CHATEAUBRIAND, François-René de (1768–1848).

An interesting letter concerning NAPOLEON and O’MEARA’s memoirs. He is surprised that there is no letter from the Duchess in the post. ‘A book has just been published entitled A Voice from St Helena, or Napoleon in Exile, by O’MEARA, an English surgeon attached to BUONAPARTE. These are purported conversations between the latter and this O’Meara, on matters 74659

and men. I am treated abominably in it. Well then, what do you suppose I did? I read the most cowardly slanders against me with cold contempt; but suddenly the thought occurred to me that your name might be found among the crowd of slandered names. I hurried to the index, which is very accurate and very detailed, and I felt a weight of a thousand pounds lifted from my chest when I did not find your name. I have read through the entire work. You are not mentioned anywhere. There is certainly much in this work about Buonaparte. Your Hero was a coarse corporal who speaks only of beggars, rascals, spies, executioners, etc.; O’Meara has done a disservice to this man’s memory. Judging by the tone, the lies and the fury, one might think one is reading a mixture of Lady Morgan, La Minerve, the Bibliothèque historique, Le Miroir, etc.; Let us leave this infamy behind. I am still awaiting the Congress and still hoping to attend. For the rest, I have made up my mind, and the future is no longer a cause of anxiety for me: it will be as God wills. What I want is for you to love me, and for you not to be unfair, and for you not to scold me any more. […] Madame de Chateaubriand has been ill and I have been very worried’. Correspondance générale, vol. IV, no. 1728.