_Elba--Napoleon's mode of Life and occupation there--Effects of his
residence at Elba upon the adjoining Kingdom of Italy--He is visited
by his Mother and the Princess Pauline--and by a Polish lady--Sir
Niel Campbell the only Commissioner left at Elba--Napoleon's
Conversations on the State of Europe--His pecuniary
Difficulties--and fears of Assassination--Symptoms of some
approaching crisis--A part of the Old Guard disbanded--Napoleon
escapes from Elba--Fruitless pursuit by Sir Niel Campbell._
[Sidenote: ELBA.]
Elba, to the limits of which the mighty empire of Napoleon was now
contracted, is an island opposite to the coast of Tuscany, about sixty
miles in circumference. The air is healthy, excepting in the
neighbourhood of the salt marshes. The country is mountainous, and,
having all the florid vegetation of Italy, is, in general, of a romantic
character. It produces little grain, but exports a considerable quantity
of wines; and its iron ore has been famous since the days of Virgil, who
describes Elba as,
"Insula inexhaustis chalybum generosa metallis."
There are also other mineral productions. The island boasts two good
harbours, and is liberally productive of vines, olives, fruits and
maize. Perhaps, if an empire could be supposed to exist within such a
brief space, Elba possesses so much both of beauty and variety, as might
constitute the scene of a summer night's dream of sovereignty.
Buonaparte seemed to lend himself to the illusion, as, accompanied by
Sir Niel Campbell, he rode in his usual exploring mood, around the
shores of his little state. He did not fail to visit the iron mines, and
being informed the annual produce was 500,000 francs, "These, then," he
said, "are mine." But being reminded that he had conferred that revenue
on the Legion of Honour, he exclaimed, "Where was my head when I gave
such a grant! But I have made many foolish decrees of that sort."
One or two of the poorer class of inhabitants, knelt, and even
prostrated themselves when they met him. He seemed disgusted, and
imputed this humiliating degree of abasement to the wretchedness of
their education, under the auspices of the monks. On these excursions he
showed the same apprehension of assassination which had marked his
journey to Frejus. Two couriers, well armed, rode before him, and
examined every suspicious spot. But as he climbed a mountain above
Ferrajo, and saw the ocean approach its feet in almost every direction,
the expression broke from him, accompanied with a good-humoured smile,
"It must be confessed my isle is very little."
He professed, however, to be perfectly resigned to his fate; often spoke
of himself as a man politically dead, and claimed credit for what he
said upon public affairs, as having no remaining interest in them. He
professed his intentions were to devote himself exclusively to science
and literature. At other times, he said he would live in his little
island, like a justice of peace in a country town in England.
The character of Napoleon, however, was little known to himself, if he
seriously thought that his restless and powerful mind could be satisfied
with the investigation of abstract truths, or amused by the leisure of
literary research. He compared his abdication to that of Charles V.,
forgetting that the Austrian Emperor's retreat was voluntary, that he
had a turn towards mechanical pursuits, and that even with these means
of solace, Charles became discontented with his retirement. The
character of Buonaparte was, on the contrary, singularly opposed to a
state of seclusion. His propensities continued to be exactly of the same
description at Elba, which had so long terrified and disquieted Europe.
To change the external face of what was around him; to imagine extensive
alterations, without accurately considering the means by which they were
to be accomplished; to work within his petty province such alterations
as its limits permitted; to resume, in short, upon a small scale, those
changes which he had attempted upon that which was most magnificent; to
apply to Elba the system of policy which he had exercised so long in
Europe, was the only mode in which he seems to have found amusement and
exercise for the impatient energies of a temper, accustomed from his
early youth to work upon others, but apt to become lethargic, sullen,
and discontented, when it was compelled, for want of other exercise, to
recoil upon itself.
During the first two or three weeks of his residence in the island of
Elba, Napoleon had already planned improvements, or alterations and
innovations at least, which, had they been to be carried into execution
with the means which he possessed, would have perhaps taken his lifetime
to execute. It was no wonder, indeed, accustomed as he had been to speak
the word, and to be obeyed, and to consider the improvements which he
meditated as those which became the head of a great empire, that he
should not have been able to recollect that his present operations
respected a petty islet, where magnificence was to be limited, not only
by utility, but by the want of funds.
