The Mentor: Napoleon Bonaparte, Serial No. 38 — John Shaqi
The Mentor: Napoleon Bonaparte, Serial No. 38Tarbell, Ida M. (Ida Minerva)
History
The Mentor: Napoleon Bonaparte, Serial No. 38
Tarbell, Ida M. (Ida Minerva)
Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821
Napoleon left the field, and took the road to Paris, where he found
his power gone. He resigned as emperor in favor of his son, and went
to Rochefort in hope of finding a ship going to the United States. The
English vessel Bellerophon blockaded the harbor, and Napoleon boarded
it, throwing himself on the mercy of Great Britain. He reckoned,
however, without his host; for England had never forgotten that
Napoleon had threatened an invasion of Great Britain. Moreover, within
the year Napoleon had been declared an international outlaw, “outside
the pale of social and civil relations, and liable to public vengeance.”
So, as Napoleon crossed the English Channel from Rochefort to
Portsmouth, with Captain Maitland, on board his Majesty’s ship
Bellerophon, he had sought safety in the lion’s mouth. England assumed
charge of him on behalf of all Napoleon’s European enemies, and
consigned him to exile on the island of St. Helena.
[Illustration: NAPOLEON AT ST. HELENA--BY PAUL DELAROCHE]
NAPOLEON AT ST. HELENA, from the painting by Paul Belaroche,
is the subject of one of the intaglio-gravure pictures
illustrating “Napoleon Bonaparte.”
SATURDAY DAILY READING IN THE MENTOR COURSE
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
AT ST. HELENA
On a rock-bound island in the South Atlantic the greatest military
genius of all time spent the last six years of his life. There
Napoleon dragged out the months in company with a number of his former
associates, recalling the glories of the past and complaining of the
bitter conditions of the present. There he wrote interesting memorial
papers and gave expression to the ripe results of his military training.
Sir Hudson Lowe, a British military officer with little tact or
diplomacy, was his jailer. It was not possible for such a man and
Napoleon Bonaparte to meet on terms of amity. Writers on the subject
differ, as they do on almost all the episodes of Napoleon’s life. Some
say that Sir Hudson abused and insulted Napoleon shamefully. However,
there are French writers who try to prove that Napoleon continually
lied to and intrigued against the governor.
Napoleon’s mind during these days turned frequently toward his son,
“the little king of Italy,” and he dictated many instructions as to the
boy’s future. It might have been with the hope that at some future time
an empire might come to his son that he also dictated those elaborate
memoirs in which he gave an account of himself.
During a terrific storm of wind and rain on the night of May 5, 1821,
Napoleon died. The dash of the waves and the roar of the storm seemed
to stir his fading faculties and to arouse in him a memory of the din
of battle; for his last words were “Tête d’armée” (the head of the
army), and with that ejaculation in a sharp military tone his lips
closed forever.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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