Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 10.djvu/11

 10 s. x. JULY 4, iocs.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

BONAPARTE ON THE NORTHUMBERLAND.

THE story of Napoleon Bonaparte on board the Northumberland is a natural supplement to the story of his life on board the Bellerophon. It is a singular coincidence that some weeks before E. M.'s article ap- peared in ' N. & Q.' (ante, p. 321), and with- out any knowledge of that article or of the E. M. who wrote it, I, another E. M., should have written the following story of the con- tinuation of Napoleon's voyage, on the Northumberland, to his last resting-place.

The story of the great Napoleon's voyage to St. Helena has been told in various ways and by different people, but never more intimately than by the English surgeon on board the Northumberland. Mr. Wil- liam Warden kept a record of the various conversations he had with Napoleon and his principal attendants, and of anecdotes connected with them : these he at once committed to a journal, and it was from its pages that the letters were composed which he wrote to a friend at home, evidently of his own profession. These letters were not written with a view to publication, but, yielding to the urgency of his friends, the author printed them about 1816.

The work was well known at that period, but has long since been forgotten. It has sometimes been mentioned by Napoleonic writers, but never, so far as the present writer is aware, in any detail. It may therefore be safely assumed that if now known at all, it can only be to a very limited number of Napoleonic students.

The letters are mostly headed "At Sea' 1 or " At St. Helena," but they bear no date. In the first letter the writer describes the great public excitement caused by the transfer of Napoleon from the Bellerophon to the Northumberland in Torbay, 5 Aug., 1815 :

"There was a daily crowd of boats and other vessels filled with curious spectators (some of whom, it is confidently said, have come on purpose from remote parts of the country, and even from London) to snatch such a glimpse of him as could be caught at the distance they -were obliged to keep from the Bel- lerophon, on whose gangway he occasionally stood."

On 3 Aug., 1815, the Northumberland arrived off Berry Head, Torbay. She was there joined by the Tonnant, accompanied by the Bellerophon, which had on board Napoleon Bonaparte. Count de las Cases, chamberlain to the ex-Emperor, came on board to arrange the requisite accommoda- tion for his master. " The Count," says Mr. Warden, " does not exceed five feet anc

an inch in height, and appears to be fifty- years of age, of a meagre form and wrinkled orehead." His diminutive appearance did not fail to invite observation from various Beholders. The barge which conveyed STapoleon from the Bellerophon contained ord Keith, Sir George Cockburn, and Marshal Bertrand, who had shared in all lis Imperial master's fortunes, and Generals Vtontholm and Gourgon, who had been, and still retained the titles of, his aides-de- camp. As the boat approached, the figure of Napoleon was readily distinguished from lis resemblance to the various prints dis- played in the windows of shops.

"With a slow step Bonaparte mounted the gangway, and on feeling himself firm on the quarter- deck, he raised his hat when the guard presented arms and the drum rolled. The officers of the Northumberland, who were uncovered, stood con- siderably in advance. These he approached and saluted with an air of the most affable politeness.

His dress was that of a general of French

nfantry His face was pale, and his beard of an

unshaven appearance. His forehead is thinly covered with dark hair, as well as the top of his- head, which is large, and has a singular flatness ;. what hair he has behind is bushy, and I could not discern the slightest mixture of white in it. His eyes, which are grey, are in continual motion, and lurry rapidly to the various objects around him. His teeth are regular and good ; his neck is short, but his shoulders of the finest proportion ; the rest of his figure, though a little blended with Dutch fatness, is of very handsome form."

On returning on deck the Emperor engaged in conversation with Lord Lowther, Mr. Lyttelton, and Sir George Bingham for an hour before dinner. He complained of the severity with which he was treated in being consigned to pass his days on the rock of St. Helena. In a conversation the author had with Count Bertrand, the latter complained in very forcible terms of the needless cruelty of sending them to such a place ; he said that the Emperor had thrown himself on the mercy of England from a full and consoling confidence that he should there find a place of refuge :

" It would have been no disgrace to England to have acknowledged Napoleon Bonaparte as a citizen. It might rather have been a subject of pride to England that the conqueror of almost all Europe but herself sought, in his adverse fortune, to pass the remainder of a life which forms so splendid an eppcha in the history of our age, in any retired spot of her domains which she might have allotted him."

In the next chapter we are told that their illustrious guest displayed rather an eager appetite : he made a very hearty dinner, which he moistened with claret ; he was observed to select a mutton chop, which he contrived to dispose of without the aid