Note 372 — BOOK VI
Alexander Teixeira de Mattos translation
Napoleon was not disarmed. According to M. Thiers, "as he was crossing from the Bellerophon to the Northumberland, Admiral Keith, with visible pain and in the most respectful tone, addressed these words to the Emperor:
"'General, England commands me to ask for your sword.'
"To these words Napoleon replied with a look which showed to what extremities it would be necessary to stoop to disarm him. Lord Keith did not insist, and Napoleon kept his glorious sword."
This scene is pure fiction; it is even contradicted by the Comte de Las Cases in his Mémorial, where he says:
"I asked if it would be really possible that they should go so far as to take the Emperor's sword from him. The admiral replied that they would respect it, but that Napoleon would be the only one, and that all the rest would be disarmed."
Napoleon therefore kept his sword, and his companions recovered theirs on their arrival at St. Helena.—B.