“Napoleon's Appeal to the British Nation” is a book that reveals Napoleon's captivity periods as well as his relations with the British. Napoleon Bonaparte (1769 — 1821) was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the Revolutionary Wars. The British kept Napoleon on the island of Saint Helena in the Atlantic Ocean, from the west coast of Africa. Napoleon was moved to Longwood House on Saint Helena in December 1815. He often complained of the living conditions of Longwood House in letters to the island's governor and his custodian, Hudson Lowe. Excerpt: “M.SANTINI, Huissier du Cabinet de l'Empereur NAPOLEON, arrived at Portsmouth from St. Helena on the 25th February 1817. He affirms, that Napoleon, on his arrival at St. Helena, was treated by Sir George Cockburn with respect and delicacy. He was afterwards transferred to Longwood, once a farm belonging to the East India Company. In this wretched asylum he still remains. His sleeping chamber is scarcely large enough to contain a bed and a few chairs. The roof of this hovel consists of paper, coated with pitch, which is beginning to rot, and through which the rain-water and dew penetrate. In addition to all these inconveniences, the house is infested by rats, who devour every thing that they can reach.”
