These are letters between the Montholons. The couple that followed Napoleon to St. Helena for no obvious reason.
Charles Montholon, as usual shows a lot of positivity towards his jailor, Sir Hudson Lowe, who probably would have read all these letters before they were delivered to their proper recipient. Napoleon on the other hand is someone discussed as if he’s not liked and Montholon’s only wish is to escape his presence - but Charles is hiding that from him.
They wouldn’t let Savary come to St. Helena and they kicked out O’Meara and Las Cases but Montholon was permitted to stay until the bitter end.
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Ils ne voulaient pas laisser Savary venir à Sainte-Hélène et ils ont expulsé O’Meara et Las Cases mais Montholon a été autorisé à rester jusqu'à la fin amère.
XXXIII. - From the COUNT TO THE COUNTESS OF MONTHOLON
September 1, 1820.
Bertrand and his wife also want to be replaced. She can't take it anymore; as for him, he still told me yesterday he would hesitate if he wouldn't have to let her go alone; but I didn't believe it. His position here has really become unbearable.
XXXIV. - From the COUNT TO THE COUNTESS OF MONTHOLON
September 20, 1820.
If Drouot, Arnault, Maret (2), Ségur (3), or Caulaincourt (4) came here, they would be received with pleasure, and I would leave.
This poor Gentilini (5) cries and moans day and night about making his departure, he gets nothing; I have orders not to let him go until he is replaced by a Frenchman arriving from England; he is like a madman and makes me feel bad for him; I hope for his sake that I will finally get the door opened for him.
XXXV. - From the COUNT TO THE COUNTESS OF MONTHOLON
Longwood, this October 10, 1820.
I talked for a long time with Peggy (6). She’s a good girl who misses you very much ... Gentilini has been treated well, he has has enough to live on, both from the money owed to him and from that which was given to him, he received bills of exchange of 32,000 francs payable in Rome.
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1. The Bertrand saw little of Napoleon, and the multitude of English officers no longer visited them, since the quarrel between Bertrand and the lieutenant-colonel Lyster (see Forsyth, chap. XX, and Report of the Earl of Balmain, of December 20, 1818 (Blue review of June 5, 1897)).
2. Duke of Bassano, former Minister for Foreign Affairs.
3. Former aide-de-camp to Napoleon.
4. Due de Vicence, former Minister for Foreign Affairs.
5. Napoleon's footman.
6. Probably an English servant who had been in the service of the countess.
7. This is Gentilini, who had just left. - The English copyist indicates in a note: speaking of Gentilini's departure.
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For a fortnight, Bertrand and his wife have been getting a lot closer to us; they would like to please us and break up our tête-à-tête, in which I help them with all my influence, not that this tête-à-tête is of my doing, far from it, but it’s in the hope of making my departure easier and less sensitive.
I chatted with Sir Hudson Lowe (1), he was kind enough to promise to explain my situation to his ministry.
How can one imagine that individuals designated by Cardinal Fesch and Princess Pauline (2) can be better chosen than the man who will be selected by you, who knows all his habits, all his desires in this area, and who can finally have you consult (3) with men who have been fifteen years his ministers (4).
Besides, he himself designated, when you left, a dozen people whom he would be happy to see here: Drouot, Arnault, Carrion (5), Fleury (6), Rolland (7), Desmarets (8), Father de Pradt (9).
To have been in one's old or new intimacy, to be educated and worthy of one's advice and confidence
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1. September 18, it seems (see Forsyth, III, p. 243).
2. This passage seems to respond to the letter of June 12 or to that of July 4.
3. In the copy: “and finally you can consult”. Correction is necessary.
4. The ministers of Louis XVIII in 1820: Pasquier, Daru, Decazes, Latour-Maubourg.
5. Carrion-Nisas, man of letters and officer under the Empire.
6. Fleury de Chaboulon, secretary of Napoleon during the Hundred Days.
7. Deputy Inspector General of Marine Engineering under the Empire.
8. Head of the second division at the Ministry of General Police under the Empire.
9. We see that Napoleon's grudge against Father de Pradt, engendered by the publication about the Warsaw Embassy (see Memorial, December 15-16, 1815, April 28, 1816; September 1817; - Ninth letter from Cape Town, - Isle of Elba, Interior, II), did not last after the publication of the Four Concordats, as indicated by Las Cases (loc.cit.), and also in the preamble of the Notes on the Four Concordats, Napoleon in exile.
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are undoubtedly essential qualities, but how many people fit this description!
XXXVI. - FROM THE COUNTESS TO THE COUNT OF MONTHOLON
Paris, October 24, 1820.
If it depended only on me, I would send you a replacement immediately. The one we had always thought of and from whom I had been turned away because of his poor health, accepted my proposal with joy.
“I hope,” he wrote to me, “that you did not doubt for a moment my unalterable devotion and my resolution to go and share the captivity of the greatest and the best of men.” I had always been far from thinking about him, because intrigue and little jealousies mix with everything. You must have enough books to form a new library, I send you everything that appears.
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Ce sont des lettres entre les Montholons.
Le couple qui a suivi Napoléon à Sainte-Hélène sans raison évidente.
Charles Montholon, comme d'habitude, montre beaucoup de positivité envers son geôlier, Sir Hudson Lowe, qui aurait probablement lu toutes ces lettres avant de les remettre à leur destinataire.
Napoléon, d'autre part, est quelqu'un dont on parle comme s'il n'aimait pas et le seul souhait de Montholon est d'échapper à sa présence - mais Charles le lui cache.
