1814.
Italy and Eugene--Siege of Dantzic-Capitulation concluded but not
ratified-Rapp made prisoner and sent to Kiow--Davoust's refusal to
believe the intelligence from Paris--Projected assassination of one
of the French Princes--Departure of Davoust and General Hogendorff
from Hamburg--The affair of Manbreuil--Arrival of the Commissioners
of the Allied powers at Fontainebleau--Preference shown by Napoleon
to Colonel Campbell--Bonaparte's address to General Kohler--His
farewell to his troops--First day of Napoleon's journey--The
Imperial Guard succeeded by the Cossacks--Interview with Augerean--
The first white cockades--Napoleon hanged in effigy at Orgon--His
escape in the disguise of a courier--Scene in the inn of La Calade--
Arrival at Aix--The Princess Pauline--Napoleon embarks for Elba--His
life at Elba.
I must now direct the attention of the reader to Italy, which was the
cradle of Napoleon's glory, and towards which he transported himself in
imagination from the Palace of Fontainebleau. Eugene had succeeded in
keeping up his means of defence until April, but on the 7th of that
month, being positively informed of the overwhelming reverses of France,
he found himself constrained to accede to the propositions of the Marshal
de Bellegarde to treat for the evacuation of Italy; and on the 10th a
convention was concluded, in which it was stipulated that the French
troops, under the command of Eugene, should return within the limits of
old France. The clauses of this convention were executed on the 19th of
April.
--[Lord William Bentinck and Sir Edward Pellew had taken Genoa on
the 18th Of April. Murat was in the field with the Austrians
against the French.]--
Eugene, thinking that the Senate of Milan was favourably disposed towards
him, solicited that body to use its influence in obtaining the consent of
the Allied powers to his continuance at the head of the Government of
Italy; but this proposition was rejected by the Senate. A feeling of
irritation pervaded the public mind in Italy, and the army had not
proceeded three marches beyond Mantua when an insurrection broke out in
Milan. The Finance Minister, Pizna, was assassinated, and his residence
demolished, and nothing would have saved the Viceroy from a similar fate
had he been in his capital. Amidst this popular excitement, and the
eagerness of the Italians to be released from the dominion of the French,
the friends of Eugene thought him fortunate in being able to join his
father-in-law at Munich almost incognito.
--[Some time after Eugene visited France and had a long audience of
Louis XVIII. He announced himself to that monarch by his father's
title of Marquis de Beauharnais. The King immediately saluted him
by the title of Monsieur le Marechal, and proposed that he should
reside in France with that rank. But this invitation Eugene
declined, because as a French Prince under the fallen Government he
had commanded the Marshals, and he therefore could not submit to be
the last in rank among those illustrious military chiefs.
Bourrienne.]--
Thus, at the expiration of nine years, fell the iron crown which Napoleon
had placed on his head saying, "Dieu me l'a donne; gare a qui la touche."
I will now take a glance at the affairs of Germany. Rapp was not in
France at the period of the fall of the Empire. He had, with
extraordinary courage and skill, defended himself against a year's siege
at Dantzic. At length, being reduced to the last extremity, and
constrained to surrender, he opened the gates of the city, which
presented nothing but heaps of ruins. Rapp had stipulated that the
garrison of Dantzic should return to France, and the Duke of Wurtemberg,
who commanded the siege, had consented to that condition; but the Emperor
of Russia having refused to ratify it, Rapp, having no means of defence,
was made prisoner with his troops; and conducted to Kiow, whence he
afterwards returned to Paris, where I saw him.
Hamburg still held out, but at the beginning of April intelligence was
received there of the extraordinary events which had delivered Europe
from her oppressor. Davoust refused to believe this news, which at once
annihilated all his hopes of power and greatness. This blindness was
persisted in for some time at Hamburg. Several hawkers, who were marked
out by the police as having been the circulators of Paris news, were
shot. An agent of the Government publicly announced his design of
assassinating one of the French Princes, in whose service he was said to
have been as a page. He said he would go to his Royal Highness and
solicit to be appointed one of his aides de camp, and that, if the
application were refused, as it probably would be, the refusal would only
confirm him in his purpose.
