In short, there would be no end to it were I to mention the affecting marks of attention that were shewn to me; the offers of all kinds, in money, clothes, &c.; even people of the very lowest class were eager to tender their mite. One of them, forcing his way into my apartment, from which he was pulled back by the gendarmes, cried out to me that he had only two coats; that he saw, by my size, that the second would not fit me; that he was therefore going to sell it, and would throw me the amount through the window. What sufferings, what torments would not be effaced by the sensations which such acts must produce!
I was, however, so ill, on arriving at Cologne, that it was found necessary[necessary] to allow me to stop twenty-four hours in that town. This increase of suffering turned out a fortunate circumstance for me. I was in a gentle sleep when, on a sudden, the valet de place rushed into my apartment, with demonstrations of that joy which the bearer of good news is sure to occasion and even to experience, and announced to me Madame de Las Cases. I had not yet been able to ascertain whether she was alive, and therefore thought that I had misunderstood the man, or was dreaming; but a moment afterwards, the door was thrown open—it was she herself!
RESIDENCE IN GERMANY.
FROM THE TIME OF MY ARRIVAL AT FRANKFORT TO THE
PERIOD OF MY RESIDENCE AT OFFENBACH.
A Space of Fifteen Months.
Residence at Frankfort.—My endeavours to alleviate the Situation of the Inhabitants of Longwood.—Letters to Maria Louisa and to the Allied Sovereigns.—My Letter to Lord Bathurst.—Petition to the British Parliament.—Transactions with several Members of the Emperor’s Family.—Measures to supply the Wants of Longwood; Details, &c.—Journey to Baden.—Residence at Manheim; Motives for this choice.—Congress at Aix-la-Chapelle; my Efforts; Details.—Letter from Madame Mère, &c.—Note to the Sovereigns.—New Official Documents received from Longwood, and addressed to the Sovereigns; new Efforts; &c.—State of Public Opinion.—Arrival of the brig Musquito.—Fresh Vexation; the Minister of Baden orders me to leave Manheim.—I retire to Offenbach.
The band of captives arrived at last at Frankfort, after having, for fifteen days, undergone persecutions almost unexampled in civilized countries, and in a state of tranquillity. A Prussian officer, whose duty, he politely said, was not so much to guard me as to see that I was well treated, had conducted me thither. He did not allow me to communicate freely with any person, and was not to leave me until some authentic and final decision had been adopted with respect to me.
On arriving at Frankfort, I immediately sent to our Ambassador, as I had done in the Netherlands, the following letter:
Sir,—I have the honour, on arriving in this town, to claim the protection of your public character, against the rigorous measures which have been pursued for some time past in regard to me.