Part 29
It seemed like a fatality that measures, dictated by the best and kindest intentions on the part of the Admiral, should still bear an appearance of restriction and colouring of caprice, which destroyed their effect. Along with the Emperor’s fowling-pieces were two or three guns belonging to individuals of his suite. These were delivered to their owners; but on condition that they should be sent every evening to the tent of the officer on duty. It may well be supposed that this proposition induced us, without hesitation, to decline the favour altogether; and the guns were not surrendered to us unconditionally, until after a little parleying. And after all what were the important subjects under discussion? A few fowling-pieces; and the owners of them were unfortunate men, banished from the rest of the world, surrounded by sentinels, and guarded by a whole camp. I mention this circumstance, because, though trifling in itself, it proves better than many others our real situation and the mode in which we were treated.
On the 3rd, I breakfasted with Madame Bertrand, whom I was to accompany to dine at the Governor’s. From Madame Bertrand’s abode to Plantation-House (the Governor’s residence) is an hour and a half’s journey in a carriage drawn by six oxen, for the use of horses on this road would be dangerous. We crossed or turned five or six passes, flanked with precipices several hundred feet high. Four of the oxen were taken from the carriage in the rapid descents, and yoked again in ascending the hills. We stopped when we had got about three parts of the way, to pay a visit to a good old lady, eighty-three years of age, who is very fond of Madame Bertrand’s children. Her house is very pleasantly situated: she had not been out of it for sixteen years, when, hearing of the Emperor’s arrival, she set out for the town, declaring that, if it cost her her life, she was resolved to see him:—she was happy enough to gain her object.
Plantation-House is the best situated, and most agreeable residence in the whole island. The mansion, the garden, the out-offices, all call to mind the residence of a family possessing an income of 25 or 30,000 livres in one of the French provinces. The grounds are cultivated with the greatest attention and taste. A resident at Plantation-House might imagine himself in Europe, without ever suspecting the desolation that prevails over every other part of the Island. Plantation-House is occupied by Colonel Wilks, the Governor, whose authority is now superseded by the Admiral. He is a man of most polished manners; his wife is an amiable woman, and his daughter a charming young lady.
The Governor had invited a party of about thirty. The manners and ceremonies of the company were entirely European. We spent several hours at Plantation-House; and this, we may truly say, has been the only interval of oblivion and abstraction that we have enjoyed since we quitted France. Colonel Wilks evinced particular partiality and kindness to me. We mutually expressed the compliments and sympathy of two authors, pleased with each other’s merits. We exchanged our works. The Colonel overwhelmed _M. le Sage_ with flattering compliments: and those which I returned to him were of the sincerest kind; for his work contains a novel and interesting account of Hindostan, where he resided for a considerable time in a diplomatic capacity. A spirit of philosophy, a fund of information, joined to singular purity of style, concur to render it a production of first-rate merit. In his political opinions, Colonel Wilks is cool and impartial; he judges calmly and dispassionately of passing events, and is imbued with the sound ideas and liberal opinions of an intelligent and independent Englishman.
As we were on the point of sitting down to dinner, we were, to our great surprise, informed that the Emperor, in company with the Admiral, had just passed very near the gate of Plantation-House; and one of the guests (Mr. Doveton, of Sandy-Bay) observed, that Napoleon had, in the morning, honoured him with a visit, and spent three quarters of an hour at his house.
LIFE AT LONGWOOD.—THE EMPEROR’S RIDE ON HORSEBACK.—OUR NYMPH.—NICKNAMES.—ON ISLANDS, AND THE DEFENCE OF THEM.—GREAT FORTRESSES; GIBRALTAR.—CULTIVATION AND LAWS OF THE ISLAND. ENTHUSIASM, &c.
4th—8th. When I entered the Emperor’s apartments to give him an account of our excursion on the preceding day, he took hold of my ear, saying: “Well, you deserted me yesterday: I got through the evening very well, notwithstanding. Do not suppose that I could not do without you.” Delightful words! rendered most touching by the tone which accompanied them, and by the knowledge I now possess of him by whom they were uttered.
The weather has every day been fine, the temperature dry; the heat intense, but abating suddenly, as usual, towards five or six o’clock.
