FRAGMENTS OF BONAPARTE'S LETTERS.
We copy the following article from The Courier of last night. Our readers are as good judges as ourselves of the authenticity of the statement. It seems, however, rather singular that if Napoleon intended to destroy his papers that he did not rather burn them than throw them where there was so much probability of their being saved.
"Mr. Mulligan, silk-mercer, of Bath, having repaired to Plymouth on Wednesday se'nnight, made the usual inquiries about the proper time to go out and see the great object of public curiosity: he was told five o'clock in the afternoon would be quite early enough; but impatient of delay, he secured a boat to himself, and proceeded about two o'clock towards the Bellerophon; no other boat had at that time come out, and his was allowed to approach within fifty yards of the vessel, the guard-boat alone intervening. It was a short time after the final destination of Bonaparte had been officially communicated to him. Mr. Mulligan soon observed Napoleon at the cabin window, in the act of destroying papers, which, after tearing into pieces, he threw into the sea. Mr. Mulligan naturally anxious to secure some relics of this interesting character, picked up several fragments that drifted with the ebbing of the tide towards his boat; and on his return to Bath he discovered that they were of considerable interest, if not importance. They have been transmitted to Government by the hands of Sir J. Coxe Hippesley. Among them are pieces of a letter from an American to Bonaparte, dated Paris, June 22; enough of which has been preserved to disclose matter of such a nature as would not, under present circumstances, be prudent to publish. There are also scraps of minor interest; comprising MS. translations of the Speaker's and Prince Regent's Speeches at the close of the late Sessions; a petition from some discontented officer; and a letter from the ci devant King Murat to General Drouet, requesting his intercession with Napoleon in his behalf. But the most perfect of the fragments is part of a letter from Bonaparte to Maria Louisa, evidently written immediately after his late abdication. It appears to have been the first copy, penned in Napoleon's hand, on paper made for his especial use, with his profile and signature, (Napoleon, Empereur des Francois.) in the water-mark. We subjoin a copy of the translation:-
Madam, my dear and honoured Wife!- Attending once more solely to the interests of France, I am going to abdicate the Throne; and in closing my own political career, to bring about the commencement of the reign of our dear Son. My tenderness for you and for him impels me to this step no less than my duties as a Monarch. If he ensure, as Emperor, the happiness of France, and as a Son, the happiness and the glory of his Mother, my dearest wishes will be accomplished! Nevertheless, if even in his most tender infancy, I can give up to him all my authority, in my capacity of Head of the State, I cannot, and it would be too painful to my heart, to sacrifice also the inviolable rights which Nature gives me ---