In the course of two or three days' travelling, with the same rapidity
which characterised his movements in his frequent progresses through
France, and showing the same impatience of rest or delay, Napoleon had
visited every spot in his little island, mines, woods, salt-marshes,
harbours, fortifications, and whatever was worthy of an instant's
consideration, and had meditated improvements and innovations respecting
every one of them. Till he had done this he was impatient of rest, and
having done so, he lacked occupation.
One of his first, and perhaps most characteristic proposals, was to
aggrandize and extend his Liliputian dominions by occupation of an
uninhabited island, called Rianosa, which had been left desolate on
account of the frequent descents of the corsairs. He sent thirty of his
guards, with ten of the independent company belonging to the island,
upon this expedition--(what a contrast to those which he had formerly
directed!)--sketched out a plan of fortifications, and remarked, with
complacency, "Europe will say that I have already made a conquest."
In an incredibly short time Napoleon had also planned several roads, had
contrived means to convey water from the mountains to Porto Ferrajo,[68]
designed two palaces, one for the country, the other in the city, a
separate mansion for his sister Pauline, stables for one hundred and
fifty horses, a lazaretto, buildings for accommodation of the tunny
fishery, and salt-works on a new construction, at Porto Longone. The
Emperor of Elba proposed, also, purchasing various domains, and had the
price estimated; for the inclination of the proprietor was not reckoned
essential to the transaction. He ended by establishing four places of
residence in the different quarters of the island; and his amusement
consisted in constant change and alteration. He travelled from one to
another with the restlessness of a bird in a cage, which springs from
perch to perch, since it is prevented from winging the air, its natural
element. It seemed as if the magnitude of the object was not so much the
subject of his consideration, providing it afforded immediate scope for
employing his constant and stimulated desire of activity. He was like
the thorough-bred gamester, who, deprived of the means of depositing
large stakes, will rather play at small game than leave the table.
Napoleon placed his court also upon an ambitious scale, having more
reference to what he had so long been, than to what he actually now had
been reduced to, while, at the same time, the furniture and internal
accommodations of the imperial palace were meaner by far than those of
an English gentleman of ordinary rank. The proclamation of the French
governor on resigning his authority to Napoleon, was well and becomingly
expressed; but the spiritual mandate of the Vicar-general Arrighi, a
relation of Buonaparte's, which was designed to congratulate the people
of Elba on becoming the subjects of the Great Napoleon, was extremely
ludicrous. "Elevated to the sublime honour of receiving the anointed of
the Lord," he described the exhaustless wealth which was to flow in upon
the people, from the strangers who came to look upon the hero. The
exhortation sounded as if the isle had become the residence of some
nondescript animal, which was to be shown for money.
The interior of Napoleon's household, though reduced to thirty-five
persons, still held the titles, and affected the rank, proper to an
imperial court, of which it will be presently seen the petty sovereign
made a political use. He displayed a national flag, having a red bend
dexter in a white field, the bend bearing three bees. To dignify his
capital, having discovered that the ancient name of Porto Ferrajo, was
Comopoli (_i. e._ the city of Como,) he commanded it to be called
Cosmopoli, or the city of all nations.
His body-guard, of about 700 infantry, and 80 cavalry, seemed to occupy
as much of Napoleon's attention as the grand army did formerly. They
were constantly exercised, especially in throwing shot and shells; and,
in a short time, he was observed to be anxious about obtaining recruits
for them. This was no difficult matter, where all the world had so
lately been in arms, and engaged in a profession which many, doubtless,
for whom a peaceful life had few charms, laid aside with regret, and
longed to resume.
As early as the month of July 1814, there was a considerable degree of
fermentation in Italy, to which the neighbourhood of Elba, the residence
of several members of the Buonaparte family, and the sovereignty of
Murat, occasioned a general resort of Buonaparte's friends and admirers.
Every day this agitation increased, and various arts were resorted to
for disseminating a prospect of Napoleon's future return to power.
