Europe and Napoleon 529 are brought to him from a distance, as though he were a criminal in a dungeon. He is absolutely in want of the necessaries of life : the bread and wine are not only not such as he has been accustomed to, but are so bad that we loathe to touch them ; water, coffee, butter, oil, and other articles are either not to be procured or are scarcely fit for use. . . . Assuredly if the sovereigns of Europe decreed this exile, private enmity has directed its execution. If policy alone dictated this measure as indispensable, would it not have been essential, in order to render the fact evident to the world, to have surrounded with every kind of respect and consideration the illustrious victim with regard to whom it has been necessary to violate law and principle ? We were all assembled around the emperor, and he was recapitulating these facts with warmth : " For what infa- mous treatment are we reserved ! " he exclaimed. " This is the anguish of death. To injustice and violence they now add insult and protracted torment. If I were so hateful to them, why did they not get rid of me ? A few musket balls in my heart or my head would have done the business, and there would at least have been some energy in the crime. Were it not for you, and above all for your wives, I would receive nothing from them but the pay of a private soldier. How can the monarchs of Europe permit the sacred char- acter of sovereignty to be violated in my person ? Do they not see that they are, with their own hands, working their own destruction at St. Helena ? I entered their capitals victorious and, had I cherished such sentiments, what would have become of them ? They styled me their brother, and I had become so by the choice of the people, the sanction of victory, the character of religion, and the alliances of their policy and their blood. Do they imagine that the good sense of nations is blind to their conduct ? And what do they expect from it ? At all events, make your complaints, gentlemen ; let indignant Europe hear them. Complaints from me would be beneath my dignity and character ; I must either command or be silent."
