The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. Vol. 4 (of 4) — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. Vol. 4 (of 4)
John Stuart Mill · en
Partly by good fortune, partly by good management, the cortege avoided
the infuriated bands who, in various places, had sworn to take the
fallen Emperor's life. At Avignon his escape was almost miraculous.
Near Orgon a mob of royalists beset the carriage, and Napoleon shrank
in pallid terror behind Bertrand, cowering there until the immediate
danger was removed by his Russian escort. A few miles out he donned a
postilion's uniform and rode post through the town. At Saint-Cannat he
would not touch a morsel of food for fear of poison. Rumors of the
bitter feeling prevalent at Aix led him for further protection to
clothe one of his aides in his own too familiar garb. In that town he
was violently ill, somewhat as he had been at Fontainebleau. The
attack yielded easily to remedies, and the Prussian commissioner
asserted that it was due to a loathsome disease. Thereafter the
hounded fugitive wore an Austrian uniform, and sat in the Austrian
commissioner's carriage; thus disguised, the Emperor of Elba seemed to
feel secure. From Luc onward the company was protected by Austrian
hussars; but in spite of these military jailers, mob violence became
stronger from day to day in each successive town. Napoleon grew
morbid, and the line of travel was changed from the direction of St.
Tropez to that of Frejus in order to avoid the ever-increasing danger.
The only alleviation in the long line of ills was a visit from his
light and giddy but affectionate sister Pauline, the Princess
Borghese, who comforted him and promised to share his exile. At length
Frejus was reached, and Napoleon resumed his composure as he saw an
English frigate and a French brig lying in the harbor. Perhaps the
beautiful view recalled to an outcast monarch the return, in 1799, of
one General Bonaparte, who had landed on the same shore to overthrow
the Directory. If not, it must have been due to unwonted dejection or
dark despair.