But the other half of the volume remains yet to be noticed. It is devoted exclusively to the Emperor Napoleon Buonaparte, whom Lord Holland appears to have regarded with the most profound admiration. We approached this part of the book with sharpened curiosity, hoping to find recorded some additional traits of that remarkable character; but again we were doomed to disappointment. Lord Holland's personal recollections of the Emperor are contained in the following passage:—
"Both Lady Holland and myself were presented to him in 1802, when he was First Consul. He saw her only once, and addressed some usual questions and compliments to her, but had no conversation; though I have reason to believe that he was aware of the admiration she entertained and avowed for his military and political genius. I stood next to him in the circle when he received and answered, in a short written speech, (hastily, and somewhat awkwardly delivered,) the deputation headed by Barthelemi, which came to confer upon him the consulship for life. He spoke very civilly, but very little to me on that occasion; and scarcely more when I dined and passed the evening at his court, in company with Mr Fox, with whom he conversed at considerable length on various matters, and more particularly on the Concordat. These were the only opportunities I ever had of observing his countenance or hearing his voice. The former, though composed of regular features, and both penetrating and good-humoured, was neither so dignified nor so animated as I had expected; but the latter was sweet, spirited, and persuasive in the highest degree, and gave a favourable impression of his disposition as well as of his understanding. His manner was neither affected nor assuming, but certainly wanted that ease and attraction which the early habits of good company are supposed exclusively to confer."
Interchanges of civilities, however, continued to take place. Lady Holland transmitted to the Emperor, when at Elba, "one or two packets of English newspapers," and these little acts of attention were acknowledged by "some small but curious specimens of the iron ore of that island." Her Ladyship's subsequent solicitude for the comforts of Napoleon, when exiled at St Helena, and her generous attention to his wants, are well known, and exhibit, in a most pleasing manner, the kindliness of the female heart. The mention of these things leads to an account of the Longwood squabbles, the interest of which has now entirely passed away. Sir Hudson Lowe may not have been the most courteous or debonnaire of wardens, but, on the other hand, it is clear that Napoleon would have made a point of quarreling with an angel of light if appointed as his custos; and that the last passages of his life by no means exhibit him in a dignified or magnanimous point of view. As, however, the narrative to which we refer is one of the few in this volume which are based upon Lord Holland's own experience, we may as well insert it here as a specimen of the author's style.
"When the ungenerous decision by which this great prisoner was to be conveyed to St Helena was known, Lady Holland hastened to apply to Government for permission to send such articles as in her judgment were likely to contribute to his comfort or amusement in that distant exile. She improved her slight acquaintance with Sir Hudson Lowe, and, by every civility in her power, endeavoured to obtain from him all the facilities consistent with his duty, and instructions for carrying her intentions into execution. She failed in both these attempts. Lord Bathurst informed her that no present could be sent to General Buonaparte, but that Government would willingly purchase and convey to him any article that could be suggested as conducive to his comfort. Lady Holland happened to know that the Emperor liked, even in less sultry climates, to drink both water and wine extremely cold. She had been on the point of buying, at a considerable price, a newly-invented machine for making ice; and, in answer to Lord Bathurst's message, she gave him the direction of the maker, and suggested the purchase. The machine, however, was neither purchased nor sent. Lady Holland nevertheless persisted, and contrived to send, together with new publications and trifling presents to Sir Hudson, similar marks of remembrance to Napoleon. They were often delayed, from excessive scruple or from less pardonable motives, at the Government House; yet the innocent nature of the memorials themselves secured their ultimately reaching their destination. Various obstacles, however, presented themselves to this insignificant intercourse. A natural and pardonable pride deterred Napoleon from applying for anything; a more mistaken, and in my judgment contemptible, punctilio led him to reject any communication in which his title of Emperor was not preserved. Advantage was taken of such circumstances—"
No; in mercy to the compositors, we shall not go on with this! The pen drops from the fingers, and a drowsy sense of numbness steals upon the brain in the mere act of transcribing these ponderous and most prosy sentences. Skip we a couple of pages still occupied by the recital of such unutterable woes, and let us arrive at the period of better treatment—"the effect, I flatter myself, of my motion in the House of Lords."