At length, when the state of things was beyond the possibility of doubt,
Davoust assembled the troops, acquainted them with the dethronement of
the Emperor, hoisted a flag of truce, and sent his adhesion to the
Provisional Government. All then thought of their personal safety,
without losing sight of their honestly-acquired wealth. Diamonds and
other objects of value and small bulk were hastily collected and packed
up. The Governor of Hamburg, Count Hogendorff, who, in spite of some
signal instances of opposition, had too often co-operated in severe and
vexatious measures, was the first to quit the city. He was, indeed,
hurried off by Davoust; because he had mounted the Orange cockade and
wished to take his Dutch troops away with him. After consigning the
command to General Gerard, Davoust quitted Hamburg, and arrived at Paris
on the 18th of June.
I have left Napoleon at Fontainebleau. The period of his departure for
Elba was near at hand: it was fixed for the 17th of April.
On that day Maubreuil, a man who has become unfortunately celebrated,
presented himself at the Post-office, and asked to speak with me. He
showed me some written orders, signed by General Saeken, the Commander of
the Russian troops in Palls, and by Baron Brackenhausen, chief of the
staff. These orders set forth that Maubreuil was entrusted with an
important mission, for the execution of which he was authorised to demand
the assistance of the Russian troops; and the commanders of those men
were enjoined to place at his disposal as many troops as he might apply
for. Maubreuil was also the bearer of similar orders from General
Dupont, the War Minister, and from M. Angles, the Provisional Commissary-
General of the Police, who directed all the other commissaries to obey
the orders they might receive from Maubreuil. On seeing these documents,
of the authenticity of which there was no doubt, I immediately ordered
the different postmasters to provide Maubreuil promptly with any number
of horses he might require.
Some days after I was informed that the object of Maubreuil's mission was
to assassinate Napoleon. It may readily be imagined what was my
astonishment on hearing this, after I had seen the signature of the
Commander of the Russian forces, and knowing as I did the intentions of
the Emperor Alexander. The fact is, I did not, and never can, believe
that such was the intention of Mabreuil. This man has been accused of
having carried off the jewels of the Queen of Westphalia.
Napoleon having consented to proceed to the island of Elba, conformably
with the treaty he had ratified on the 13th, requested to be accompanied
to the place of embarkation by a Commissioner from each of the Allied
powers. Count Schouwaloff was appointed by Russia, Colonel Neil Campbell
by England, General Kohler by Austria, and Count Waldbourg-Truchess by
Prussia. On the 16th the four Commissioners came for the first time to
Fontainebleau, where the Emperor, who was still attended by Generals
Drouot and Bertrand, gave to each a private audience on the following
day.
Though Napoleon received with coldness the Commissioners whom he had
himself solicited, yet that coldness was far from being manifested in an
equal degree to all. He who experienced the best reception was Colonel
Campbell, apparently because his person exhibited traces of wounds.
Napoleon asked him in what battles he had received them, and on what
occasions he had been invested with the orders he wore. He next
questioned him as to the place of his birth, and Colonel Campbell having
answered that he was a Scotchman, Napoleon congratulated him on being the
countryman of Ossian, his favourite author, with whose poetry, however,
he was only acquainted through the medium of wretched translations.
On this first audience Napoleon said to the Colonel, "I have cordially
hated the English. I have made war against you by every possible means,
but I esteem your nation. I am convinced that there is more generosity
in your Government than in any other. I should like to be conveyed from
Toulon to Elba by an English frigate."
The Austrian and Russian Commissioners were received coolly, but without
any marked indications of displeasure. It was not so with the Prussian
Commissioner, to whom he said duly, "Are there any Prussians in my
escort?"--"No, Sire."--"Then why do you take the trouble to accompany
me?"--"Sire, it is not a trouble, but an honour."--"These are mere words;
you have nothing to do here."--"Sire, I could not possibly decline the
honourable mission with which the King my master has entrusted me." At
these words Napoleon turned his back on Count Truchess.
