thought or to stain his name over an unfortunate admiral who had brought his fleet to grief by acting against his instructions.  It is only little men who write, not that which is founded on fact but that which they imagine will appeal to the popular taste of the moment; and so it was with the French Emperor; a lot of scandal-mongers were always at work hawking hither and thither their poisonous fabrications.  A great many people get their living by appealing to the lowest passions.  Napoleon, when in captivity, referred incidentally to the misfortunes of Villeneuve, and made the following statement to Dr. O’Meara:—­

“Villeneuve,” said he, “when taken prisoner and brought to England, was so much grieved at his defeat, that he studied anatomy on purpose to destroy himself.  For this purpose he bought some anatomical plates of the heart, and compared them with his own body, in order to ascertain the exact situation of that organ.  On his arrival in France I ordered that he should remain at Rennes, and not proceed to Paris.  Villeneuve, afraid of being tried by a court-martial for disobedience of orders, and consequently losing the fleet, for I had ordered him not to sail or to engage the English, determined to destroy himself, and accordingly took his plates of the heart, and compared them with his breast.  Exactly in the centre of the plate he made a mark with a large pin, then fixed the pin as near as he could judge in the same spot in his own breast, shoved it in to the head, penetrated his heart and expired.  When the room was opened he was found dead; the pin in his breast, and a mark in the plate corresponding with the wound in his breast.  He need not have done it,” continued he, “as he was a brave man, though possessed of no talent."[18]

I have given this communication in full as it appears in O’Meara’s book, because the scribes would have it that Villeneuve was destroyed by the Emperor’s orders.  There was not at the time, nor has there ever appeared since, anything to justify such a calumny on a man who challenged the world to make the charge and prove that he had ever committed a crime during the whole of his public career.  No one has taken up the challenge except in sweeping generalities of slander, which are easily made but less easy to substantiate.  If the Emperor had really wished to take Villeneuve’s life, it would have been more satisfactory to have him condemned to death by a court-martial composed of his countrymen than to have the already ruined man secretly destroyed for mere private revenge.  The common sense of the affair compels one to repudiate the idea of the Emperor’s complicity in so stupid a crime.  It is more likely that Napoleon wished to save him from the consequences of a court-martial, so ordered him to remain at Rennes.  He rarely punished offenders according to their offences.  After the first flush of anger was over, they were generally let down easily, and for the most part became traitors afterwards.