589. (NAPOLEON BONAPARTE) HUDSON LOWE (1769-1844) British general who fought in many campaigns against Napoleon I, especially in Egypt, Italy and Germany. Knighted in 1814 and promoted to Major General in 1815; in the same year, he was named Governor of St. Helena and in effect was the jailer and custodian of Napoleon. Fine and scarce A.L.S. "H. Lowe" 3pp., small 4to. [n.p.], United Service Club, Dec. 15, 1842. He writes to his former deputy adjutant at St. Helena, Sir Thomas Reade, in part: "...Mr. Amyot has mentioned to me your wish to obtain a Commission for one of your Sons & I have told him that I think the best course you can pursue for this purpose is to write a letter to Lord Jeffrey Somerset, stating your own military service, referring to me, if necessary, with regard to your service at St. Helena - to Lord Derby (perhaps) as to those in Sicily, or to any letter or general order after John Stuart...stating all your service on the Peninsula, and requesting that the name of your son (whose age & course of Education would be described), may be put down as a Candidate for a Commission by purchase...You might perhaps put your application in such way that it may appears as one for a Commission with purchase, but saying that if the List of Candidates is so that...favor cannot be granted you should be happy to become a Purchaser...In whatever way your application may be made, I shall be always happy to give it heavy support...". In a long, full-page postscript, Lowe offers further advice to his loyal St. Helena aide about purchasing a commission for his son, such as having "...One of your parliamentary friends" put a good word to speed up the process. When Thomas Reade served as Sir Hudson Lowe's deputy adjutant at St. Helena, he was described as a "stocky man of thirty whose moon-shaped face was wreathed in a perpetual smile many consider hypocritical," and was considered neither "pleasant" nor "cultured." The Emperor Napoleon took an intense dislike to him and scorned to see him or talk to him. Reade's letters prove that he favored even greater severity toward the exiled Emperor than was to be practiced by his superior. Age-toning, with minor fold breaks, other quite good. Letters of Sir Hudson Lowe linking him to those who served under him at St. Helena are quite rare. $500 - 600