The National Register. — London, England, 1815-10-22 00:00:00

• TTIE . NATIONAL REGISTER. _ .. G~~ • I AUTHENTIC PARTICULARS OF BUONAPARTE. (FROU AN OFFICEiI ON BOARD TNIK NORTILUMBERLAND.) His 111edesty's ship Northumberland. lat. 51, 58, long. 13,43. August 22, 1815.. • Conversing one day about the siege of St. Jean d'Acre, Iltmaapatte observed--" That when Sir Sidney Smith was there lie distributed several Proclamations among the French which made them ware,' a little." In order to ob viate this, he published an Older, in which he "asserted that the Engli,h commodore was mad," and it concluded with prohibiting all communication with I im. This, he added, " bad the desired effect, and so enraged Sir Sidney, that he scut him a challenge to single combat, which was declined," and Napoleon 'Tweeting at the same time for answer, that .• when he brought the Duke of Marlborough to meet him be would accept it." Ile stated most positively " that be t.wald then have taken Acre, if .the English had not taken his Battering Train;' and added, in English and-French, "had it not been for you English, 1 would have been Emperor of the East; but wherever a ship could get, I was always sure to find some of the English to oppose me." iie spoke of the Invasion of England as 14s firm determina tion, and said that be intended to have landed as near Chat taw as possible, and to have dashed at once for London. lle ad;; itted the great probability of his nrqt succeeding, and that I , e might have been killed in the attempt. That this scheme not, put into of was owing to Admiral Villeneuve not übeying the orders he received. Ile was particularly inqui sitive as to the climate of England, and said'that the cause of so many suicides was the humidness of the atmosphere. The anxiety of the English to see him when on board the lle!kr(phem flattered his vanity in the extreme, and he 'would frequently stand in the gangway purposely to afford 'the gapitv.; and wondering multitude an hpportunity• of be. liotding his person. At this time be had invariably a spy his hand, which he frequently used in observing the !+cc . ratbrs. There was always a great number of vtell•dressed .Y'-rriales, many of then) very elegant in their persons. and they ever failed tO attract Ins particular attention ; and he would not 141! to 'mace to those near him how forcibly he gazed on tteir beauties. He apPeated greatly pleased with the beauty and elegance . of our fair couuttyWometi, and was always wishing to know tteir names; families, and any circumstance that could be c6Mmunicatett to him ccucerning them. Ile took particular notice one evening of a young Lady •iyho was. very cl . ti,e to the ship, and, as usual, inquired what ' 'vas her name and ftmily. lie was informed she was a Miss •‘ daughter of General B. Ile bowed and took oil his exclaiming sevet al times, with pecolinr emphasis, to those neat Itir . n--. 4 Oh, Charmanle!"—Th is admiration of the females was not confined to Buonaparte, for all his officers l'Avere cqn .lly delL:hted; and they expressed their opinion of the . fupet iority of the English women over any they had be- Vote set' H. Buonaparte gives gr eat credit to our infantry and our Ar 'tillcry. Ile said, the British Infantry is now what the 'French was ten yea's hack ; and that the Cavalry is greatly in fcrior to Ole lnfantiy in every thing but appearance." He found gr:•nt ftult with the construction of the bits, which he says "are so bad that the men eintiofmanage their horses." 'Bertrand and -.hr others assented to the truth of this observa tion.' . . Cne day Buonaparte wapspeaking of the Duke of WVelling tnn, observed, *4 he' did not expect he-would have given folo battle s but that he would have retreated, and waited for ~. ~ ~ i '~ the Russians and other reinforcements, in which case, he says, he must have been finally beaten; but that he was extremely happy to find Lot d Wellington did not decline Cie combat," —adding, that " he made qeite certain of ..btaining tire Vic tory." Ile also said,—" That he knew of •tße Advances of the Pressians, but that he did not regard it as of tour h conse nuence; and that he was betrayed by some of hi , generals.~ He further said, that " the univet sal consternation ameng his troops taking place at a time of darkness, he was o t ab!e to rally the fugitives by sh, wing his person to them. whi.h he is conrinced would hare effectually restored order had it been day-light, but that, in consequence of its being dark, hr was borne away by the crowd, and obliged to FIN lIINISELF." On being asked, why he had net give's himself tip to A us tria ?he replied," What, give Inv-elf up to•a nation Without laws, honour, or faith! No : 'he moment I had got the; e, I should have been put into a dungeon, and never heard of more. In giving myself up to the EnJish, I have given myself up to a nation with honourable and just lay's, which afford protection to every person." At another time, he remarked on the singularity of Mr. Whitbread's suicide, but made no further observation pn that melancholy event. One day lie observed, he "ought to have died the day be entered Moscow, as ever since he had experienced a con tinual series of disasters." he further observed, "He would have made peace at Dresden, and also afterwards. if it had not been for the advice of the Duke of Ba-satio, who per. suaded him against it." The Invasion of Spain, Buonaparte says, he undertook at the special desire of Talleyrand, who was continually urging him to that measure, invariably pointing out the absolute ne cessity of its being undertaken, and, if possible, accomplished at all hazards. It is astonishing the detestation in which rouche is held by Buonaparte and all his followers. who never mention his name but with the ;neatest contempt; and they say, " it was entirely owing to this creature that Buonaparte abdicated in favour of his son ; and that he was continually carrying on a clandestine correspondence with the Allies." The respect that is still paid to Buonaparte by his suite, is very great; as an instance I shall mention that he was one day play ing at chess with Moutholon, who is by far the best player of the two. Buonaparte had evidently the worst of the game, when Moutholon made purposely an improper move ment, e..bir b was speedily observed by the former. and he ul timately vas the victor. .Moutholon praked the superior skill of his master (as he termed him), and declared himself " not competent to encounter such an excellent player again ;" at which Buonaparte was highly pleased. At this game, or Vingt.un, Buonaparte generally passes his time ; but was much hurt when the Admital insisted that neither of these games, nor any other, should be played on Sundays. He has been very inquisitive as to the climate, &c. of St. Helena, arid declares that he shall be more comfortable there than in Au s tria. Temperance, he says, is the only means o( preserving health ; and adds, that he never was ill hut twice in his life, and on one of those occasions only applied a blister. Moutholon's wife has been unwell, and he inquired of ti e Surgeon how she was. He said, litoher better, but that he thought the fear of the trop' al climates preyed on her mind. Buonaparte replied near the words of Shakespeare,— " Docter, thou cautsuot a ulster to a mind diseased." The force with which this remark was made, was observed by every one near, end apparently related to his 'own feelings. Bertrand and !Ili wife are continually with Buonaparte, and the whole are more reconciled to their future destiny. SirclicorCockburn and itooilaritte arc on• euellent BUONAP IRFE. ~ .w., ~..., 1107" ,'.;5~,~-s~ OCT. 22:, .