Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, Volume V.Scott, Walter
History
Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, Volume V.
Scott, Walter
France -- History -- 1789-1815; Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821
approved courage; but it must be recollected, that the danger was of a
new and peculiarly horrible description, and calculated to appal many to
whom the terrors of a field of battle were familiar. The bravest soldier
might shudder at a death like that of the De Witts. At La Calade he was
equally nervous, and exhibited great fear of poison. When he reached
Aix, precautions were taken by detachments of gendarmes, as well as by
parties of the allied troops, to ensure his personal safety.[63] At a
chateau called Bouillidou, he had an interview with his sister Pauline.
The curiosity of the lady of the house, and two or three females, made
them also find their way to his presence. They saw a gentleman in an
Austrian uniform. "Whom do you wish to see, ladies?"--"The Emperor
Napoleon."--"I am Napoleon."--"You jest, sir," replied the
ladies.--"What! I suppose you expected to see me look more mischievous?
O yes--confess that, since fortune is adverse to me, I must look like a
rascal, a miscreant, a brigand. But do you know how all this has
happened? Merely because I wished to place France above England."
[Sidenote: FREJUS--VOYAGE TO ELBA.]
At length he arrived at Frejus, the very port that received him, when,
coming from Egypt, he was on the verge of commencing that astonishing
career, now about to terminate, to all earthly appearance, at the very
point from which he had started. He shut himself up in a solitary
apartment, which he traversed with impatient and hasty steps, sometimes
pausing to watch from the window the arrival of the vessels, one of
which was to transport him from France, as it then seemed, for ever. The
French frigate, the Dryade, and a brig called the Inconstant, had come
from Toulon to Frejus, and lay ready to perform this duty. But,
reluctant perhaps to sail under the Bourbon flag, Napoleon preferred
embarking on board his Britannic Majesty's ship the Undaunted, commanded
by Captain Usher.[64] This vessel being placed at the direction of the
British commissioner, Sir Niel Campbell, he readily acquiesced in
Napoleon's wish to have his passage in her to Elba. It was eleven at
night on the 28th ere he finally embarked, under a salute of twenty-one
guns. "Adieu, Cæsar, and his fortune," said the Russian envoy. The
Austrian and British commissioners accompanied him on his voyage.[65]
During the passage, Buonaparte seemed to recover his spirits, and
conversed with great frankness and ease with Captain Usher and Sir Niel
Campbell. The subject chiefly led to high-coloured statements of the
schemes which he had been compelled to leave unexecuted, with severe
strictures on his enemies, and much contempt for their means of
opposition. The following particulars are amusing, and, so far as we
know, have never appeared:
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