The Commissioners expected that Napoleon would be ready to set out
without delay; but they were deceived. He asked for a sight of the
itinerary of his route, and wished to make some alterations in it.
The Commissioners were reluctant to oppose his wish, for they had been
instructed to treat him with all the respect and etiquette due to a
sovereign. They therefore suspended the departure, and, as they could
not take upon themselves to acquiesce in the changes wished for by the
Emperor, they applied for fresh orders. On the night of the 18th of
April they received these orders, authorising them to travel by any road
the Emperor might prefer. The departure was then definitively fixed for
the 20th.
Accordingly, at ten on the morning of the 20th, the carriages were in
readiness, and the Imperial Guard was drawn up in the grand court of the
Palace of Fontainebleau, called the Cour du Cheval Blanc. All the
population of the town and the neighbouring villages thronged round the
Palace. Napoleon sent for General Kohler, the Austrian Commissioner, and
said to him, "I have reflected on what I ought to do, and I am determined
not to depart. The Allies are not faithful to their engagements with me.
I can, therefore, revoke my abdication, which was only conditional. More
than a thousand addresses were delivered to me last night: I am conjured
to resume the reins of government I renounced my rights to the crown only
to avert the horrors of a civil war, having never had any other abject in
view than the glory and happiness of France. But, seeing as I now do,
the dissatisfaction inspired by the measures of the new Government, I can
explain to my Guard the reasons which induced me to revoke my abdication.
It is true that the number of troops on which I can count will scarcely
exceed 30,000 men, but it will be easy for me to increase their numbers
to 130,000. Know, then, that I can also, without injuring my honour, say
to my Guard, that having nothing but the repose and happiness of the
country at heart, I renounce all my rights, and exhort my troops to
follow my example, and yield to the wish of the nation."
I heard these words reported by General Kohler himself, after his return
from his mission. He did not disguise the embarrassment which this
unexpected address had occasioned; and I recollect having remarked at the
time that had Bonaparte, at the commencement of the campaign of Paris,
renounced his rights and returned to the rank of citizen, the immense
masses of the Allies must have yielded to the efforts of France. General
Kohler also stated that Napoleon complained of Maria Louisa not being
allowed to accompany him; but at length, yielding to the reasons urged by
those about him, he added, "Well, I prefer remaining faithful to my
promise; but if I have any new ground of complaint, I will free myself
from all my engagements."
At eleven o'clock Comte de Bussy, one of the Emperor's aides de camp, was
sent by the Grand Marshal (General Bertrand) to announce that all was
ready for departure. "Am I;" said Napoleon, "to regulate my actions by
the Grand Marshal's watch? I will go when I please. Perhaps I may not
go at all. Leave me!"
All the forms of courtly etiquette which Napoleon loved so much were
observed; and when at length he was pleased to leave his cabinet to enter
the salon, where the Commissioners were waiting; the doors were thrown
open as usual, and "The Emperor" was announced; but no sooner was the
word uttered than he turned back again. However, he soon reappeared,
rapidly crossed the gallery, and descended the staircase, and at twelve
o'clock precisely he stood at the head of his Guard, as if at a review in
the court of the Tuileries in the brilliant days of the Consulate and the
Empire.
Then took place a really moving scene--Napoleon's farewell to his
soldiers. Of this I may abstain from entering into any details, since
they are known everywhere, and by everybody, but I may subjoin the
Emperor's last address to his old companions-in-arms, because it belongs
to history. This address was pronounced in a voice as firm and sonorous
as that in which Bonaparte used to harangue his troops in the days of his
triumphs. It was as follows:
"Soldiers of my Old Guard, I bid you farewell. For twenty years I
have constantly accompanied yon on the road to honour and glory. In
these latter times, as in the days of our prosperity, you have
invariably been models of courage and fidelity. With men such as
you our cause could not be lost, but the war would have been
interminable; it would have been civil war, and that would have
entailed deeper misfortunes on France. I have sacrificed all my
interests to those of the country. I go; but you, my friends, will
continue to serve France. Her happiness was my only thought.. It
will still be the object of my wishes. Do not regret my fate: if I
have consented to survive, it is to serve your glory. I intend to
write the history of the great achievements we have performed
together. Adieu, my friends. Would I could press you all to my,
heart!"
