Hall, Basil

BASIL HALL

11 August 1817 Hall's ship, the 'Lyra', on way back from China to

England; stopped off at Calcutta, Madras, the Isle de France, then after

going round Cape of Good Hope, ship anchored at St. Helena on 11 August

Hall called it a "a curious fact in the history of curiosity . . . by which

every individual on board, high as well as low, was infinitely more occupied

about this one man, than he had been with all the incidents of our singular

voyage put together." Said that he was no exception, particularly as one of

few who had any change of actually meeting Nap., "and I landed with two

gentlemen who were passengers in my ship, in a state of greater anxiety than

I ever experienced before or since."

Hall knew governor of St. Helena, and through him sent a message to Captain

Blakeney, officer in charge of Longwood (where Nap. held), asking for

interview - this seemed highly unlikely, as Napoleon almost always refused

to see people. Napoleon apparently did not respond to news, so Blakeney

suggested that Hall come to Longwood and then see if Napoleon would receive

him on spur of moment, but Nap. refused. However, admitted him next day at 2

o'clock, on learning that his father, Sir James Hall, had been at Brienne at

same time Nap. had been a student at the Military College there: apparently

Nap. remembered Hall's father very well as was first Englishman he had ever

seen. Napoleon then chided Hall for fact that father had not come to visit

him on St. Helena - Hall had to use excuse of fact that he was President of

the Royal Society of Edinburgh, which then made N. ask lots about the

society, then became v. interested in Hall's stories from island of

Loo-Choo, China, Japan and Manila - was particularly fascinated by fact that

inhabitants of Loo-Choo had no weapons of any kind, and never went to war,

and no money.