Nel. I should say a long list.

Wel. "Do you think the governor will send it to England;" he was told no doubt of it; and moreover, the governor had offered to send home any letters or even get them published in the London newspapers.

P

Nel What did he reply to this?

Wel. "I'ts a falsehood," he replied, "he said he would send letters to Europe and have them published, with this proviso that he approved of their contents."

Nel. Well, this was possible.

Wel. "Besides," continued Napoleon, "even if he he wished to do so, his government would not permit it."

Nel. That is not so sure.

Wel. "Suppose," said he, "for example, I send him an address to the French nation'

Nel. "To put their trust in the Sun of Austerlitz, and keep their powder dry," I suppose, and keep a sharp look out along the coast; no, no, it was not likely the English government would oblige hira by publishing a proclamation to the French nation.

Wel. I should think not. He thus continued-"I do not think that they will allow a letter that covers them with so much disgrace to be published. I am told that the people of England want to know why I call myself Emperor, after having abdicated."

Nel. Emperor indeed! still deluding himself with a notion that he was one of the anointed, and hedged by a divinity, instead of salt water. He could not expect to find Sir Hudson Lowe quite so pliable as Talleyrand or Fouche; and if his Imperial head was decorated with a chequered red madras," instead of a crown, he had only himself to thank for it. Crowns indeed; between you and I, messmate, many a fellow has a crown on his head; that a fools-cap would be much more apropo.

Wel. I perfectly coincide with you, Nelson; I myself have seen such, and now by the side of you I can speak my mind freely; I have no hesitation in saying, that the value of crowned heads in Europe is much overrated.

Nel. True; Bonny is not the only one that a "a chequered red madras'' becomes; but proceed

Wel. He went on to say-"It was my intention to have lived in Englaud as a private person, and I have been told, the principal reason the English govern ment objected to it, was, a dread of my caballing with the opposition."

Nel. I suppose the Whigs would have made use of him; though he would not have been so serviceable to them as that Dan O'Connell you spoke of, for Bonny had no tail, though the poor Norfolk cottager really thought he had.

Wel. Good, Nelson, good; Buonaparte had certainly no Parliamentry tail ; but notwithstanding the Whigs might have made use of him for the purpose of helping them into Downing street-a region so dear to the Whigs—a region "Where everlasting sweets

Are ever springing."

Nel. I understand, messmate, the sweets of office-go on.

Wel. He remarked-that one reason the government would have for his not residing in England, would be the fear of his telling the truth of them, for they must permit people of rank to see him.

Nel. How he clings to rank, 1ank inflated man! rank indeed, "rank and file," made him what he was.

Wel. Truly so; we are told, that a quarrel took place between a Madame Sturmer, and somebody else, (I think it was the French commissioner) he had

remarked that Madame Sturmer did not know how to come into a drawing room; Buonaparte laughed at this and said "I will venture to say, that the old booby says so because she is not sprung from some of those imbeciles, the old noblesse; because her father is a plebeian; these old emigrants hate, aud are jealous of all who are not hereditary asses, like themselves."

Nel. There was a bit of truth here, messmate.

Wel. He was asked if the King of Prussia was a man of talent-" who?" said he-"the King of Prussia ;" he burst into a fit of laughter-“ he a man of talent; the greatest blockhead on earth!"

Nel. A long range!

Wel. A Don Quixote in appearance; I know him well; he cannot hold a conversation for five minutes-not so his wife: she was a very clever fine woman, but very unfortunate. They want," continued he, "to introduce. the old system of nobility into the army, instead of allowing the sons of peasants and labourers to be eligible to be made generals, as their were in my time." Nel. Hear, hear, hear!

Wel. They want to confine it entirely to the old nobility; the old nobility were the cause of the revolution, and of so much bloodshed; aad now, after twenty-five years of exile and disgrace, they return loaded with the same vices and crimes for which they were expatriated, to produce another revolution. I know the French believe me, that after six or ten years the whole race will be massacred and thrown into the Seine.

Nel. What year was the second revolution?

Wel. In 1830.

Nel. How he hit the mark as to time, and as to place. I suppose it was luck that saved some of them from the Seine.

Wel. Quite so; had the people got hold of them, they would hare been massacred, as Buonaparte foretold; he thus proceeds—They are a curse to the nation, it is such as them that the Bonrbons want to make generals. Whenever I found talent and courage I rewarded it.

Nel. There is no doubt, messmate, that taking his generals from the ranks, made him very popular with the army, in fact, the whole country.

Wel. No doubt of it; he thus continucs-It is true, that I sometimes promoted a few of the old nobility, from a principle of policy and justice, but I never reposed great confidence in them. The mass of the people, continued he, now see the revival of the feudal times; they see that soon it will be impossible for their progeny to rise in the army. Every true Frenchman reflects, with anguish, that a family, for so many years odious to France, has been forced upon them over a bridge of foreign bayonets.

Nel. A "bridge of sighs."

Wel. What I am going to tell you will give you some idea of the imbcility of the family. When the Count d'Artois came to Lyons, although he threw himself on his knees before the troops.

Nel. Did he do that?

