH.—EXAMINATION OF THE EMPEROR’S EFFECTS.—HE QUITS THE BELLEROPHON.—SEPARATION.—WE SAIL FOR ST. HELENA.
7th.—The Emperor addressed to Lord Keith a species of new protest, against the violence done to his person in forcibly removing him from the Bellerophon. I took it on board the Tonnant. Admiral Keith, a fine-looking old man, of highly polished manners, received me with great politeness, but he carefully avoided touching on the subject of the protest, observing that he would give an answer in writing.
This did not stop me. I stated the situation of Napoleon, who was very unwell, his legs being much swelled; and pointed out to his lordship how desirable it was for the Emperor not to be sent off so suddenly. He replied that I had been a sailor, and must therefore see that the anchorage was unsafe, which was certainly true.
I explained the Emperor’s repugnance to have his effects searched and tossed about, as proposed; assuring him that Napoleon would infinitely prefer seeing them thrown into the sea. The Admiral answered that as this was a positive order, he must obey it. Finally I enquired whether it was probable that those appointed to search would go so far as to deprive the Emperor of his sword. He said that it would be respected, but that Napoleon was the only person exempted, as all his followers would be disarmed. I shewed him that I was already so: my sword having been taken from me before I left the Bellerophon. A secretary who was writing near us, observed to Lord Keith, in English, that the order stated that Napoleon himself was to be disarmed; upon which the Admiral drily replied, also in English, as well as I could comprehend, “Mind your own business, Sir, and leave us to ours.”
Still continuing the conversation, I went over all that had occurred from the commencement. I had been the negotiator, I said, and ought therefore to feel most acutely; and had the greater right to be heard. Lord Keith listened to me with marked impatience; we were standing, and his frequent bows were evidently intended to make me retire. When I told him that Captain Maitland said he had been authorised to bring us to England, without exciting a suspicion in our minds that we were to be prisoners of war; that the Captain could not deny that we came on board voluntarily and in confidence; that the letter of the Emperor to the Prince of Wales, which I had previously communicated to Captain Maitland, must necessarily have created tacit conditions, since he made no remarks on it: at length the Admiral’s ill-humour and even anger broke forth, and he replied sharply, that if such were the case, Captain Maitland must have been a fool, for his instructions contained nothing of the kind; and he was quite sure of this, for it was from himself they had emanated. “But, my Lord,” said I, “permit me to observe, in defence of Captain Maitland, that your Lordship speaks with a degree of severity for which you may become responsible; for not only Captain Maitland, but Admiral Hotham and all the other officers whom we saw at the time, conducted and expressed themselves in the same way towards us; would it have been thus, if their instructions had been so clear and positive?” Saying this, I relieved the Admiral of my presence: he made no attempt to prolong a subject which, perhaps, his Lordship’s conscience rendered somewhat painful to him.
Admiral Cockburn, aided by an officer of the customs, examined the effects of the Emperor: they seized four thousand Napoleons, and left fifteen hundred to pay the servants: this was all the Emperor’s treasure. They were assisted, or rather impeded, in the operation by Marchand, the valet-de-chambre of his Majesty: this appeared to mortify the Admiral excessively; though requested to attend, not one amongst us would lend his presence to, or witness, an act which we regarded as being at once mean and insulting.
Meanwhile, the moment of quitting the Bellerophon arrived. The Grand Marshal had been some time closeted with the Emperor; during which we remained in the outer cabin: on the door being opened, the Duke de Rovigo, bursting into tears, threw himself at the feet of Napoleon, and kissed his hands. The Emperor, still calm and collected, embraced the Duke, and continued his way towards the accommodation-ladder, graciously saluting all those who happened to be on the quarter-deck. The whole of our party whom we left behind were in a state of the deepest anguish; nor could I help observing to Lord Keith, who stood near me at the time, “You see, my Lord, that the only persons who shed tears are those who are to remain.”
We reached the Northumberland between one and two o’clock. The Emperor remained on deck conversing familiarly and cheerfully with those of the English who approached him. Lord Lowther and a Mr. Littleton had a long conversation with him on politics and government. I heard nothing of what passed; the Emperor seemed desirous that we should leave him to himself. I employed this moment of leisure in writing a last adieu to my wife and friends: indeed, I felt very unwell and much fatigued.
At the moment of getting under weigh, a cutter, that was plying round the ship to keep off the people, ran down a boat full of spectators close to us. Fatality seems to have brought them from a great distance to become the victims of this accident: I understood that there were two women amongst those who perished. Thus were we at length under sail for St. Helena, thirteen days after our arrival at Plymouth, and forty from our quitting Paris.
Those of the attendants whom Napoleon was not allowed to take with him were the last to quit the ship, bearing with them mingled proofs of satisfaction and regret. Their departure gave rise to a second scene, not less affecting than the first. The Emperor retired to the cabin allotted to him about seven o’clock.
The English Ministry warmly censured the respect which had been shewn to the Emperor on board the Bellerophon, and issued fresh orders in consequence; so that a totally different style of manner and expression was affected in the Northumberland. The crew seemed to betray a ridiculous anxiety to be covered before the Emperor: it had been strictly enjoined to give him no other title than that of General, and only to treat him as such. This was the ingenious contrivance, the happy conception, engendered by the diplomacy of the English Ministers; and the title they thought proper to confer on him whom they had recognised as First Consul, whom they had so often styled head of the French Government, with whom they treated as Emperor at Paris, when Lord Lauderdale was employed to negotiate, and, perhaps, even signed articles at Chatillon. Hence, in a moment of warmth, the Emperor, in allusion to this regulation, observed: “They may call me whatever they choose, but they cannot prevent me from being myself.” It was in fact no less whimsical than ridiculous to see the Ministers of England attach such importance to giving only the title of General to one who had governed so large a portion of Europe, and made seven or eight kings, of whom several still retained this title of his creation; who had been above ten years Emperor of the French, and been anointed as well as consecrated in that quality by the head of the Church; one who could boast two or three elections of the French people to the sovereignty; who had been acknowledged as Emperor by the whole of continental Europe; had treated as such with all the sovereigns; concluding every species of alliance both of blood and interest with them: so that he united in his person every title, civil, political and religious, existing amongst men: and which, by a singular though real coincidence, not