Sundry parties of recruits came over to Elba from Italy to enlist in his
guards, and two persons employed in this service were arrested at
Leghorn, in whose possession were found written lists, containing the
names of several hundred persons willing to serve Napoleon. The species
of ferment and discontent thus produced in Italy, was much increased by
the impolitic conduct of Prince Rospigliosi, the civil governor of
Tuscany, who re-established in their full force every form and
regulation formerly practised under the Dukes of Tuscany, broke up the
establishment of the museum, which had been instituted by Buonaparte's
sister, and, while he returned to all the absurdities of the old
government, relaxed none of the imposts which the French had laid on.
Napoleon's conduct towards the refugees who found their way to Elba, may
be judged from the following sketch. On the 11th of July, Colomboni,
commandant of a battalion of the 4th regiment of the line in Italy, was
presented to the Emperor as newly arrived. "Well, Colomboni, your
business in Elba?"--"First, to pay my duty to your Majesty; secondly, to
offer myself to carry a musket among your guards."--"That is too low a
situation, you must have something better," said Napoleon; and instantly
named him to an appointment of 1200 francs yearly, though it appears the
Emperor himself was then in great distress for money.
About the middle of summer, Napoleon was visited by his mother, and his
sister the Princess Pauline.[69] At this time, too, he seems to have
expected to be rejoined by his wife Maria Louisa, who, it was said, was
coming to take possession of her Italian dominions. Their separation,
with the incidents which happened before Paris, was the only subject on
which he appeared to lose temper. Upon these topics he used strong and
violent language. He said, that interdicting him intercourse with his
wife and son, excited universal reprobation at Vienna--that no such
instance of inhumanity and injustice could be pointed out in modern
times--that the Empress was detained a prisoner, an orderly officer
constantly attending upon her--finally, that she had been given to
understand before she left Orleans, that she was to obtain permission to
join him at the island of Elba, though it was now denied her. It was
possible, he proceeded, to see a shade of policy, though none whatever
of justice, in this separation. Austria had meant to unite the child of
her sovereign with the Emperor of France, but was desirous of breaking
off the connexion with the Emperor of Elba, as it might be apprehended
that the respect due to the daughter of the House of Hapsburg would, had
she resided with her husband, have reflected too much lustre on the
abdicated sovereign.
The Austrian commissioner, General Kohler, on the other hand, insisted
that the separation took place by the Empress Maria Louisa's consent,
and even at her request; and hinted, that Napoleon's desire to have her
society was dictated by other feelings than those of domestic affection.
But allowing that Napoleon's views in so earnestly desiring the company
of his wife might be political, we can see neither justice nor reason
in refusing a request, which would have been granted to a felon
condemned to transportation.
We have not thought it necessary to disturb the narrative of important
events by noticing details which belong rather to romance; but as we are
now treating of Napoleon in his more private character, a mysterious
circumstance may be mentioned. About the end of August 1814, a lady
arrived at the Isle of Elba, from Leghorn, with a boy about five or six
years old. She was received by Napoleon with great attention, but at the
same time with an air of much secrecy, and was lodged in a small and
very retired villa, in the most remote corner of the island; from
whence, after remaining two days, she re-embarked for Naples. The Elbese
naturally concluded that this must have been the Empress Maria Louisa
and her son. But the individual was known by those near Napoleon's
person to be a Polish lady from Warsaw, and the boy was the offspring of
an intrigue betwixt her and Napoleon several years before.[70] The cause
of her speedy departure might be delicacy towards Maria Louisa, and the
fear of affording the Court of Vienna a pretext for continuing the
separation, of which Napoleon complained. In fact, the Austrians, in
defence of their own conduct, imputed irregularities to that of
Buonaparte; but the truth of these charges would be no edifying subject
of investigation.
About the middle of May, Baron Kohler took farewell of Napoleon, to
return to Vienna. He was an Austrian general of rank and reputation; a
particular friend and old schoolfellow of Prince Schwartzenberg. The
scene of Napoleon's parting with this gentleman was quite pathetic on
the Emperor's side. He wept as he embraced General Kohler, and entreated
him to procure, if possible, his re-union with his wife and
child--calling him the preserver of his life--regretted his poverty,
which prevented his bestowing on him some valuable token of
remembrance--finally, folding the Austrian general in his arms, he held
him there for some time, repeating expressions of the warmest
attachment. This sensibility existed all upon one side; for an English
gentleman who witnessed the scene, having asked Kohler afterwards what
he was thinking of while locked in the Emperor's embraces--"of Judas
Iscariot," answered the Austrian.
