Joseph BONAPARTE. L.A. (minute, incomplete), Philadelphia 23 August 1817, "to the Editor of the American Bee" 8 pages in-4 (some edges frayed). Refutation of the Manuscript from St Helena. Draft, with numerous erasures and corrections, of a letter addressed to the journal of French refugees in America, refuting the authenticity of the St Helena Manuscript published in London in 1817. Joseph asserts and proves that this manuscript is not by Napoleon, denouncing its inaccuracies and errors: it is false that the Emperor learnt French with the garrison of his native town; in 1777 he was at the Abbey of Autun, "he was then at the Military School of Brienne, and then went to that of Paris, from where he only left in 1786. This is a factual error that the Emperor Napoleon could not commit; it dispenses me from citing others. The author of the libel lends Napoleon a contempt for the patriots who were fighting for Corsican independence that cannot be his own. Joseph thought that the author should be sought in the Emperor's entourage: "it would not even be impossible that it was Mal Marmont, Duke of Raguse, Napoleon's aide-de-camp for a long time, who must have often regretted the moment of absence of all his moral faculties in which the ruin of his benefactor and his country was consummated". In a second point, Joseph refutes the aversion to Voltaire attributed to Napoleon who "knew by heart and often recited the most beautiful pieces of Voltaire's tragedies, and he often had them performed before him; I have often heard him defend Voltaire against Geoffroi's critics in his salon". Napoleon was in favour of "allowing complete freedom of discussion on literary matters"; thus Voltaire, attacked by Geoffroy, was defended in the Journal de Paris by personalities close to the Emperor. "Voltaire is undoubtedly a literary colossus, he alone would suffice for the glory of a nation, but foreigners must know that Corneille and Racine are preferred to him by many French people". If these writers are in competition, if Voltaire has enemies of his political principles, "it is absurd to want to recognise among them the man who owed his throne only to these same principles of the sovereignty of the people and national representation". Napoleon admired Voltaire "but that was the opinion of the individual; the prince did not prevent other individuals from preferring opinions contrary to his own. We note in this respect that the Emperor Napoleon never committed an impious act". He hoped to have convinced his correspondent and asked him to insert this letter in his journal, along with the enclosure from M. Andrieux of the Institut, "who has just lost his seat because he is a friend of Voltaire's political principles, of America, and of the vast majority of Europe" ....