The Sun.
London, England, 1823-01-15 00:00:00

MEMOIRS OF BUONAPARTE.

The following Extracts from NAPOLEON'S
;Memoirs and LAS CASES' Journal of his Conver-
sations at . St. Helena, may not he unacceptable
to our Readers :
" The name of BUONAPARTE may be spelt either Bona.
parte, or Beonaparte ; as all Italians know._ Napoleon's father
always Introduced the u; and his uncle, the Archdeacon Lucien
(who survived Napoleon's father, and was a pirent to Napoleon
and his brothers,) at the same time, and under the same roof,
wrote it Bonaparte. During his youth Napoleon followed the
example of his father. On attaining the command of the Army
of Italy, he took good care not to alter the orthography, which
agreed with the spirit of the language; but, at a later period,
and whey amongst the French, he wished to-adopt their ortho-
graphy and thenceforth wrote his name Buonaparte—
At Briars—." Immediately after dinner the Emperor walked-
in his favourite path. Ile bad his coffee carried down to him
in the garden, and he drank it as he walked about. The con-
versation turned on love. I must have made some very fine
and sentimental remarks on this important subject; for the
Emperor laughed at what he styled my prattle, and said that
he understood none of my romantic verbiage. Then speaking
with an air of levity, he wished to Make me believe that he
was better acquainted with sensations than sentiments. I
made free to remark, that he was trying to be though worse
than he was described to be in the authentic but very secret ac-
counts that were circulated about the palace. And what was
said of me ?' resumed he, with an air of gaiety. ' I re-
plied, it is understood, that when in the summit of your power,
you suffered yourself to be enslaved by the chains of love ; that
you became a hero of romance. In short, that you conceived
an attachment for a lady in humble circumstances; that
you wrote her above a dozen love-letters ; and that her
power over you prevailed so far as to compel you to dis.
guise yourself, and to visit her secretly and alone, at her
own residence. In the heart of And how came
this to be. known ?' said he, smiling ;1 which of course amount-
ed to an admission of the fact. ' And it was doubtless added,'
continued he, that that was the most imprudent act of my whole
life ; for had my mistress proved treacherous, what might not
have been my fate—alone and ditiguised, in the circumstances
in which I was placed, 'amidst the snares with which I was sur.
rounded ? Nit what more is said of me P-4 Sire, it is affirm-
ed that your Majesty's posterity is not confined to the King of
Rome. The secret chronicle states that he has two elder bro.
there'; one, the offspring of a fair foteigner, whom you loved
in a distant country ; the other, the fruit of a connexion nearer
at hand, in the bosom of your own capital. Itwas asserted,
that both had been conveyed to MalmaiSon, before our depar-
ture ; the one brought by his mother, and the other introduced
by his tutor; and they were described to be the living portraits
of their father.' The Emperor laughed much at my informa-
tion, as he termed it; and being now in a merry vein, he be-
gan to take a frank retrospect of his early years, relating many
of the love-affairs and !timorous adventures in which he had
been engaged."------

" After the passage of the 31incio, Napoleon, having con-
certed all his plans, pursued the enemy in every direction, and
entered a castle on the left bank of the river. lie wart troubled
with the head-ache, and he used a foot-bath. A large detach-
ment of the enemy, in great confusion, arrived, having ascend-
ed the river as far as the castle. Napoleon was there, and only
a few persons were' with him: the sentinel on duty at title gate hail
just time to close it, exclaiming, "ro arms I' anti the General'
of the Army of Italy, in the arms of victory, -was compelled to
escape through the back gates of the garden with but one
boot on.
" In the same campaign, Napoleon incurred another immi-
nent risk :—Wurrnsur, who had been compelled to throw him.
self into al antua, and who was debauching suddenly on an
open plain, learned from an old woman, that only a tew 1110.
talents before his arrival, the French General, with but a few
foPoweni, had stopped at her door, and that ho had fled at sight
of the Austrians. -Wurrnser immediately dispatclud patties of
cavalry in every direction, calculating with certainty on the
precious capture: lint,' said the Emperor, ' I must do him
this justice—he gave particular orders that I should' nut be
killed, or harmed 'in any way.' Fortunately for the young
General, his happy star and the swiftness of his horse combined
to save
" The first time (says Las Cases) I ever saw the Emperor's
running hand was at St. Cloud, after the battle of Friedland,
when the Empress Josephine amused .hereelf by making us try
to decypher a note which she held in her hand, and which
seemed to be written in hieroglyphics. It was to the following
effect My sons have once more shed a lustre over my ca.
reer ; the victory of Friedland will be inscribed in history, beside those of Marengo, Austerlitz, and Jena. You will cause
the cannon to be fired (infrres tker mums) ; Carnbaceres
will publish the bulletin.'—1 was again favoured with the sight
of a note in the Emperor's hand-writing, at the 111110. of the
treaty of Tilsit. It contained the following :—"rhe Queen
of Prussia is really a charming women, she is fond of eo-
quetting with me ; but do not be jealous; I am like, a cere-
cloth, along which every thing of this sort &Mee, without pe.
netrating it. It would cant me too dear to play the gallant.'".-..
" The Emperor laughed at what he termed my proaing.—
' What,' said he, cis the advantage of popularity and wain-
billy of cheracter ? Who posseaaid thoeequalities in a more
eminent degree than the unfortunate Louis XVI ? Yet what
was his fate ? His life was sacrificed ! A Sovereign must
serve his people with dignity, and not make it his chief study
to please them. The best mode of winning their love is to
secure their welfare. Nothing is more dangerous than for a
Sovereign to flatter his subjects : if they do not afterwarda ob.
tain every thing they want, they becoale irritated, and fancy
that promises have been broken ; and if they are then resisted,
their liatred increases in proportion f 1421 they consider themselves
deceived. A Soya reign's -first duty is, doubtless to conform with
the wishes • of the people; but what the people say is scarcely
ever what they wish: their desires and their wants cannot he
learned from ti eir own Mouths so will as they are read in the
heart at their prinee.'
" The conversistion turned on war end mat commanders.
fate,of a battle,' observed the Emperor is the result of
a moment, of a thought; the hostile threes advance With vari-
oui combinations,. they attack each,other andlight for a certain
time; , the critical moment arrives, a memal flash decides, and
the least reserve accompiishes the object.' He spoke of Lutzen,
Bautzen, &e. t. and afterwaria, alluding to Waterloci, he said,
that had lie followed up the idea of turning the enemy's right,
he should easily have succeeded; lie, however, preferred_ piere.
ing the centre, and separating the two armies: But all was
fatal in that engagement ; it. even assumed the appearance of
absurdity ; yet, neverthess, he ought to have gained the vie-
tory. Never had any of battlespresented less doubt to his mind;
and he was still at a loss to account for what hattliappened.---,
Grouchi, be said,.hadlost himself, Ney appeared .bewthlered,'
and his countenance sufficiently expressed the remorse be felt
for -Pontninbleau and bons.le,•Saunter, ; Der/on was latelessa in short the Generals were no longer thews-elves, .If, in the
evening, he heti been aware of Groueld's position, and, could
have thrown himself upon it, he nlightt in the morning, with
the help of that fine reserve, have repaired his ill success, end,
perhepsi .even have destroyed . the albs ti times by-one of, thoae
muscles, those turns of fortune which were familiar to him,
and which would have ,tirpriseti no one. lint he knew nothing
of.Grotichi; and besides, it was not -art to act with dteision
mow. the wrecks of the army. It would he difficult to itua.
gine the tondition of the French army on that disastrous night ;
it was a torrent dislodged from its bed, hurting .4wAy every
thing in, its counie."