After the departure of Baron Kohler, Colonel Sir Niel Campbell was the
only one of the four commissioners who continued to remain at Elba by
orders of the British Cabinet. It was difficult to say what his office
really was, or what were his instructions. He had neither power, title,
nor means, to interfere with Napoleon's motions. The Emperor had been
recognised by a treaty--wise or foolish, it was too late to ask--as an
independent sovereign. It was therefore only as an envoy that Sir Niel
Campbell could be permitted to reside at his court; and as an envoy
also, not of the usual character, for settling affairs concerning the
court from which he was despatched, but in a capacity not generally
avowed--the office, namely, of observing the conduct of that at which he
was sent to reside. In fact, Sir Niel Campbell had no direct or
ostensible situation whatever, and of this the French minister of Elba
soon took advantage. Drouet, the governor of Porto Ferrajo, made such
particular inquiries into the character assumed by the British envoy,
and the length of his stay, as obliged the latter to say that his orders
were to remain in Elba till the breaking up of the Congress, which was
now settling the affairs of Europe; but if his orders should direct him
to continue there after that period, he would apply to have his
situation placed on some recognised public footing, which he did not
doubt would be respectable.
Napoleon did not oppose or murmur at the continued, though equivocal
residence of Sir Niel Campbell at Elba; he affected, on the contrary, to
be pleased with it. For a considerable time, he even seemed to seek the
society of the British envoy, held frequent intercourse with him, and
conversed with apparent confidence upon public affairs. The notes of
such conversations are now before us; and though it is, on the one hand,
evident that Napoleon's expressions were arranged, generally speaking,
on a premeditated plan, yet, on the other, it is equally certain, that
his ardent temperament, when once engaged in discourse, led him to
discover more of his own private thoughts than he would, on cool
reflection, have suffered to escape him.
On the 16th September 1814, for example, Sir Niel Campbell had an
audience of three hours, during which, Napoleon, with his habitual
impatience of a sedentary posture, walked from one end of the room to
the other, and talked incessantly. He was happy, he said, that Sir Niel
remained in Elba, _pour rompre la chimère_, (to destroy, namely, the
idea, that he, Buonaparte, had further intention of disturbing the peace
of Europe.) "I think," he continued, "of nothing beyond the verge of my
little isles. I could have supported the war for twenty years, if I had
chosen. I am now a deceased person, occupied with nothing but my family,
my retreat, my house, my cows, and my poultry." He then spoke in the
highest terms of the English character, protesting it had always had his
sincere admiration, notwithstanding the abuse directed against it in his
name. He requested the British envoy to lose no time in procuring him an
English grammar. It is a pity Mr. Hinton, the boatswain, was not
present, to have accompanied this eulogy with his favourite
ejaculation.
In the rest of the conversation, the Elbese Emperor was probably more
serious. He inquired with eagerness after the real state of France. Sir
Niel Campbell informed him, that all the information he had been able to
collect, ascribed great wisdom and moderation to the sovereign and
government; but allowed that those who had lost good appointments, the
prisoners of war who had returned from abroad, and great part of the
army who remained embodied, were still attached to Napoleon. In answer,
Buonaparte seemed to admit the stability of the throne, supported as it
was by the maréchals and great officers; but he derided the idea of
affording France the benefit of a free constitution. He said, the
attempt to imitate that of Great Britain was a farce, a caricature. It
was impossible, he observed, to imitate the two Houses of Parliament,
for that respectable families like those composing the aristocracy of
England, did not now exist in France. He talked with bitterness of the
cession of Belgium, and of France being deprived of Antwerp. He himself
spoke, he observed, as a spectator, without hopes or interest, for he
had none; but thus to have mortified the French, showed an ignorance of
the national character. Their chief feeling was for pride and glory, and
the allies need not look forward to a state of satisfaction and
tranquillity under such circumstances as France was now placed in. "The
French," he said, "were conquered only by a great superiority of number,
therefore were not humiliated; and the population had not suffered to
the extent alleged, for he had always spared their lives, and exposed
those of Italians, Germans, and other foreigners." He remarked that the
gratitude of Louis XVIII. to Great Britain was offensive to France, and
that he was called in derision the King of England's Viceroy.
