Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte — Complete
this habitual predilection, so that the cannon was thenceforth called
the Emperor's gun. It was here that Napoleon often conversed for hours
together.
On the 22d of August they came within sight of Madeira, and at
night arrived off the port. They stopped for a day or two to take in
provisions. Napoleon was indisposed. A sudden gale arose and the air was
filled with small particles of sand and the suffocating exhalations from
the deserts of Africa. On the evening of the 24th they got under weigh
again, and progressed smoothly and rapidly. The Emperor added to his
amusements a game at piquet. He was but an indifferent chess-player, and
there was no very good one on board. He asked, jestingly, "How it was
that he frequently beat those who beat better players than himself?"
Vingt et un was given up, as they played too high at it; and Napoleon
had a great aversion to gaming. One night a negro threw himself
overboard to avoid a flogging, which occasioned a great noise and
bustle. A young midshipman meeting Las Cases descending into the cabin,
and thinking he was going to inform Napoleon, caught hold of his coat
and in a tone of great concern exclaimed, "Ah sir, do not alarm the
Emperor! Tell him the noise is owing to an accident!" In general the
midshipmen behaved with marked respect and attention to Bonaparte, and
often by signs or words directed the sailors to avoid incommoding him:
He sometimes noticed this conduct, and remarked that youthful hearts
were always prone to generous instincts.
On the 1st of September they found themselves in the latitude of the
Cape de Verd Islands. Everything now promised a prosperous passage,
but the time hung heavily. Las Cases had undertaken to teach his son
English, and the Emperor also expressed a wish to learn. He, however,
soon grew tired and laid it aside, nor was it resumed until long
afterwards. His manners and habits were always the same; he invariably
appeared contented, patient, and good-humoured. The Admiral gradually
laid aside his reserve, and took an interest in his great captive. He
pointed out the danger incurred by coming on deck after dinner, owing to
the damp of the evening: the Emperor, would then sometimes take his arm
and prolong the conversation, talking sometimes on naval affairs, on
the French resources in the south, and on the improvements he had
contemplated in the ports and harbours of the Mediterranean, to all
which the Admiral listened with deep attention.
Meanwhile Napoleon observed that Las Cases was busily employed, and
obtained a sight of his journal, with which he was not displeased. He,
however, noticed that some of the military details and anecdotes gave
but a meagre idea of the subject of war: This first led to the proposal
of his writing his own Memoirs. At length the Emperor came to a
determination, and on Saturday, the 9th of September he called his
secretary into his cabin and dictated to him some particulars of
the siege of Toulon. On approaching the line they fell in with the
trade-winds, that blow here constantly from the east. On the 16th there
was a considerable fall of rain, to the great joy of the sailors,
who were in want of water. The rain began to fall heavily just as the
Emperor had got upon deck to take his afternoon walk. But this did not
disappoint him of his usual exercise; he merely called for his famous
gray greatcoat, which the crew regarded with much interest.
On the 23d of September they passed the line. This was a day of great
merriment and disorder among the crew: it was the ceremony which the
English sailors call the "christening." No one is spared; and the
officers are generally more roughly handled than any one else. The
Admiral, who had previously amused himself by giving an alarming
description of this ceremony, now very courteously exempted his
guests from the inconvenience and ridicule attending it. Napoleon was
scrupulously respected through the whole of this Saturnalian festivity.
On being informed of the decorum which had been observed with regard
to him he ordered a hundred Napoleons to be presented to the grotesque
Neptune and his crew; which the Admiral opposed, perhaps from motives of
prudence as well as politeness.
Owing to the haste with which they had left England the painting of
the ship had been only lately finished, and this circumstance confined
Napoleon, whose sense of smell was very acute, to his room for two days.
They were now, in the beginning of October, driven into the Gulf of
Guinea, where they met a French vessel bound for the Isle of Bourbon.
They spoke with the captain, who expressed his surprise and regret when
he learnt that Napoleon was on board. The wind was unfavourable, and the
ship made little progress. The sailors grumbled at the Admiral, who had
gone out of the usual course. At length they approached the termination
of their voyage. On the 14th of October the Admiral had informed them
that he expected to come within sight of St. Helena that day. They had
scarcely risen from table when their ears were saluted with the cry of
"land!" This was within a quarter of an hour of the time that had been
fixed on. The Emperor went on the forecastle to see the island; but it
was still hardly distinguishable. At daybreak next morning they had a
tolerably clear view of it.
At length, about seventy days after his departure from England, and a
hundred and ten after quitting Paris, Napoleon reached St. Helena. In
the harbour were several vessels of the squadron which had separated
from them, and which they thought they had left behind. Napoleon,
contrary to custom, dressed early and went upon deck: he went forward to
the gangway to view the island. He beheld a kind of village surrounded
by numerous barren hills towering to the clouds. Every platform, every
aperture, the brow of every hill was planted with cannon. The Emperor
viewed the prospect through his glass. His countenance underwent no
change. He soon left the deck; and sending for Las Cases, proceeded to
his day's work. The Admiral, who had gone ashore very early, returned
about six much fatigued. He had been walking over various parts of the
island, and at length thought he had found a habitation that would suit
his captives. The place stood in need of repairs, which might occupy
two months. His orders were not to let the French quit the vessel till a
house should be prepared to receive them. He, however, undertook, on his
own responsibility, to set them on shore the next day.