During the first day cries of "Vive l'Empereur!" resounded along the
road, and Napoleon, resorting to his usual dissimulation, censured the
disloyalty of the people to their legitimate sovereign, which he did with
ill disguised irony. The Guard accompanied him as far as Briars. At
that place Napoleon invited Colonel Campbell to breakfast with him. He
conversed on the last war in Spain, and spoke in complimentary terms of
the English nation and the military talents of Wellington. Yet by that
time he must have heard of the battle of Toulouse.
On the night of the 21st Napoleon slept at Nevers, where he was received
by the acclamations of the people, who here, as in several other towns,
mingled their cries in favour of their late sovereign with imprecations
against the Commissioners of the Allies. He left Nevers at six on the
morning of the 22d. Napoleon was now no longer escorted by the Guards,
who were succeeded by a corps of Cossacks: the cries of "Vive
l'Empereur!" accordingly ceased, and he had the mortification to hear in
its stead, "Vivent les Allies!" However, I have been informed that at
Lyons, through which the Emperor passed on the 23d at eleven at night,
the cry of "Vive l'Empereur!" was still echoed among the groups who
assembled before the post-office during the change of horses.
Augereau, who was still a Republican, though he accepted the title of
Duke of Castiglione from Napoleon, had always been among the
discontented. On the downfall of the Emperor he was one of that
considerable number of persons who turned Royalists not out of love for
the Bourbons but out of hatred to Bonaparte. He held a command in the
south when he heard of the forfeiture of Napoleon pronounced by the
Senate, and he was one of the first to send his recognition to the
Provisional Government. Augereau, who, like all uneducated men, went to
extremes in everything, had published under his name a proclamation
extravagantly violent and even insulting to the Emperor. Whether
Napoleon was aware of this proclamation I cannot pretend to say, but he
affected ignorance of the matter if he was informed of it, for on the
24th, having met Augereau at a little distance from Valence, he stopped
his carriage and immediately alighted. Augereau did the same, and they
cordially embraced in the presence of the Commissioners. It was remarked
that in saluting Napoleon took off his hat and Augereau kept on his.
"Where are you going?", said the Emperor; "to Court?"--"No, I am going to
Lyons."--"You have behaved very badly to me." Augereau, finding that the
Emperor addressed him in the second person singular, adopted the same
familiarity; so they conversed as they were accustomed to do when they
were both generals in Italy. "Of what do you complain?" said he.
"Has not your insatiable ambition brought us to this? Have you not
sacrificed everything to that ambition, even the happiness of France?
I care no more for the Bourbons than for you. All I care for is the
country." Upon this Napoleon turned sharply away from the Marshal,
lifted his hat to him, and then stepped into his carriage. The
Commissioners, and all the persons in Napoleon's suite, were indignant at
seeing Augereau stand in the road still covered, with his hands behind
his back, and instead of bowing, merely making a contemptuous salutation
to Napoleon with his hand. It was at the Tuileries that these haughty
Republicans should have shown their airs. To have done so on the road to
Elba was a mean insult which recoiled upon themselves.
--[The following letter, taken from Captain Bingham's recently
published selections from the Correspondence of the first Napoleon,
indicates in emphatic language the Emperor's recent dissatisfaction
with Marshal Augereau when in command at Lyons daring the "death
straggle" of 1814:
To Marshal Augereau.
NOGENT, 21st February, 1814,
....What! six hours after having received the first troops coming
from Spain you were not in the field! Six hours repose was
sufficient. I won the action of Naugis with a brigade of dragoons
coming from Spain which, since it had left Bayonne, had not
unbridled its horses. The six battalions of the division of Nimes
want clothes, equipment, and drilling, say you? What poor reasons
yon give me there, Augereau! I have destroyed 80,000 enemies with
conscripts having nothing but knapsacks! The National Guards, say
you, are pitiable; I have 4000 here in round hats, without
knapsacks, in wooden shoes, but with good muskets, and I get a great
deal out of them. There is no money, you continue; and where do you
hope to draw money from! You want waggons; take them wherever you
can. You have no magazines; this is too ridiculous. I order you
twelve hours after the reception of this letter to take the field.
