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Lot 176
NAPOLEON DISCUSSES TRAFALGAR AND WATERLOO. MALCOLM, PULTENEY. 1768-1838. 5 Autograph Letters Signed ("Pulteney Malcolm"), to Lord Melville including his detailed account of an interview with Napoleon Bonaparte at St. Helena,
21 November 2023, 10:00 EST
New YorkSold for US$17,920 inc. premium
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NAPOLEON DISCUSSES TRAFALGAR AND WATERLOO.
MALCOLM, PULTENEY. 1768-1838. 5 Autograph Letters Signed ("Pulteney Malcolm"), to Lord Melville including his detailed account of an interview with Napoleon Bonaparte at St. Helena, together with a letter to Hudson Lowe requesting supplies, approximately 40 pp total, folio and 4to, St Helena, June 18, 1816 to August 30, 1817, fold creases, browning, some letters bound with stitching at edges.
Rear-Admiral Sir Pulteney Malcolm was a veteran of the battle of Trafalgar, and Commander-in-Chief of the St Helena station in 1816-1817, while Napoleon was confined there. He writes these letters, mostly to First Lord of the Admiralty Viscount Melville, detailing the situation at St. Helena, and the candid conversations he had with the deposed emperor. On the battle of Waterloo, he states: "Lord Wellington must have apprehended that if he permitted the French Army to cross the frontier most of the Belgians could have joined them ... the result proved his judgement to be correct, Bonaparte said." In another letter he reports on the tension between the British officers and Napoleon's retinue: "The conversation was not extraordinary, Bonaparte forgot himself and indulged in strong invectives against Sir Hudson...." Among the topics discussed in these letters are issues of supply and logistics, the interpersonal politics of the British and French at St. Helena, and Napoleon's commentary regarding Trafalgar and Waterloo, as well as the restoration of the Bourbons.
Rear-Admiral Sir Pulteney Malcolm was a veteran of the battle of Trafalgar, and Commander-in-Chief of the St Helena station in 1816-1817, while Napoleon was confined there. He writes these letters, mostly to First Lord of the Admiralty Viscount Melville, detailing the situation at St. Helena, and the candid conversations he had with the deposed emperor. On the battle of Waterloo, he states: "Lord Wellington must have apprehended that if he permitted the French Army to cross the frontier most of the Belgians could have joined them ... the result proved his judgement to be correct, Bonaparte said." In another letter he reports on the tension between the British officers and Napoleon's retinue: "The conversation was not extraordinary, Bonaparte forgot himself and indulged in strong invectives against Sir Hudson...." Among the topics discussed in these letters are issues of supply and logistics, the interpersonal politics of the British and French at St. Helena, and Napoleon's commentary regarding Trafalgar and Waterloo, as well as the restoration of the Bourbons.