I
have only two sides of what was once at least a four-side letter but the
contents are remarkable enough to justify including the material here. It was
written at the end of 1814, the year in which Napoleon was defeated for the
first time and exiled to Elba off the west coast of Italy.
The
addressee is precisely identified as Sir William Forbes, 1771-1828, seventh
baronet Pitsligo and resident in Edinburgh, a prominent and wealthy banker who
appears in another letter on this site – a link is in the References at the end.
The writer could have been one of his brothers or else a high-ranking
individual known to the baronet; Forbes had been quite recently widowed and his
own children were still young.
Whoever
wrote it has had a private audience with Pope Pius VII and summarises their
conversation; the Pope has just recently returned from Napoleonic imprisonment. The writer has been at a ball given by Napoleon’s brother Lucien on behalf of
the exiled Caroline of Brunswick, wife of the Prince Regent; he summarises at
length an account given to him by a gentleman who has just visited Napoleon in
exile on Elba and was party to a four-hour conversation with him which ended with
Napoleon getting up to piss against the nearest wall. It's possible that the gentleman was one of those who tarvelled out to Elba wiht Viscount Ebrington early in December 1814 though the time-frame is then very tight in relation to a letter which reached London on 12 December. But all in all, a remarkable amount of information
passed back to Edinburgh and much more that is missing.
It is relevant that this letter was not posted from Rome; a note in French in different hnadwriting and added to the outside of the letter
suggests that it was carried privately
to Calais and only put into the regular
post to England from there – it received a London FOREIGN letter receiving mark
on 12 December 1814. The courier who writes the note in French appears to be
“C.Matis. Either the post from Rome was reckoned unreliable or there was a suspicion that mail censorship was in place.
Transcription
Addressed
to: Sir Wm Forbes of Pitsligo Bart.
Edinburgh
No
dateline
London
FOREIGN entry postmark dated DE 12 1814, London despatch mark of the same day,
Edinburgh arrival mark DEC 15 1814, charged 4/2 [four shillings and two pence]
on arrival plus 1/2d (halfpenny]
additional standard internal Scottish charge
[pages
1 and 2 and possibly more missing] … at Rome we saw the King and Queen of Spain and poor Louis [
King of the French?] who is strolling about most majestically – Lucien
[Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon] is here
too. It was at a ball given by him to our Princess [Charlotte, exiled wife of
the Prince Regent] where she made so sad an exhibition.
Should
we return to Italy in the Spring and you make out your trip to the Continenet
we cannot fail to meet . Rome you ought unquestionably to visit and spare as
much of your time for it as possible; the other twons excepting Paris may be
soon discussed – altho’ only five days in Rome I yet contrived to see the Pope
who is a very prepossessing Person. There was no public day and I was presented
privately, he is a most uncommonly gentlemanlike old man, soft and
condescending in his manner without pomp or formality, he expressed the
strongest admiration of the British government and its steady perseverance in
the good cause: he said that Italy would not recover its misfortunes for a
period of years and asked me what appeared to be the general feeling regarding
the fate of Naples. I must tell you of the reception given by Bonaparty [sic] to
his …[?] gentlemen just returned from Elba one of whom we dined with today – he
[Napoleon] conversed with them for 4 hours
… thro’ his political career and defended his conduct spoke of the whole
as a matter of history reasoning matters cooly and without seeming irritation –
he laughed at our [the British] destroying Washington [ in 1814] and asked how
the English who condemned him for such acts could be guilty of them themselves
– confessed his error in remaining so long at Moscow [in 1812] and said his
reason for not making peace with the allies latterly was that the French would
not have supported his government – he said his part was played but that that
the Bourbons know not the French people – denied having had any correspondence
with the Americansand sid his sole purpose for invading Austria was to accomplish the independence of Poland.
– said that Marmont [Marshal of the Napoleonic Empire who surrendered Paris to
the Allies in 1814 ] had totally deceived him and added “what could I do with
such a friend and a General who fought in a valley instead of the heights as I
desired him”. The conversation took place in a garden when it was over turned
around and made water against the wall before taking leave. They say his
manners are quite those of a rough soldier – one of his questions to Douglas ….
[remainder of this passage missing]
References
https://www.frenchempire.net/biographies/marmont/
Wikipedia:
Pope Pius VII
Wikipedia:
Lucien Bonaparte
Wikipedia: Joachim Murat [for Naples]
Wikipedia:
Caroline of Brunswick
https://www.otherpeoplesletters.com/2026/07/sir-william-forbes-receives-letter-from.html
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