Beschreibung:

NAPOLEON I (Emperor of France, 1805-1821). Autograph letter signed ('Napole') to Count Bertrand, n.p. [Longwood, St. Helena], [17?] August n.y. [1819] , sending the codicil of his will, to enable Bertrand after Napoleon's death to claim all that belongs to him on St. Helena, and giving instructions for its disposal, 'Je vous envoie mon codicille écrit de ma main afin qu'après ma mort vous puissiez reclamer tout ce qui m'appartient a Saint Hélène. Vous en disposerez de la manière suivante: Vous donnerez la moitié de mon collier de diamants a Madame Bertrand et l'autre moitié a Madame de Montholon. Vous donnerez 50,000 [ francs ] a Montholon, 50,000 a Marchand ... Vous garderez mon argenterie, mes armes, mes porcelaines, mes livres aux armes impériales pour mon fils et tout ce que vous pensez pouvoir lui être utile un jour'; giving Bertrand his manuscripts, to be printed only after consulting the books which he has been unable to have on St. Helena, and saying that he will send him a letter for Lafitte with instructions for placing a sum of six million [ francs ]; Bertrand is to keep these papers so that he can return them to Napoleon if required, 2 pages, 8vo (180 x 110mm.) , blank integral leaf, written in ink on cream paper cut from a larger leaf (inkblot, 2 lines transcribed in pencil in a different hand). In addition to Louis Marchand, the 1st valet de chambre , the letter includes bequests of money to five other members of Napoleon's domestic household at Longwood, Saint Denis, the 2nd valet who acted as his librarian, Pierron, the major-domo, Archambault, his coachman, Noverraz and Gentilini, valets. Henri Gratien, Count Bertrand, who had been created Grand Marshal of the Palace in 1813, and Charles Tristan, Count of Montholon, together with their wives shared the entire period of the captivity of Napoleon on St. Helena, and were named co-executors of his will. Madame Bertrand, born Frances Elizabeth Dillon and of Irish descent, is said to have attempted to throw herself into the sea at the prospect of their exile. Monsieur Jacques Lafitte was the banker to whom Napoleon entrusted almost 6 million francs before his departure from Paris. The will and codicil of 1819 were probably drawn up in some haste, as the style of the letter suggests. In August 1819 Napoleon was in poor health, suffering from what had two years before been diagnosed by Dr. O'Meara as chronic hepatitis. Confined within a 12 mile radius of Longwood and guarded by over 100 sentries and pickets, he protested in a memorandum of 16 August 1819 that for the first time attempts had been made to violate the sanctity of his residence, and he was fearful of an assassination attempt. This and his determination that none of his possessions at St. Helena should fall into the hands of the British, appear to have been the immediate cause of his writing a will at this time. The unidentified diamond collar-necklace bequeathed to Madame Bertrand (to whom he had given a dowry on her marriage) and Madame Montholon would have been that of one of his orders. In the later will of 1821 he left his diamond collars of the orders of the Golden Fleece and the Légion d'Honneur to his son, the Duke of Reichstadt. In his memoirs of St. Helena Bertrand remarked that the Governor, Sir Hudson Lowe, expressed surprise that Napoleon had not left any diamonds, and it was pointed out that those belonging to the Crown had been left in Paris, and those in the Emperor's personal property captured at Waterloo. The letter is published, from a copy provided by General Henri Bertrand, and a footnote records that the two sealed packets that originally accompanied the letter were returned to Napoleon in December 1820 ( Correspondence , XXXII, 473 (1870). Napoleon's final will was written in April 1821, with several codicils, one intended to be opened on St. Helena and shown to the English. It resembles the present letter in including legacies of varying sums, intended to compensate his most fa