"O´Meara Account of Napoleon on the Invasion of..." Topic

…ENGLAND

"O'Meara to Hudson Lowe 28th January 1817, Longwood (1)

Dear Sir
the following conversation which took place yesterday between General Bonaparte and myself may probably not be uninteresting to you.

Finding him in a tolerable good humour and apparently ready to communicate, I took an opportunity of asking him whether he ever had really intended to invade England? and if so, what were his Plans? and also whether he thought he would be successful? He replied (without hesitation) "It was my firm Intention to invade England and to head the expedition myself. My plan was, to dispatch two squadrons to the West Indies (he did not say from what ports). There they were to meet and unite at a specified place and instead of waiting there, after shewing themselves amongst the Islands, they were to proceed back again to Europe with all dispatch. They were to raise the blockade of Ferrol and take the fleet out of it. They were then to proceed to Brest and in like manner to release and join the squadron there. By these means I would have had a squadron of about seventy sail of the Line, besides frigates etc. They were to proceed directly (77v, p.2) and sweep the English Channel, where they would meet with nothing strong enough to oppose them, for by means of false intelligence adroitly managed, I would have induced your ministers to send squadrons to the Mediterranean, East (word erased) and West Indies in search of mine. I intended then to push over under their protection the Boulogne Flotilla, with 200,000 men, to land near Sheerness and Chatham, and to push directly for London where I calculated to arrive in Four Days. During the march, I would have made my army observe the most exemplary discipline, marauding or otherwise injuring or insulting the inhabitants would have been punished with instant Death. I would have published a proclamation (which I would have had ready) declaring that we were only come as friends to the English nation, to render them free and to relieve them from an obnoxious and despotical Aristocracy, whose object was to keep them eternally at war in order to enrich themselves and their families at the expense of the blood of the people. Arrived at London I would have proclaimed a Republic (I was First Consul then," said he) Liberty, Equality, Sovereignty of the people, abolished the Monarchical Government, the nobility and the House of Peers, the House of Commons I would have retained with a great reform, the (78r, p.3) property of the nobles I would have declared to be forfeited and to be divided amongst the people, amongst the partizans of the Revolution, a general equality and division of property. By these means I hope to gain a formidable party, to be joined by all the "canaglie" in such a great city as London, by all the idle and disaffected in the kingdom and that, perhaps, I might ultimately succeed."…"

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Armand

Is it too soon to say, "O'Meara is NOT reliable"?

Meanwhile, sat on this miserable island in the middle of nowhere……..

Well, as we know, no one is reliable if they dared say something positive about Napoleon or negative about Britiain! LOL

Gazzola + 1

Armand

Why are Eenguhlund fanboys so fragile. Is it the loss of oppressive empire?

Is there such a thing as a non oppressive empire?

Well clearly narcissist Boney speaks, loss of reality pretty evident – if it would have been so easy – why didn't he do it? On the other hand the island imprisonment gave him the unique chance to create lasting lies and creating propaganda.

A Republique? From a traitor who styled himself later as Emperor by the Grace of God?

Yeah, Kings were such caring people, weren't they? Can't possibly understand why there were revolutions? LOL
And of course, kings were okay to be associated with the 'divine right to rule' Just look at Louis XV111 in 1814 when crowned 'by the grace of God' LOL

Who's fragile? It was a joke.

No one is 'fragile' as far I can see, it's just banter, you know, fun. If people can't take it, they shouldn't read it. It would be quite sad if people were really serious. This is a gaming site, fun and games and all that.

Sometimes you get bants in your pants and you just want to dance.

Glup!

Armand

LOL