When he sighted the Emperor it was an unusual enough event for him to report it immediately to George Nicholls who, in turn, passed the information on to Lowe. Despite his lack of intimacy with Napoleon, Verling’s story is of great interest as it provides a unique insight into the politics of St. Helena and further proof of the scheming of the French and the malevolence of the Governor. The doctor kept a meticulous journal commencing at the time of his appointment to Longwood and continuing up to the time of his departure from the island. The manuscript was originally handed down in his family but then was carelessly lost at sea by Verling’s nephew. In an unlikely sequence of events, it turned up in the hands of the British Consul to China who passed it to Napoleon III, the nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte. It was then preserved in the French national archives where it remains today. A French translation appeared in the respected military periodical Carnet de Sabretache in 1921 and it was reprinted in 1998.
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