The Press.
London, England, 1853-07-02 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

The captivity of Napoleon opened and ended
witlt false pretensions and misconceptions of
his position. He was neither a Charles Y.
nor a Themistoeles, neither an ex-Emperor
nor a renegade guest. Placed by Europe out
of the pale of political relations, he surren-
dered a prisoner of war at discretion and
without terms, when escape was impossible.
and the deck of the Bellerophon was deemed
safer than the ditches of Vincennes. Treated Its
a general only, his wounded vanity of vanities
never fin-gave the denial of the imperial title;
and to this constant cause Of irritability much of
the subsequent difficulties—so much is there
in a mime—must be traced. 'Vet Sir linilson,
on this point, only did his strict duty, according
to his peremptory instructions from home.
The bauble prefix of " ex-Emperor" might
have been indulged to one who, when on a
real throne, had made gingerbread kings by
the dozen, anti whose titles, by his ktrace, still
exist. The soreness of the " General' was kept
up by the petty court of Longwood, which,
ill-selected and ill-assorted as it was, at least
agreed on this point of pretension. Mr, For-
syth, whose sympathies, on beginning his
work, were all in Napoleon's favour, is coin
pelted by stern facts once more to de-
throne the Great Napoleon. Stripped of the
ermine and externals of the Tuileries, the
Jupiter Seapin stands revealed, and the
monarch is lost in the man, for he was not
a gentleman in any sense of the word. The
early habits anti idiosyncrasies of one raised
suddenly from the barracks to the palace reap-
pear ; for la ravine seat rs le ha 'vow. N
icon, when seen so near, exhibited himself as a
hero neither to the eyes otitis valet nor his so-
called "gaoler." His ordinary phraseology of
the choicest vernacular Corsican tonneked more
Of the camp than the court of l'a'ser. The
coarsest, most indecent terms were applied
nlike to his " courtiers" as to Sir Hudson,
who, feeling what was tine to himself, never
lost his temper; and his impassible " phlegm,"
on which the feria Francesca bent, vainly, us
the surge does on the rock, only maddened
Napoleon, from whom he parted at his last
interview with the observation, " Your re-
marks force me to smile, while your rudeness
causes my pity.' _ _

Napoleon, whose policy and practice through
life was "La ruse doublet) de force," com-
menced such a system on landing. He hoped
to obtain his release by fixing the eyes of Europe
on his rock. He calculated on the reaction Of
good men's minds, on the pity—akin to love—
for greatness fallen from such a pride of place,
and trusted that a generous enemy would
forgive his crimes in the excess of punishment.
He felt sure of enlisting in his favour every
spurious sympathy of revolutionary hero-
worshippers ; he succeeded in becoming the
cynosure of party out of power ; and his
monologues and mystitications were bolted
as gospel from Brookes's to Botany Bay ;
the bulletins of the caged eagle were manu-
ti►ctured after "the old style,' and he never
wanted agents. In England peers were ready
to recite them in the House, and " Perry
Of the Uhroniele to assist publication :" while
at St. Helena him knowledge of character and
powers of fascination secured a supply of
ready recipients, whose long cars he converted
into closu•ns of calumny and untruth.

The real character of the mouthpieces
through whom he used to bear his false
witness is now revealed by Mr. Forsyth, and
we will take the reporters seriatim.

Mr. Warden, thin navy surgeon,—one of a
(lass Napoleon had a knaek of catching,—Was
the first " Voice from St. Helena" to raise
the cuckoo note of scandalous treatment,
privation, an►l shortening of days. This titr
sago, which purported to have been written
On board the Northumberland, was dressed up
in London, and so badly that even Gourgand
—a good judge of a, lie—pronounced it
a "tissu des menmongem," and, however re-
eommended by the Edinburgh Rerieir, was
classed among the " eoglionerie " by even
Napoleon, who turned on his blundering tool
us "an fat," a fool.

The next "Appeal to the British Nation"
was put fiwth under the MUM of' Santini, an
ex-mervant and tailor at Longwood, whose ex-
pulsion was contrived fur this very purpose by

Napoleon. Arrived in London, the agent found
out by instructions ono Colonel Mueeroni of
NI tarot notoriety, who wrote the brochure, "full
of lies," sai►l even the arch-originator.

