Napoleon's Appeal to the British Nation, on His Treatment at Saint Helena

by Emperor of the French Napoleon I; comte de Charles-Tristan Montholon

Austrian and Prussian Commissioners are arrived at St. Helena. If the object of their mission be the fulfilment of a part of the duties which the Emperors of Austria and Russia have contracted by the Treaty of the 2d of August, and to take care that the English Agents, in a small colony in the midst of the ocean, do not fail in the respect due to a Prince connected with these Sovereigns by the bonds of relationship and so many other ties, proofs of the character which belong to these two Monarchs will be recognized in this proceeding; but you, Sir, have declared that these Commissioners have neither the right nor the power of giving any opinion on what may be passing on this rock!

The English Ministers have caused the Emperor Napoleon to be transported to St. Helena, at the distance of 2000 leagues from Europe! This Rock, situated within the tropics, and 500 leagues from any continent, is subject to the devouring heats of these latitudes. It is covered with clouds and fogs during three-fourths of the year, and is at once the most arid and the most humid country in the world. Such a climate is most inimical to the health of the Emperor, and hatred must have dictated the choice of this residence, as well as the instructions given by the English Ministry to the officers commanding in the Island.

They have even been ordered to call the Emperor Napoleon General, as if it were wished to oblige him to consider himself as never having reigned in France.

The reason which determined him not to assume an incognito name, as he might have resolved to do on leaving France, were these: First Magistrate for life of the Republic under the title of First Consul, he concluded the preliminaries of London, and the treaty of Amiens, with the King of Great Britain; and received, as ambassadors, Lord Cornwallis, Mr. Merry, and Lord Whitworth, who resided in that quality at his court. He accredited to the King of England Count Otto and General Andreossi, who resided as ambassadors at the court of Windsor. When, after an exchange of letters between the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the two Monarchies, Lord Lauderdale came to Paris invested with full powers from the King of England, he treated with the Plenipotentiaries possessing full powers from the Emperor Napoleon, and remained for several months at the court of the Thuilleries. When Lord Castlereagh afterwards signed, at Chatillon, the ultimatum, which the Allied Powers presented to the Plenipotentiaries of the Emperor Napoleon, he recognised by that the fourth dynasty. This ultimatum was more advantageous than the treaty of Paris; but, in exacting that France should renounce Belgium and the left bank of the Rhine, it exacted what was contrary to the propositions of Frankfort, and the proclamations of the Allied Powers—what was contrary to the oath, by which, at his coronation, the Emperor swore to maintain the integrity of the Empire. The Emperor, besides, thought that these natural limits were necessary, both for the security of France, and to preserve the equilibrium of Europe; he thought that the French nation, in the situation in which it was, ought rather to run the hazard of all the chances of war than to depart from that policy: France had obtained this integrity, and would have preserved it with honour, if treason had not arrayed itself in aid of the allies.

The Treaty of the 2d of August, and the Act of the British Parliament, called the Emperor Napoleon, Buonaparte, and gave him only the title of General. The title of General Buonaparte is doubtless eminently glorious; the Emperor bore it Lodi, at Castiglione, at Rivoli, at Arcole, at Leoben, at the Pyramids, at Aboukir: but for seventeen years he has borne that of First Consul and Emperor, which proves that he has been both First Magistrate of the Republic, and Sovereign of the fourth Dynasty. Those who think that nations are flocks which belong, of divine right, to certain families, do not belong to the age; nor do they participate in the spirit of the English legislature, which has several times changed the order of its Dynasty, because great changes had taken place in public opinion, in which the reigning Princes not participating, they became enemies to the welfare of the great majority of the nation: for kings are only hereditary Magistrates, who exist for the welfare of nations, and not nations for the satisfaction of Kings.