The Emperor, since his arrival at Longwood, had left off his usual dictations: he passed his time in reading in his cabinet, dressed himself between three and four o’clock, and afterwards went out on horseback, accompanied by two or three of us. The mornings must have appeared to him longer; but his health was the better for it. Our rides were always directed towards the neighbouring valley, of which I have already spoken; we either passed up it, taking the lower part of it first, and returning by the Grand Marshal’s house; or, on the contrary, went up that side first, in order to descend it in returning: we even went beyond it once or twice, and crossed other similar valleys. We thus explored the neighbourhood, and visited the few habitations which it contained; the whole of which were poor and wretched. The roads were sometimes impassable; we were even occasionally obliged to get off our horses. We had to clear hedges, and to scale stone walls, which we met with very frequently; but we never suffered anything to stop us.
In these our customary rides we had for some days fixed on a regular resting-place in the middle of the valley. There, surrounded by desert rocks, an unexpected flower displayed itself: under a humble roof we discovered a charming young girl, fifteen or sixteen years of age. We had surprised her the first day in her usual costume: it announced any thing but affluence. The following morning we found that she had bestowed the greatest pains on her toilet; but our pretty blossom of the fields now appeared to us nothing more than a very ordinary garden-flower. Nevertheless, we henceforth stopped at her dwelling a few minutes every day; she always approached a few paces to catch the two or three sentences which the Emperor either addressed, or caused to be translated, to her, as he passed by, and we continued our route, discoursing on her charms. From that time she formed an addition to the particular nomenclature of Longwood: she became _our nymph_. Among those who were intimate with him, the Emperor used, without premeditation, to invent new names for every person and object that attracted his notice. Thus the pass through which we were proceeding, at the moment of which I am now writing, received the name of the _Valley of Silence_; our host at Briars was our _Amphitryon_; his neighbour, the Major, who was six feet high, was our _Hercules_; Sir George Cockburn was my _Lord Admiral_, as long as we were in good spirits, but, when ill-humour prevailed, there was no title for him but such as the _shark_, &c.
Our nymph is the identical heroine of the little pastoral with which Doctor Warden has been pleased to embellish his Letters; although I corrected his error, when he gave me the manuscript to read before his departure for Europe, by telling him: “if it is your intention to form a tale, it is well; but if you wish to depict the truth, you must alter this entirely.” It should seem that he thought his tale possessed far more interest; and he has preserved it accordingly. But to return to our _nymph_: I have been informed that Napoleon brought her great good fortune. The celebrity which she acquired through him attracted the curiosity of travellers, and her own charms effected the rest; she is become the wife of a very rich merchant, or captain, in the service of the East-India Company.
On returning from our rides, we used to find assembled the persons whom the Emperor had invited to dine with him. He had, successively, the Colonel of the 53rd, several of the officers and their ladies, the Admiral, the beautiful and amiable Mrs. Hodson, the wife of our Hercules, whom the Emperor went one day to visit in the valley of Briars, and of whose children he had taken so much notice, &c.
After dinner, the Emperor joined one party at cards, and the rest of the company formed another.
The day the Admiral dined at Longwood, the Emperor, whilst taking his coffee, discoursed for a few minutes upon the affairs of the Island. The Admiral said that the 66th regiment was coming to reinforce the 53rd. The Emperor laughed at this; and asked him, if he did not think himself already strong enough. Then, continuing his general observations, he said that an additional seventy-four would be of more use than a regiment; that ships of war were the security of an Island; that fortifications produced nothing but delay; that the landing of a superior force was a complete success, although its effects might be deferred for a time; provided, however, the distance did not admit of succour arriving.
The Admiral having asked him which, in his opinion, was the strongest place in the world, the Emperor answered, it was impossible to point it out, because the strength of a place arises partly from its own means of defence, and partly from extraneous and indeterminate circumstances. He, however, mentioned Strasburg, Lille, Metz, Mantua, Antwerp, Malta, and Gibraltar. The Admiral having told him that he had been suspected in England, for some time, of entertaining a design to attack Gibraltar: “We knew better than that,” replied the Emperor; “it was our interest to leave Gibraltar in your possession. It is of no advantage to you; it neither protects nor intercepts any thing; it is only an object of national pride, which costs England very dear, and gives great umbrage to Spain. It would have been very injudicious in us to destroy such ingenious arrangements.”
On the 6th, I was invited, with Madame Bertrand and my son, to dine at Briars, where our old host had assembled much company. We returned very late, and not without having been exposed to danger, from the difficulties of the road and the darkness of the night, which obliged us to perform part of the journey on foot, from consideration for Madame Bertrand.
