he should have died like Hannibal, rather than
commit himself into the hands of a government in which generosity is by no
means a distinguishing feature, and which on many occasions has shown a
petty persecuting and vindictive spirit, and thus I have no hesitation in
portraying the characteristics of our Tory party, which, unfortunately for
the cause of liberty, rules with undivided sway over England. He will now
end his days in captivity, for his destination appears to be already fixed,
and St Helena is named as the intended residence; he will, I say, be
exposed to all the taunts and persecutions that petty malice can suggest;
and this with the most uncomfortable reflections: for had he been more
considerate of the spirit of the age, he might have set all the Monarchs,
Ultras and Oligarchs and their ministers at defiance. But he wished to ape
Charlemagne and the Caesars and to establish an universal Empire: a thing
totally impossible in our days and much to be deprecated were it possible.

Consigned to St Helena, Napoleon will furnish to posterity a proverb like
that of Dionysius at Corinth. This banishment to St Helena will be very
ungenerous and unjust on the part of the English Government, but I suppose
their satellites and adherents will term it an act of clemency, and some
_Church and Kingmen_ would no doubt recommend hewing him in pieces, as
Samuel did to Agag.

I stopped three days at Aix-la-Chapelle to drink the waters and then came
straight to this place stopping half a day in Liege. I shall start for
Paris in a couple of days, as the communication is now open and the public
conveyances re-established. My passport is _vise_ in the following terms:
"Bon pour aller a Paris en suivant la route des armees alliees." I am quite
impatient to visit that celebrated city.

[18] Philipp Klingmann (1762-1824) was better known as an actor than as an
author.--ED.

[19] Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_, VII, 12, 1.--ED.

[20] "What business have you? None, I travel for amusement. Strange! What
is there strange in travelling to see a fine country?"

[21] _Le Compere Mathieu_, a satirical novel by the Abbe Henri Joseph
Dulaurens, published 1765 and sometimes (though wrongly) attributed to
Voltaire. One of the prominent talkers in the dialogues is Pere Jean
de Domfront.--ED.

[22] Horace, _Epist_., I, i, 15.--ED.

[23] This altar, inscribed _Deae Victoriae Sacrum (Corpus inscr. lat_.
XIII, 8252), was