UNRELATED INCIDENT.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXII, Issue 2672, 29 December 1928, Page 2

UNRELATED INCIDENT.

WHEN NAPOLEON SWOONED. Ai hitherto unrelated incident in the life of Napoleon has been discovered by the Abbe Tessier, of St. Gabriel's College, Saint 'Affrique (Aveyron), in a "Life of Dom Gabet" (according to a Central News message from the Daily Telegraph recently). According to this account. Napoleon, after his coronation in Notre Dame, decided that he would also wear the crown of the Lombard kings, and characteristically made immediate preparations for •the journey to Milan. A great cortege of vehicles was set out from Paris. It was Napoleon's intention to take the road through the Alps to Susa, and despite the warning that a storm was brewing, he adhered to his intention. He was well on his way when the storm broke. Incessant falls of snow soon rendered progress difficult, and Napoleon was eventually compelled to leave his horse first for a carriage and then for a sedan chair. Progress was slow, and ithe cold was intense. One after another the soldiers fell, while several of the others in the party fainted. In order to restore the circulation to his legs, Napoleon tried to walk. It was then that he, too, fainted. He was carried to the nearest refuge, where he recovered - consciousness. Realising his position, he cried ,"Mon Dieu! What a state for me to be in. What would they say in Paris if they knewl"

Later he was taken to 'the monastery of Mount Cenis, where a warm welcome was extended by the Abbe Dom Gabet. The Emperor was suffering intensely, and felt his condition to be hopeless. "Alas!" he cried, "have I escaped so many .times on the field of battle only to find myself in this hospice, which I restored, and which is to be my tomb?" Ultimately, however, he recovered, and the official "monitor" declared that the Emperor's journey to Milan had been successfully accomplished. "What would they say in Paris if they knew?" Paris, never knew.