In the latter months of 1814, Sir Niel Campbell began to become sensible
that Napoleon desired to exclude him from his presence as much as he
possibly could, without positive rudeness. He rather suddenly intrenched
himself within all the forms of an imperial court; and without affording
the British envoy any absolute cause of complaint, or even any title to
require explanation, he contrived, in a great measure, to debar him from
opportunities of conversation. His only opportunity of obtaining access
to Napoleon, was on his return from short absences to Leghorn and
Florence, when his attendance on the levee was matter of etiquette.
On such occasions, the tenor of Napoleon's prophecies was minatory of
the peace of Europe. He spoke perpetually of the humiliation inflicted
upon France, by taking from her Belgium and his favourite object
Antwerp. On the 30th of October, while enlarging on these topics, he
described the irritable feelings of the nation, saying, every man in
France considered the Rhine to be their natural boundary, and nothing
could alter this opinion. There was no want, he said, of a population in
France, martial beyond any other nation, by natural disposition, by the
consequences of the Revolution, and by the idea of glory. Louis XIV.,
according to his account, notwithstanding all the misfortunes he had
brought upon the nation, was still beloved on account of the eclat of
his victories, and the magnificence of his court. The battle of Rosbach
had brought about the Revolution. Louis XVIII. totally mistook the
character of the French in supposing, that either by argument or by
reasoning, or indulging them with a free constitution, he could induce
them to sink into a state of peaceful industry. He insisted that the
Duke of Wellington's presence at Paris was an insult on the French
nation; that very strong discord prevailed in the country, and that the
king had but few friends, either in the army or among the people.
Perhaps the King might try to get rid of a part of the army by sending
them to St. Domingo, but that, he observed, would be soon seen through;
he himself had made a melancholy trial, with the loss of 30,000 men,
which had proved the inutility of such expeditions.
He then checked himself, and endeavoured to show that he had no personal
feeling or expectation from the revolutions he foretold. "I am a
deceased man," he said; "I was born a soldier; I have mounted a throne;
I have descended from it; I am prepared for any fate. They may transport
me to a distant shore, or they may put me to death here; I will spread
my bosom open to the poniard. When merely General Buonaparte, I had
property of my own acquiring--I am now deprived of all."
On another occasion he described the ferment in France, which he said he
had learned from the correspondence of his guards with their native
country, and so far forgot the character of a defunct person, as to say
plainly, that the present disaffection would break out with all the fury
of the former revolution, and require his own resurrection. "For
_then_," he added, "the sovereigns of Europe will soon find it
necessary, for their own repose, to call on ME to tranquillize matters."
This species of conversation was perhaps the best which could have been
adopted, to conceal his secret purpose from the British commissioner.
Sir Niel Campbell, though not without entertaining suspicions, judged
it, upon the whole unlikely that he meditated any thing eccentric,
unless a tempting opening should present itself on the part of France or
Italy.
Napoleon held the same species of language to others as well as the
British resident. He was affable, and even cordial (in appearance,) to
the numerous strangers whom curiosity led to visit him; spoke of his
retirement as Dioclesian might have done in the gardens of Salonica;
seemed to consider his political career as ended, and to be now chiefly
anxious to explain such passages of his life as met the harsh
construction of the world. In giving free and easy answers to those who
conversed with him, and especially to Englishmen of rank, Buonaparte
found a ready means of communicating to the public such explanations
concerning his past life, as were best calculated to serve his wishes.
In these he palliated, instead of denying, the scheme of poisoning his
prisoners in Syria, the massacre at Jaffa, the murder of the Duke
d'Enghien, and other enormities. An emperor, a conqueror, retired from
war, and sequestered from power, must be favourably listened to by those
who have the romantic pleasure of hearing him plead his own cause.
Milder editions of his measures began to be circulated in Europe, and,
in the curiosity to see and admire the captive sovereign, men forgot the
ravages which he had committed while at liberty.
As the winter approached, a change was discernible in Napoleon's manners
and habits. The alterations which he had planned in the island no longer
gave him the same interest; he renounced, from time to time, the severe
exercise in which he had at first indulged, used a carriage rather than
his horse, and sunk occasionally into fits of deep contemplation,
mingled with gloomy anxiety.