On the 7th, the Emperor received a visit from the Secretary of the Government and one of the members of the Council. He asked them a great many questions, as usual, concerning the cultivation, the prosperity, and the improvements of which the Island might be capable. In 1772, a system had been adopted for furnishing meat at half price to the inhabitants from the magazines of the Company; the consequence of which was, great idleness, and neglect of agriculture. This system was altered five years ago; which, added to other circumstances, has revived emulation, and carried the prosperity of the Island to a pitch far beyond what it ever enjoyed before. It is to be feared that our arrival may prove a mortal blow to this growing prosperity.
St. Helena, which is seven or eight leagues in circumference (about the size of Paris), is subject to the general laws of England and the local ones of the island: these local laws are drawn up by a Council, and are sanctioned in England by the Court of Directors of the East-India Company. The Council is composed of a Governor, of two civil members, and a Secretary, who keeps the registers; they are all appointed by the Company, and are subject to be removed at pleasure. The members of the Council are legislators, administrators, and magistrates; they decide without appeal, with the aid of a jury, upon civil and criminal matters. There is neither advocate nor attorney in the Island; the Secretary of the Council authenticates all acts, and is a kind of unique notary. The population of the Island amounts at this moment to about five or six thousand souls, including the blacks and the garrison.
I was walking one afternoon in the garden with the Emperor, when a sailor, about twenty-two or twenty-three years of age, with a frank and open countenance, approached us, with gestures expressive of eagerness and joy, mingled with apprehension of being perceived from without. He spoke nothing but English, and told me in a hurried manner, that he had twice braved the obstacle of sentinels and all the dangers of severe prohibition, to get a close view of the Emperor. He had obtained this good fortune, he said, looking stedfastly at the Emperor, and should die content; that he offered up his prayers to Heaven that Napoleon might enjoy good health, and be one day more happy. I dismissed him; and, on quitting us, he hid himself again behind the trees and hedges, in order to have a longer view of us. We frequently met with such unequivocal proofs of the good-will of these sailors. Those of the Northumberland, above all, considered themselves as having formed a friendship with the Emperor. While we were residing at Briars, where our seclusion was not so close, they often hovered around us on a Sunday, saying they came to take another look at their shipmate. The day on which we quitted Briars, I was with the Emperor in the garden, when one of the sailors appeared at the gate, asking me if he might step in without giving offence. I asked him of what country he was, and what religion he professed. He answered by making various signs of the cross, in token of his having understood me, and of fraternity. Then looking stedfastly upon the Emperor, before whom he stood, and, raising his eyes to Heaven, he began to hold a conversation with himself, by gestures, which his great jovial face rendered partly grotesque, and partly sentimental. Nevertheless, it would have been difficult to express, more naturally, admiration, respect, kind wishes, and sympathy; whilst big tears started in his eyes. “Tell that dear man,” said he to me, “that I wish him no harm, but all possible happiness. So do most of us. Long life and health to him!” He had a nosegay of wild flowers in his hand, which he seemed to wish to offer to us; but either his attention was taken up, or he felt restrained by the Emperor’s presence, or his own feelings, and he stood wavering, as if contending with himself for some time; then suddenly made us a bow, and disappeared.
The Emperor could not refrain from evincing some emotion at these two circumstances; so strongly did the countenances, accents, and gestures of these two men bear the stamp of truth. He then said, “See the effect of imagination! How powerful is its influence! Here are people who do not know me—who have never seen me; they have only heard me spoken of; and what do they not feel! what would they not do to serve me! And the same caprice is to be found in all countries, in all ages, and in both sexes! This is fanaticism! Yes, imagination rules the world!”
VEXATIOUS TREATMENT OF THE EMPEROR.—FRESH MISUNDERSTANDINGS WITH THE ADMIRAL.
9th.—The grounds round Longwood, within which we have the liberty of taking the air, admit of only half an hour’s ride on horseback; which has induced the Emperor, in order to extend his ride, or to occupy more time, to descend into the ravines by very bad and indeed dangerous ways.