Wel. He did; in order to induce them to advance against me; he never put on the gordon of the legion of honour, although he knew that the sight of it would be most likely to excite the minds of the soldiers in his favour.

Nel. That result I think is doubtful.

Wel. As it was the order so many of them bore on their breasts, and required nothing but bravery to obtain it. But no, he decked himself out with the order of the Holy Ghost.

Nel. That's a rub for you, messmate, for I think you told me, you were a Knight of the Holy Ghost.

Wel. I am; and I think, Nelson, I may say with truth, it is the only Order

that becomes here.

Nel. If not a knight, messmate, at all events, in this berth, I am equally benighted with yourself.

Wel. Perfectly so, Nelson. Napoleon said the soldiers answered the DukeWe will not fight for orders like that, nor the emigres like those, he had ten or eleven of these imbecilles as aid-de-camps, instead of shewing to those troops some of those generals who had so often led them to glory.

Nel. Glory, indeed! How well, messmate, the remark of Madame Roland, on liberty, would apply to glory.

Wel. It would indeed; it was a word, Nelson, I seldom or never used in my despatches. Napoleon thus proceeded-To give you an instance of the general feeling in France towards the Bourbons, I will relate to you an anecdote. On my return from Italy, while my carriage was ascending the steep hill of Tavare, I got out and walked up without my attendants, as was often my custom; my wife and my suite were at a little distance behind me. I saw an old woman lame, and hobbling about with the help of a crutch, endeavouring to ascend the mountain. I had a great coat on, and was not recognised. I went up to her and said-Well, ma bonne, where are you going with a haste which so little belongs to your years?-what is the matter? Ma foi, replied the old woman, they tell me, the Emperor is here, and I want to see him before I die. Bah, bah, said I, what do you want to see him for ?—what have you gained by him ?-he is n tyrant as well as the others--you have only changed one tyrant for another -Louisa for Napoleon.

Nel. Many a true word spoke in jest, messmate.

Wel. There is. That may be, replied the old dame, but after all, he is the king of the people, and the Bourbons were the kings of the nobles. We have

chosen him.

Nel. We, indeed; poor old dame.

Wel. And if we are to have a tyrant, let him be a tyrant chosen by ourselves. Nel. Bravo, old dame.

Wel. There, said he, you have the sentiments of the French nation from the lips of an old woman.

Nel. If Buonaparte did not decorate that old dame with the legion of honour, he did not do her justice; I hardly know if he ought not to have compelled the Pope to canonize her.

Wel. Very good; I dare say the opinion of the old woman was often quoted in favor of the popular will. He was asked his opinion about Soult, and was told, that many persons considered Soult, as a general, to rank next to himself. Nel. What did he say to this?

Wel. He replied-He is a very good minister-at-war, or major-general of an army; one who knows much better the arrangement of an army than to command in chief.

Nel. Alas, poor Soult, poor praise, messmate. Buonaparte did seem to think that himself was the only general who had not some drawback as a commander ; and even you, messmate, I dare say, in his opinion, would not pass muster as a commander-in-chief, notwithstanding you gave him a pretty good proof to the contrary at Waterloo.

Wel. 1 have no doubt you are corect, Nelson; we have been told that he did say that I ought to have left off sooner, that, in fact, I did not know when I was beaten-that, according to rule, the French won the battle.

Nel. The deuce they did. It was lucky for his marshals, messmate, that on the 18th of June, 1815, they played “second fiddles" to the CONQUEROR OF THE EARTH, or they would indeed have Napt it.

Wel. No doubt of it. We are told, some of the officers of the 53rd, told Madame Bertrand that Sir Thomas Reade had said that Buonaparte did not like the sight of them, or of any other red coat, as it put him in mind of Waterloo. Nel. I should say that was quite possible.

Wel. Madame Bertrand assured them that such was not the case, that it was contrary to everything that he had ever expressed in her hearing.

Nel. With all respect for Madame Bertrand, I think there is little doubt but

the sight of the red coats must have affected his imperial optics very strongly; Austrian Whites and Prussian Blues would not have drove him from France. No, no, messmate, it was your reds that broke the charm, and dismissed his "Old Guard" in double quick time.

Wel. We are afterwards told that Buonaparte sent for the Captain of the 53rd, and denied that he had ever said he did not like to see the 53rd. We are told, the Captain of the 53rd replied that he believed the report to be groundless, and that the officers of the 53rd were acquainted with the good opinion which he had previously expressed of them. We are also told that a communication was made to Buonaparte, that the British Government had fixed £8,000 as the maximum of the whole of the expenses attendant on his establishment; they had contemplated that a great reduction would take place in the number of persons composing it, by some of them returning to Europe; but, as that had not taken place, the governor, on his own responsibility, directed that an additional sum of £4,000 should be added, making in the whole £12,000, for all and every expense; that General Montholon must therefore be informed, that on no account could the expenditure be allowed to exceed £1,000 per month, and should General Buonaparte be averse to the reduction necessary to bring the disbursements within that sum, the surplus must be paid by himself.

Nel. In what way?

We'. By bills drawn on some banker in Europe, or by such of his friends who were willing to pay them.

Nel. What did they say to that?

