Wjfrden*^ Letters on Napoleon 



idle, xilsingenuous folly ! a fine proof, 

 how niejudice can destroy the boasted 

 reasoning f'aculiies of Engiislinien ! WUy, 

 1 ask yoy, should tliat life be taken away 

 in secret wliich tlie laws consigned to the 

 hapd'* of a public executioner? The mat- 

 tof would have been diflPerent with respect 

 to Moremi, Had he died in a dungeon, 

 ttiere mi^iit have been grounds to justify 

 the suspicion that he had not been guilty 

 of suicide. He was a very popular cha- 

 racter, as well 3S much beloved bv the 



ei>^ 



arniy -^ and I should never have lost the 

 odium, limvever guiltless I niii^ht have 

 b^en, if the justice of his death, sup- 

 po:>ing Iiis life to have been forfeited by 

 tlve taws, had not been madeappareiit by 

 the inost public execution. 



'" I vyas justified in n\^ ovvn mind ; and 

 I repeat the declaration which I have 

 already made, that I would have ordered 

 the execution of Louis the Eighteenth. 

 A.t <he same i,iinc, I solemnly affirm, that 

 lur, ine;>sage or letter from the Duke 

 reiached npe after sentence of death had 

 bepn passed upon him," 



— Napoleon continued to speak of the 

 Bq^iboii faniily — " Had I," he said, 

 •« been "anxious to get any, or ail the 

 Eiiurbons^ into my possession, I could 

 lukve accomplished the object. Your 

 imggglers otFered me a Bourbon for ft 



There is no occurrence of life to which I 

 gave more publicity than this. You have 

 an officer, a Sir Robert Wilson, who has' 

 written very copiously on the subject of^ 

 my campaign in Egypt." As he repeateii' , 

 the last sentence, he assumed an air antjl " 

 tone of sarcastic jocularity; and then^ 

 asked me, if I had read Sir Robert's Pub- . 

 lication. I replied in the affirmative :— -\ 

 " It is possible,'y>e said, " that he wrota; 

 from the testiqnbny of other people"^ 

 ei^ually proi)Q_tb error as himself: ha^I 

 cannot pretend to have done it from his ' 

 own observation. — Can you tell nie, 

 continued Napoleon, " whether Sir Syai* 

 ney Smith, in any official communicatioiisv 

 to your government, jittempted, in anV 

 way, to corroborate the testimony of Sir 

 E,obert Wilson?" I could, not, at the 

 moment, sufficiently recollect the pur- 

 port of his dispatches to deterifline thj^i 

 point, but I replied, as I felt, "That ha 



had not," This reply, however, indeci» 

 sive as it was, appeared to afford him, 

 considerable satisfaction, as he instantly, 

 repeated — " I believe so: for Sir Sydpi^y, 

 Smith is a brave and just man." — 1 her^\ 

 observed that " There are many in Eng- 

 land who imagine your jeafoosy andt 

 hatred of Sir Sydney Smith influences 

 your conduct towards Captain Wright, j 



— He smiled with astonishment at sucli 



stated, stini (I think he named 40,000 an idea— the thought of coupling tli? tw-f^ 



names appeared never to have entered his ' 

 imagination. •' Ridiculous nonsense, 

 was his reply. He then entered oa tW, 

 following narrative. . ' ,' 



" Qn raising the siege of St. Jeaa, 

 d'Acre, the army retired upon Jaffa, |t 

 had become a matter of urgent necessity,^ 

 mp>eatiiig. It.— >jiijt It .The occupation of this town for at)*;' 

 was not my wish merely to deprive them length of time was totally impracticahfe, 

 of life. Besides, circumstances had talien. from the force that Jezza P^cha was 

 a turn vvhich then fixed me without fear enatjled to bring forward. The sick an<J 

 of change or chance on the throne I pos- , wounded were nunaerous; and their, re->' 

 sessed. — .1 felt my security, and left tl»e .mo»al was m^ first consideration. Caiw, 

 Bourbons undisturbed. — VVanton, usele»Sv " ria^es the most convenient that could fae' 

 tuurder, vv|i;itcver has been said and formed, were appropriated to the piti-o 



fcainc^) ;,l'ut, on cooiing to a more precise 

 explanation, they entertained.a doubt of 

 fulfilling tlie engagement as it was origi- 

 n.atjy proposed. They would not under-, 

 tii^e to possess themselves of any of the 

 Bourbon family absolutely alive ; though, 

 with the alternative, alive or dead^ they, 

 had 110 doubt of compieatiiig. it.— >But it 



thought of me in England, has never 

 been my practice :. to wlmt end or pur- 

 pose could I have indulged the horrifiie, 

 propen^it^y, — VVhen Sir George liutnbold 

 and ,Mr. Drakf.-, who had beeo carrying 

 Qii a cprrespoiideiice with conspirators in 

 Pari^, were seized, they were not mur- 

 UeVed. . - 



" Your country," he said, " has ac» 

 Cused jne of bavrng murdered the sick 

 ^n(l wounded of my arnjy ()t JalTn. Be 

 asbured (hat, if I had committed such a 

 bo/rid act, my very soldiers themselves 

 vould have exef rated uie,; and.l n»i(;ht 



pose. Some of them *vere seiit b/ 

 water to Damie^ta, and the rest were 

 accommodated, in the best possible 

 manner, to accompany .their conjradesi(., 

 in their march through the Desart. Severi 

 men, howeyer, occupied a quarantine 

 hospital, who were infested with thff 

 plague ; whose report ,wa? made me h» 

 the chief of the medical staff; (I think it 

 was Desgene.tte). He furtbei* added, that' 

 the disease had gained. such a >tage of 

 mali^ntincy, there was nottiie'Ifast jjro» 

 bability of tfieir coritinuing.afive beyoni, 

 forty-eight hours." — I |iere ej^cj^iiraed iri 



b^^ve l,i„ked to ihtjr ceasjrig.to obey me. a dubious tone, the, wtlid-r-sei'«'i .' .nntf 



'1(^«;iTm.T 'Mao. No. ^93 



4 H 



immediately 



