244 NAPOLEON. 



hides and horses of all descriptions were in re- 

 quisition to convey the male, female, and in- 

 fantile arrivals of that nation, to visit the re- 

 posing- place of all that is mortal of " Le Grand 

 Napoleon," and to see the residence, or rather 

 the prison, of the late emperor. To view this 

 place, in its present degraded state, used as 

 stables and barns, ought to cause an Englishman 

 to blush at the want both of the finer feelings 

 and generosity of his nation towards the departed 

 greatness of the ex-emperor, whose terror ter- 

 minated with his death. And who would not 

 feel for the visitors of a nation who idolize his 

 memory, when they view a spot, so sacred to 

 them, so degraded by us ? What their senti- 

 ments are at the time, none but those who feel 

 like them can imagine. 



I cannot refrain from quoting an American 

 author, who makes the following observation 

 when on a visit to St. Helena. " Who has not 

 admired the power of genius that raised him to 

 his glory ? Who did not feel some sympathy, 

 at least, in the depth of his fall ? Who did not 

 commiserate him in the distance and desolateness 

 of his exile ? And who, with the vivid impres- 

 sions of the wretchedness and discomfort of his 

 captivity, forced upon them by the scene in the 

 midst of which we now were, would not be dis- 