It is in the same hateful spirit that orders have been given that the Emperor Napoleon shall not be allowed to write or receive any letters, unless they are opened and read by the English Ministers and the officers at St. Helena. They have interdicted to him the possibility of receiving intelligence from his wife, his mother, his son, or his brothers; and when, in order to avoid the inconvenience of having his letters read by subaltern officers, he wished to send letters sealed to the Prince Regent, he was told that the order could not be departed from, and that the letters must pass open, such being the instructions of the Ministry. This conduct needs no observation; it gives rise, however, to strange ideas as to the spirit of the Administration which could dictate what would be disavowed even at Algiers. Letters have arrived at St. Helena, for the Officers in the suite of the Emperor; they were broke open and transmitted to you, but you have not communicated them, because they did not come through the channel of the English Ministry. Thus they had to go back 4000 leagues; and these Officers had the grief of knowing, that there was intelligence on the Rock from their wives, their mothers, their children, and that they could not know the nature of it for six months:—the heart must solace itself.

They could not obtain either The Morning Chronicle, The Morning Post, or any French Journals. Now and then a few stray numbers of The Times reached Longwood. In consequence of a request made on board the Northumberland, some books were sent; but all those relative to the affairs of late years have been carefully kept back. He wished to correspond with a bookseller in London, in order to have direct the books which he wanted, and those relative to the events of the day: this was prevented. An English author, having made a tour in France, and having published an account of it in London, he took the trouble to transmit it to you, in order that it might be presented to the Emperor; you thought proper not to transmit it because it was not sent to you by the express desire of your Government. It is said also, that other books sent by their authors have not been transmitted, because some of them were inscribed to the Emperor Napoleon, and others to Napoleon the Great. The English Ministry is not authorized to order any of these vexations; the law, although unique, by which the British Parliament regards the Emperor Napoleon as a prisoner of war, has never prohibited prisoners of war from subscribing to journals or receiving printed books: such a prohibition only takes place in the dungeons of the Inquisition.

The Island of St. Helena is ten leagues in circumference; it is inaccessible every where; brigs surround the coast; posts are stationed on the shore within sight of each other, which renders impracticable any communication with the sea. There is only one small town (James Town), where there is an anchorage, and where vessels touch. To prevent an individual from quitting the island, it is sufficient to guard the shore by land and sea. To lay an interdict on the interior of the island can therefore have no other object than to deprive him of a promenade of from eight to ten miles, which it would be possible to make on horseback, and the privation of which will shorten the life of the Emperor. The Emperor has been established at Longwood, exposed to every wind, and where the land is sterile and uninhabitable, without water, and not susceptible of any cultivation. There is a circuit marked out of about 1200 toises; at about 11 or 1200 distance a camp is established on a hill, and another camp in an opposite position at the same distance; in short, in the midst of the heat of the tropic there is nothing to be seen but camps. Admiral Malcolm, having learnt the utility which the Emperor would derive from a tent in that situation, caused one to be set up by his sailors, at twenty paces distance, in front of the house; it was the only place in which a shade could be found. The Emperor had as much reason to be satisfied with the spirit that animated the officers and soldiers of the brave 53d regiment, as he had been with the crew of the Northumberland.

The house at Longwood was built to serve as a barn for the Company’s farm; the Deputy Governor of the Island had since built some chambers; it served him for a country-house, but it was not in a proper habitable state: workmen have been employed at it for a year, and the Emperor has been continually subjected to the inconvenience and insalubrity of inhabiting a house in the progress of building. The chamber in which he sleeps is too small to contain a bed of ordinary dimensions; but every alteration at Longwood prolongs the inconvenience of having workmen there. There are, however, in this miserable territory, beautiful situations, presenting fine trees, gardens, and good houses. There is, besides, Plantation House; but the positive instructions of Government forbad you from giving up this house, although much expence would thereby have been saved to your Government—an expence incurred in fitting up at Longwood a hut, covered with paper, which is already unserviceable.

You have interdicted all correspondence between us and the inhabitants of the islands—you have in fact placed the house at Longwood au secret—you have even prevented any communication with the officers of the garrison;—it seems, therefore, to be your study to deprive us of the little resource which this miserable territory affords, and we are here just as we should be on the insulated and uninhabited rock of Ascension. During the four months that you have been at St. Helena, you have, Sir, rendered the situation of the Emperor much worse. Count Bertrand has observed to you, that you violate even the laws of your Legislature, and that you trample under foot the rights of General Officers, prisoners of war. You have replied, that you act according to the letter of your instructions, and that your conduct to us is not worse than is dictated by them.