DOCUMENT ENTIRELY ANNOTATED BY NAPOLEON I [LOWE (Hudson). Letter to Grand Marshal Bertrand (Plantation House on the island of St. Helena, 21 April 1818), in the latter's autograph French translation (St. Helena, April 1818, 7 pp. 1/4 in a half-width column, on 2 bi-feuillets of watermarked laid paper with the effigy of Britannia in a crowned medallion with "W 1815" countermark), with autograph notes by Napoleon I almost entirely erased (Longwood House on the island of St. Helena, April 1818, about 4 pp. in a half-width column with overhangs and with a few numbered lines on 2 other pages, in pencil). 2 000 / 3 000 € Hudson Lowe : "Although by instruction of my Government I am excused from entering into a personal correspondence with you and the insinuations contained in your letter of 13 current, preceded by a verbal communication to an officer of my staff made in terms so highly offensive that they led him to withdraw from your house, provide me with an additional reason to act in accordance with the letter of this instruction, however I will not draw a reason from this circumstance not to communicate to you for the information of Nap. B., the following remarks on the subject of your letter. Mr O'Meara's intention to leave Longwood was known in England as early as August 1817 [Hudson Lowe announces two supporting documents attached, including a letter from Lord Bathurst]... Your letter states that Nap. B. has been ill for the last seven months "with a chronic liver disease. To a question put to Mr O'Meara on 25 March, i.e. only a month ago, he replied after much hesitation and difficulty in mentioning any special disease, saying at first "a derangement of the bilious system", that, if he were called upon to give it a name, he would call the disease a beginning of hepatetis; and that even this could be entirely avoided, by taking exercise, as he had recommended; then questioned whether he knew of any obstacle to N. B. taking exercise, Mr O'Meara replied that he did not know. B. to take exercise, he replied that he knew of none, except the state of the season. You cannot, Sir, dispute my right to have wished another medical opinion to be consulted, when there was such a difference between your assertion and that of Mr O'Meara, as that implied by the words chronic and commencing. You observe "that for 2 years you have wanted to oust Mr O'Meara and replace him with Mr Baxter". The extract from the above-mentioned letter from C[om]te Bathurst proves that this is unfounded... I have never entertained any such intention. No proposal has ever been made to Mr Baxter, or by him, to take Mr O'Meara's place at Longwood, nor even, if Mr O'Meara were to leave the island, could I approve of Mr Baxter, with the important duties he has to fulfil, being attached to the Longwood establishment alone. As a man of great medical ability and of high rank in his profession, he came to this island to be on hand should it be necessary to call upon him in a case of serious illness. But he did not come here with any view, design or intention whatsoever to take Mr O'Meara's place. However, Sir, the most remarkable part of your letter is that in which you speak of the undeniable repugnance entertained against him [Baxter]. I will make no other comment on the terms or the spirit of this expression... unprovoked, than to say that on the last occasion you saw Mr Baxter... you seemed anxious to impress upon his mind that Nap. B.'s objection to seeing him did not come from any personal motive, you relied on confidence, on the good opinion held of his personal qualities, as well as those of his profession. The praise was so strong that I was unable to get Mr Baxter to repeat what you told him. Mr. O'Meara confirmed to him the same favourable feeling on the part of Nap. B. It was therefore impossible for me to know or foresee his reluctance, which you are now talking about. I will not fail to inform my Government of the desire expressed for a French or Italian doctor. In reply to the two points which you are 'instructed to make known to me' and which are the only parts of your letter which I consider as coming from Napoleon himself, I ask your permission to observe : 1°that the communication "that Doctor O'Meara is the only doctor of those on this rock in whom the patient has confidence" was only made known to me when Doctor O'Meara himself had just sent me his resignation. 2° When you protest "against his dismissal on whatever pretext it may be sought to colour it, unless it is the consequence of a legal judgement", that Mr O'Meara, being an officer in the service of the King and employed by the Government, no civil proceedings are necessary to effect his removal. The resignation has been given, and if his removal has not already taken place, it [has] only been in consideration of the reasons expressed in your letter and the difficulty of replacing him with another person on this island who is not rejectable by Nap. Bon. himself [Hudson Lowe announces a third supporting document attached to his letter]...". In his own hand, Napoleon I has annotated the present document extensively in graphite, and Grand Marshal Bertrand, who has chaptered the Emperor's remarks in red pencil in 10 parts, seems to have erased the lines inscribed by the Emperor as he used them to finalise the letter of reply to Hudson Lowe.