The Island not being thirty miles in circumference, it would have been desirable to have the circuit extended to within a mile of the sea-coast; then we might have had our rides, and even varied them, within a space of fifteen or eighteen miles. The watching of our movements would neither have been more troublesome nor less effectual, had sentinels been placed upon the sea-shore and at the openings of the valleys; or even had they traced all the Emperor’s steps by signals. We had been told, it is true, that the Emperor was at liberty to go over the whole of the Island under the escort of an English officer; but the Emperor had decided that he would never go out, if deprived of the privilege of being either entirely by himself, or in the society of his friends only. The Admiral, in his last interview with the Emperor, had, with great delicacy, settled that, whenever he (the Emperor) wished to go beyond the prescribed limits, he was to inform the English Captain on duty at Longwood of the circumstance; that the latter should go to his post to open the passage for the Emperor; and that the observation, if any, should thenceforth be continued in such a manner that the Emperor, during the remainder of his excursion, whether he entered any house or took advantage of any fine situation for proceeding with his works, might perceive nothing that could for a moment distract his mind from meditation. According to this arrangement, the Emperor proposed this morning to mount his horse at seven o’clock: he had ordered a slight breakfast to be prepared, and intended to go in the direction of Sandy Bay, to see a spring of water, and to pass the morning amongst some fine vegetation (an advantage which we did not possess at Longwood); and in this spot he proposed to dictate for a few hours.
Our horses were ready; at the moment when we were about to mount them, I went to acquaint the Captain with our intention, who, to my great astonishment, declared his determination of riding beside us; saying that the Emperor could not take it ill, after all, that an officer would not act the part of a servant by remaining behind alone. I replied that the Emperor doubtless would approve this sentiment; but that he would immediately give up his party of pleasure. “You must,” said I, “think it very natural, and by no means a ground of offence, that he feels a repugnance to the company of a person who is guarding him.” The officer evinced much concern, and told me that his situation was extremely embarrassing. “Not at all so,” I observed to him, “if you only execute your orders. We ask nothing of you; you have nothing to justify or explain to us. It must be as desirable to you as to us to get the limits extended towards the sea-shore: you would thereby be freed from a troublesome duty, and one which can do you no honour. The end proposed would not be the less effectually accomplished by such an arrangement. I will venture to say that it would be more so: whenever we wish to watch a person, we must guard the door of his room, or the gates of the enclosure which surrounds him; the intermediate doors are only sources of unavailing trouble. You lose sight of the Emperor every day when he descends into the deep hollows within the circuit, and you ascertain his existence only by his return. Well, then, make a merit of a concession which the nature of things demands. Extend the limits to within a mile of the sea-shore; you may then also trace the Emperor constantly by means of your signals from your heights.”
To all this the officer replied only by repeating that he wanted neither look nor word from the Emperor; that he would be with us, as if he were not present. He seemed, and indeed he was, unable to comprehend that the mere sight of him could be offensive to the Emperor. I told him that there was a scale for the degrees of feeling, and that the same measure did not apply to all the world. He appeared to think that we were putting our own interpretations on the Emperor’s sentiments, and that, if the reasons which he gave me were explained to him (the Emperor), the latter would accede to them. He was inclined to write to him. I assured him that, as far as related personally to himself, he would not be able to say so much to the Emperor as I myself should: but that I would go and repeat to the Emperor, word for word, the conversation which had passed between us. I went, and soon returned, and confirmed to him what I had before advanced. The Emperor from that moment gave up his intended excursion.
Wishing, however, on my own account, to avoid every misunderstanding which might add to discussions, at all times disagreeable, I asked him whether he had any objection to impart to me the account he intended to give the Admiral. He told me he had none; but that he should only give a verbal one. Then, resuming our long conversation, I reduced it in a few words, to two very positive points: on his part, that he had told me he wished to join the party of the Emperor: and on mine, that I had replied that the Emperor from that moment gave up his party, and would not go beyond the limits assigned to him. This statement was perfectly agreed upon by both of us. The Emperor ordered me to be called into his room. Brooding in profound silence over the vexation which he had just experienced, he had undressed again, and was in his morning-gown. He detained me to breakfast, and observed that the sky seemed to threaten rain; that we should have had a bad day for our excursion. But this was a poor consolation for the cruel restraint which had just deprived him of an innocent pleasure.
The fact is that the officer had received fresh orders; but the Emperor had only grounded the project of his little excursion upon the anterior promises of the Admiral, at which the Emperor had felt a pleasure in expressing his satisfaction to him. The present alteration, of which nothing had been said to the Emperor, must necessarily have been extremely unpleasant to him. Either the word given him was broken, or an attempt had been made to impose on him. This affront, which he experienced from the Admiral, is one of those which have considerably hurt the feelings of the Emperor.
The Emperor took a bath, and did not dine with us. At nine o’clock he ordered me to be called into his room, he was reading Don Quixote, which turned our conversation upon Spanish literature, the translation of Le Sage, &c. He was very melancholy, and said little; he sent me away in about three quarters of an hour.
MARCHAND’S ROOM.—LINEN, GARMENTS, &C. OF THE EMPEROR,—SPURS OF CHAMPAUBERT, &C.