NAPOLEON BONAPARTE

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1508, 24 January 1901, Page 11

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE

HIS LAST DAYS AS A PRISONER IN THE ISLAND OF ST. HELENA. (From. “Napoleon: Hie Last Phase,” by Lord Rosebery. London: A. L. Humphreys.) In the Act which passed through Par. Lament “for more effectually detaining Napoleon in custody,’" lie is carefully called “Napoleon Bonaparte,” as if to deny that he had even been French at Mb This would be pitiable were it not ridiculous. Cockburn had on shipboard resolutely inaugurated this solemn farce. And so soon as he landed he thus answered a note in which Bertrand mentioned the Emperor : —“Sir,—l have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter and note of yesterday’s date by which you. oblige me officially to explain to you that I have no cognisance or any Empei'or being actually upon this island, or of any person possessing such dignity having (as stated by you) come hither with me in the Northumberland. With regard to yourself, and the other officers of distinction who have accompanied you here,” and so he proceeds. Napoleon was one of these! Cockburn complacently sends the correspondence to Bathurst, with a note in which he speaks of “General Bonaparte (if by, the term ‘Emperor’ he meant to designate that person).” This is too much _ even for Forsyth. Lowe carried on this puerile affectation with scrupulous .fidelity. Hobliouse sent his book on the Hundred Days to Napoleon, writing inside it “Imperatori Napoleon!.” This, though the inscription after all in strictness meant “To General Napoleon,” the conscientious Lowe sequestrated. And on this occasion he laid down a principle. He had allowed letters direct, eel under the Imperial title to reach Napoleon from his relations or his former subjects, “but this was from an English person.” A Mr Elphinstone, who was grateful for attentions paid to a wounded brother at Waterloo, sent him some chessmen from China. Lowe made difficulties about forwarding these because they bore N and a crown. We feel tempted to ask if Napoleon’s linen, marked as it was with the objectionable cipher, was. admitted to . the honours of tlie island laundry. It would be easy to multiply instances of Lowe’s childishness in this respect; but we will only add one more. Three weeks before his death the sick captive sent Coxe’s “Life of Marlborough” as a token of goodwill to the officers of the 20th Regiment. Unfortunately the Imperial title was written or stamped on the title page, and the present, under the orders of the Governor, was declined. In these days the 20 th Regiment would perhaps not mind possessing the Life of the greatest of English Generals given by the greatest of French. It is humiliating to be obliged to add that this pettiness survived even Napoleon himself. On the Emperor’s coffin-plate bis followers desired to place the simple inscription “Napoleon,” with the date and place of his birth an/ death. Sir.. Hudson refused to sanction this, unless “Bonaparte” were added. But the Emperor’s suite felt themselves unable to agree to the style which their master had declined to accept. So there was no name on the coffin. It seems incredible, but it is true.

Miss Betsy Balcombe is the girl who£4 name occurs most frequently in the St. Helena records. Twenty-three years after the Emperor’s death, under the married name of Mrs Abell, she published her recollections of his exile. Her father, Mr Balcombe, was a sor-t of general purveyor, sometimes called by courtesy a banker; and the traditions of the island declared him to be a son of George IV. Napoleon lived at this gentleman’s villa wiStle Longwood was being prepared for his reception, and there made acquaintance*" with his two daughters. Betsy was about 15, and the younger of th© two. They both talked French, but Betsy was the prettier and the fav_ ourite, for she represented a type which was new to the Emperor, a higff-jspirited hoyden, who said and did whatever occurred to her on the spur of the moment. The pranks that she played she still i*ecords in her book; they must have certainly been in the nature of a piquant novelty to Napoleon. She boxed his ears, she attacked him with his own sword. But the suite ivas not unnaturally disgusted at the familiarity with which she treated their master, and Napoleon himself, wearied of her, denounced the whole family as “canaille” and as “iniserables.” One flirtation kept the whole island alive —Would Major Ferzen marry Betsy or not? Napoleon said, No, the Major would not degrade himself. Still at rare intervals she amused him to the last. The Emperor, a few weeks before she left, sent the sisters two pi ites of bon tons. And, with this last characteristic memory of St. Helena and its ruler, the Balcombe family sailed from the island on the same ship with Gourgaud.