Plymouth Remembers Napoleon's 1815 Visit

"Napoleon on HMS Bellerophon in Plymouth Sound" by Jules Girardet (1)

"It was known that he always appeared on deck towards five o'clock. A short time before this hour, all the boats collected along-side of each other; there were thousands, and so closely connected, that the water could no longer be seen between them; they looked more like a multitude assembled in a public square than anything else." (2)

I find, to my surprise that it is almost seven years since I wrote about Napoleon on the Bellerophon and the reaction of the crowds who turned out to try and catch a glimpse of him in Torquay and Plymouth. This bicentenary year I have largely ignored these events, instead focusing on the background to the Government decision to exile Napoleon to St. Helena.

The City of Plymouth is currently mounting an exhibition Napoleon in Plymouth Sound, 1815, the centre piece is the romantic Girardet painting of the crowds that surrounded the "Bellerophon". A member of the Bonaparte family has even been to see the exhibition. In its description of the exhibition the Museum says Napoleon was a folk-hero to the lower classes of all nations, even those he fought against. An interesting judgement, which even I find rather sweeping.

Apparently the City intends to build some kind of memorial commemorating its Napoleonic association. The structure will incorporate a stone that came originally from Longwood House on St. Helena, and will bear a plaque relating the circumstances of Napoleon's arrival.(3) The idea of the French Consul, designed to be a celebration of two centuries of Anglo-French amity, the proposal has raised the ire of a few patriotic Englishmen who have complained that there is no memorial of Nelson in the city. I am cynical enough to imagine that Plymouth is happy to cash in on its Napoleonic association!
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1. Jules Girardet(1856 to 1938), a French historical painter, produced a number of pictures of Napoleon, often showing him in a domestic setting. The picture of him on the Bellerophon is in the possession of the Plymouth City Council. It was of course painted long after the events it depicts.
2. Memorial de Sainte Helene - Journal of the Private Life and Conversations of the Emperor Napoleon at Saint Helena by the Count de las Cases, Volume 1 page 29
3. The Plymouth Herald is wrong to claim that Napoleon was held in Plymouth Hoe whilst his fate was decided: the Government had decided to send him to St Helena before the Bellerophon had even arrived in Torquay. It was the implementation of the policy, and the readying of the Northumberland , which had just returned from a long voyage, which took the time.

Guest Blog: Visit to the Isle d'Aix by Margaret Dyson

Napoleon 1st Clock in Napoleon Museum, l'île d'Aix

Napoleon Who? Margaret Dyson reports on a visit to the Isle D’Aix where Napoleon last set foot on French soil

On arriving on the Isle d'Aix (located off Rochefort) after a short ferry trip from the mainland, we were expecting a splash of publicity about the Emperor but there is none. The only sign of historic significance was a dedication to the Acadians (after whom the quay was named “Quai de l’Acadie”), descendants of early French settlers of North America.

Rue Napoleon, l'île d'Aix

As we left the ferry a replica of the 18 century frigate Hermione, which took 17 years to build, could be seen anchored off the coast, causing some excitement.

We followed the footpath to the nearby village and did the tourist "thing", looking round the shops, before taking the coastal footpath. This led us to Fort Liédot (completed in 1812) built on the orders of Napoleon as a defence against an English invasion This is now a museum depicting all periods of French history.

Fort Liédot, l'île d'Aix

Returning to the village it would be easy to miss the Musée Napoléon - the house that, in 1808, on a visit to the Isle, Napoleon ordered to be built for the island's Governor, little knowing that this was where his terminal incarceration was to begin ten years hence. Careful observers might notice two nearby street names "Rue de Marengo " (Napoleon's horse) and "Rue de Napoleon" (the Emperor himself).

Napoleon Museum, l'île d'Aix

The house is at the end of "Rue de Napoleon". Above the front door, close to the roof, is carved "a la mémoire de notre immortel Empereur Napoléon Ier, 15 juillet 1815. Tout fut sublime en lui : sa gloire, ses revers. Et son nom respecté plane sur l’univers" {to the memory of our immortal Emperor Napoleon 1st, 15 July 1815. Everything was sublime in him - his glories, his setbacks, and his name hovers throughout the universe}.

Front door of Napoleon Museum, l'île d'Aix

Close to the front door is a plaque indicating that Napoleon stayed in the house from 12th to 15th July 1815 before embarking on the Bellerophon for England. We entered the house via the small back garden.

Rue Marengo, l'île d'Aix

A notice ("Aux Visiteurs") inside the front door describes the events which brought Napoleon to this house. It states that he had wanted to go to America but was unable to do so because the English government refused to allow it, so he decided to surrender, adding that these were the most tragic moments of his life. The names of those who also stayed here with him are listed. A copy of the surrender document is displayed in Napoleon's bedroom. Also, in his bedroom, is a copy of the letter that Napoleon wrote to the Prince Regent (later King George IV) on 13th July, 1815 The bedroom is sparsely furnished now, with just a table, chairs, his bed and a few mementos.

The Bed which Gourgaud slept in on St Helena, 1815-1817 l'île d'Aix

There are many artefacts in other rooms, some of which were brought from Malmaison, the house that Napoleon built for his first wife, Josephine. There is a large bust and paintings of her and of his second wife (Marie Louise), hung either side of a large window. Also present is the bed that Gourgaud (Napoleon's Maréchale de Camp) used whilst on St Helena and in another room Bagetti's painting of "The Entrance of French Troops into Rome" plus busts of the Emperor, Josephine and others.

There are magnificent clocks one of which was made of gold and marble in the reign of Louis-Philippe. It has an adjoining statue of the Emperor with a ball symbolising the world surrounded by laurel leaves. Unfortunately most of the displays are under glass which does not make for good photography.

The bed in which Napoleon spent his last night on French soil, l'île d'Aix

In 1928 the house opened as a museum having been bought in 1926 by Baron Napoleon Gourgaud, the great grandson of Gaspard Gourgaud. Apart from Napoleon's residence the museum holds items from all parts of his life - his coronation, his battles (lost and won), through to his death on St Helena in May 1821.

We left on the evening ferry with some regret as the isle is now, largely, a weekend retreat with little acknowledgement of its most famous "visitor".
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From St Helena Connection No 18, publication of the Friends of St Helena. Reproduced with the permission of the author and the Editor of the St. Helena Connection.

Final Destination St. Helena

Sir John Barrow (1764 – 1848), Second Secretary to the Admiralty, credited with recommending St. Helena as the location for Napoleon's exile

Elba: The Past is Prologue

Napoleon's brief time on Elba was overshadowed by the possibility of his being forcibly kidnapped and removed elsewhere, with St. Helena often mentioned as a possible destination. Napoleon and his party were well aware of the press reports about this which began as early as July 1814; Napoleon himself raised them with the British Commissioner and later claimed that reports of the intention to remove him was the decisive reason for his return to France.

Shortly before Napoleon left Elba a number of British papers printed a story dated London, January 13th 1815:

There is good reason for believing that it has been finally resolved to remove the Ex-Emperor Napoleon from Elba to the island of St. Helena; a removal highly desirable as it will place him in a seclusion perfectly secure and completely removed from the sphere of every system of politics. The stoppage of buildings and other improvements which Napoleon had been making in Elba, gives strength to the above statement. (1)

All the discussions of the circumstances surrounding Napoleon's exile on St. Helena seem to ignore the background: Britain's decision not to to sign the Treaty of Fontainebleau that made Napoleon Emperor of Elba; the disquiet by the Bourbons about his close proximity to France and Italy; the failure to pay him the pension promised; the schemes of Talleyrand to get him moved from Elba. (2)

The Parliamentary Inquest

The Whigs, seeking to apportion blame for Napoleon's return to France and the prospect of another drawn out period of war which many of them opposed, raised this issue in Parliament. In April Castlereagh claimed somewhat disingenuously that the report of an intention to remove him to St. Helena or St. Lucia was completely new to him.

