DID NAPOLEON GO TO ST. HELENA?

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14787, 16 September 1911, Page 5 (Supplement)

DID NAPOLEON GO TO ST. HELENA?

A NEW THEORY.

Asios'G all the theories and surmkings as to the true Napoleon Bonaparte, what he really thought, did, and said, where he really went and where he really did not go, how he lived and how he died, there has never been one to compete with , the statement of M. Omersa, an authoritative student of French history and chronicler of the "Little Corporal," for startling originality and consequent interest. In the Montreal Standard M. Omersa's theories and proofs are clearly set down and should arouse the keenest interest and doubtless not a little controversy. Napoleon Never Went to St. Helena. The facts, as recorded, are as follows — After, his defeat at Waterloo, Napoleon, refusing to give himself up to his archenemies, the English, escaped to Italy; whilst a Private Robeaut, so like him as to be practically indistinguishable, was sent to St. Helena, Napoleon's life-long friend, General Bertrand, - making the sacrifice of accompanying the impostor in order to ensure the success of the deception. Napoleon himself spent seven years in Verona Belling spectacles to British travellers. Such, is the gist of M. Omersa's statement. - Now for his proofs. The first document is an extract from the memoirs of one Captain Ledru, who was an agent of Napoleon's police during the latter part of his reign as Emperor of the French. In 1808 he was attached to the Emperor's person. At that time he was ordered by Fouche, the famous chief of the Parisian police, to look for a man so like Napoleon that the two could hardly, be told apart- The man required was found in Napoleon's Third Regiment of Voltifeurs; his name, as I have said, was 'rancois Eugene Robeaut, and ho so resembled the Emperor that his comrades designated him *notre petit Napoleon." Robeaut was forthwith deputed to serve in Napoleon's bodyguard, after which time he was lost to the sight, of Captain Ledru. In 1816, however, when Napoleon was a prisoner, the Mayor of Baleycourt, Robeaut's home, wrote to Captain Tjedru to know if he knew anything of, the whereabouts of the man in question, as he had quite vanished from his home and fiends, not even communicating with them in any way, nor wae his name on the list of those lost in any campaign. Captain Ledruwas unable to assist in ttye matter. .'■, ; ; :

« Died on the Island of St. Helena."

M. Omerca, however, not to bo beaten, journeyed to Baleyeourt, and was rewarded for bis trouble. In the local registers he discovered an* entry as follows : * A voltigeur of the Third Regiment of Napoleon L, by name Francois Eugene Robeaut, died on the island of St. Helena, belonging to the English." The date on the parchment had been carefully eliminated, but M. Omersa asserts that he can prove that no soldier of that name ever was on the island of St. Helena as such. He claims that Robeaut lived and died there as Napoleon, and that someone who knew the secret scratched out the date of death in the entry at Baleyeourt to avert suspicion. Miss M. E. Ritchie makes another strong link in the chain of evidence. This lady had known Napoleon in Paris and had obtained permission to visit him at St. Helena. After her visit she wrote home : " I was most astonished when they introduced me into the presence of th« ex-Emperor of the French. Indeed, I could not believo it was he whom I had known as such. Instead of that great and kindly manner which Napoleon presented, even after his final defeat at Waterloo, I f6und a cringing little man with none of that self-possession of Napoleon." Bearded Napoleon Sella Spectacles. •

M. Omersa's next witness is an Italian jeweller, by the name of Petrucoi, whe lived at' Verona and left a diary. " In this diary Petrucci state* that in .1816 a Frenchman came to the town and opened a shop next door to him, where he sold spectacles and field-glasses. "This man," says Petrueci in hie diary, c looked about fifty, and, in spite of a heavy beard, was so like Napoleon in figure and gesture that people used to go to buy things juet to be able to have a look at him. He was as clever a business man &a I have ever seen, >. and soon made a fortune. He knew nobody in the town and would not often talk to me. One summer evening, in 1823, however, he entered my shop, just about closing time, gave me a heavily-: sealed peckage, said he waa going away, and begged me to send the packet to the French King ;if he did not return to witiuaLthjee;months. ; y , ,

Napoleon Sought His Son and Found Death. " As he did not return within that time I sent the packet to the King. Some weeks later I had a visit from another mysterious Frenchman, evidently a cour.tier, from manner and bearing, who wound up my neighbour's affairs and gave me 100,000 crowns on my swearing to speak to nobody of my mysterious neighbour. I kept my. promise, but the secret often weighs heavy on me, and therefore I keep this diary so that the story may become known after my death." ; "This led the French historian to another clue. He searched the archives of Schoenbrun, that Imperial Palace near Vienna, where Napoleon's son was taken after his father's final death. Here M. Omerea found the last strong proof of his belief. In one of the private note-books kept by Carol Arnstoin, procurator of Schoenbrun, the following entry, dated September 5, 1823, was found : Yesterday an unknown person attempted to scale the high railings round the park at Schoenbrun. As he refused to come down or to explain himself the sentry on duty fired at him. The stranger died gasping the words, ' King ! My son!' Who the man was Ido not know. He had-a Ion? beard, and yet looked like Napoleon.'