The grand manifesto w•as issued by the sur-
geon O'Meara, and dedicated to lady Holland.
and its title to credit and " uninq►eaehed ac-
etnnry was also certified by the Edinburgh
Eerie..• (June. Is2ll. The author, who. it may
be added, also had served in Corsica, was
skilled in that tongue no less than in his
Hibernian blarney, and l►leased Napoleon on
the rock, as he afterwards did a rich widow,
who took him tOr her third husband, the first
having been hanged fOr poisoning a relation
This witness, when placed in Mr. Forsyth'ii
hands, tutus out to have been a volunteer spy
and betrayer of all 'unties. Pledged to seerec)
by Napoleon, he communieated what he
heard to Sir Hudson, the newspapers. and
friends at !MW. By one of the latter at
the Admiralty these were shown to Lord
ltatluu•st, who, most unfairly to Sir Hud-
son Lowe, encouraged their continuance
without communicating the fact to hint.
This private correspondence is now proved to
vary importantly front his printed I►ook ; and
he stands convicted on his own showing of
forgery and falsehood His bulletins of his
patient's health were cooked for the purpotte
of exaggerating illness, and attributing to the
climate of St. Helena a liver complaint, which
at the subsequent autopsy wits proved never
to have existed. This awkward filet, which
put an end to all hepatical inventions, was the
true reason why Antommarehi, at the advice
of Bertrand, refused to sign the certificate
of his colleague dissectors. O'Meara, when
found out by Sir Hudson, and dismissed front
the service, vowed a Corsican revenge, and
then raised his falsetto voice against the
" governor and his gang." Mow lacrywee !
In like manner, the Edinburgh lierietr's romance
of Lam Caties's " generous devotion " to his
fidlen master vanishes when tested by the
touchstone of facts. This versatile, jesuitical
amanuensis was originally a vain litteratair,
whose real object of joining the exile was to
(silica matet•ials fin• a book of his own, and.
when his Bonaparte budget was complete, in-
vented a trick to get himself arrested as if for
sending messages to Istril Holland and Cobbett.
He then courted exile front Longwood, and sel-
fishly refused to return when Napoleon, who
used hint, desired it. Las Cases kept a sort of
Boswell diary, and the object of his "pennies,"
a composition rather than a real journal, was
to raise his Emperor to the " godhead."
General Gourgitud, with whom Scott ditlered
and would have done battle in duello, front main •
nutting a sort of independence at Longwood, was
so treated " like a dog" that he petitioned to be
removed from St. Helena, and on his return was
one of the first to expose the conduct of the
very O'Meara with whom afterwards ho acted
in concert. The Count Montholon also
henceforward must rank among the minor
satellites of our Jupiter: all parties de-
rided this poor Polomus, whose nickname at
l.omtgw•ood wits " it bugiando," the liar; while
Napoleon generally termed him the" imbecile,"
the " eottliohe ;" and O'Aleant added " bameuess"
to this ehantete►• of his coadjutor. Such were
the" Voices" by which the world's earhas so long
been abused. 11ir.Forsyth, having dissected the
joints of the tail, applies his scalpel to the great
ex-agitat.s. of Europe himself. It is now cleaves
notn that every reasonable indulgence was
granted : the eommunientions of Lord Bath-
rn•st and Sir Hudson an. throughout marked
with good sense and feeling. The prisoner
had a nowt, of twelve miles fie• exereise, fora•
of which were of the strictest privacy. His
ol►jeet to get this extended " a force des
phi intes" was to increase his means of intrigue
and escape : for the former he found ample
means, and might have effected the latter had
he not feared being shot—like Murat—if taken
in tlu. at tempt ; and he felt sure when his friends
the Whigs carne into office that he would be set
free. His command of money and credit was
unlimited ; and all the forced sale of imperial
plate, as a means to stave off starvation, Is
now shown to be a pure dodge of Napoleon
himself, with the special object of giving more
colour to the cry of ill-treatment, and this
while Sir Hudson, on his own responsibility,