For him the blame for Napoleon's return lay not with the British Government, but with the French people

What a state would France and the world be in, if the only protection that France had for the exclusion of Bonaparte was the possibility of Great Britain drawing a naval cord round the island of Elba(3)

Ironically this was to be precisely the situation the world found itself in when Napoleon was eventually exiled to St. Helena.

Earl Grey, Whig leader in the House of Lords, returned to the issue in May, quoting the admission in a proclamation apparently issued by one of Louis XVIII's ministers on leaving Paris that

one of the causes precipitating this desperate attempt was, the knowledge Bonaparte had acquired that it was intended to remove him from the island of Elba.(4)

Lord Bathurst in a not too convincing speech denied that the allies had broken the Treaty of Fontainebleau, but noticeably did not deny the intention to remove him from Elba:

If Bonaparte's salary was not regularly paid, as it was to be paid by the King of France, the omission was no violation of the Treaty by the Allies, unless Bonaparte had represented the omission to them, and they had neglected to force the payment. .. Whether any design existed to remove him from Elba was another question; but certainly no demonstration of such an intention had been evinced.(5)

The Whig opposition objected to the renewal of a war undertaken on the principles of personally proscribing the present Ruler of France, to which the Government's response was simply that not to make Napoleon's removal the object of war would lead to the dissolution of the alliance.(6)

All roads point to St Helena?

There is no evidence as to what if any plans the British Government was drawing up in the early summer of 1815 as to the ultimate fate of Napoleon. With a sizeable proportion of the army still in America, and recruitment of new troops proving disappointing, the Government was unsurprisingly preoccupied with preparing for war and ensuring that the alliance held together.

On 11 June 1815 at a dinner attended by Lord Liverpool and Castlereagh, John Quincy Adams recorded their opinion that before long Napoleon would shortly take refuge in the United States. This turned out to be remarkably accurate; what is not clear is whether the British Government would have regarded that as an acceptable outcome. At that time it was probably expecting a longer drawn out military campaign in France, rather than a short, decisive campaign in Belgium.

In the fluid situation after Waterloo, Castlereagh and Wellington were in France, communications were slow, and on the spot decisions were effectively made by Lords Liverpool (Prime Minister), Bathurst (War and Colonies) and Melville (Admiralty). Informed by Fouché of Napoleon's wish to go to America, the Government issued orders to the Navy to prevent his departure by force if necessary. If they took him alive, the Government's preferred position was to hand him over to France.

If we take him we shall keep him on board ship till the opinion of the Allies has been taken. The most easy course would be to deliver him up to the King of France, but then we must be quite certain that he would be tried and have no chance of escape. We should have a right to consider him as a French prisoner, and as such to give him up to the French Government. (7)

Clearly there were serious doubts about the ability of the Bourbons, who only a few months earlier had fled Paris without offering any resistance, to bring Napoleon to trial as a rebel. Before news of Napoleon's surrender had reached Paris or London, Liverpool wrote to Castlereagh on July 15th, that the best solution was for Britain to confine him, wherever it chose, and the Cabinet were of the view that

"the best place of custody would be at a distance from Europe, and that the Cape of Good Hope or St Helena would be the most proper stations for that purpose." (8)

There is no record of any mention of St. Helena during negotiations with Captain Maitland on the Bellerophon. The possibility of Napoleon staying in Britain was raised, by Maitland, and initially rejected by Las Cases and Savary. Savary cited the weather and the closeness to France as good reasons why that would not be appropriate: Napoleon would be suspected of involvement in every intrigue on France and the English "have been induced to look upon him as a monster, without one of the virtues of a human being." (9)

Clearly though Napoleon had his doubts and in the letter appointing Gourgaud as his emissary indicated that he did not wish to go to any colony. (10) His remarks to General Beker who had been instructed to accompany him from Paris on behalf of the Provisional Government were indicative of his apprehension:

"Don't accompany me on board, I don't know what the English intend doing with me; and should they not respond to my confidence, it might be said that you have sold me to England." (11)

Admiral Hotham though, meeting Napoleon soon after his surrender, found him " confident in the generosity and magnanimity of the Prince Regent and the English nation." though " extremely anxious to learn how I thought he would be disposed of "(12)"

By the time the Bellerophon arrived in Torbay with Napoleon on board the Government had pretty well settled on St. Helena as the place for Napoleon's confinement. There are no written records of how the decision was made, but Sir John Barrow, the long serving and highly respected Second Secretary at the Admiralty, is usually credited with recommending this to the Cabinet. Barrow had been to St Helena, and conveniently there was a Foreign Office "Memorandum on St. Helena" confirming the suitability of the island for a state prisoner. (13) Its contents appear to betray the hand of former St Helena Governor Alexander Beatson.

The legal situation was discussed by the Courier newspaper, usually regarded as the mouthpiece of the Administration. It pointed out that since Napoleon had surrendered rather than been captured, they could not hand him over.

the law of nations prescribes that "as soon as your enemy has laid down his arms and surrendered his person, you have no longer any right over his life." He must have surrendered himself under the conviction that he should receive an asylum, which conviction was confirmed by the act of receiving him. .. It seems therefore that we cannot give him up - that we shall afford him an asylum - that his life will be spared - but that we shall have him in such safe custody, that he shall not be able to disturb again the repose or the security of the world.(14)

Whether Britain was entitled to keep Napoleon as prisoner after the war had ended was a very nice legal question about which the Lord Chancellor had private doubts

it may be a simple way of considering the case to say, you made war against Buonaparte only; you have conquered him, and made him a prisoner of war; as he is such, and was the only person against whom you made war, you have no occasion to make with him any treaty of peace. You have your only enemy in your power, and you may, without more, keep him in it all his life long. But this is better for Parliament to. (15)

In Britain an Act of Parliament can settle almost anything!

Postscript

The last word belongs to the victor of Waterloo, who in January 1821, as Napoleon neared his end on St. Helena, delivered the following verdict in a letter to Princess Lieven, wife of the Russian Ambassador and mistress of Metternich :

We made a tremendous mistake in getting rid of Napoleon. He is the man we ought to have had. As long as the Bourbons hold four thrones there will be no peace in Europe. None of that family is any good. (16)

In August 1822, the real architect of Napoleon's fall, Lord Castlereagh, committed suicide, as had his Whig opponent Samuel Whitbread after Waterloo.

Wellington and Earl Grey both became Prime Ministers, the former outliving all his distinguished contemporaries and becoming a national hero whose funeral was attended by Napoleon's natural son, Grey gave his name to a famous blend of tea and his administration at last achieved the first of the great Reform Bills, which Lord Bathurst vehemently opposed.