Wel. Count Montholon replied-That the Emperor was ready to pay all the expenses of the establishment if they would allow him the means of doing so; and that if they permitted a mercantile or banking house in St. Helena, London or Paris, chosen by the British Government, itself to act as intermediators, through whom they could send sealed letters, and receive answers, he would engage to pay all the expenses. That on the one side his honour should be pledged.

Nel. I am inclined to think, messmate, the gentlemen who hoist the "Three Golden Balls" (the arms of the Lombards), would not lend him much on that article. It is doubtful, after his broken pledge at Elba, whether any Jew or Christian money-lendcr in London, would think it worth while putting it up the spout.

Wel. True, Nelson, true; I have no doubt the Lombards, or, to use a more common, and vulgar term, the BALLS family would not care to make it a pledge. Your speaking of pawning, reminds me of an anecdote I was told of a few years before I left the earth, of an old woman (who resided, I think, in Goswell Street) a most inveterate spouter; she bought a shawl on the 18th of June, 1815, which cost her six shillings--she called it her Waterloo-she boasted that it had been up the spout eleven hundred times, and had cost her several pounds for duplicates and interest, and I hope, said the old woman, (who was then 80 years of age, I shall "raise the wind" for many more years yet, on my Waterloo.

Nel. I expect, messmate, she was the sort of customer the descendents of the Lombards liked; with such customers as old Waterloo, they would never want country houses.

Wel. True, true, nor fail to leave a million behind them.

Nel. Ah, messmate, the lubbers who hoist the BALLS, find the spout more profitable than the deck, the "Union Jack" cannot compete with old Waterloo's shawl-"thus runs the world away" but bear on. You left off with Bonny pledging his honour.

Wel. He pledged that the letters should relate solely to pecuniary matters; and on the other hand that the correspondence should be held sacred.

Nel. What reply did he make to this?

Wel. He was informed, that this could not be complied with; that no sealed

letters could be permitted to leave Longwood. Count Montholon was requested to arrange matters with Mr. Balcombe, the purveyor, about the disposition of the £10,000 monthly, unless he chose to give drafts for the surplus.

Nel. I understand.

Wel. Count Montholon replied, that he would not meddle with it; that the governor might do as he pleased; that at the present moment there was not any superfluity of provision supplied; that as soon as the reduction took place, he, for his part, would give up all charge, and would not meddle further in the matter; that the conduct of the English ministry was infamous, in declaring to Euro pe that the Emperor should not be suffered to want for any thing; and refusing the offers of the allied powers to defray a part of the expenses, and now reducing him and his suite nearly to rations.

Nel. What reply was made to this?

Wel. It was denied that the allied powers had ever made such an offer; Co int Montholon replied, that he had read it in some of the papers. Montholon was then told, that a great reduction could be made in the wine, that it could be reduced to ten bottles of claret daily, and one of madeira; that at Plantation house the consumption was regulated on the average of one bottle to every person.

Nel. It was hardly worth while to quarrel about a few bottles of wine.

Wel. Montholon replied, that the French drank much less than the English; and that he had already done at the Emperor's table, what he had never done in his own private house, in France; corked up the remnants of the bottles of wine, in order to produce them on the table the next day; that, moreover, at night there was not a morsel of meat remaining in the pantry.

Nel. There pantry, messmate, reminds me of the cupboard of "old mother Hubbard;" and it seems that if the "conqueror of the earth" had at night felt peckish, he would have been subject to the same disappointment experienced by the dog of that venerable dame; talk of short commons, messmate, after this.

Wel. Montholon was then told, that £12,000 a year, was a very handsome allowance-Montholon replied, "about as much as £4000 in England." It was said that a reduction of £2000 yearly might be made, provided a store of every thing was established at Longwood, together with a stock yard, under the direction of a proper person.

Nel. Really, messmate, this was paltry and unworthy of England to quarrel about a few bottles of wine, or £2,000 a year for such a purpose. It was your proposition to send him to St. Helena, and considering how fortune had sported with the man, and the exalted pinacle he had reached, (perhaps unexampled in the history of the world,) it was ungenerous in the extreme to embitter his captivity, and that of his few faithful followers in exile, by every now and then threatening to stop his supplies, reduce his wines and the cheering sight of an empty pantry. It does appear to me, messmate, that the old saying of "sparing at the spigot, and letting out at the bung hole." has never been more truly exemplified than the acts of the British government. But I can hardly expect you to say ditto to this; so bear on.

Wel. We are told on the night after this conversation took place, Bounaparte sent for his doctor, and complained of a severe headache.

Nel. And most likely heartabh as well.

Wel. He was sitting in his bed-room with only a wood fire burning, the. flames of which, alternately blazing and sinking, gave at moments a most singular and melancholy expression to his countenance, as he sat opposite to it with his hands crossed upon his knees, probably reflecting on his forlorn condition.

Nel. No doubt, poor fellow.

Wel. "Doctor," said he "this is beyond your art, I have been trying to get a little rest; I cannot" continued he" well comprehend the conduct of your ministers, they to the expense £60,000 or £70,000 in sending out furniture, wood and building materials for my use, and at the same time send orders to put me nearly