JOURNAL CONTINUED.
June 23 and 24, 1815.—London was illuminated, and order given out for the Court going into mourning for the Duke of Brunswick, on the 29th, for two months. I went to the Opera with Miss Tisdall, on the 24th; “I Riti d’Efeso,” and “L’Enfant Prodigue”—a bad opera and bad ballet; the subject of the latter was the beautiful parable of the Prodigal Son, in the Arabian costume. The actors came forward and sang “Exulta Britannia,” which was composed last year, and “God save the King.” The following week brought with it nothing very interesting. I dined on Wednesday, the 28th, at Count de Salis’s, where there was a pleasant party, and most of my time I afterwards spent with Princess Castelcicala, who was very uneasy about her eldest son, from whom she had not heard, and who appears to have been taken prisoner. On the 30th I had a letter from Princess Charlotte, very uneasy about the Duke and Duchess of Cumberland[[53]] probably proposing a marriage with her son, Prince Salms Brauenfels, by her first husband, brother of the King of Prussia; telling me, likewise, she had other views, which were promoted by the Duke of York.
On the 2nd of July, I went to Lord St. Vincent’s, at Rochetts. On the 3rd, the Duke of Cumberland’s request for an additional grant of 6000l. a year for himself and his Duchess was thrown out by a majority of one, which one was Lord Cochrane, who had paid his fine and appeared once more in the House. Dreadful abuse of the two royal personages.
On the 8th we received the account of the surrender of Paris,[[54]] by a military convention, to the Duke of Wellington. Mr. Whitbread[[55]] cut his throat the other morning; his friends say it was on account of his disappointment as proprietor of Drury Lane Theatre; his enemies suppose a political conspiracy with Bonaparte, discovered by papers found in the carriage of the latter. The most probable reason is insanity, at least temporary, caused by the pressure of blood on the brain, which had, in the opinion of some, rendered him liable to apoplexy. Colonel Palmer came on the 8th, and stayed till the 9th, as did Mr. Parker. The Duchess d’Angoulême was going to Bordeaux, as Madame de Narbonne writes me, but waits, for fear of committing the loyal Bordelais, now that the remaining rebel army is permitted by the Convention to take their route across the Loire. General and Mrs. Egerton passed a day and night.
Louis XVIII. entered Paris on the 8th, and was received with acclamations and white cockades. On the 10th the Emperors of Austria and Russia and the King of Prussia arrived there.
I had a letter from Princess Charlotte on the 13th, and another on the 18th, both very kind and confidential. The Queen very ill from vexation, and still keeping firm in her refusal to receive the Duke of Cumberland, who is daily expected; and Princess Charlotte is ordered to leave town, which she does on the 22nd. The Dowager Lady Rosslyn has resigned, and new arrangements are mentioned. She is first to go to Cranbourne Lodge, and afterwards to Weymouth.
22nd.—News arrived of Bonaparte having surrendered himself to Captain Maitland, of the Bellerophon, off Rochefort.
On the 28th I left Rochetts to pass one night in London, and proceeded next day to Savernak Lodge. Lord and Lady Aylesbury, having made up their minds to go to Paris for ten days or a fortnight, wished me to stay with their children in the mean while, and to take Lord Bruce on my way. I dined at Prince Castelcicala’s, and called on the Duke de Sérent and Madame de Narbonne. Madame d’Angoulême was gone, and they had heard of her safe arrival at Dieppe. In the evening we walked through the Park to Lady Charleville’s.
29th.—In the morning I went to Mitcham, fetched Lord Bruce, and arrived about half-past nine in the evening at Tottenham Park. Bonaparte is to go to St. Helena in the Northumberland, Admiral Sir George Cockburn, guarded by Sir Hudson Lowe, who was Blücher’s interpreter last year. St. Helena is to be purchased by Government from the East India Company, and a regiment to be sent to guard the prisoner. It is reported that Madame Bertrand[[56]] attempted to kill herself when she heard of this destination, and that Bonaparte has declared he will not be taken alive on board the Northumberland, or out of the Bellerophon. Crowds of people get round the ship daily to see him.
Princess Charlotte[[57]] arrived at Weymouth on the 3rd of this month (August). She was received with enthusiasm wherever she passed, and the same at Weymouth; but having a bad cold, she was obliged to stay at home on her first arrival there.
August 12th.—Letters from Plymouth brought accounts of Bonaparte having been transferred from the Bellerophon to the Northumberland, off Torbay. On Monday, the 7th, Lord Keith sailed from Plymouth in the Tonnant, hoisting his flag on board her for the purpose of presiding over the transhipment—a word which seems to have been fabricated for the present purpose. He went in the barge of the Tonnant to fetch Bonaparte, who, with Marshal Bertrand and his wife, and a Count and Countess de Montholon (with their children), attended by a few servants, are to go in the Northumberland, Admiral Sir G. Cockburn, to St. Helena. An officer who was on board the Northumberland when they arrived on board, says, in a letter to his sister, dated the same day, that Bonaparte was rather in better humour, but had been very sulky for several days, having expected to remain in England. During the time the Bellerophon was off Plymouth, the crowd of spectators which flocked in boats around her was enormous. Lord R. writes that the people began to be partial to Bonaparte. The papers say this morning that Sir Hudson Lowe is arrived in town, which appears as if he were not to accompany the prisoner.
Sir Hudson is appointed Governor of St. Helena, and is going out very soon. It is said a Prussian and an Austrian Commissioner are appointed to reside there also. Commissioners from all the Courts, including France, have been appointed.
14th.—Lord and Lady Aylesbury returned from Paris, where they left everything quiet, though in a very odd state, and such a one as cannot be expected to last. The Prussians are the most disliked, the English praised, and the Russians courted. The works of art are claimed by the Prussians and other nations, from whom they were taken by the French.
On the 7th of October the two Chambers met, and the King made a speech to them, announcing the treaty he had made with the Allied Sovereigns, the particulars of which he should in a short time communicate to them. The French complain heavily of the pictures, statues, and other works of art which they had taken from other countries being taken from them. Canova is at Paris, commissioned by the Pope to pack up those which were taken from Rome.
October 20th.—Accounts arrived from Paris of the addresses of the Chamber of Peers and that of Deputies to the King; both very loyal, and the latter very strong with respect to the punishment of traitors.
General Porlier, who with some officers and about eight hundred men had attempted to revolutionise Corunna, has been executed by order of the Spanish Government.[[58]]