If you are still Augereau of Castiglione, keep the command, but if
your sixty years weigh upon you hand over the command to your senior
general. The country is in danger; and can be saved by boldness and
alacrity alone....
(Signed) NAPOLEON]--
At Valence Napoleon, for the first time, saw French soldiers with the
white cockade in their caps. They belonged to Augereau's corps. At
Orange the air resounded with tines of "Vive le Roi!" Here the gaiety,
real or feigned, which Napoleon had hitherto evinced, began to forsake
him.
Had the Emperor arrived at Avignon three hours later than he did there is
no doubt that he would have been massacred.--[The Royalist mob of Avignon
massacred Marshal Brune in 1816.]-- He did not change horses at Avignon,
through which he passed at five in the morning, but at St. Andiol, where
he arrived at six. The Emperor, who was fatigued with sitting in the
carnage, alighted with Colonel Campbell and General Bertrand, and walked
with them up the first hill. His valet de chambre, who was also walking
a little distance in advance, met one of the mail couriers, who said is
him, "Those are the Emperor's carriages coming this way?"--"No, they are
the equipages of the Allies."--"I say they are the Emperor's carriages.
I am an old soldier. I served in the campaign of Egypt, and I will save
the life of my General."--"I tell you again they are not the Emperor's
carriages."--"Do not attempt to deceive me; I have just passed through
Organ, where the Emperor has been hanged in effigy. The wretches erected
a scaffold and hanged a figure dressed in a French uniform covered with
blood. Perhaps I may get myself into a scrape by this confidence, but no
matter. Do you profit by it." The courier then set off at full gallop.
The valet de chambre took General Drouot apart, and told him what he had
heard. Drouot communicated the circumstance to General Bertrand, who
himself related it to the Emperor in the presence of the Commissioners.
The latter, justly indignant, held a sort of council on the highway, and
it was determined that the Emperor should go forward without his retinue.
The valet de chambre was asked whether he had any clothes in the
carriage. He produced a long blue cloak and a round hat. It was
proposed to put a white cockade in the hat, but to this Napoleon would
not consent. He went forward in the style of a courier, with Amaudru,
one of the two outriders who had escorted his carriage, and dashed
through Orgon. When the Allied Commissioners arrived there the assembled
population were uttering exclamations of "Down with the Corsican! Down
with the brigand!" The mayor of Orgon (the, same man whom I had seen
almost on his knees to General Bonaparte on his return from Egypt)
addressed himself to Pelard, the Emperor's valet de chambre, and said,
"Do you follow that rascal?"--"No," replied Pelard, "I am attached to the
Commisairiers of the Allied powers."--Ah! that is well! I should like
to hang the villain with my own hands.
"Ah! if you knew, sir, how the scoundrel has deceived us! It was I who
received him on his return from Egypt. We wished to take his horses out
and draw his carriage. I should like to avenge myself now for the
honours I rendered him at that time."
The crowd augmented, and continued to vociferate with a degree of fury
which may be imagined by those who have heard the inhabitants of the
south manifest, by cries, their joy or their hatred. Some more violent
than the rest wished to force Napoleon's coachman to cry "Vive le Roi!"
He courageously refused, though threatened with a stroke of a sabre,
when, fortunately; the carriage being ready to start, he whipped the
horses and set off at full gallop. The Commissioners would not breakfast
at Orgon; they paid for what had been prepared, and took some
refreshments away with them. The carriages did not overtake the Emperor
until they came to La Calade, where he had arrived a quarter of an hour
before with Amaudru.