The Bourbons were finally toppled in 1830
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1. Caledonian Mercury , Monday 16th January 1815.
2. Austrian spies at the Congress of Vienna discovered a plot in which the French Consul at Leghorn was to kidnap Napoleon. Sir Charles Webster, The Congress of Vienna 1814-1815 (London 1950) p 92.
3. Morning Post 21st April 1815
4. May 25th 1815, Dublin Evening Post, 30 May 1815
5. May 25th 1815, Dublin Evening Post, 30 May 1815
6. Bathurst, quoted in Dublin Evening Post, 30 May 1815
7. Lord Liverpool to Castlereagh, July 7th 1815. Thornton p. 57
8. Thornton p. 59
9. Michael John Thornton Napoleon after Waterloo : England and the St. Helena decision Stanford 1968 pp 23-4
10. Gilbert Martineau, Napoleon Surrenders (Newton Abbot 1973) p. 121.
11. Thornton p. 36
12. Admiral Hotham, July 15th 1815 to a British Envoy in Paris, quoted in Robert Harvey, The War of Wars - The Epic Struggle between Britain and France 1793-1815 (London 2006) p p 755. 13. Thornton pp 63-4.
14. Thornton pp 60-61
15. Neville Thompson, Earl Bathurst and the British Empire 1762-1834) (Leo Cooper 1999) p. 103
16. Quoted in Harold Nicolson,The Congress of Vienna: A Study in Allied Unity 1812-22 (London 1946) p. 296

From Elba to St Helena: A Timeline

Napoleon lands on Golfe-Juan

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1815

January 

13th  Reports of a plan to remove Napoleon 
      to St Helena began to appear in a number 
      of British newspapers
February 

26th Napoleon left Elba

March

1st  Napoleon landed at Golfe-Juan

5th  Royalist Infantry defected to Napoleon

6th  News of Napoleon's flight reached Vienna
     7th Infantry Regiment defected

13th Congress of Vienna declares Napoleon outlaw
     Napoleon issued edict dissolving assembly

14th Marshall Ney defects to Napoleon

15th Joachim Murat, King of Naples declares
     war on Austria.

19th    Louis XVIII leaves Paris

20th Napoleon Arrives in Paris

25th    Austria, Russia, Prussia, Britain each agreed 
        to supply 150,000 to fight against Napoleon
        Britain unable to raise enough troops so 
        provides subsidy to allies.

29th Napoleon issues decree abolishing Slave Trade

Proclamation issued at Lyons, where Napoleon was received warmly in 1815

April

7th    Samuel Whitbread, Whig Leader 
       in House of Commons 
       said Wellington and other diplomats 
       who had signed treaty against Napoleon 
       at Vienna should be impeached.

14th    Napoleon meets Benjamin Constant; work begins on constitution

22nd    Acte additionnel published 

May

2nd    Louis XVIII, manifesto published in Ghent 
       calls on the people to chase out the usurper.

15th   Royalist rebellion in the Vendee, West France.

18th   Battle of Tolentino
       Murat defeated by Austrians


21st   Murat's wife, Caroline, Napoleon's sister
       boarded a British war ship  
       and was taken to Trieste

25th   Earl Grey's amendment against resumption 
       of war lost in House of Lords; 
       among those voting against the
       war was Wellington's brother
       Lord Wellesley.

June

11th   Members of British Government tell 
       John Quincy Adams that they expect
       Napoleon soon to seek refuge in America.

12th   Napoleon leaves Paris to join the army 
       of the north

15th   Beginning of campaign against British 
       and Prussian forces

16th   Quatre Bras and Ligny

18th   Waterloo

19th   News of Waterloo reached London

20th   News of defeat reached Paris

21st   Napoleon arrived back in Paris

22nd   Napoleon Abdicated

23rd   Executive Commission set up to rule France

24th   Napoleon "invited" to leave Paris by Fouche 
       - moves to Malmaison;
       White terror begins in South of France

25th   General Beker appointed Commanding Officer of 
       Napoleon's Guard at Malmaison;   
       Commission asks Wellington for safe conduct 
       for Napoleon to go to America
       Louis XVIII returns to France 

26th   Fouche informed Napoleon that two frigates 
       in Rochefort were ready to take him 
       to America once safe conduct had been granted

27th   Fouche sent message urging Napoleon 
       to leave Malmaison

28th   Napoleon's doctor gave him small bottle of 
       poison in case he was captured by 
       advancing Prussian army

29th   Napoleon left Malmaison - spent night at Rambouillet

30th   Napoleon spent night at Tours

The beach at Fouras from which Napoleon left mainland France

The memorial bears the following inscription:

Ici, le 8 juillet 1815, Napoléon 1er a quitté le continent pour l’exil. L’Empereur a été porté jusqu’à la baleinière par le marin Baud, natif de Fouras. Don du Baron Gourgaud, arrière-petit-fils du général Gourgaud (1)

July
1st   Napoleon in Niort
      Croker (First Secretary of Admiralty) in Paris 
      set down rules for any ship 
      that captured Napoleon

3rd   Napoleon arrived at La Rochelle
      Paris capitulates

5th   Napoleon joined by brother 
      Joseph at La Rochelle

6th   Samuel Whitbread, Whig Leader and opponent
      of war, commits suicide.

7th   Government set up under Talleyrand and Fouche
      Lord Liverpool writes to Castlereagh that if
      they capture Napoleon the easiest course 
      would be to hand him over to France;

8th   Napoleon boarded Saale from Fouras beach
      2nd Restoration of Louis XVIII 
      gives orders to arrest Napoleon

9th   Fouche (Duc D'Oranto) appointed Minister of Police by Louis XVIII

10th  Napoleon ent Savary and las Cases to 
      Bellerophon to negotiate with English
 
12th  Napoleon moved to Ile d'Aix

14th  Las Cases and Lallemand informed captain of 
      Bellerophon that Napoleon would come on board 
      the next morning
      Napoleon writes letter to Prince Regent 

15th  Napoleon went on board Bellerophon
      Lord Liverpool writes to Castlereagh 
      that if they capture Napoleon St. Helena
      or Cape of Good Hope 
      would be the best places to secure him.

18th  Metternich wrote to Marie Louise saying 
      it had been agreed that Napoleon would be
      imprisoned at Fort St. George in Scotland.

21st  Letter From Lord Liverpool to Castlereagh
      in Paris proposing Napoleon should be
      sent to St. Helena

24th  Hudson Lowe chosen to be Governor of St. Helena

25th  Bellerophon arrived in Torbay
      
26th  Bellerophon leaves Torbay for Plymouth

29th  Gazette confirmed Napoleon
      would be sent to St. Helena

30th   Napoleon officially informed by Lord Keith 
       that he was to be sent to St Helena.

August

4th   Anthony Mackenrot attempted to serve Lord
      Keith with a subpoena requesting
      Napoleon to appear as a witness in court
      Bellerophon leaves Plymouth for open sea

7th   Napoleon transferred to Northumberland


October

13th   Murat executed after failing to
       recapture Kingdom of Naples

15th  Northumberland arrives at St. Helena

17th   Napoleon goes ashore
       lodges for night in Jamestown

18th   Napoleon visits Longwood and moves to Briars

December

10th   Napoleon moves to Longwood

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(1) The tide was out, and Napoleon was carried out to his boat on the back of a local sailor.

Napoleon On Elba: "He is quite forgotten -- as much as if he never existed."

Napoleon Bonaparte leaving Elba, 26 February 1815. Joseph Beaume 1836

Almost 200 years ago, on 26th February 1815, Napoleon and his supporters left Elba, bound for France, where he was to regain the throne without a shot being fired. The breaking of the terms of the Treaty of Fontainebleau by the great powers was in his eyes justification enough for his return.

The departure was witnessed by an English visitor, Henry Grattan, the son of a prominent Irish politician, who had been told by a servant that Napoleon and his troops were about to leave for Italy. **

At 7 p.m. the troops marched out of the fortifications without music or noise, and embarked at the health-office in feluccas and boats which were alongside, a part of them being transported to the brig which lay in the harbour.

At 9 p.m. Napoleon with General Bertrand passed out in the Princess Pauline's small carriage drawn by four horses, embarked at the health-office in a boat, and went on board the brig 'L'Inconstant.' Immediately afterwards the whole flotilla got under weigh with sweeps and boats, the soldiers crying out 'Vive l'Empereur!'(1)

Somewhat surprised at being a witness to this celebrated moment of history, Grattan hired a boat to go out to 'L'Inconstant' where Napoleon was pacing the quarter-deck in his greatcoat. Questioned by one of the officers on board, after being told that he was English, Grattan said he had come merely to see the Emperor; upon which he was ordered to go away. This he immediately complied with, for he expected every moment to be fired or seized (2).