[Sidenote: PECUNIARY DIFFICULTIES.]
He became also subjected to uneasiness, to which he had hitherto been a
stranger, being that arising from pecuniary inconveniences. He had
plunged into expenses with imprudent eagerness, and without weighing the
amount of his resources against the cost of the proposed alterations.
The ready money which he brought from France seems to have been soon
exhausted, and to raise supplies, he commanded the inhabitants of his
island to pay up, in the month of June, the contributions of the last
year. This produced petitions, personal solicitations, and discontent.
It was represented to him, that so poor were the inhabitants of the
island, in consequence of want of sale for their wine for months past,
that they would be driven to the most extreme straits if the requisition
should be persisted in. In some of the villages, the tax-gatherers of
the Emperor were resisted and insulted. Napoleon, on his side, sent part
of his troops to quarter upon the insurgent peasantry, and to be
supported by them at free cost, till the contributions should be paid
up.
Thus, we recognise, in the government of this miniature state, the same
wisdom, and the same errors, by which Buonaparte won and lost the empire
of the world. The plans of improvements and internal ameliorations which
he formed, were probably very good in themselves, but he proceeded to
the execution of that which he had resolved with too much and too
reckless precipitation; too much of a determination to work his own
pleasure, and too little concern for the feelings of others.
The compositions proving a weak resource, as they were scarce to be
extracted from the miserable islanders, Napoleon had recourse to others,
which must have been peculiarly galling to a man of his haughty spirit.
But as his revenue, so far as tangible, did not exceed 300,000 francs,
and his expenditure amounted to at least a million, he was compelled to
lower the allowances of most of his retinue; to reduce the wages of the
miners to one-fourth; to raise money by the sale of the provisions laid
up for the garrisons; nay, even by selling a train of brass artillery to
the Duke of Tuscany. He disposed also of some property--a large house
which had been used as a barrack, and he went the length of meditating
the sale of the Town-house at Porto Ferrajo.
We have said, that Napoleon's impatience to execute whatever plans
occurred to his fertile imagination, was the original cause of these
pecuniary distresses. But they are not less to be imputed to the unfair
and unworthy conduct of the French ministry. The French administration
were, of all others, most intimately bound in conscience, honour, and
policy, to see the treaty of Fontainbleau, as forming the footstool by
which Louis XVIII. mounted his restored throne, distinctly observed
towards Napoleon. The sixth article of that treaty provides an annuity,
or revenue of two millions five hundred thousand francs, to be
registered on the Great Book of France, and paid without abatement or
deduction to Napoleon Buonaparte. This annual provision was stipulated
by the maréchals, Macdonald and Ney, as the price of Napoleon's
resignation, and the French ministers could not refuse a declaration of
payment without gross injustice to Buonaparte, and at the same time a
severe insult to the allied powers. Nevertheless, so far from this
pension being paid with regularity, we have seen no evidence that
Napoleon ever received a single remittance to account of it. The British
resident observing how much the Ex-Emperor was harassed by pecuniary
straits, gave it, not once but repeatedly, as his opinion, "that if
these difficulties pressed upon him much longer, so as to prevent him
from continuing the external show of a court, he was perfectly capable
of crossing over to Piombino with his troops, or committing any other
extravagance." This was Sir Niel Campbell's opinion on 31st October,
1814, and Lord Castlereagh made strong remonstrances on the subject,
although Great Britain was the only power among the allies, who, being
no principal party to the treaty of Fontainbleau, might safely have left
it to those states who were. The French were not ashamed to defend their
conduct on the technical objection, that the pension was not due until
the year was elapsed; a defence which we must consider as evasive, since
such a pension is of an alimentary nature, the termly payments of which
ought to be made in advance. The subject was mentioned again and again
by Sir Niel Campbell, but it does not appear that the French
administration desisted from a course, which, whether arising from a
spirit of mean revenge, or from avarice, or from being themselves
embarrassed, was at once dishonourable and impolitic.
