FR EN
1 / 4
a handwritten letter from a man who wrote a letter to his motherblack and white photograph of a man in military clothing sitting on a chairan old black and white photo of a man in uniformpainting of a man standing on a cliff looking out at the ocean
Premium Artcurial

18 - NAPOLEON (Bonaparte)
See original version (French)

Estimate €10,000 - €15,000
Sale commission
Description
NAPOLEON (Bonaparte) [Longwood, St Helena], 3 April 1819. Autograph letter in pencil to Governor Hudson Lowe. 1 folio page, in pencil.   Napoleon refused to accept any correspondence that was not addressed to him using his imperial title.   The British government had laid down strict rules regarding how he was to be addressed. Having never recognised him as Emperor, he was not permitted to receive letters or items if they mentioned that title. For his part, Napoleon never wished to relinquish this title, not even when, having fallen ill in early 1819, he received parcels from the Governor addressed to ‘Napoleon Bonaparte’: he refused to open them. For his part, Hudson Lowe neither opened nor replied to letters in which reference was made to the ‘Emperor’. This unopened correspondence infuriated Napoleon. He asked General Montholon to write to the Governor in accordance with the terms of a draft he had drawn up. It is this document, drafted hastily and in a fit of anger (as evidenced by the numerous crossings-out and barely legible words), that we present here. ‘3 April [1819] Sir I have returned to you the letters from Sir Thomas Reade dated the 1st, and your other letters, firstly because you returned mine to me, and secondly because the Emperor has never wished, and does not wish, to receive letters that are not signed by your own hand. You have returned them to me once again; I have placed them with the two parcels which you handed over to me on 21 and 25 March, and which the Emperor refused to consider, as he felt insulted by the salutation, and as the form contravenes what has been established for the past four years, I have consequently returned them to you and have since set them aside. All these communications are therefore null and void. These letters have been set aside and remain at your disposal. Any other parcels or letters you send me which do not comply with the established practice of the past four years will meet the same fate. The Emperor will never read them, you will never receive a reply, and they will be deemed null and void. You would therefore be better off not writing them at all, for one writes to be read and to receive a reply. As far as he is concerned, these letters, which do not comply with the required form, might as well be written in Chinese. I have fallen ill once more; Dr [Warling] has ordered me to rest and not to leave my bed; please contact Count Bertr[and]. It is not fair that I should bear the burden of this unusual correspondence alone. Besides, my health does not permit it. Anything addressed to me whilst I am unwell again, I shall not open. It unsettles me, causes me pain and hinders my recovery. ’ This letter did not resolve the issue, and on 4 April Hudson Lowe wrote again; Napoleon instructed Montholon to reply on the 8th: ‘I have received your letter of the 4th, to which my last letter was enclosed—which you have returned to me; please accept that I am following your example and returning your letter to you. It is impossible to claim to write to someone whilst at the same time refusing to receive their replies. Since your arrival, Count Bertrand or I have written more than eighty letters; all bear the title ‘Emperor Napoleon’; you have replied to all of them, using, it is true, the title ‘Napoleon Bonaparte’, which I have disguised for him in the translation. This was an arrangement that had become customary, and from which I shall never depart; I made this clear to you in my letter of 17 December last; whilst it may be easy to kill the Emperor, it is impossible to strip him of the sacred and inalienable character imprinted upon his person; you may believe yourself authorised by your position to insult him, but I shall never allow myself such cowardice. […] ’ The question of whether to grant Napoleon his title of Emperor whilst he was in captivity was never resolved, not even at the time of his burial on St Helena. His entourage could not reach an agreement with the Governor regarding the inscription to be placed on his gravestone: it remained blank.   The document was kept by Montholon, then by his daughter, who donated it to Monsieur Gros de Veaud, as attested by a handwritten note in ink at the bottom of the page.   A very fine document, of great rarity, shedding light on the strained relations between the Emperor and his English captors.   Provenance – Count Charles Tristan de Montholon (1783–1853), a loyal supporter of Napoleon on Saint Helena. – Napoléone Marie Hélène Charlotte, Countess of Lapeyrouse (1816–1907), married to Léonard Léonce de Bonfils de Rochon de Lapeyrouse (1808–1895). – Monsieur Gros de Veaud. – Auction, Sotheby’s, 1985.   Bibliography Montholon, Récits de la captivité de l’empereur Napoléon à Sainte-Hélène, vol. 2, p. 336 ff. (the text of the letter, of which we present the draft, differs very slightly from our transcription). A very fine and exceptionally rare document, shedding light on the strained relations between the Emperor and his English jailers. Napoleon refused to accept any correspondence that was not addressed to him by his imperial title.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
About the sale Historical Memories
Auction location
Auction time 11/03/2026 at 11:00 AM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
You may also like