In Florence, about 10 days before Napoleon's departure, Sir Neil Campbell, the British Commissioner on Elba, raised his fears that Napoleon might leave with Edward Cooke, the Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office. He told him of the concerns that were unsettling Napoleon, his family and his closest companions: the money that had been promised and never paid, rumours about the actions of the Congress of Vienna and concerns about the intentions of the Empress Marie Louise.

Cooke's sarcastic reply alleviated Cambell's concerns or so he claimed:

You may tell him that everything is amicably settled at Vienna; that he has no chance; that the Sovereigns wil not quarrel. Nobody thinks of him at all. He is quite forgotten -- as much as if he never existed! (3)

We do not know when Napoleon decided to leave Elba or whether he would ever have been reconciled to staying there. It is clear though that, aside from the situation in France where the Bourbons, propped up by the British Government with the hated and nearly assassinated Duke of Wellington as Ambassador, had made as much of a mess of things as Napoleon had anticipated, there were three major factors which contributed to his decision or at least made it easier.

Firstly was the failure of Marie Louise and his son to join him on Elba. The last letter he received from her was dated August 10th, and said that although she had promised to join him her father had insisted that she returned to Vienna. He wrote a last letter to her on August 28th, I long to see you and also my son and ended Adieu ma bonne Louise. Tout à toit. Ton Nap.(4) Soon thereafter she began a relationship with Count von Neipperg, with whom she was to bear three children.

In December Napoleon discussed with Campbell the rumour that the Austrians were seeking to annul his marriage to Marie Louise and aired his sense of injustice over the behaviour of his father in law:

"She had promised to write to him every day upon her return from Switzerland to Vienna, but he had never since received one letter from her. His child was taken from him like the children taken by conquerors in ancient times to grace their triumphs. The Emperor ought to recollect how differently he had acted towards him when he was entirely at his mercy .. He had twice entered Vienna as a conqueror, but never exercised towards the Emperor such ungenerous conduct." (5)

The second issue was that of funds. Under the Treaty of Fontainebleau it was agreed that Napoleon should receive 2.5 million francs per annum from the French Government. Not a penny was ever paid, and Napoleon was too proud to ask for it. Campbell raised this a number of times:

If pecuniary difficulties press upon him much longer, so as to prevent his vanity from being satisfied by the ridiculous establishment of a court which he has hitherto supported in Elba, and if his doubts are not removed, I think he is capable of crossing over to Piombino with his troops, or of any other eccentricity. But if his residence in Elba and his income are secured to him, I think he will pass the rest of his life there in tranquility. (6)

The third and perhaps most important issue concerned the rumour that he was going to be moved to St. Helena or St. Lucia. As early as July 1814 the Morning Post carried a report that Napoleon had been seized on Elba and transported to Malta or St. Helena, and this false story was repeated in a number of British provincial papers. More significant though, on October 19th the Courier, mouthpiece of the Tory Administration, had run a story that Napoleon was to be sent to St Helena. This rumour apparently spread across Italy and and had reached Elba at least by early November.(7) Madame Bertrand raised it with an English visitor in January, and Napoleon also discussed it with Campbell at around the same time. Campbell tried to reassure him, and said that he at least did not believe it.(8) In fact one of the first questions discussed at the Congress of Vienna in September was precisely this, all the powers were concerned that the presence of Napoleon so close to the continent exacerbated problems in France and Italy.(9) The King of France was apparently ready to pay Napoleon the sum owed, and more, if he went to the Azores!

On Christmas Eve 1814 Napoleon was visited by the future Prime Minister Lord John Russell, one of a number of Whigs who found their way to Elba. Russell reported that Napoleon seemed very agitated.(10) At the end of December though Campbell thought he detected a change in Napoleon's mood:

Napoleon's spirits seem of late rather to rise than to yield in the smallest degree to the pressure of pecuniary difficulties; although his mother, and some of the principal persons who have followed his fortune, are constantly absorbed in grief and effusions of discontent. They place their last hope for amelioration in the Congress, the members of which, they expect, will fix the regular payment of Napoleon's annuity, according to treaty. They appear also to entertain sanguine hopes that Mary-Louise will reside at Parma as sovereign, and even that she will come to Elba after the Congress is dissolved. (11)

Clearly there is much that we don't know about Napoleon's decision to gamble everything on a return to France. Few expected that he would be able to ascend the throne of France so easily. His own expectations are unknown, he appears to have confided in nobody. What does seem clear though is that from his point of view it was a gamble worth taking: his future as Emperor of the Lilliputian Kingdom of Elba was uncertain, to say the least. Norman Mackenzie neatly summarised his position:

If he stayed on Elba, even for a few more months, he was finished. At best he might be offered a bribe to take himself off to some final place of exile, and at worst he might be transported, imprisoned in a fortress, or killed defending himself.(12)

Quite simply he had nothing to lose. He was in a trap.

His attempt to break out caused an explosion of rumour on the continent. Britain's allies were inclined to pin the blame on Perfidious Albion, whose motives were variously seen as allowing him to escape with a view to having an excuse to treat him more severely, or in ruling circles in France as a manoeuvre designed to cause civil war and therefore to weaken the country further. (13) This latter interpretation was shared by the radical William Cobbett in his 1830 History of the Regency and Reign of King George the Fourth. There is I think no evidence to support this conspiracy theory, although the weakening of France was the result and indeed the intent of British policy over twenty years of war: never again was France to be in a position to exert hegemony on the continent of Europe and for the time at least, Britain reigned supreme.

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** See comments below. The Mr Grattan who witnessed Napoleon's departure may have been Henry's brother James.

1. Major-General Sir Neil Campbell Napoleon at Fontainebleau and Elba Being A Journal of Occurrences in 1814-1815 (London 1869) pp 372-3.
2. ibid.
3. Campbell pp 362-3
4. Quoted in Andrew Roberts, Napoleon the Great (London 2014) p. 724.
5. Campbell op. cit. p. 327.
6. Despatch No 34 to Castlereagh, Campbell op. cit. p. 319
7. Campbell op. cit. p. 349. In the same interview Napoleon expressed his concern that the Bourbons were planning to assassinate him.
8. Campbell p. 318-9.
9. Sir Charles Webster, The Congress of Vienna 1814-1815 (first published by the Foreign Office 1819, 1950 edition) p. 136
10. Katherine MacDonagh,"A Sympathetic Ear: Napoleon, Elba and the British", History Today, (1994), VOL. 44
11. Campbell p. 349.
12. Norman Mackenzie, The Escape from Elba, The Fall and Flight of Napoleon 1814-1815 (Pen and Sword edition, 2007) p. 188
13. Katherine MacDonagh "A Sympathethetic Ear .."

Windsor Part II: Napoleon's Letter to the Prince Regent

Ile d’Aix: Napoleon's Last Lodging on French Soil

At the end of our visit to Windsor a few weeks ago Albert and I were shown a large rather fragile frame in which were displayed a number of Napoleonic memorabilia, including the ubiquitous lock of Napoleon's hair. One wonders how and when that was acquired, and when the collection was framed?

To our surprise and delight, among the items on display was Napoleon's famous letter to the Prince Regent of July 13th 1815 signed as from Rochefort, although in fact written on the Ile d'Aix, which was part of the Rochefort regional authority.

The letter contained the famous spelling mistake: en but should have been written en butte

The English translation is

"Royal Highness,- A prey to the factions which divide my country and to the enmity of the greatest powers of Europe, I have terminated my public career, and I come, like Themistocles, to seat myself at the hearth of the British people. I place myself under the protection of its laws, which I claim from your Royal Highness as the most powerful, the most constant, and the most generous of my enemies."