Other apprehensions agitated Buonaparte's mind. He feared the Algerine
pirates, and requested the interference of England in his behalf. He
believed, or affected to believe, that Brulart, the governor of Corsica,
who had been a captain of Chouans, the friend of Georges, Pichegru, &c.,
was sent thither by Louis XVIII.th's administration for the purpose of
having him assassinated, and that fitting agents were despatched from
Corsica to Elba for that purpose.[71] Above all, he pretended to be
informed of a design to dispense with the treaty of Fontainbleau, and to
remove him from his place of refuge, to be imprisoned at St. Helena, or
St. Lucie. It is not impossible that these fears were not altogether
feigned; for though there is not an iota of evidence tending to show
that there was reason for believing the allies entertained such an
unworthy thought, yet the report was spread very generally through
France, Italy, and the Mediterranean, and was encouraged, doubtless, by
those who desired once more to place Buonaparte in action.[72] He
certainly expressed great anxiety on the subject, sometimes declaring he
would defend his batteries to the last; sometimes affecting to believe
that he was to be sent to reside in England, a prospect which he
pretended not to dislike personally, while he held out sufficient
reasons to prevent the course from being adopted. "He concluded," he
said, "he should have personal liberty, and the means of removing
prejudices entertained against his character, which had not yet been
fully cleared up;" but ended with the insinuation, that, by residing in
England he would have easier communication with France, where there were
four of his party to every single Bourbonist. And when he had exhausted
these topics, he returned to the complaints of the hardship and cruelty
of depriving him of the society of his wife and child.
While Buonaparte, chafed by poverty, and these other subjects of
complaint, tormented too by the restlessness of a mind impatient of
restraint, gave vent to expressions which excited suspicion, and ought
to have recommended precaution, his court began to assume a very
singular appearance, quite the opposite of that usually exhibited in the
courts of petty sovereigns upon the continent. In the latter there is an
air of antiquated gravity, which pervades the whole establishment, and
endeavours to supply the want of splendour, and of real power. The heavy
apparatus designed for the government of an independent state, is
applied to the management of a fortune not equal to that of many private
gentlemen; the whole course of business goes slowly and cumbrously on,
and so that appearances are maintained in the old style of formal
grandeur, the sovereign and his counsellors dream neither of
expeditions, conquest, nor any other political object.
The Court of Porto Ferrajo was the reverse of all this. Indeed, the
whole place was, in one sense, deserving of the name of Cosmopoli, which
Napoleon wished to impose on it. It was like the court of a great
barrack, filled with military, gendarmes, police officers of all sorts,
refugees of every nation, expectants and dependents upon the court,
domestics and adventurers, all connected with Buonaparte, and holding or
expecting some benefit at his hand. Rumours of every kind were buzzed
about through this miscellaneous crowd, as thick as motes in the
sunshine. Suspicious characters appeared and disappeared again, without
affording any trace of their journey or object. The port was filled with
ships from all parts of Italy. This indeed was necessary to supply the
island with provisions, when crowded with such an unusual degree of
population; and, besides, vessels of all nations visited Porto Ferrajo,
from the various motives of curiosity or speculation, or being compelled
by contrary winds. The four armed vessels of Napoleon, and seventeen
belonging to the service of the miners, were constantly engaged in
voyages to every part of Italy, and brought over or returned to the
continent, Italians, Sicilians, Frenchmen, and Greeks, who seemed all
active, yet gave no reason for their coming or departure. Dominico
Ettori, a monk who had escaped from his convent, and one Theologos, a
Greek, were considered as agents of some consequence among this group.
The situation of Sir Niel Campbell was now very embarrassing. Napoleon,
affecting to be more tenacious than ever of his dignity, not only
excluded the British envoy from his own presence, but even threw
obstacles in the way of his visiting his mother and sister. It was,
therefore, only from interviews with Napoleon himself that he could hope
to get any information, and to obtain these Sir Niel was, as already
noticed, obliged to absent himself from the island of Elba occasionally,
which gave him an opportunity of desiring an audience, as he went away
and returned. At such times as he remained on the island he was
discountenanced, and all attention withdrawn from him; but in a way so
artful, as to render it impossible for him to make a formal complaint,
especially as he had no avowed official character, and was something in
the situation of a guest, whose uninvited intrusion has placed him at
his landlord's mercy.
