Following news of the success of the guided tour of the Napoleonic cultural sites in October this year comes news of another organised tour.
This one, under the auspices of the Napoleonic Society, will take place from 30th May until 19th June 2011.
The guide will be Michel Martineau, known on the island as "The Frenchman". Michel has devoted twenty years or so to the restoration and safeguarding of the French properties, to improving collaboration with the British authorities and, if the truth be told, to doing what he can to improve the life of the people of St Helena. He will be an admirable guide.
Further information is available on the web site of the French Society of Napoleonic History and supplementary information is available on Michel's blog of 30th June.
Visitors will stay on board the R.M.S. St Helena each night.
Apart from the usual tours of Longwood House, the Briars, the Valley of the Tomb and Plantation House, visitors will also be taken to places such as Longwood Plateau, Fisher's Valley (Valley of the Nymph), Orange Grove, Maldivia and Sandy Bay, all of which were part of the fascinating history of the captivity of Napoleon.
The group will also dine at Longwood House, get the chance to meet all the local dignitaries at a cocktail party there, and will even be invited to dine with the Frenchman in his impressive house - situated away from the incessant rain and wind of Longwood where Michel spent more years than Napoleon!
I am sure the trip will be a great success, and will be oversubscribed.
The auction of the Ibbetson collection in New Zealand has now taken place, with interest from all around the world.
The lock of hair sold for £8600, to an anonymous collector in London. The diary went for £4400.
The item which raised the most was this lithograph of Napoleon on his death bed, which sold for over £9000.
The best news though is that the sketch of Longwood House has been bought by someone from Paris, who is returning it to St Helena, presumably to Longwood House.
I have seen no reports as to what happened to the St Helena theatre play bills - they have no Napoleonic connections and are therefore not very newsworthy. I would be interested to hear what they made and where they have gone.
The Deluded Emperor: The Making of a Myth
Probably the most important result of this auction has been the creation of a new major myth about Napoleon. It is no longer possible to blame this simply on chauvinism in British tabloids, as I did in my earlier post on the subject.
The BBC in its report said that Napoleon still spoke of invading Britain despite his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo .
ABC News, Australia reported that Ibbetson's diary, which sold for $7,800, described conversations with Napoleon, who still harboured ambitions of invading Britain despite his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.
CBS has ventured even further into the absurd: Ibbetson's diary, which detailed conversations with Napoleon, who, after the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, still planned to take over the world from his little island domain .
Seriously. Anybody who has read any of the millions of words of evidence about Napoleon on St Helena would not entertain this idea for a nanosecond.
This myth will probably endure for many many years - and there appears to be nothing which distinguished scholars, admirers of Napoleon, or those who simply seek the truth can do about it.
I find it very depressing. How long before it appears on Wikipedia as a fact?
I have just been catching up on recent issues of the St. Helena Independent.
As usual the paper gives a downbeat view of life on the island, which I fear is an all too accurate representation of reality.
The last few issues have been dominated by the distressingl circumstances surrounding the birth of a still born child in the hospital - which according to the Bishop has resulted in a lack of confidence in the medical facilities on the island.
On a brighter note I was pleased to read that the cultural voyage to St Helena, "In the Footsteps of Napoleon" , which I wrote about last October, has attracted a lot of interest. According to Alistair McLean, Marketing Executive of R.M.S. St Helena, 34 packages have been sold, and they have had to turn away further enquiries because of the lack of suitable accommodation on the island. Alistair thinks it will be one of the biggest such parties to arrive on the island. Further trips are likely to take place in 2011 and 2012.
It was also interesting to read a presentation made by the French Honorary Consul, Michel Martineau, to Legislators and Senior Government Officials. The main points are listed below.
The French Government is responsible for the maintenance of the French properties; the St Helena Government is now responsible for Fire and Burglary security of Longwood House and for ensuring the properties are accessible to public.
Permission has been secured from the French Government to restore the Generals Quarters at Longwood House. (photo above). These quarters had previously been rebuilt in the 1930's, but because of poor quality materials and the harsh weather conditions at Longwood they have deteriorated badly. The project will cost 800,000 Euros. Happily the main construction work will be undertaken by a local builder, with specialist assistance as needed from France. A campaign to raise sponsorship for this project will begin in the autumn. The project is expected to take three years.
In 2016 some 80 pieces of furniture associated with Napoleon's captivity will temporarily be removed from St Helena to be exhibited in Paris alongside other Napoleon artefacts. The furniture will be expertly restored before the exhibition, and will be returned in perfect condition to St Helena.
Visitors to St Helena beware - Longwood is going to be rather empty in 2016!
Have been reading Michel Martineau's latest blog. He has taken up one of the major themes I have pursued on these pages.
He quotes an article from the Magazie Marianne in 1999 which discussed the surprising interest in Napoleon in Britain and its former Empire.
The magazine contrasted this with the relative lack of interest in the victors of Waterloo: Wellington and Blucher.
There are many pubs in England named after Wellington, although he is I think less well known than Nelson, and was hated by a section of the country in his own lifetime.
For those who can stand back and put aside national prejudice, there really is no contest. Napoleon and Wellington were not on the same level.
Napoleon overshadowed all his contemporaries. I don't think there is anything else that needs to be said on the matter, although that does not prevent the British press and many historians from continually presenting a very biased view of him.
The article also mentions a number of non-British admirers of Napolon: Bill Gates, Newt Gingrich, Stanley Kubrick and General Pinochet. That list, particularly the last name, leaves me for once somewhat lost for words - except to say that I believe Mrs Thatcher quite liked him - Pinochet that is!
The picture of the then Queen and the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret visiting Longwood in 1947 is reproduced with Michel's permission. I have referred to that visit and to the Royal family's criticism of the poor state of Longwood in previous postings.
The Daily Mirror has latched on to the collection of Napoleonic Memorabilia soon to be auctioned in New Zealand, and has put its own unique interpretation on a passage in Denzil Ibbetson's diary. The short article is most inappropriately labelled "History".
As he whiled away the time on the Northumberland headed for exile on St Helena, the "deluded" Emperor was apparently planning invasion of Britain - and was even stupid enough to discuss his plans with his captors. Typical of the French the Mirror might have said. Quite where he was going to get the ships, infantry and cavalry is not clear, but that just proves how deluded Napoleon was!
Anyway if one ever had any doubts that the Daily Mirror is not fit to be called a newspaper this now removes them.
As for the passage in the diary itself - obviously Napoleon was discussing the past. It is not clear whether Denzil Ibbetson heard this statement first hand, or whether it was reported to him. Napoleon had given up the idea of invading Britain long before Waterloo. It is not clear how serious he had ever been - but it had suited him to make the British think that that was his intention.
Regarding the question of what support he would have got - every patriotic John Bull would tell you that Britain would have risen against him to a man. Tom Paine, the author of Rights of Man did not share that view. He encouraged an invasion to set Britain free from the oligarchy that ruled it, but had advised Napoleon that it was important that he went as a liberator rather than a conqueror.
No doubt though that the reception he received at Plymouth convinced Napoleon that the British people would in his downfall have treated him far more kindly than their rulers. This was of course a view shared by the rulers themselves - which is one of the reasons that they would not entertain the idea that he be allowed to stay in England.
Following news of the success of the guided tour of the Napoleonic cultural sites in October this year comes news of another organised tour.
