_avec le the de
la Chine ou les mousselines de l'Inde_": for the rest, the writer
hoped much from English merchantmen. This letter, after wide
wanderings, fell into our hands and caused our Government closely to
inspect all letters and merchandise that passed into, or out of, St.
Helena. Its attention was directed specially to the United States.
There the Napoleonic cult had early taken root, thanks to his
overthrow of the kings and his easy sale of Louisiana; the glorifying
haze of distance fostered its growth; and now the martyrdom of St.
Helena brought it to full maturity. Enthusiasm and money alike
favoured schemes of rescue.

In our St. Helena Records (No. 4) are reports as to two of them.
Forwarded by the Spanish Ambassador at Washington, the first reached
Madrid on May 9th, 1816, and stated that a man named Carpenter had
offered to Joseph Bonaparte (then in the States) to rescue Napoleon,
and had set sail on a ship for that purpose. This was at once made
known to Lord Bathurst, our Minister for War and the Plantations, who
forwarded it to Lowe. In August of that year our Foreign Office also
received news that four schooners and other smaller vessels had set
sail from Baltimore on June 14th with 300 men under an old French
naval officer, named Fournier, ostensibly to help Bolivar, but really
to rescue Bonaparte. These fast-sailing craft were to lie out of sight
of the island by day, creep up at night to different points, and send
boats to shore; from each of these a man, _in English uniform_, was to
land and proceed to Longwood, warning Napoleon of the points where the
boats would be ready to receive him. The report concludes:
"Considerable sums in gold and diamonds will be put at his disposal to
bribe those who may be necessary to him. They seem to flatter
themselves of a certain co-operation on the part of certain
individuals domiciled or employed at St. Helena."[574]

Bathurst sent on to Lowe a copy of this intelligence. Forsyth does not
name the affair, though he refers to other warnings, received at
various times by Bathurst and forwarded to the Governor, that there
were traitors in the island who had been won over by Napoleon's gold
to aid his escape.[575] I cannot find out that the plans described
above were put to the test, though suspicious vessels sometimes
appeared and were chased away by our cruisers. But when we are
considering the question whether Bathurst and Lowe were needlessly
strict or not, t