They found him standing by the fire in the kitchen of the inn talking
with the landlady. She had asked him whether the tyrant was soon to pass
that way? "Ah! sir," said she, "it is all nonsense to say we have got
rid of him. I always, have said, and always will say, that we shall
never be sure of being done with him until he be laid at the bottom of a
well, covered over with stones. I wish we had him safe in the well in
our yard. You see, sir, the Directory sent him to Egypt to get rid of
him; but he came back again! And he will come back again, you maybe sure
of that, sir; unless--" Here the good woman, having finished skimming her
pot, looked up and perceived that all the party were standing uncovered
except the individual to whom, she had been speaking. She was
confounded, and the embarrassment she experienced at having spoken so ill
of the Emperor to the Emperor himself banished all her anger, and she
lavished every mark of attention, and respect on Napoleon and his
retinue. A messenger was immediately sent to Aix to purchase ribbons for
making white cockades. All the carriages were brought into the courtyard
of the inn, and the gate was closed; the landlady informed Napoleon that
it would not be prudent for him to venture on passing through Aix, where
a population of more than 20,000 were waiting to stone him.
Meanwhile dinner was served, and Napoleon sat down to table. He
admirably disguised the agitation which he could not fail to experience,
and I have been assured, by some of the individuals who were present on
that remarkable occasion, that he never made himself more agreeable. His
conversation, which was enriched by the resources of his memory and his
imagination, charmed every one, and he remarked, with an air of
indifference which was perhaps affected, "I believe the new French
Government has a design on my life."
The Commissioners, informed of what was going on at Aix, proposed sending
to the Mayor an order for closing the gates and adopting measures for
securing the public tranquillity. About fifty individuals had assembled
round the inn, and one among them offered to carry a letter to the Mayor
of Aix The Commissioners accepted his services, and in their letter
informed the Mayor that if the gates of the town were not closed within
an hour they would advance with two regiments of uhlans and six pieces of
artillery, and would fire upon all who might oppose them. This threat
had the desired effect; and the Mayor returned for answer that the gates
should be closed, and that he would take upon himself the responsibility
of everything which might happen.
The danger which threatened the Emperor at Aix was thus averted; but
there was another to be braved. During the seven or eight hours he
passed at La Calade a considerable number of people had gathered round-
the inn, and manifested every disposition to proceed to some excess.
Most of them had in their hands five-franc pieces, in order to recognise
the Emperor by his likeness on the coin. Napoleon, who had passed two
nights without sleep, was in a little room adjoining the kitchen, where
he had fallen into a slumber, reclining an the shoulder of his valet de
chambre. In a moment of dejection he had said, "I now renounce the
political world forever. I shall henceforth feel no interest about
anything that may happen. At Porto-Ferrajo I may be happy--more happy
than I have ever been! No!--if the crown of Europe were now offered to
me I would not accept it. I will devote myself to science. I was right
never to esteem mankind! But France and the French people--what
ingratitude! I am disgusted with ambition, and I wish to rule no
longer!"
When the moment for departure arrived it was proposed that he should put
on the greatcoat and fur cap of General Kohler, and that he should go
into the carriage of the Austrian Commissioner. The Emperor, thus
disguised, left the inn of La Calade, passing between two lines of
spectators. On turning the walls of Aix Napoleon had again the
mortification to hear the cries of "Down with the tyrant! Down with
Nicolas!" and these vociferations resounded at the distance of a quarter
of a league from the town.
Bonaparte, dispirited by these manifestations of hatred, said, in a tone
of mingled grief and contempt, "These Provencals are the same furious
brawlers that they used to be. They committed frightful massacres at the
commencement of the Revolution. Eighteen years ago I came to this part
of the country with some thousand men to deliver two Royalists who were
to be hanged. Their crime was having worn the white cockade. I saved
them; but it was not without difficulty that I rescued them from the
hands of their assailants; and now, you see, they resume the same
excesses against those who refuse to wear the white cockade.". At about
a league from Aix the Emperor and his retinue found horses and an escort
of gendarmerie to conduct them to the chateau of Luc.