On the 16th, after dinner, Napoleon, accompanied by the Admiral and the
Grand-Marshal, Bertrand, got into a boat to go ashore. As he passed, the
officers assembled on the quarter-deck, and the greater part of the crew
on the gangways. The Emperor, before he stepped into the boat, sent for
the captain of the vessel, and took leave of him, desiring him at the
same time to convey his thanks to the officers and crew. These words
appeared to produce the liveliest sensation in all by whom they were
understood, or to whom they were interpreted. The remainder of his suite
landed about eight. They found the Emperor in the apartments which
had been assigned to him, a few minutes after he went upstairs to his
chamber. He was lodged in a sort of inn in James Town, which consists
only, of one short street, or row of houses built in a narrow valley
between two rocky hills.
The next day the Emperor, the Grand-Marshal, and the Admiral, riding out
to visit Longwood, which had been chosen for the Emperor's residence,
on their return saw a small villa, with a pavilion attached to it, about
two miles from the town, the residence of Mr. Balcombe; a merchant of
the island. This spot pleased Napoleon, and the Admiral was of opinion
that it would be better for him to remain here than to return to the
town, where the sentinels at his door, with the crowds collected round
it, in a manner confined him to his chamber. The pavilion was a sort of
summer-house on a pyramidal eminence, about thirty or forty paces from
the house, where the family were accustomed to resort in fine weather:
this was hired for the temporary abode of the Emperor, and he took
possession of it immediately. There was a carriage-road from the town,
and the valley was in this part less rugged in its aspect. Las Cases was
soon sent for. As he ascended the winding path leading to the pavilion
he saw Napoleon standing at the threshold of the door. His body was
slightly bent, and his hands behind his back: he wore his usual plain
and simple uniform and the well-known hat. The Emperor was alone. He
took a fancy to walk a little; but there was no level ground on any side
of the pavilion, which was surrounded by huge pieces of rock. Taking
the arm of his companion, however, he began to converse in a cheerful
strain. When Napoleon was about to retire to rest the servants found
that one of the windows was open close to the bed: they barricaded it
as well as they could, so as to exclude the air, to the effects of which
the Emperor was very susceptible. Las Cases ascended to an upper
room. The valets de chambres lay stretched in their cloaks across the
threshold of the door. Such was the first night Napoleon passed at the
Briars.
An English officer was lodged with them in the house as their guard,
and two non-commissioned officers were stationed near the house to watch
their movements. Napoleon the next day proceeded with his dictation,
which occupied him for several hours, and then took a walk in the
garden, where he was met by the two Misses Balcombe, lively girls about
fourteen years of age, who presented him with flowers, and overwhelmed
him with whimsical questions. Napoleon was amused by their familiarity,
to which he had been little accustomed. "We have been to a masked ball,"
said he, when the young ladies had taken their leave.
The next day a chicken was brought for breakfast, which the Emperor
undertook to carve himself, and was surprised at his succeeding so well,
it being a long time since he had done so much. The coffee he considered
so bad that on tasting it he thought himself poisoned, and sent it away.
The mornings were passed in business; in the evening Napoleon sometimes
strolled to the neighbouring villa, where the young ladies made him
play at whist. The Campaign of Italy was nearly finished, and Las Cases
proposed that the other followers of Napoleon who were lodged in the
town should come up every morning to assist in transcribing The Campaign
of Egypt, the History of the Consulate, etc. This suggestion pleased
the ex-Emperor, so that from that time one or two of his suite came
regularly every day to write to his dictation, and stayed to dinner. A
tent, sent by the Colonel of the 53d Regiment, was spread out so as to
form a prolongation of the pavillion. Their cook took up his abode at
the Briars. The table linen was taken from the trunks, the plate was set
forth, and the first dinner after these new arrangements was a sort of
fete.
One day at dinner Napoleon, casting his eye on one of the dishes of his
own campaign-service, on which the-arms of the King had been engraved,
"How they have spoiled that!" he exclaimed; and he could not refrain
from observing that the King was in great haste to take possession of
the Imperial plate, which certainly did not belong to him. Amongst the
baggage was also a cabinet in which were a number of medallions, given
him by the Pope and other potentates, some letters of Louis XVIII. which
he had left behind him on his writing-table in the suddenness of his
flight from the Tuileries on the 20th of March, and a number of other
letters found in the portfolio of M. De Blacas intended to calumniate
Napoleon.
The Emperor never dressed until about four o'clock, he then walked in
the garden, which was particularly agreeable to him on account of its