In the Las Cases memoirs we’ve been broadcasting, Napoleon was reported as making a case to Albine - that she couldn’t refute - that she was not a loyal person. This seemed to come out of nowhere.
About the Montholon letters, the tone really changes here. Montholon had been crying out with passion for the wife - who it really appears he had been sharing with Napoleon.
Now he writes that Napoleon is getting ready for a siege and his own murder over the Governor’s insistence that he be seen twice a day by his English captors.
As always, we must remember the writers of these letters know they will be read by the English governor of St. Helena, with whom Napoleon was at war. It’s also worth noting that neither Montholon nor his wife express any interest or sympathy for Napoleon - the man for whom they had completely deranged their lives.
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FROM THE COUNT TO THE COUNTESS OF MONTHOLON
Longwood, September 4, 1819.
All the discussions that have existed since August 6 continue without any end, always like those of April, during my attack of rheumatism.
This time, with even more bitterness on both sides; every morning the orderly officer knocked on the Emperor's doors and asked to see him; always the same answer, and he, overwhelmed by the weight of his extreme misfortune, never leaves his bed, waiting for God to put an end to his life. (1) We had long hoped that the arrival of Dr. Stokoe, that the newspapers advertised -
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1. Sir Hudson Lowe asked that Napoleon show himself twice a day to the orderly officer. Napoleon refused to do so. Napoleon had taken this question very seriously, and was determined to start an armed struggle if his door was forced; he had sent to Bertrand on August 19 his will, to settle everything in case he was killed (see Correspondence p. 472, and Accounts of Captivity, II, chap. VI).
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as on the way to come and resume his service as the doctor of Napoleon (1), would finish everything (2) but, as soon as he arrived, he was handed a court martial for his conduct last January, and condemned to lose all his jobs. (3) It is therefore no longer possible to hope that this will end by us getting an English doctor, since one cannot agree on the method of establishing him at Longwood; although the question is very simple, and that today there is no doubt that Verling (4) or any other would be chosen by the Emperor, if the governor agreed that he was to replace O'Meara, and if he made no report on his health without leaving the original in our hands, and undertakes not to make any report on what he could see or hear at Longwood, he would need to consent to respect privacy, that everything he learned would not reach, by his oath, his employer. (5).
For me, I remain convinced that there is in fact no difficulty (6), that nothing is so easy as to get along, and that one doesn’t get along just because one won’t listen.
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1. He had made a few medical visits to Napoleon in January 1819, and then his conduct was deemed as too sympathetic to Napoleon, Sir Hudson Lowe and Admiral Plampin.
2. Because Napoleon, seen daily by an English doctor, would no longer have been compelled to present himself to an officer.
3. On Stokoe and his condemnation, see Forsyth, History of the Captivity of Napoleon, Paris, Amyot, 1853, Napoleon Prisoner, Paris, Flammarion.
4. Dr. Verling had been sent to Longwood by Sir Hudson Lowe to replace O`Meara.
5. On the discussion of the conditions under which Napoleon would accept an English doctor at Longwood, see Forsyth, IV, 478.
6. This is obviously addressed to the Governor who was to read this letter: Sir Hudson Lowe was not persuaded, and Napoleon did not see a doctor until the arrival of Antommarchi.
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FROM THE COUNTESS TO THE COUNT OF MONTHOLON
September 8, 1819.
I haven't seen Mr. Jackson, he hasn't written to me yet, so I don't know anything about you (2) I know his address, and I'm going to write him (3). A thousand memories to the doctor, I would have liked to have seen him while I was sick.
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FROM THE COUNT TO THE COUNTESS OF MONTHOLON
Longwood, September 26, 1819.
The second chaplain (6) calls himself a doctor, and he is recommended as such by Cardinal Fesch (7). -
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1. The text bears the inscription: Longwood, September 8, 1819. I deleted it. It couldn’t be Longwood, because this indication obviously results from an error, and because the letter is from the Countess and not from the Count de Montholon.
2. This sentence proves that this fragment is from Mme. de Montholon. Written by Montholon, this sentence would have no meaning: Jackson, who left on July 8, could not in two months go to Europe and return to Saint Helena. On the contrary, two months after his departure, Mme. de Montholon could wait for him in Europe and to hear from her husband.
3. Another proof: if Jackson was in Saint Helena, Montholon would not need his address to find him, and he would go to see him.
4. No doubt Dr. Verling, who had treated Mme. de Montholon, and whom, in other letters already, we have seen him called “the doctor” quite simply.
5. During the crossing, no doubt.
6. Father Vignali.
7. The Last Moments of Napoleon, Paris, Garnier, I, 59, 60, 67. - The conduct of Cardinal Fesch, who sent a doctor and specially recommended a priest to give medical care, is a bizarre occurrence.
Cela fait partie d'une série de lettres entre le mystérieux comte et la comtesse de Montholon qui ont bizarrement suivi Napoléon à Sainte-Hélène malgré le fait que Napoléon avait déjà congédié Montholon pour avoir épousé sa femme, Albine.
A cette époque, Napoléon professait désapprouver ses manières lâches. Dans les mémoires de Las Cases que nous diffusons, Napoléon aurait fait valoir à Albine - qu'elle ne pouvait pas réfuter - qu'elle n'était pas une personne loyale. Cela semblait sortir de nulle part.
Concernant les lettres Montholon, le ton change vraiment ici. Montholon poussait des cris de passion pour la femme - qu'il semble vraiment avoir partagée avec Napoléon.
Maintenant, il écrit que Napoléon se prépare pour un siège et son propre meurtre sur l'insistance du gouverneur qu'il soit vu deux fois par jour par ses ravisseurs anglais.
Comme toujours, nous devons nous rappeler que les auteurs de ces lettres savent qu'elles seront lues par le gouverneur anglais de Sainte-Hélène, avec qui Napoléon était en guerre.
Il convient également de noter que ni Montholon ni sa femme n’expriment d’intérêt ou de sympathie pour Napoléon - l’homme pour lequel ils ont complètement dérangé leur vie.
