It is not irrelevant on this occasion to observe, that at two interviews with General Bonaparte, he personally observed to me that I was a generalofficer to act upon instructions, and not execute my duty as a "consigne :" at present it is as a consigne, it appears I am required to perform it. On another occasion he objected to "aucune inspection directe ou publique." How do these suggestions accord with the narrow limit to which it is at present sought to restrict the exercise of my duties? The views you have now presented coincide most with my own, (seeing that every exercise of my discretion, even in points where I seek to act most favourably, only entails fresh discussion,) but where such opposing sentiments are conveyed to me, you must, sir, admit the difficulty of reconciling them.

You say, sir, "L'Empereur me charge de protester contre l'existence de toute restriction," &c. &c. &c.

Any communication made to me in the proper name of the person whom you thus designate, it is my bounden duty to consider, wherever circumstances will permit it. The notification of a regulation arising from a sudden case cannot, however, be made previous to the occurrence which calls it forth. The matter of which you now speak was not of a nature to require previous

communication, but it was here, at all events, not carried into execution before communicated.

I have the honour to be, Sir,

Your most obedient,

(Signed)

Count Bertrand.

And most humble Servant,

H. Lowe, Lieut.-General.*

No. XI.

Letter from Count Bertrand to the Governor, containing the Grievances of Longwood.

Longwood, 30th September, 1817.

GOVERNOR, I have made known to the emperor, that you did me the honour to come to me the day before yesterday, (Sunday,) that you told me some anxieties had been excited in you respecting his ill health, and that as this was attributed to want of exercise, why did he not ride out on horseback?

I replied to you, what had been said in various circumstances, and I have the honour to repeat to you now, that the existence of the emperor, particularly for the last six weeks, has been extremely

For the deep obscurity and rambling construction of some passages in this state-paper, it is hoped the reader will hold only its author responsible.

painful; that the swelling of his legs increases every day; that the symptoms of scurvy which had been remarked in his gums, are already such as to occasion him almost constantly acute pains; that the medical men attribute this to want of exercise; that ever since the month of May, 1816, that is to say, for seventeen or eighteen months, the emperor has not been on horseback, has scarcely ever been out of his apartment, except sometimes, and very rarely, when he came about forty toises, to visit my wife; that you know perfectly well what has prevented, and does prevent the emperor from going out; namely, the restrictions of the 9th October, 1816, which began to be put into execution six weeks after your arrival; that those restrictions contain among others, a prohibition from speaking or listening to any person we may meet, and from going into any house; this makes him think that your intention was to compromise him with the sentries, and to outrage his character.

You have observed to me, that you have suppressed that part of the restrictions, and such is the case. Admiral Malcom, on his return from the Cape, made some observations to you on the subject, and you decided on suspending them, which you did by your letter of the 26th December, 1816, three months afterwards. But you have several times insinuated, that you believe

yourself authorized to re-establish them at any moment, as well as others equally unreasonable. The restrictions of the 9th of October, 1816, contain other articles of the same extravagant nature, which are not suspended. Fresh restrictions which you made on the 14th of March, 1817, prescribe that we are not to quit the extent of a road twelve feet wide. It would thence result, that if the emperor were to quit that road, or enter into any house, the sentries might fire upon him. The emperor ought not to recognize such ignoble treatment. Several Englishmen of distinction, at present in the island, on that passage being read to them, (not being acquainted with the restrictions of the 9th October, 1816, and of the 14th March, 1817,) reproached the emperor for sacrificing his health by not going out; but as soon as those restrictions were made known to them, their opinions changed, and they declared that no man of honour could act differently; and that, without pretending to compare themselves with him, they would in such a case have done as he did.

I added, that if you wished to consult the officers who are in this colony, there is not one among them who does not regard the restrictions of the 9th October, 1816, and those of the 14th March, 1817, as unjust, useless, and oppressive; and that all in the emperor's place would act as 3 P

VOL. II.

he did, holding such conditional leave to go out as an absolute prohibition.

I had also the honour to tell you, that according to the terms of the bill in parliament of the 11th of April, 1816, you have not a right to make restrictions: that the bill grants that right only to the government, which cannot delegate it even to one of its ministers, and still less to an individual officer; that Lord Bathurst in his speech, in the month of March, in the House of Peers, declared that you had made no new restriction, that all his correspondence had been in favour of the detained persons, and that you had the same instructions as your predecessor; that your predecessor had adapted the restrictions of government to local circumstances, in a manner, if not convenient, at least tolerable; that things remained in this state for nine months, during which time the emperor used to go out, received even some English officers at his table, and sometimes had in his society the officers and inhabitants of the island; that this order of things was not changed by an act of your government; that during those nine months, no inconvenience took place, and that nothing can have authorized you to substitute for an order of things so reasonable, that which you have established; that the emperor would go out, ride on horseback, and resume the same way of life, if you would re