The Statesman.
London, England, 1823-02-26 00:00:00

ccoust3lontholon s name has been so interwoven with
all tbie tissue of complaint against Sir Hudson Lowe, and
his authority is to of t... 71 referred to, that it is necessary
to atate-O'Meara's confidential opinion of this person.
We shall leave I ant Montholon to settle with Mr.
O'Meara the complimentary part of this information; but
we must notice, th,•.:, notwithwatading O'M ear' expiained,
and alontholon thankfolly aeknowleged that Major blor-
ertmer was cotnhioi lig heaven and earth to lodge him
spa his lady," w find in the Journal, under the date of
September, 1816. the following grievous statement of
-their habitation :
ss Count Illont!.ol& n called Captain Blakeney and my-
self this day to look at the state of his apartments ; the
rooms, especially the Countess's bed-room the children's
room, and the h room, were in a shocking state, from
the extreme homiaity of the place; the walls were co-
vered with green fur and mould, damp and cold to the
touch, notwithstanding the fires that were continually
kept in them. 1 never saw a human habitation in a
more mouldy or humid state; in which opinion the or-
derly ollicer agreed."—Vol. ii. p. 213.
It is observed, that this " stamp, cold, mouldy" hovel
bast been the residence of the Lit utenant-Governor of the
island, who, with his lady, left it at two day's notice, for
the reception of Bonnaparte and his suite; and since
that period no trouble, no expense had been spared to ex-
tend and improve the accommodation ; but although in
lii: book it suits Mr. O'Meara to give such a melancholy
description, we find in another of his private notes that
Monti:ohm's apartments were so splendid as to be an ob-
ject of jeslouse to the French.
" Cipriani " (the fellow who dropped his real name of
.Franceschi)" told Buomptrte, that Montholon's house
was mole like a counT—(underlined by O'Meara himself),
—then a private house; that it corrained a magazine ofl
furniture; and that when he could not find any thing
else. so tl. sirous was he nfgrabbingf something, that lie
re en t out and laid hold of the wool for fuel, and carried
it %tit!, him it to his store. Buonaparte sent from Mons
tholnn intinediatelv after, and they have been since clo-
so thogether abuse three hours."—Note of 71/i Sep-
, tembrr, IMI6.
• We are very far from being inclined to judge of Count
tlutitholon from the reports of such persons as O'Meara
and Cdpriani; hut in weighing the accuracy and authen-
ticity of ll'Meare's publication, it is impossible not to
observe open such assertions as the foregoing, that the
liar, and coward, and plunderer, of the private notes, is
a disiitterested hero in the public work; and, what is
the most iidicolons rapproachement of all, it is to this
proverNal hi tn, as he designates Count de alontholon,
that the writer refers in his preface, for his own veracity.
It is painful to be obliged to repeat these personalties,
lint the exposure of O'Meara requires it ; and truth and
justice require the exposure of 0' Mean.
We trust that a similar apology will be accepted. for
the statenteets we are about to make. It is odious to us
to bring the names of ladies before the public in any. way
that may be unplessart to their feelings; but justice to
the anthoriti• ti at St. Helena, and to the British nation
itself, obliges us to state that this man, who accuses Sir
Ilnilson Lowe of making "common-plaee observations
on the delicacy of French ladies" (vol. it. p. 338), and
who makes a still grot;ser charge of indelicacy on the
part of Sir 'rhos. Read (i. 219), is, as in the former case,
the person really guilty of what he imputes to others;
and that he not only makes in detail the identical obser-
vations which he charges in general terms upon Sir
Thos. Read ; hu: betrays, in the most delicate points, the
secrets, even the medical secrets, of his female patients,
autl defames, with the grossest imputations, the personal
button of at least one of them. Our respect for remits
fecal gs and pub is deceticy forbid us to enter into these
lactating details; hut the letters which our pen refuses
to copy are lying before us, and shall be communicated Co
Coosa.. florin od and alontholon, if they ever sonde-
. s. end to take any notice of such unmanly calumnies.
Here we p lose to asks it readers, whether we have not
retlecutod the pledge oe gave at the beginning of this
. article ?—whother any man alive can now give the
ti~htr:a reedit to thi; work ?—whether its author ought
not to be overwhelmed with shame ; whether his parti-
e..nt are not covered with ridicule ; whether there ever
has le en so complete, so ignominious anexpoture as that
• which we hate inflicted on the htekle:s O'hleare.
We do not know exactly what this word meanx—we
o ippoae