his dignity by him,
nor by any one in the world. He certainly should have condescended to
visit Lady Loudon had she been within his limits, as he did not stand
upon strict etiquette with a woman, but he should have deemed that he was
conferring an honour upon her. He would not consider himself a prisoner
of war, but was placed in his present position by the most horrible
breach of trust. After a few more words he dismissed the Governor
without once more alluding to the house which was the object of the
visit. The fate of this unfortunate house may be mentioned here. It was
erected after a great many disputes, but was unfortunately surrounded by
a sunk fence and ornamental railing. This was immediately connected in
Napoleon's mind with the idea of a fortification; it was impossible to
remove the impression that the ditch and palisade were intended to secure
his person. As soon as the objection was made known, Sir Hudson Lowe
ordered the ground to be levelled and the rails taken away. But before
this was quite completed Napoleon's health was too much destroyed to
permit his removal, and the house was never occupied.

Napoleon seems to have felt that he had been too violent in his conduct.
He admitted, when at table with his suite a few days after, that he had
behaved very ill, and that in any other situation he should blush for
what he had done. "I could have wished, for his sake," he said, "to see
him evince a little anger, or pull the door violently after him when he
went away." These few words let us into a good deal of Napoleon's
character: he liked to intimidate, but his vehement language was received
with a calmness and resolute forbearance to which he was quite
unaccustomed, and he consequently grew more angry as his anger was less
regarded.

The specimens here given of the disputes with Sir Hudson Lowe may
probably suffice: a great many more are furnished by Las Cases, O'Meara,
and other partisans of Napoleon, and even they always make him the
aggressor. Napoleon himself in his cooler moments seemed to admit this;
after the most violent quarrel with the Governor, that of the 18th of
August 1816, which utterly put an end to anything like decent civility
between the parties; he allowed that he had used the Governor very ill,
that he repeatedly and purposely offended him, and that Sir Hudson Lowe
had not in a single instance shown a want of respect, except perhaps that
he retired too abruptly.

Great complaints w