13th.—The Emperor sent instructions to the Grand Marshal to write to the Admiral to enquire if a letter which he, Napoleon, should write to the Prince Regent would be sent to him. Towards four o’clock, the Deputy Governor Skelton and his lady desired to pay their respects to the Emperor. He received them, took them to walk in the garden, and afterwards out with him in his carriage. The weather had been extremely foggy all day. Upon its clearing up for a short time we saw, on a sudden, a corvette or frigate very near, and coming in with all sails set.
INSULT TO THE EMPEROR AND THE PRINCE OF WALES.—EXECUTION
OF NEY.—ESCAPE OF LAVALETTE.
14th—15th. We received the Admiral’s answer. After beginning, according to his established form, by saying that he knew no person by the title of ‘Emperor’ at St. Helena, he stated, that he would undoubtedly send the Emperor’s letter to the Prince Regent: but that he should adhere to the tenor of his instructions, which directed him not to allow any paper to be despatched to England, without having first opened it.
This communication, it must be acknowledged, gave us great astonishment: the part of the instructions cited by the Admiral had two objects in view, both of them foreign to the interpretation put upon them by this officer.
The first was, in the case of our making any complaints, that the local authorities might add their observations, and that the government, in England, might do us justice more speedily, without being obliged to send again to the island for farther information. This precaution, then, was entirely for our interest. The second object of this measure was that our correspondence might not be prejudicial to the interests of the government or the policy of England. But we were writing to the Sovereign, to the chief, to the individual in whom these interests and this government centered: and if there was any conspiracy here, it was not on the part of us, who were writing to him, but rather on his who intercepted our letter, or resolved to violate the privacy of it. That they should place jailors about us with all their equipage, though we did not consider it just, still it seemed possible. But that these jailors should cause their functions to react, even upon their Sovereign, was a thing for which we could not find a name! It was to attach to him completely the idea of a King without faculties, or of a Sultan buried in the recesses of his Seraglio! It was really a monstrous phenomenon in our European manners!
For a long time, we had little or no intercourse with the Admiral. One thought that ill humour had perhaps dictated his answer; another supposed that he was fearful the letter might contain some complaints against him. But the Admiral knew the Emperor too well, not to be aware that he would never appeal to any other tribunal than to that of nations. I, who knew what would have been the subject of the letter, felt the most lively indignation at it! The sole intention of the Emperor had been to employ this method, the only one that seemed compatible with his dignity, to write to his wife, and obtain tidings of his son. However, the Grand Marshal replied to the Admiral that he either over-stepped, or misinterpreted his instructions; that his determination could only be regarded as another instance of flagrant vexation; that the condition imposed was too much beneath the dignity of the Emperor, as well as of the Prince Regent, for him to retain any intention of writing.
The frigate that had just arrived was the Spey, bringing the European papers to the 31st December: they contained the execution of the unfortunate Marshal Ney, and the escape of Lavalette.
“Ney,” said the Emperor, “as ill attacked as defended, had been condemned by the Chamber of Peers, in the teeth of a formal capitulation. His execution had been allowed to take place; that was another error—from that moment he became a martyr. That Labedoyere should not have been pardoned, because the clemency extended to him would have seemed only a predilection in favour of the old Aristocracy, might be conceived; but the pardon of Ney would only have been a proof of the strength of the government, and the moderation of the Prince. It will be said, perhaps, that an example was necessary! But the Marshal would become so, much more certainly, by a pardon, after being degraded by a sentence: it was, to him, in fact, a moral death that deprived him of all influence; and nevertheless the object of authority would be obtained, the Sovereign satisfied, the example complete. The refusal of pardon to Lavalette, and his escape, were new grievances equally unpopular,” said the Emperor.
“But the saloons of Paris,” he observed, “exhibited the same passions as the clubs; the nobility were a new version of the Jacobins. Europe, moreover, was in a state of complete anarchy; the code of political immorality was openly followed; whatever fell into the hands of the Sovereigns was turned to the advantage of each of them. At least in my time I was the butt of all the accusations of this kind. The Sovereigns then talked of nothing but principles and virtue; but now,” added he, “that they are victorious and without control, they practise unblushingly all the wrongs which they themselves then reprobated. What resource and what hope were there then left for nations and for morality? Our countrywomen at least,” he observed, “have rendered their sentiments illustrious: Madame Labedoyere was on the point of dying from grief, and these papers shew us that Madame Ney has displayed the most courageous and determined devotion. Madame Lavalette is become the heroine of Europe.”