exiles was supplied; and it was again and again alleged by them that they
had scarcely anything to eat. The wine, too, was said to be execrable,
so bad that in fact it could not be drunk; and, of such stuff as it was,
only one bottle a day was allowed to each person--an allowance which Las
Cases calls ridiculously small. Thus pressed, but partly for effect,
Napoleon resolved to dispose of his plate in monthly proportions; and as
he knew that some East India captains had offered as much as a hundred
guineas for a single plate, in order to preserve a memorial of him, he
determined that what was sold should be broken up, the arms erased, and
no trace left which could show that they had ever been his. The only
portions left uninjured were the little eagles with which some of the
dish-covers were mounted. These last fragments were objects of
veneration for the attendants of Napoleon they were looked upon as
relics, with a feeling at once melancholy and religious. When the moment
came for breaking up the plate Las Cases bears testimony to the painful
emotions and real grief produced among the servants. They could not,
without the utmost reluctance, bring themselves to apply the hammer to
those objects of their veneration.

The island of St. Helena was regularly visited by East India ships on the
return voyage, which touched there to take in water, and to leave
gunpowder for the use of the garrison. On such occasions there were
always persons anxious to pay a visit to the renowned captive. The
regulation of those visits was calculated to protect Napoleon from being
annoyed by the idle curiosity of strangers, to which he professed a great
aversion. Such persons as wished to wait upon him were, in the first
place, obliged to apply to the Governor, by whom their names were
forwarded to Count Bertrand. This gentleman, as Grand-Marshal of the
household, communicated the wishes of those persons to Napoleon, and in
case of a favourable reply fixed the hour for an interview.