ection of so
distinguished and dauntless a person as Sir Hudson Lowe, on whom they
implicitly relied to carry out their Christlike benefactions.

Cartoonists, pamphleteers, Bourbonites, treasonites, meteoric females,
all were supplied with the requisite material for declamatory speeches
to be hurled at the Emperor in the hope of being reaped to the glory
of God and the British ministry. The story of the attempted invasion
of Longwood and its sequel shocks the fine susceptibilities of the
satellites by whom Lowe is surrounded. They bellow out frothy words of
vengeance. Sir Thomas Reade, the noisiest filibuster of them all,
indicates his method of settling matters at Longwood. This incident
arose through Napoleon refusing to see Sir Thomas Strange, an Indian
Judge. Las Cases had just been forcibly removed. The Emperor was
feeling the cruelty of this act very keenly, so he sent the following
reply to Lowe's request that he should see Sir Thomas: "Tell the
Governor that those who have gone down to the tomb receive no visits,
and take care that the Judge be made acquainted with my answer." This
cutting reply caused Sir Hudson to give way to unrestrained anger, and
now Sir Thomas Reade gets his chance of vapouring. Here is his plan:
"If I were Governor, I would bring that dog of a Frenchman to his
senses; I would isolate him from all his friends, who are no better
than himself; then I would deprive him of his books. He is, in fact,
nothing but a miserable outlaw, and I would treat him as such.
By G--! it would be a great mercy to the King of France to rid him of
such a fellow altogether. It was a piece of great cowardice not to
have sent him at once to a court martial instead of sending him
here."[6]

This ebullition of spasmodic courage entitles the
Deputy-Adjutant-General to special mention in the dispatches of his
chief. O'Meara relates another of many episodes with which the
valiant Sir Thomas is associated. Further attempts were made to
violate the privacy of the Emperor on the 11th, 12th, 13th, and 16th
August, 1819, but these were defeated by the fastening of doors. Count
Montholon was indisposed, and the Governor, refusing to correspond
with Count Bertrand, insisted upon having communication with the
Emperor by letter or by one of his officers twice a day. So the
immortal Sir Thomas Reade and another staff officer were selected to
effect a communication. But "the dog of a Frenchman" that the deputy
boasted of "brin