The Princess Pauline was at the country residence of M. Charles, member
of the Legislative Body, near the castle of Luc. On hearing of the
misfortunes of her brother she determined to accompany him to the isle of
Elba, and she proceeded to Frejus to embark with him. At Frejus the
Emperor rejoined Colonel Campbell, who had quitted the convoy on the
road, and had brought into the port the English frigate the 'Undaunted'
which was appointed to convey the Emperor to the place of his
destination. In spite of the wish he had expressed to Colonel Campbell
he manifested considerable reluctance to go on board. However, on the
28th of April he sailed for the island of Elba in the English frigate, in
which it could not then be said that Caesar and his fortune were
embarked.
[It was on the 3d of May 1814 that Bonaparte arrived within sight of
Porto-Ferrajo, the capital of his miniature empire; but he did not
land till the nest morning. At first he paid a short visit
incognito, being accompanied by a sergeant's party of marines from
the Undaunted. He then returned on board to breakfast, and at about
two o'clock made his public entrance, the 'Undaunted' firing a royal
salute.]
In every particular of his conduct he paid great attention to the
maintenance of his Imperial dignity. On landing he received the keys of
his city of Porto-Ferrajo, and the devoirs of the Governor, prefect, and
other dignitaries, and he proceeded immediately under a canopy of State
to the parish church, which served as a cathedral. There he heard Te
Deum, and it is stated that his countenance was dark and melancholy, and
that he even shed tears.
One of Bonaparte's first cares was to select a flag for the Elbese
Empire, and after some hesitation he fixed on "Argent, on a bend gules,
or three bees," as the armorial ensign of his new dominion. It is
strange that neither he nor any of those whom he consulted should have
been aware that Elba had an ancient and peculiar ensign, and it is still
more remarkable that this ensign should be one singularly adapted to
Bonaparte's situation; being no more than "a wheel,--the emblem," says
M. Bernaud, "of the vicissitudes of human life, which the Elbese had
borrowed from the Egyptian mysteries." This is as curious a coincidence
as any we ever recollect to have met; as the medals of Elba with the
emblem of the wheel are well known, we cannot but suppose that Bonaparte
was aware of the circumstance; yet he is represented as having in vain
made several anxious inquiries after the ancient arms of the island.
During the first months of his residence there his life was, in general,
one of characteristic activity and almost garrulous frankness. He gave
dinners, went to balls, rode all day about his island, planned
fortifications, aqueducts, lazarettos, harbours, and palaces; and the
very second day after he landed fitted out an expedition of a dozen
soldiers to take possession of a little uninhabited island called
Pianosa, which lies a few leagues from Elba; on this occasion he said
good-humouredly, "Toute l'Europe dira que j'ai deja fait une conqute"
(All Europe will say I have already made a conquest). The cause of the
island of Pianosa being left uninhabited was the marauding of the
Corsairs from the coast of Barbary, against whom Bonaparte considered
himself fully protected by the 4th Article of the Treaty of
Fontainebleau.
The greatest wealth of Elba consists in its iron mines, for which the
island was celebrated in the days of Virgil. Soon after his arrival
Napoleon visited the mines in company with Colonel Campbell, and being
informed that they produced annually about 500,000 francs he exclaimed
joyfully, "These, then, are my own !" One of his followers, however,
reminded him that he had long since disposed of that revenue, having
given it to his order of the Legion of Honour, to furnish pensions, etc.
"Where was my head when I made that grant?" said he, "but I have made
many foolish decrees of that sort!"
Sir Walter Scott, in telling a curious fact, makes a very curious
mistake. "To dignify his capital," he says, "having discovered that the
ancient name of Porto-Ferrajo was Comopoli (the city of Como), he
commanded it to be called Cosmopoli, or the city of all nations." Now
the old name of Porto-Ferrajo was in reality not Comopoli, but Cosmopoli,
and it obtained that name from the Florentine Cosmo de' Medici, to whose
ducal house Elba belonged, as an integral part of Tuscany. The name
equally signified the city of Cosmo, or the city of all nations, and the
vanity of the Medici had probably been flattered by the double meaning of
the appellation. But Bonaparte certainly revived the old name, and did
not add a letter to it to dignify his little capital.