Symptoms of some approaching catastrophe could not, however, be
concealed from the British resident. Napoleon had interviews with his
mother, after which she appeared deeply distressed. She was heard also
to talk of three deputations which he had received from France. It was
besides accounted a circumstance of strong suspicion, that discharges
and furloughs were granted to two or three hundred of Napoleon's Old
Guard, by the medium of whom, as was too late discovered, the
allegiance of the military in France was corrupted and seduced, and
their minds prepared for what was to ensue. We cannot suppose that such
a number of persons were positively intrusted with the secret; but every
one of them was prepared to sound forth the praises of the Emperor in
his exile, and all entertained and disseminated the persuasion, that he
would soon appear to reclaim his rights.
At length Mariotti, the French consul at Leghorn, and Spannoki, the
Tuscan governor of that town, informed Sir Niel Campbell that it was
certainly determined at Elba, that Buonaparte, with his guards, should
embark for the continent. Sir Niel was at Leghorn when he received this
intelligence, and had left the Partridge sloop of war to cruize round
Elba. It was naturally concluded that Italy was the object of Napoleon,
to join with his brother-in-law Murat, who was at that time, fatally for
himself, raising his banner.
[Sidenote: ESCAPES FROM ELBA.]
On the 25th of February [1815,] the Partridge having come to Leghorn,
and fetched off Sir Niel Campbell, the appearance, as the vessel
approached Porto Ferrajo on her return, of the national guard on the
batteries, instead of the crested grenadiers of the Imperial guard, at
once apprized the British resident of what had happened. When he landed,
he found the mother and sister of Buonaparte in a well-assumed agony of
anxiety about the fate of their Emperor, of whom they affected to know
nothing, except that he had steered towards the coast of Barbary. They
appeared extremely desirous to detain Sir Niel Campbell on shore.
Resisting their entreaties, and repelling the more pressing arguments of
the governor, who seemed somewhat disposed to use force to prevent him
from re-embarking, the British envoy regained his vessel, and set sail
in pursuit of the adventurer. But it was too late; the Partridge only
obtained a distant sight of the flotilla, after Buonaparte and his
forces had landed.
The changes which had taken place in France, and had encouraged the
present most daring action, form the subject of the next chapter.
FOOTNOTES:
[68] "One of Napoleon's first cares was to obtain a supply of water for
the town of Porto-Ferrajo. Captain Usher accompanied him in a boat round
the bay; they sailed every creek, and tasted the different rills. Seeing
the English sailors watering, he said, 'Let us go to them; I am sure
they will choose the best.' Napoleon made a sailor dip his hat into the
water, and hold it for him to drink. 'It is excellent: I knew they would
find it out.'"--_Memorable Events_, p. 259.
[69] Napoleon's mother arrived on the 2d of August, and occupied a house
on the quay at Porto Ferrajo. Pauline landed in October. She lived in
the palace with her brother; who had a room built for her in the garden,
in which she gave public balls every Sunday evening.
[70] "Our halt at Warsaw, in January 1807, was delightful. The Emperor
and all the French officers paid their tribute of admiration to the
charms of the fair Poles. There was one whose powerful fascinations made
a deep impression on Napoleon's heart. He conceived an ardent affection
for her, which she cordially returned. It is needless to name her, when
I observe that her attachment remained unshaken amidst every danger, and
that, at the period of Napoleon's reverses, she continued his faithful
friend."--SAVARY, tom. iii., p. 16.
[71] Buonaparte had particular reason to dread Brulart. This Chouan
chief had been one of the numbers who laid down their arms on Napoleon
assuming the Consulate, and who had been permitted to reside at Paris. A
friend of Brulart, still more obnoxious than himself, was desirous of
being permitted to return from England, to which he had emigrated. He
applied to Napoleon through Brulart, who was directed by the Emperor to
encourage his friend to come over. Immediately on his landing in France,
he was seized and executed. Brulart fled to England in grief and rage,
at being made the means of decoying his friend to death. In the height
of his resentment he wrote to Napoleon, threatening him with death by
his hand. The recollection of this menace alarmed Buonaparte, when he
found Brulart so near him as Corsica.
[72] Even Sir Niel Campbell said to Napoleon, "The newspapers say you
are to be sent to St. Helena."--"Nous verrons cela," was the
reply.--_Memorable Events_, p. 268.