I have the honour to thank you for the kindness with which you have been pleased to inform me of the departure of my letters for St. Helena, as also of that of the pamphlets and journals with which you have been pleased to accompany them.
I am sorry you should have found it necessary to preserve silence, upon certain points in my last letter. My discretion will know how to interpret that silence. I owe it to the personal kindness which you have hitherto shewn me, not to return to the subject any more. I have written to the Cardinal Fesch, agreeably to a passage in your letter, that he may send, by the way he shall think most proper, the sequel of the Moniteur, reckoning from 1808, addressed to the office of Lord Bathurst in London; and that his Lordship allows their transmission to St. Helena.
As to the passage of your letter, Sir, concerning the request which I had the honour to make to you, for a regular bulletin of the health of Napoleon, in the name, and on the behalf of the members of his family, may I be permitted to pray you will observe to my Lord Bathurst that the whole of the family of the Emperor are not at Rome; that he has one sister and her family at Frankfort; a brother and his family in Austria; two other sisters and their families in the vicinity of Vienna and Trieste; without reckoning others, all of whom would esteem it the greatest favour, and would consider it a real gratification to their heart, should the sentiments which induced Lord Bathurst to send regular accounts to Rome, induce him condescendingly to allow of their being regularly transmitted to them also. I was not ignorant of the gratification which had been hitherto procured for the Princess Borghese; but it did not extend from Rome to all the members of the family in Germany, where the route was then much more circuitous than that which I had the honour to request. Whatsoever title and right my heart might give me, perhaps, to solicit for myself a participation in this bulletin, I shall learn to renounce entirely and put myself completely aside; and not doubting but that the favour will be more highly appreciated by those for whom I solicit it, if it should come directly from Lord Bathurst, rather than pass through my hands, I shall solicit therefore anew, and in the name of the Countess of Survilliers (the Princess Joseph Bonaparte), who resides in this city, that he will have the goodness to send to her regularly the same accounts which he has the goodness to address to the Princess Borghese at Rome. The Countess of Survilliers will undertake to communicate them to all the family in Germany.
Sir, I have learned, from the public journals, the unexpected return of General Gourgaud. This sensible diminution of the household of Napoleon, this new privation of one servant more, penetrates my heart, and has determined me to pray that you will please to request of Lord Bathurst to allow me to return to St. Helena, accompanied by my family. This intention and this desire will never forsake me, as his Lordship may convince himself by the whole of my correspondence with Sir Hudson Lowe, from the moment of my quitting the colony. I do not think it would be necessary to demand the previous consent of the Emperor Napoleon to this request, because I dare flatter myself that his answer would not be doubtful. However, if Lord Bathurst should deem it necessary, I entreat his Lordship to make the application himself: he will see that in my letter to Longwood I have abstained from mentioning this circumstance. Considerations of delicacy, which his Lordship will know how to appreciate, have restrained me. The deplorable state of my health will be no obstacle. I am ambitious to go and find a grave at the feet of him whom I venerate, and to whose cares I shall find it sweet to consecrate my latest breath.
Accept, Sir, the expressions of the perfect consideration, &c.
COUNT LAS CASES.
I lost not a moment, on the receipt of the documents sent by Count Bertrand, in despatching a copy of them to each of the Sovereigns at Aix-la-Chapelle. I took this opportunity to renew my entreaties. I implored them to succour the illustrious victim. “A few days more,” said I, “and it will be too late.” The physician whom they had snatched away from him (an Englishman,) declared publicly in London that a much longer residence upon that unwholesome rock would cause his death. I ventured to represent to them that their humanity, the sentiments of their hearts, might be arrested perhaps by formal denials, but would not their justice listen to the other side of the question? I demanded that I might be allowed to furnish them with it, I solicited the sole favour of being heard in behalf of this sacred cause; “consenting,” I said, “if I did not prove the truth of the documents laid at their feet, that my shame and my blood should expiate my offence in having dared to impose upon them.”—At the same time I did not lose one opportunity, one instant, one thought, which might have multiplied the chances of any success. I addressed myself to every one, who, I learned, had any influence over the hearts of the Monarchs. I wrote particularly to M. de la Harpe, the tutor of the Emperor Alexander, so well known, so venerated, who, I had been told, was at that moment with him at Aix-la-Chapelle.
Neither upon this occasion, nor any other, have I ever had the slightest answer to any one of my letters; and if any thing has been sometimes insinuated to me indirectly and with mystery, I was obliged to suspect it as a snare laid against my person, which was of small moment; or against my cause, which was every thing to me. Thus the Congress ended, and not a word escaped from it in favour of Napoleon. In fine, I sought to stimulate even foreign talents; and in the number of voices then raised, the pamphlet of a certain German journalist attracted sufficient attention to serve for a pretext to devise trammels for the liberty of the press.
However, all the efforts which I had called forth were vain, all my hopes were blasted, all my pains were thrown away—they left him to die! In fact, what could the naked Truth avail with sovereigns, without the protection of any address, or the alliance of any interests, against the insinuations of wicked men, who watched with all the ardour of political fanaticism, private resentment, and prospective apprehensions! They acted so effectually that in the council of kings, fear, no doubt, prevailed over generosity. They demonstrated how dangerous universal interest rendered the victim: and it may be truly said, to the glory of generous sentiments, that public opinion was pronounced every where with great warmth; not less in Germany, than in any other country. And perhaps, in the sight of the high personages who were witnesses of it, this favourable opinion did a great deal of mischief to him whom it meant to serve; as if it had been in the destiny of Napoleon that the interest of the Germans should become as baneful to him in adversity, as their animosity had been fatal to him in the time of his power.—Amongst the efforts to maintain the hideous captivity of Napoleon, there has been actually imputed to the English Ministers a base intrigue, an unworthy deception. It was said that, to confirm the wavering Sovereigns, they had forged, for the express purpose, a pretended plot of escape. The imputation was founded upon the timeliness, the éclat, and publicity, with which the arrival of the Musquito brig suddenly caused this news to spread through all Europe; a circumstance, which, after it had once produced the intended effect, that of counterbalancing the public favour, gave room to no further mention, to no detail, to no confirmation whatsoever; an imaginary conjecture, no doubt, and in which the English Ministers are probably culpable, only in having afforded ground for suspecting them of it by the numerous antecedent cases, in which they degraded themselves in acting against Napoleon.
To my chagrin was added the fear of seeing old persecutions revived against me, in my peaceful solitude. The spring of 1819 was approaching. The excellent Grand Duke of Baden was just dead. Those who did not like us became stronger by this event, and it was signified to me, without the knowledge of the new sovereign perhaps, that I must quit the States of Baden. The order was given to me only verbally, and I was even informed that I should receive it in no other way. The motive for my removal, it was said, was the desire to live in close friendship with France, and the fear that my stay would be disagreeable to her; a motive that must excite a smile of pity. I disdained to say that the French Minister had thought fit to leave me in repose; the intolerance of opinion had discovered another motive to the full as ridiculous. The person charged with the order against me was very willing to grant me some days for preparation, but I was nearly like the Greek philosopher, who carried his all upon his own person; and I would have set out at the very instant of the notification itself, if Madame Las Cases had not been afflicted with an inflammation of the lungs which placed her in great danger. I assured him that I should only allow myself time to see her out of danger; and although the well-meant advice was given me to solicit Government for permission to remain, I still disdained it; and a few days afterwards, I set out on my route for Offenbach, where Madame Las Cases was to join me, when she should be in a state to travel.