The household of Napoleon, though reduced to thirty-five persons, still
represented an Imperial Court. The forms and etiquette of the Tuileries
and St, Cloud were retained on a diminished scale, but the furniture and
internal accommodations of the palace are represented as having been
meaner by far than those of an English gentleman of ordinary rank. The
Bodyguard of his Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Elba consisted of about
700 infantry and 80 cavalry, and to this handful of troops Napoleon
seemed to pay almost as much attention as he had formerly given to his
Grande Armee. The men were constantly exercised, particularly in
throwing shot and shells, and he soon began to look out for good recruits.
He early announced that he would hold a Court and receive ladies twice a
week; the first was on the 7th of May, and a great concourse assembled.
Bonaparte at first paid great attention to the women, particularly those
who possessed personal attractions, and asked them, in his rapid way,
whether they were married? how many children they had, and who their
husbands were? To the last question he received one universal answer; it
happened that every lady was married to a merchant, but when it came to
be further explained that they were merchant butchers and merchant
bakers, his Imperial Majesty permitted some expression of his
dissatisfaction to escape him and hastily retired. On the 4th of June
there was a ball on board the British frigate, in honour of the King's
birthday; the whole beauty and fashion of Elba were assembled, and
dancing with great glee, when, about midnight, Bonaparte came in his
barge, unexpectedly, and masked, to join the festivity. He was very
affable, and visited every part of the ship, and all the amusements which
had been prepared for the different classes of persons. On his birthday,
the 15th of August, he ordered the mayor to give a ball, and for this
purpose a temporary building, capable of holding 300 persons, was to be
erected, and the whole entertainment, building and all, were to be at the
expense of the inhabitants themselves. These were bad auspices, and
accordingly the ball completely failed. Madame Mtire, Madame Bertrand,
and the two ladies of honour, attended, but not above thirty of the fair
islanders, and as the author of the IEineraire remarks, "Le bal ful
triste quoique Bonaparte n'y parut pas."
Having in an excursion reached the summit of one of the highest hills on
the island, where the sea was visible all round him, he shook his head
with affected solemnity, and exclaimed in a bantering tone, "Eh! il faut
avouer que mon ile est bien petite."
On this mountain one of the party saw a little church in an almost
inaccessible situation, and observed that it was a most inconvenient site
for a church, for surely no congregation could attend it. "It is on that
account the more convenient to the parson," replied Bonaparte, "who may
preach what stuff he pleases without fear of contradiction."
As they descended the hill and met some peasants with their goats who
asked for charity, Bonaparte told a story which the present circumstances
brought to his recollection, that when he was crossing the Great St.
Bernard, previously to the battle of Marengo, he had met a goatherd, and
entered into conversation with him. The goatherd, not knowing to whom he
was speaking, lamented his own hard lot, and envied the riches of some
persons who actually had cows and cornfields. Bonaparte inquired if some
fairy were to offer to gratify all his wishes what he would ask? The
poor peasant expressed, in his own opinion, some very extravagant
desires, such as a dozen of cows and a good farmhouse. Bonaparte
afterwards recollected the incident, and astonished the goatherd by the
fulfilment of all his wishes.
But all his thoughts and conversations were not as light and pleasant as
these. Sometimes he would involve himself in an account of the last
campaign, of his own views and hopes, of the defection of his marshals,
of the capture of Paris, and finally of his abdication; on these he would
talk by the hour with great earnestness and almost fury, exhibiting in
very rapid succession traits of eloquence, of military genius, of
indignation; of vanity, and of selfishness. With regard to the audience
to whom he addressed these tirades he was not very particular.
The chief violence of his rage seemed to be directed against Marshal
Marmont whom, as well as Augereau, he sometimes called by names too gross
for repetition, and charged roundly with treachery. Marmont, when he
could no longer defend Paris by arms, saved it by an honourable
capitulation; he preserved his army for the service of his country and
when everything else was lost stipulated for the safety of Bonaparte.
This last stipulation, however, Bonaparte affected to treat with contempt
and indignation.--[Editor of 1836 edition.]