Apparently there was more than one copy of this letter. Gourgaud was despatched ahead of the main party on the Slaney with a copy of the letter and instructions about Napoleon's wishes to go to America, but he was never allowed to land and the letter was not delivered to the Prince Regent. The original was given by Napoleon to Captain Maitland on the Bellerophon at Plymouth on 27th July when Maitland went ashore to meet Lord Keith. The letter was transmitted by Keith to Melville, First Lord of the Admiralty, on the same day. Napoleon never received official recognition that it had been received. (1) Presumably at some point this letter found its way into the royal archives.

I had never given any thought before to the whereabouts of the letter, and have never seen any reproduction of it. We of course were not allowed to photograph it.

I understand that somewhere in the Honorary French Consul's archives on St Helena is an image of this letter, supplied many years ago at the behest of the Duke of Edinburgh to Gilbert Martineau. Sometime perhaps it will find the light of day.

Our thanks again to the Curator at Windsor Castle for showing us this very special piece of Napoleonic history.

Postscript June 12th 2013

Michel has found the image and has now posted it on his blog.

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1. Michael John Thornton Napoleon after Waterloo : England and the St. Helena decision Stanford 1968, p. 95

Torbay in Napoleon's Time

View of Torquay Harbour, 1821 (1)

Napoleon was impressed with the beauty of the English countryside, in which he still hoped he might live.

At the time of this painting by William Daniell, Torquay was a small town of less than 2000 people. It must have been overwhelmed by the visitors who flocked there when they heard that Bonaparte was on board a ship in the bay.

Thanks to Paul Brunyee, one of the speakers at the recent Friends of St Helena meeting, who gave me this idea. Paul produced a slide taken in 2010 from the spot at which the Bellerophon moored off Torquay in 1815. (2) An interesting idea I thought - or at least one that appeals to Napoleonic anoraks among whose number I guess I am now enlisted!

I also discovered fom Paul's talk that Dumbarton Castle was among the places in which the British Government had considered imprisoning Napoleon.



Almost as forbidding as St Helena.

Paul also confirmed that the British Government, which never recognised Napoleon as Emperor of Elba, had previously been uneasy about his closeness to Italy and France. Napoleon of course knew this. In the newspapers sent over to Elba by Lady Holland were reports that he was going to be sent to St Helena.

A successful and interesting meeting I thought. It was very pleasant to meet Peter Hicks of the Napoleonic Foundation and Ian Mathieson of the Friends of St Helena. I also enjoyed lengthier discussions with Dr Martin Howard, the author of Napoleon's Poisoned Chalice and of course, Albert Benhamou, the author of L'Autre St Hélène , who is no stranger to these pages.

Albert and I were interested to learn, again from Paul Brunyee's talk, that the restored HMS Trincomalee, on which poor Dr Stokoe sailed, is in Hartlepool. As true anoraks, both of us intend to pay it a visit.
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1. William Daniell, A Voyage Round the Coast of Great Britain (Folio Society 2008)
2. "Napoleon and His Time on St Helena 1815-1821", Victory Club, London, 16th October 2010

Markham: The Road to St Helena - A Review

At long last I have been able to put together a few thoughts on this book.

After a long and generally uneventful voyage, the ship dropped anchor in the harbor of Jamestown, St. Helena.


On the evening of the 17th, Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, now outrageously styled General Buonaparte by the British Government set foot on his last island and walked forward to meet his ultimate destiny.

J. David Markham, The Road to St Helena (Pen and Sword, Great Britain, 2008).


It is interesting to compare this with Gilbert Martineau's Napoleon Surrenders which was completed over 40 years ago. Martineau's conclusion was somewhat more embellished :

By exiling him in the middle of the ocean, England presented him with a fresh conquest. Held prisoner on a rock for 6 years, contemplating the world, his career and his dreams with a philosopher's gaze, he succeeded in giving meaning to the hurricane he had let lose upon the old world, he transformed his thirst for adventure and conquest into a crusade for liberty, and his boundless arrogance into a European nationalism carrying all before it.

Whereas Martineau devoted a number of chapters to the period on board the Bellerophon and the Northumberland , Markham's book concentrates almost totally on the period leading up to the surrender. Perhaps there is a sequel still to come?

His focus is on French politics in the chaotic post Waterloo period, in particular on the machinations of Fouché, Napoleon's treacherous Minister of Police, who not only ensured that the allies knew all about Napoleon's plans for Waterloo, but delayed issuing passports for Napoleon's party to go to America, and left the allies in no doubt as to Napoleon's location.

There is also comprehensive coverage of the debate and indecision among Napoleon's entourage at Rochefort and the Isle of Aix, which ultimately left Napoleon with little choice but to surrender to the British. As always it is impossible to know what was going on in Napoleon's own mind - only hostile historians seem to be able to do that! As I read it I kept thinking of Johannes Willms who expressed the view that Napoleon never had any intention of going to America! (1) Among the useful appendixes is an account written by one of his party, Baron Lallemand, albeit with the benefit of hindsight: the Emperor became much too indifferent as to his personal consideration and left everything up to the men who were with him to take care of the situation. He could not have left this in more loyal hands, but guided by less clear-sightedness.

Among the things I noted was the extent to which Napoleon's plans for Waterloo had been compromised before the battle, first by Fouché, and then by General Louis Bourmont and other officers who defected. The book also reports from a little known source that Napoleon may have taken poison on 21st June, and then have taken an antidote.(2) Another interesting if rather trivial piece of information is the revelation that Napoleon's mistress, Mademoiselle George, later offered to join him on St. Helena. Presumably this would have prevented her serving in a similar role to the Duke of Wellington while he was in Paris. Fact is often stranger than fiction.

The book has a number of illustrations, including photos taken by the author of Napoleon's last home on the Isle of Aix and a commemorative plaque later erected by Baron Gourgaud on the beach from which Napoleon left the mainland for the last time.

Among the illustrations is one of Captain Maitland which has the following annotation: Captain Frederick Maitland received Napoleon aboard his ship and gave the Emperor his last decent treatment by the British. I don't think there can be a great deal of argument about that - although much depends on one's understanding of the word decent ! (3)

I enjoyed this book. It has an index, footnotes and a bibliography, and makes good use of a great deal of contemporary materials. There is not too much doubt which side Markham is on. He would have liked the Emperor to overcome his enemies in France and at Waterloo, or at least to have made his escape to America and to have avoided falling into the hands of perfidious Albion, but his sympathies do not stand in the way of a scholarly treatment of the subject.

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(1) See my blog of January 11th 2009.

(2) Markham p.83, his source is The Memoirs of Baron Thiébault (Late Lieutenant-General in the French Army) New York 1896. The druggist Cadet Gassicourt apparently feared that the poison may have hastened Napoleon's death on St Helena.

(3) "Napoleon was an emperor defeated, yet still regarded as emperor by his followers, treated by them as such, and accustomed to the servility due to one. To check his pretensions, reduce him to submission and control his conduct - all without losing his co-operation - demanded a confidence amounting to an insurmountable sense of superiority from the first .. " This extract from a British naval historian gives a useful insight into how the British establishment saw their task. Morris, "Mastering the General"

The Road to St Helena Part III: Torbay and Plymouth

The story of Napoleon's arrival and reception in England is a remarkable one, but it is one about which most people in the UK are totally ignorant.


It is a difficult story to tell. No single view can do it justice. We need at least four cameras.


Camera One focuses on Napoleon's party. They are all devoted to the Emperor, and horrified by the decision to send him to St. Helena, but each has his/her own concerns. For some it is a concern that they will not be chosen to accompany the Emperor in exile. For Generals Lallemand and Savary there is the bigger concern that they might be handed over to the Bourbons, and to almost certain execution. For the volatile Mme Bertrand, it is the horror at her husband's determination to go to St. Helena; this was to drive her to attempted suicide. (1) For the children, apparently oblivious of the strains on their parents, the trip provided endless opportunity to play military games on the deck.

