governed to the full satisfaction of the inhabitants.  Early in 1813 he was ordered to Russia, and thereafter served as attache on Bluecher’s staff in the memorable advance to the Rhine and the Seine.  He brought the news of Napoleon’s first abdication to England, was knighted by the Prince Regent, and received Russian and Prussian orders of distinction for his services.  At the close of 1814 he was appointed Quartermaster-General of our forces in the Netherlands and received flattering letters of congratulation from Bluecher and Gneisenau, the latter expressing his appreciation of “Your rare military talents, your profound judgment on the great operations of war, and your imperturbable sang froid in the day of battle.  These rare qualities and your honourable character will link me to you eternally.”  In 1822, when O’Meara was slandering Lowe’s character, the Czar Alexander met his step-daughter, the Countess Balmain, at Verona, and in reference to Sir Hudson’s painful duties at St. Helena, said of him:  “Je l’estime beaucoup.  Je l’ai connu dans les temps critiques."[560]

Lowe’s firmness of character, command of foreign languages, and intimate acquaintance with Corsicans, seemed to mark him out as the ideal Governor of St. Helena in place of the mild and scholarly Wilks.  And yet the appointment was in some ways unfortunate.  Though a man of sterling worth, Lowe was reserved, and had little acquaintance with the ways of courtiers.  Moreover, the superstitious might deem that all the salient events of his career proclaimed him an evil genius dogging the steps of Napoleon; and, as superstition laid increasing hold on the great Corsican in his later years, we may reasonably infer that this feeling intensified, if it did not create, the repugnance which he ever manifested to la figure sinistre of the Governor.  Lowe also at first shrank from an appointment that must bring on him the intrigues of Napoleon and of his partisans in England.  Only a man of high rank and commanding influence could hope to live down such attacks; and Lowe had neither rank nor influence.  He was the son of an army surgeon, and was almost unknown in the country which for twenty-eight years he had served abroad.

His first visits to Longwood were unfortunate.  Cockburn and he arranged to go at 9 a.m., the time when Napoleon frequently went for a drive.  On their arrival they were informed that the Emperor was indisposed and could not see them until 4 p.m. of the next day, and it soon appeared that the early hour of their call was taken as an act of rudeness.  On the following afternoon Lowe and Cockburn arranged to go in together to the presence; but as Lowe advanced to the chamber, Bertrand stepped forward, and a valet prevented the Admiral’s entrance, an act of incivility which Lowe did not observe.  Proceeding alone, the new Governor offered his respects in French; but on Napoleon remarking that he must know Italian, for he had commanded a regiment of Corsicans, they