An endorsement on the letter says that it was not sent, but it is none the less worthy of being printed.
* * * * * _To the Emperor Napoleon_ [April 1857.] Sire,--I am only a woman, and have no claim on your Majesty's attention except that of the weakest on the strongest.

Probably my very name as the wife of an English poet, and as named itself a little among English poets, is unknown to your Majesty.

I never approached my own sovereign with a petition, nor am skilled in the way of addressing kings.

Yet having, through a studious and thoughtful life, grown used to great men (among the dead, at least), I cannot feel entirely at a loss in speaking to the Emperor Napoleon.
And I beseech you to have patience with me while I supplicate you.

It is not for myself nor for mine.
I have been reading with wet eyes and a swelling heart (as many who love and some who hate your Majesty have lately done) a book called the 'Contemplations' of a man who has sinned deeply against you in certain of his political writings, and who expiates rash phrases and unjustifiable statements in exile in Jersey.