"Letters from the Emperor's family, intrusted to the Secretary of State, were henceforward more regularly transmitted. Provisions, clothing, and books, purchased by them, and sent to the same office, were also forwarded; and Lord Bathurst, some time afterwards, not only consented to convey articles from Lady Holland to Napoleon and Sir Hudson Lowe, but apprised her regularly of ships that sailed for St Helena, and, after due experience of her scrupulous adherence to the rules which he imposed, allowed all parcels, books, and cases indorsed with her handwriting and name, to proceed, without further inspection, to their destination. Lady Holland had the satisfaction of knowing that many of those articles were received and approved of. Napoleon never wrote, but he mentioned her name and her attentions more than once to persons who repeated his acknowledgments to her. The legacy was, however, a gratifying, and, by her, an unexpected proof that such endeavours to express her admiration of his great qualities, and even to soothe his afflictions, had not been altogether unsuccessful. The testimony of his own handwriting, the words so judiciously chosen—even the pains taken to fit the card to the box—enhanced the value of the bequest; for they proved that Napoleon understood her motives, and that they had occupied, for some little space of time, the thoughts, as well as excited the good-will, of that extraordinary man. The whole was in good taste. Had the gift been greater, she could not have accepted it; had the expressions been stronger, they would not have appeared sincere. Surely to have afforded satisfaction to a man so calumniated, so persecuted, and so ill treated, and to have excited the esteem of a mind so capacious and so penetrating, is no slight distinction. Lady Holland found, in the knowledge of it, an ample reward for her constant, unremitting, and unostentatious compassion and generosity."
Our readers will probably agree with us in thinking that there is "something too much of this." It is rather a novelty to us to be informed that Napoleon was a persecuted man. Most people throughout Europe have maintained the opinion that the persecution lay the other way. But perhaps Lord Holland meant to insinuate that the persecution lay in his banishment of St Helena. He calls it an "ungenerous decision;" and elsewhere says:—
"It is remarkable that, in one of those papers so sent (to Elba) by Lady Holland, was a paragraph hinting a project among the confederates of transporting him to St Helena. True it is that such an idea, however inconsistent with honour or good faith, was started and discussed, though probably never committed to paper, at the Congress of Vienna, before Napoleon left Elba. It is just to add that it was discountenanced and rejected by Austria. In confirmation of so base a design having been entertained, it is observable that a negotiation with the East India Company to place St Helena under the control of the Government, with no other probable or ostensible object for such a measure, was actually commenced in March 1815, and discontinued on the landing of Napoleon in that month. Any well-grounded suspicion of such a proceeding was sufficient to release the exiled Emperor from the obligations of his treaty and abdication of Fontainebleau, and to justify his attempt to recover the empire he had so recently lost."
We observe that the writer in the Edinburgh Review denies the statement of Lord Holland, that the removal of Napoleon from Elba was mooted at the Congress of Vienna. We, on the contrary, have always understood that the proposition was seriously considered, though not, as Lord Holland would insinuate, without sufficient cause and provocation. The intrigues, of which Elba was the centre, to pave the way for another attempt at the dethronement of the Bourbons, had for some time been in active progress, and were well known to Fouché and others, and by them communicated to the Congress. Also, the attitude of Murat in Italy was such as to excite very serious apprehensions. Mr Alison, in his History of Europe,[20] thus notices the intrigues of Elba:—
"Its close proximity to the Italian shore led naturally to a secret correspondence between the Island of Elba and the Court of Naples. Murat, ever governed by ambition, and yet destitute of the firmness of purpose requisite to render it successful, now found that his vacillation of conduct had ruined him with the aristocratic, as it had formerly done with the revolutionary party, and that the Allies were little disposed to reward his deviation from his engagements by the lasting possession of the throne of Naples. He threw himself, therefore, once more into the arms of France; and it was arranged that the descent of Napoleon on the coast of Provence should be contemporaneous with the advance of his troops to the Po, and the proclamation of the great principle of Italian liberty and independence."