Camera Two focuses on the Government and its representatives. They are concerned at the signs of popular enthusiasm for the former Emperor, and are hopeful that once in a far off and isolated place he will soon be forgotten. If Napoleon was allowed to stay in England, the prime Minister wrote to the Foreign Secretary, it would raise legal questions,

which would be particularly embarrassing .. you know enough of the feelings of the people in this country not to doubt he would become the object of curiosity immediately, and possibly of compassion in the course of a few months .. St. Helena is the place in the world best calculated for the confinement of such a person. There is a fine Citadel there in which he might reside. The situation is perfectly healthy.

And of course, they are determined to humble the upstart Emperor, as the instructions prepared for Admiral Cockburn who was to accompany Napoleon to St. Helena indicate. Cockburn himself later reports to Melville

The General has descended from Emperor on board the Bellerophon to be prisoner on board the Northumberland with wonderful flexibility of mind and I am very much mistaken if I shall have any further difficulty in performing the task your lordship has confided to me.(2)

Camera Three focuses on Napoleon's supporters in England who are busily writing to the press, somehow managing to communicate with the party on the Bellerophon, and plotting to serve writs and sub poenas to bring Napoleon ashore. They are undoubtedly encouraged by the reception Napoleon receives from the people of Torbay and Plymouth. For William Cobbett, once one of Napoleon's strongest critics and now a vocal supporter, the size and reaction of the crowds is a victory over prejudice deep-rooted; prejudice the work of twenty years of calumnies .., it is a glorious triumph for Napoleon. (3)

Camera four focuses on the large crowd which takes to the boats both in Torbay and Plymouth to catch a glimpse of England's captive; their respect and apparent sympathy for the fallen Emperor causes concern amongst Tory supporters, who are frightened of revolt by England's unrepresented masses. Lady Fitzgerald writes to Sir Charles Hastings,

Believe me, the most unwise step our government ever took was showing John Bull that Bonaparte had neither horns nor hoofs (4)

No camera of course could capture what was going on in the head of the man at the centre of this whole extraordinary spectacle. His captors, like everyone else who came into contact with him, were fascinated:

Lord Keith:

D--n the fellow, if he had obtained an interview with his Royal Highness, in half an hour they would have been the best friends in England." (5)

Captain Maitland's servant, on being asked what the ship's company thought of Napoleon:

Why, Sir, I heard several of them conversing together about him this morning; when one of them observed,"Well they may abuse that man as much as they please; but if the people of England knew him as well as we do, they would not hurt a hair of his head;' in which the others agreed. (6)

Captain Maitland

He appeared to have great command of temper; for, though no man could have had greater trials than fell to his lot during the time he remained on board the Bellerophon, he never, in my presence, or as far as I know, allowed a fretful or captious expression to escape him: even the day he received the notification from Sir Henry Bunbury, that it was determined to send him to St. Helena, he chatted and conversed with the same cheerfulness as usual.. (7)

One morning he began to talk of his wife and child, and desired Marchand to bring two or three miniature pictures to show me: he spoke of them with much feeling and affection. 'I feel,' said he,'the conduct of the allied sovereigns to be more cruel and unjustifiable toward me in that respect than in any other. Why should they deprive me of the comforts of domestic society, and take from me what must be the dearest objects of affection to every man - my child, and the mother of that child?' On his expressing himself as above, I looked him steadily in the face, to observe whether he showed any emotion: the tears were standing in his eyes, and the whole of his countenance appeared evidently under the influence of a strong feeling of grief. (8)

Timeline

Nightfall on 23rd July : From the Bellerophon Dartmoor is spotted in the distance; Napoleon is informed by Captain Maitland as he is preparing for bed; he puts on a great coat and comes on deck. where he stays for some time.

Day-break 24th July: Napoleon is informed by Count Bertrand that they are off Dartmouth; he comes on deck at 4.30 and remains until they anchor off Torbay. Among the instructions that come aboard is a letter from Lord Keith:

You may say to Napoleon that I am under the greatest personal obligations to him for his attention to my nephew, who was taken and brought before him at Belle Alliance, and who must have died, if he had not ordered a surgeon to dress him immediately, and sent him to a hut.

Napoleon and his party anxiously begin to inspect the newspapers, which seem to suggest that Napoleon will not be allowed to land, and that the likely destination is St. Helena. They hope that the newspapers are wrong.

Soon General Gourgaud arrives, he has not been allowed to land and personally deliver Napoleon's letter to the Prince Regent.

The Bellerophon is soon surrounded by boats. Napoleon comes on deck, and shows himself to the waiting crowds.

25th July: Even larger crowds. Napoleon spends over an hour on deck. He takes off his hat and bows to the women in the boats.

26th July: Captain Maitland is ordered to proceed to Plymouth. This is not a good sign. Napoleon makes no comment, but stays on deck most of the day. As they approach Plymouth he quizzes the Captain about the Breakwater that had been erected; it is he says a great national achievement. He fears that the similar work he has had done at Cherbourg and elsewhere will now be neglected.

Napoleon asks to see Lord Keith; but the latter is unwilling to see him until he has received instructions.

Captain Mailtand is instructed to prevent all communication with the shore, and to take measures to prevent Napoleon's escape.

Napoleon tells Maitland that he is anxious to see Lord Keith, even as a private person, until the British Government has determined in what light I am to be considered. He also complains about two frigates being placed close to the Bellerophon - as if I were not perfectly secure on a British line-of-battle ship - and the firing of muskets to keep boats at a distance: it disturbs and distresses me, and I shall be obliged to you to prevent it, if it lies in your power. Captain Maitland immediately orders the captains of the frigates to stop firing.

27th July. Maitland receives letter from Admiralty, dated July 25th: Napoleon Bonaparte is to be considered and addressed as a General Officer.

Large numbers of boats again surround the Bellerophon . Napoleon expresses admiration of the beauty of the English ladies, including Captain Maitland's wife who comes close enough to converse, but is not allowed to board the ship.

28th July. Lord Keith comes on board and speaks with Napoleon. Lord Keith expresses ignorance of the Government's intentions.

29th July. It rains incessantly. No boats: the Frenchmen were deprived of their usual amusement of admiring the ladies, and being admired in return.

30th July. Maitland says that over 1000 boats are gathered round the Bellerophon - each with an average load of 8 people.

31st July. Sir Henry Bunbury accompanies Lord Keith on board. Before they arrive Maitland informs Napoleon of one of the British Government's worst kept secrets ever: that Napoleon is to be sent to St. Helena. Madame Betrand tries to get Lord Keith to prevent her husband from going with Napoleon.

Napoleon complains to Captain Maitland:

To be placed on an island within the tropics, at an immense distance from any land, cut off from all communication with the world, and everything that I hold dear in it! ... I would prefer being delivered up to the Bourbons. Among other insults, but that is a mere bagatelle, a very secondary consideration, - they style me General! they can have no right to call me General; they may as well call me Archbishop, for I was head of the church, as well as the army. If they do not acknowledge me as Emperor, they ought as First Consul; they have sent Ambassadors to me as such; and your King, in his letters, styled me brother. Had they confined me in the Tower of London, or one of the fortresses in England, (though not what I had hoped from the generosity of the English people,) I should not have so much cause of complaint; but to banish me to an island within the Tropics! They might as well have signed my death-warrant at once, as it is impossible a man of my habit of body can live long in such a climate.

Napoleon writes another letter to the Prince Regent.

Napoleon appears on deck - to the suprise of Captain Maitland who has assumed he is too angry and upset to show himself to the crowd.

Madame Bertrand attempts to throw herself over board: on being forcibly prevented by Montholon and others whom he summoned for help, she becomes hysterical and abuses the English nation and Government in French and English.

