CHAPTER VI.

Instructions to Sir Hudson Lowe for his Treatment of Napoleon.-Sum allowed by the British Government for the ExEmperor's expenses.-The allegations that his Table was not sufficiently supplied, considered.-Napoleon's proposal: to defray his own Expenses.-Sale of his Plate-made in or der to produce a false impression of the state to which he was reduced.-The fact, that he had at that time a large sum of Money in his strong-box, stated.-Wooden House constructed in London for Buonaparte, and transported to St Hele na.-Interview between Sir Hudson Lowe and Napoleon on its arrival.-Delays in the erection of it-When finished, Buonaparte's ill-health prevented his being removed to it.The Regulation that a British Officer should attend Napoleon in his rides, a subject of much displeasure to him.— Free communication with Europe carried on by the Inmates of Longwood, without the knowledge of the Governor.-Regu lation respecting Napoleon's Intercourse with the Inhabitants of St Helena.-General Reflections on the Disputes between him and Sir Hudson Lowe.

BEFORE entering upon such brief inquiry as our` bounds will permit, upon the conduct of the new Governor towards Napoleon, it may be necessary to show what were his, Sir Hudson Lowe's, instructions from the English government on the subject of the custody of the Ex-Emperor :

"Downing Street, 12th September, 1816. "You will observe that the desire of his Majesty's government is, to allow every indulgence to General Buonaparte which may be compatible with the entire security of his person. That he should not by any means escape, or hold communication with any person whatsoever, excepting through your agency, must be your unremitted care; and those points being made sure, every resource and amusement, which may serve to reconcile Buonaparte to his confinement, may be permitted."

A few weeks later, the Secretary of State wrote to Sir Hudson Lowe a letter to the same purpose with the former, 26th October, 1816:

"With respect to General Buonaparte himself, I deem it unnecessary to give you any farther instructions. I am confident that your own disposition will prompt you to anticipate the wishes of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, and make every allowance for the effect which so sudden a change of situation cannot fail to produce on a person of his irritable temper. You will, however, not permit your forbearance or generosity towards him to interfere with any regulations which may have been established for preventing his escape, or which you may hereafter consider necessary for the better security of his person."

The just and honourable principle avowed by government is obvious. But it was an extraordinary and most delicate tax upon Sir Hudson Lowe, which enjoined him to keep fast prisoner an individual, who, of all others, was likely to be most impatient of restraint, and, at the same time, to treat him with such delicacy as might disguise his situation from himself, if it could not reconcile him to it. If Sir Hudson failed in doing so, he may be allowed to plead, that it was in a case in which few could have succeeded. Accordingly, Napoleon's complaints against the Governor were bitter and clamorous.

The first point of complaint on the part of the family at Longwood, respected the allowance assigned by the British government for their support, which they alleged to be insufficient to their wants. This was not a point on which Napoleon thought it proper to express his feelings in his own person. His attention was apparently fixed upon obtaining concessions in certain points of etiquette, which might take him from under the condition in which he was most unwilling to allow himself to be placed, in the rank, namely, of a prisoner at war. The theme, of the inadequacy of the allowance, was not, however, left untouched, as those concerned were well aware that there was no subject of grievance which would come more home to the people of England than one which turned upon a deficiency either in the quan

tity or quality of the food supplied to the exiles. Montholon's letter was clamant on the subject; and Santini intimated that the Emperor must sometimes have gone without a meal altogether, had he (Santini) not been successful with his gun.

The true state of the case was this. The British government had determined that Napoleon's table should be provided for at the rate of a general of the first rank, together with his military family. The expense of such an establishment was, by the regula tions furnished to Sir Hudson Lowe, dated 15th April, and 22d November, 1816, supposed to reach to L.8000 a-year, with permission, however, to extend it as far as L. 12,000, should he think it necessary. The expense could not, in Sir Hudson Lowe's opinion, be kept within L.8000; and indeed they were instantly extended by him to L.12,000, paid in monthly instalments to the purveyor, Mr Balcombe, by whom it was expended in support of the establishment at Longwood. If, however, even L.12,000, the sum fixed as a probable ultimatum, should, in the Governor's opinion, be found, from dearth, high price of provisions, or otherwise, practically insufficient to meet and answer the expense of a general's family, calculated on a liberal scale, Sir Hudson Lowe had liberty from government to extend the purveyor's allowance without limitation. But if, on the other hand, the French should desire to add to their

house-keeping anything which the Governor should think superfluous, in reference to the rank assigned to the principal person, they were themselves to be at the charge of such extraordinary expenditure.

It is apprehended that the British government could not be expected to do more for Napoleon's liberal maintenance, than to give the Governor an unlimited order to provide for it, upon the scale applicable to the rank of a general officer of the first rate. But yet the result, as the matter was managed, was not so honourable to Great Britain, as the intentions of the government really designed. The fact is, that virtues as well as vices have their day of fashion in England; and at the conclusion of the peace, when the nation were cloyed with victory, men began, like epicures after a feast, to wrangle about the reckoning. Every one felt the influence of the Quart dheure de Rabelais. It ascended into the Houses of Parliament, and economy was the general theme of the day. There can be no doubt that a judicious restriction upon expenditure is the only permanent source of national wealth; but, like all other vir tues, parsimony may be carried to an extreme, and there are situations in which it has all the meanness of avarice. The waste of a few pounds of meat, of a hundred billets of wood, of a few bottles of wine, ought not to have been made the shadow of a question between Britain and Napoleon; and it would