His account
of his interview with Napoleon is attached to his narrative of a _Voyage
to Java_, 1840.
of his interview with Napoleon is attached to his narrative of a _Voyage
to Java_, 1840.
Byron
B.
(1769-1844), was the
son of an army surgeon, John Hudson Lowe. His mother was Irish. He was
appointed Governor of St. Helena, August 23, 1815, and landed in the
island April 14, 1816. Byron met him at Lord Holland's, before he sailed
for St. Helena, and was not impressed by his remarks on Napoleon and
Waterloo (_Letters_, 1901, v. 429). He was well-intentioned, honourable,
and, in essentials, humane, but he was arrogant and tactless. The
following sentence, from a letter written by Lowe to O'Meara, October 3,
1816 (Forsyth, i. 318, 319), is characteristic: "With respect to the
instructions I have received, and my manner of making them known, never
having regarded General Bonaparte's opinions in any point whatever as to
_matter_ or _manner_, as an oracle or criterion by which to regulate my
own judgment, I am not disposed to think the less favourably of the
instructions, or my mode of executing them. " It must, however, be borne
in mind that this was written some time after Lowe's fifth and last
interview with his captive (Aug. 18, 1816); that Napoleon had abused him
to his face and behind his back, and was not above resorting to paltry
subterfuges in order to defy and exasperate his "paltry gaoler. "]
[268] {546}[There is reason to think that "the staring stranger" was the
traveller Captain Basil Hall (1788-1844), who called upon Byron at
Venice (see _Letters_, 1900, iv. 252), but did not see him.
His account
of his interview with Napoleon is attached to his narrative of a _Voyage
to Java_, 1840. It is not included in the earlier editions of Hall's
_Voyage to the Corea and the Loochoo Islands_, but is quoted by Scott,
in his _Life of Napoleon_, 1827. ]
[269] [Barry Edward O'Meara (1786-1836) began life as assistant-surgeon
to the 62nd Regiment, then stationed in Sicily and Calabria. In 1815 he
was surgeon on board the _Bellerophon_, under Captain F. L. Maitland.
Napoleon took a fancy to him because he could speak Italian, and, as his
own surgeon Mengeaud would not follow him into exile, requested that
O'Meara might accompany him, in the _Northumberland_, to St. Helena. His
position was an ambiguous one. He was to act as Napoleon's medical and,
_quoad hoc_, confidential attendant, but he was not to be subservient to
him or dependent on him. At St. Helena Lowe expected him to be something
between an intermediary and a spy, and, for a time, O'Meara discharged
both functions to the Governor's satisfaction (statements by Dr. O'Meara
are quoted by Lowe in his letter to Lord Bathurst [_Life of Napoleon,
etc. _, by Sir W. Scott, 1828, p. 763]).
son of an army surgeon, John Hudson Lowe. His mother was Irish. He was
appointed Governor of St. Helena, August 23, 1815, and landed in the
island April 14, 1816. Byron met him at Lord Holland's, before he sailed
for St. Helena, and was not impressed by his remarks on Napoleon and
Waterloo (_Letters_, 1901, v. 429). He was well-intentioned, honourable,
and, in essentials, humane, but he was arrogant and tactless. The
following sentence, from a letter written by Lowe to O'Meara, October 3,
1816 (Forsyth, i. 318, 319), is characteristic: "With respect to the
instructions I have received, and my manner of making them known, never
having regarded General Bonaparte's opinions in any point whatever as to
_matter_ or _manner_, as an oracle or criterion by which to regulate my
own judgment, I am not disposed to think the less favourably of the
instructions, or my mode of executing them. " It must, however, be borne
in mind that this was written some time after Lowe's fifth and last
interview with his captive (Aug. 18, 1816); that Napoleon had abused him
to his face and behind his back, and was not above resorting to paltry
subterfuges in order to defy and exasperate his "paltry gaoler. "]
[268] {546}[There is reason to think that "the staring stranger" was the
traveller Captain Basil Hall (1788-1844), who called upon Byron at
Venice (see _Letters_, 1900, iv. 252), but did not see him.
His account
of his interview with Napoleon is attached to his narrative of a _Voyage
to Java_, 1840. It is not included in the earlier editions of Hall's
_Voyage to the Corea and the Loochoo Islands_, but is quoted by Scott,
in his _Life of Napoleon_, 1827. ]
[269] [Barry Edward O'Meara (1786-1836) began life as assistant-surgeon
to the 62nd Regiment, then stationed in Sicily and Calabria. In 1815 he
was surgeon on board the _Bellerophon_, under Captain F. L. Maitland.
Napoleon took a fancy to him because he could speak Italian, and, as his
own surgeon Mengeaud would not follow him into exile, requested that
O'Meara might accompany him, in the _Northumberland_, to St. Helena. His
position was an ambiguous one. He was to act as Napoleon's medical and,
_quoad hoc_, confidential attendant, but he was not to be subservient to
him or dependent on him. At St. Helena Lowe expected him to be something
between an intermediary and a spy, and, for a time, O'Meara discharged
both functions to the Governor's satisfaction (statements by Dr. O'Meara
are quoted by Lowe in his letter to Lord Bathurst [_Life of Napoleon,
etc. _, by Sir W. Scott, 1828, p. 763]).