Maitland is informed by Lallemand, Montholon and Gourgaud that the Emperor will not go to St. Helena: he will sooner put himself to death.

1st August. Lord Keith tells Maitland to inform the three Generals that the laws of England will regard them as murderers if they take Napoleon's life.

2nd August. Napoleon does not appear on deck. He refuseds to nominate people to accompany him to St. Helena. Privately Napoleon complains to Maitland about the cruelty of sending him to St. Helena. He also asks many questions about the island. At dinner he says little and appears unwell.

3rd August. Napoleon remains in his cabin. He is said to be unwell.

4th August. Lord Keith is pursued all day by a lawyer attempting to serve a sub poena.

Bellerophon is ordered to put to sea to avoid a writ of habeas corpus being served. Napoleon demands to know why the ship is being made ready for sea. He is informed that they are going to meet the Northumberland, and that he will be moved to the Northumberland at sea. Napoleon asks to see Lord Keith, who declined to visit. Bertrand informs Maitland, "L'Empereur n'ira pas à St. Hélène." [The Emperor will not go to St. Helena]

The ship leaves at 9.00 p.m., avoiding a boat approaching carrying the a lawyer bearing the writ summoning Napoleon to appear as a witness at the Court of King's Bench.

A boat carrying two women keeps close to the Bellerophon; the women wave their handkerchiefs whenever Napoleon appears at the window.

Napoleon writes another letter to the Prince Regent.

He remains in his cabin, even for meals.

5th August. Napoelon's protest is delivered to Lord Keith by Maitland.

6th August. O'Meara, the Bellerophon's doctor, tells Maitland he has been approached about accompanying Napoleon to St. Helena. The Northumberland is sighted.

Bertrand and Montolon make lists of things required by the French officers and ladies for the trip to St. Helena.
Lord Keith and Sir George Cockburn come on board - the latter, who is to escort Napoleon to St. Helena, is introduced to Napoleon. The French officers' weapons are removed. Napoleon is allowed to keep his sword.

7th August. Napoleon asks Maitland to send a written document to Bertrand informing him that Napoleon is to be removed to the Northumberland - he wants it made clear that he is being forced to go, and that he has not been consulted. Napoleon informs Maitland that he has no complaint at the way he has been treated by him, but again complains about his treatment by the British Government. I have not now to learn, however, that it is not fair to judge of the character of a people by the conduct of their Government.

Napoleon agrees that Gourgaud could accompany him in place of Planat.

Madame Bertrand again tries to persuade her husband not to go to St. Helena. Captain Maitland advised her that if your husband quits his master at such a time as the present. he will forfeit the very high character he now bears in this country.

Madame Bertrand has an altercation with Captain Maitland on hearing that the Emperor is not to have the whole of the after-cabin on board the Northumberland. They had better treat him like a dog at once, and put him down in the hold, she said.

On leaving the ship the Madame Bertrand asks to shake the Captain's hand.

Sir George Cockburn comes on board with his secretary Mr Byng to inspect Napoleon's baggage. Count Bertrand refuses to be present.

At 11.00 Lord Keith comes on board to escort Napoleon to the Northumberland. Two hours later Napoleon lets it be known he is ready. as Napoleon crossed the quarter-deck to leave the ship, the guard presented arms, and three ruffles of the drum were beat, being the salute given to a General Officer. p. 203

Napoleon thanks the captain and officers, and bows to the ship's company.

After the boat had shoved off, and got the distance of about thirty yards from the ship, he stood up, pulled his hat off, and bowed first to the Officers, and then to the men; and immediately sat down, and entered into conversation with Lord Keith, with as much apparent composure as if he had been only going from one ship to the other to pay a visit.

Lallemand and Savary go on board the Northumberland to say goodbye to the Emperor. They are in tears as they part from him.

8th August. Northumberland sets sail for St. Helena.
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NOTES
(1) Madame Bertrand is not the favourite of recent French historians of the captivity - her conduct on the Bellerophon and on St. Helena, and some of her comments, certainly provided ammunition for Napoleon's detractors. She was volatile no doubt, but she had had a lot to put up with; the execution of her father during the revolution, the long absences of her husband during Napoleon's wars, the exile on Elba, and now St. Helena. Captain Maitland, although he had several bruising encounters with her, was probably a fair judge: "perhaps a little warm .. a kind mother and an affectionate wife; and if she easily took offence, she as easily forgot it;" F.L. Maitland, Narrative of the Surrender of Buonaparte (London 1826) p. 226. He had no doubts about her ultimate loyalty to Napoleon: "when not influenced by the horror she entertained of being banished to St. Helena, always spoke of him [Napoleon] not only with affection, but in the language of respect and enthusiasm." (Maitland p. 232)

(2) Roger Morriss, who writes from the Government/Admiralty view point, says that instructions to Cockburn "laid more than normal stress on the personal qualities necessary for the task", and that "Cockburn was concerned to win the psychological duel for intellectual supremacy." Roger Morriss, Napoleon and St Helena, 1815-1816 The apportionment of cabins on the Northumberland was designed to put Napoleon in his place - as Mme Bertrand had immediately realised. Maitland of course had not been briefed as to how to deal with Napoleon, and had treated him as a distinguished guest, for which he received some criticism.

(3) Stuart Semmel, Napoleon and the British (Yale 2004) p. 171 See also my entry of April 20th 2008 on Capel Lofft

(4) She reported that during his stay at Plymouth the popular tide in his favour ran alarmingly high, and one evening the mob, won by his smiles, cheered him with enthusiasm She herelf found him more imposing, more extraordinary than any creature I have ever seen. .. He seems quite inaccessible to human tenderness or human distress - still he is wonderful. Dorothy Wordsworth wrote that she was sick of the adulation, the folly, the idol Curiosity which was gathered together round the ship that help the dastardly spirit that has so long been the scourge of all whom he could injure. Semmel p. 172 .

(5) Maitland p 211
(6) Maitland p.224
(7) Maitland pp 211-212
(8) Maitland p. 215

The Road to St Helena Part II - The Emperor's Party Embarks for England

Soon after Napoleon went on board the Bellerophon, the Superb arrived, carrying Rear-Admiral, Sir Henry Hotham.

The Admiral came to meet the Emperor, who proudly showed him his portable library, and invited Sir Henry and his party to dinner.

Dinner was cooked by Napoleon's Maitre d'Hotel and served on the Emperor's silver plate. Napoleon seated the Admiral on his right, Countess Bertrand on his left, and Captain Maitland opposite.

After dinner Napoleon sent Marchand to fetch two small cases, which were unpacked, assembled and proudly revealed to his guests as his famous camp bed.

Midshipman Home entered in his diary:

When Admiral Hotham and the officers of the Bellerophon uncovered in the presence of Napoleon, they treated him with the respect due to the man himself, to his innate greatness, which did not lie in the crown of France or the Iron crown of Italy, but the actual superiority of the man to the rest of his species.(1)

The next day (16th July) Napoleon returned the Admiral's visit. He was received on board the Superb with all the honours of a royal personage except for the firing of a salute. The Grand Marshall ascended first, and announced "The Emperor".

Maitland wrote afterwards, contrary to some reports in hostile newspapers trying to create a bad impression of Napoleon, "that, from the time of his coming on board my ship, to the period of his quitting her, his conduct was invariably that of a gentleman; and in no one instance do I recollect him to have made use of a rude expression, or to have been guilty of any kind of ill-breeding." (2)

Maitland noted that during the voyage he asked "many questions about the manners, customs, and laws of the English; often repeating the observation he had made on first coming on board, that he must gain all the information possible on those subjects, and conform himself to them, as he should probably end his life among that people." (3)

Napoleon's Entourage

Before Napoleon came on board the Bellerophon it had been agreed with Captain Maitland that one of his party, General Gourgaud, would leave separately on the Slaney bound, so he hoped, for a meeting with the Prince Regent. (4)

Gourgaud's instructions from Napoleon contained the following:

If there appears to be no objection to granting me passports to the United States, that is what I would prefer; but I do not wish to go to any colony. Failing America, I prefer England to any other country. I will take the name of Colonel Muiron.(5) If I must go to England, I wish to live in a country house, about ten or twelve leagues from London, and I hope to arrive there in the strictest possible incognito. I should need a big enough house to accommodate all my suite(6)

Transporting the party to which he alludes was not a simple matter.

Not all could be fitted on the Bellerophon. Some had to be transported on the Myrmiron.

In addition there was the question of Napoleon's horses and carriage, which had been left at Rochefort and which he wished to accompany him to England. It was agreed to issue a passport for a ship to carry six carriages and forty five horses to England - although Captain Maitland later commented that he did not think this had ever been acted on. (7)




"









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NOTES
1. George Home, Memoirs of an Aristocrat
2. F.L. Maitland, Narrative of the Surrender of Buonaparte ... (London 1826) pp 62-3.
3. Maitland p. 108
4. In the event Gourgaud, like the rest of the party, was not permitted to step foot in England when he arrived.
5. Napoleon's aide de camp who had been killed at Arcole.
6. Quoted in Gilbert Martineau, Napoleon Surrenders (London 1971) p. 121
7. Maitland p. 94. As the ship was underweigh three or four sheep, some vegetables and other refreshments arrived as a present from the French Commodore. Maitland p. 97.

The Road to St Helena, Part 1: Rochefort, the Isle of Aix and the Bellerophon

I would judge that most visitors to St. Helena have little knowledge of the strange circumstances of Napoleon's surrender and transportation to St. Helena. This and the next post attempts to fill in some of the gaps.

I have followed closely the account given by Gilbert Martineau.

There is a new study by David Markham, The Road to St Helena: Napoleon After Waterloo, which unfortunately I have not yet read. I have however pinched part of his title; it seems very appropriate for this blog, whose focus is on St. Helena and the Captivity.

Napoleon on the Bellerophon

Napoleon at Rochefort: Costly Indecision

After his second abdication, Napoleon and his party of over 60 set off from Paris, bound for Rochefort and, they hoped, for the United States. The British Government had been alerted to this, and instructed its ships to intercept him.

This was unknown to Napoleon, who was hoping that the French Government would secure permission from the occupying powers for him to leave for the United States. In fact, his two most disloyal associates, Fouché and Talleyrand, were collaborating with the occupying powers in trying to ensure Napoleon's capture.

Napoleon's party arrived in Rochefort on July 3rd 1815, and stayed until 8th July. Ostensibly they were waiting for some wagons that had been sent by mistake to La Rochelle. Whilst there, a delegation of local citizens and soldiers met him and asked him not to leave France. He replied that if he stayed "he would merely be adding the horrors of Civil War to a foreign invasion". (1)

On 8th July Napoleon tried to embark on a small boat for the Isle of Aix, watched by a crowd at the small hamlet of Fouras. He waved Goodbye, my friends. They shouted Long Live the Emperor. The winds proved too strong for the oarsmen, so Napoleon boarded the Saale , one of the French ships being blockaded by the Royal Navy. The captain had already had the poop windows decorated with the fleur-de-lis in preparation for the restoration of the Bourbons!

The next morning Napoleon went ashore on Aix, where he was well received by the local people. In the evening he returned to the Saale and decided to approach the captain of the British ship the Bellerophon, which was blockading the Basque Roads, to see if he would allow him to leave for the United States.

Savary and Las Cases were sent to negotiate with Captain Maitland. They returned bearing the news that the Bellerophon had orders to prevent Napoleon's escape. After two further days considering his options, Napoleon decided to disembark on the Isle of Aix. The next few days were to be his last period on dry land until he set foot on St. Helena in October.

Gourgaud advised him that it was preferable to surrender to the English nation, among whom he would find admirers, rather than escape on the chasse-marée. The boat would probably be taken, and then the position would be very different, for in that case the Emperor would be thrown into the Tower of London. (2)

On 13th July his brother Joseph Bonaparte arrived. Napoleon refused to accompany him in his plan of escape to the United States, partly because it would have meant abandoning his large party to the Bourbon Government, and partly perhaps because it was not in his nature to travel incognito and risk capture as a fugitive. So finally, around midnight on July 13th, he indicated that he wished Lallemand and Las Cases to go to the Bellerophon in the morning.

Napoleon then drafted his famous letter to the Prince Regent, dated July 13th:

Your Royal Highness

Exposed to the factions which distract my country and to the enmity of the greatest powers of Europe, I have ended my political career, and I come, like Themistocles, to throw myself on the hospitality of the British people; I put myself under the protection of their laws, which I claim from Your Royal Highness as the most powerful, the most constant, and the most generous of my enemies.

The Decision to Surrender

There has been much discussion as to why Napoleon ultimately took the decision to surrender. By the time he took it, he arguably had few options, although it should be noted that his brother Joseph did manage to reach America.

Britain had a reputation for welcoming exiles from France, as had been shown in the case of the Huguenots and the French aristocrats fleeing the Revolution. Las Cases had himself had been exiled in London during the Revolution, and Napoleon's own brother Lucien had been permitted to stay in England from 1810-1814 at a time when he had become estranged from the Emperor. He too ironically had been captured whilst trying to escape to the United States.

Napoleon himself had expressed a wish to live in England after his first abdication in 1814. (3) Since then he had had the opportunity to meet a lot of English people: the Whigs who had visited him on Elba, and the sailors who had transported him there, and with whom he, the "Corsican Ogre" of British propaganda, had developed a surprisingly good relationship.

On Board the Bellerophon

At 3 O"Clock in the morning of 15th July the former Emperor left the Isle of Aix to board the Bellerophon. He declined the company of a representative of the Executive Commission:

We must think of France; I am going on board of my own free will. If you came with me, they would be sure to say that you handed me over to the English. I do not want to leave France under the weight of such an accusation.

The captain of the brig that took him to the Bellerophon told him he was making a mistake: they could have evaded the blockade. It is too late. They expect me. I am going. (4)

On climbing up to the deck of the Bellerophon Napoleon raised his hat and said I am come to throw myself on the Protection of your Prince and Laws.

He was warmly welcomed aboard, and shown to a fine cabin.

The French party were very pleased with the way in which the Emperor and they were received, and as Martineau wrily comments, the Grand Marshall... could not distinguish between hospitality and captivity, and took the Emperor's capture by the English for a diplomatic success. (5)

At breakfast the Emperor said, I must now learn to conform myself to English customs, as I shall probably pass the rest of my life in England. (6)


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Notes

1. Gilbert Martineau, Napoleon Surrenders(John Murray 1971) p. 80.
2. Martineau p. 112-113.
3. A few days after his abdication, he walked in the garden of the Palace for two hours with Marshal Macdonald, and spoke of the new constitution, of what he considered its advantages and defects. He said that during the last twelve years, he had been furnished with a daily bulletin of the actions of Louis XVIII, allowed that he was an honest man, and that the opportunities which his residence in England had given him of becoming acquainted with her institutions, would be extremely useful to him; adding, that possibly he should not remain long in Elba, but visit England, and study the great and liberal establishments of that country.
General Sir Edward Paget and Lord Louvain, who were at Paris, both informed me that Lord Castlereagh, at the time also in Paris, told them that, in pursuance of this idea, Bonaparte had written to him for permission to retire to England, "it being the only country of great and liberal ideas."
THE ALBION
British, Colonial, and Foreign Weekly Gazette
New York, Saturday, February 4, 1826 web link

4. Martineau pp 127-128
5. Martineau p. 133
6. Martineau p. 133