Recollections of Napoleon at St. Helena/Chapter 14

ANECDOTE OF THE HONOURABLE G. C———.—CONVERSATION WITH NAPOLEON ON RELIGIOUS SUBJECTS.—INSTANCES OF PRIESTCRAFT RECOUNTED BY THE EMPEROR.—TRANSLATION OF DR. WARDEN'S BOOK.—THE EARTHQUAKE.—NAPOLEON'S ADMIRATION OF THE CHARACTER OF THE GOVERNOR'S LADY, MRS. WILKS.

Napoleon was fond of sailors, and liked entering into conversation with the young ​midshipmen who conducted the fatigue parties at Longwood. On one occasion a remarkably handsome and high-born young reefer attracted his notice, from the activity he displayed in setting his men to work in erecting a commodious marquee out of a studding-sail. He inquired his name, and when he heard it was the Honourable G. C., be remarked that he was one of the very few instances in which he had observed high birth combined with so much amiability and intelligence. We told the emperor we had the pleasure of being acquainted with the young middy he so much admired, and that he was the most popular of any of his young companions in the ward-room. I related to the emperor our first introduction to him, which was on our return from the admiral's ball, when we saw him elevated in a cart, surrounded by his brother middies, shouting at the top of his voice, "Lord W.'s carriage stops the way;" and true enough the way was stopped, as ​the cart had been dragged by some of these wild boys within the arch of the castle, through which we had all to pass on our road homeward. The next time we heard of him our sympathies were excited by hearing he had narrowly escaped being drowned, and afterwards being very nearly shot, when rowing guard one night. The surf was dangerously high, compelling his boat to keep off shore, and when hailed by the sentry, the roaring of the sea against the iron-girt rocks, prevented the countersign from being heard; the guard then fired in amongst the crew, but our gallant young friend most providentially escaped with his life.

We concluded our history of the middy by telling Napoleon, that his talent was equally distinguished in performing his duties either on sea or land, and that Sir Pultency Malcolm had made a farmer of him, entrusting to his management the superintendence and cultivation of one of the government farms. The admiral de​clared he had never before seen such vegetables produced on the sterile rock of St. Helena. Napoleon's concluding remark was, that "Whatever British sailors took in hand, they never left undone."

When we were visiting Madame Bertrand's, we always passed our Sundays as if at home, reading the lessons for the day and observing the prayers, &c. One Sunday morning, Napoleon came bustling in. and seeing me very earnestly employed reading aloud to my sister, asked what I was so intently engaged upon, and why I looked so much graver than usual. I told him I was learning to repeat the collect for the day, and that if I failed in saying it, my father would be very angry. I remarked, "I suppose you never learnt a collect or any thing religious, for I am told you disbelieve the existence of a God." He seemed displeased at my observation, and answered, "You have been told an untruth; when you are wiser you will understand that no one ​could doubt the existence of a God." My mother asked him if he was a predestinarian, as reported. He admitted the truth of the accusation, saying, "I believe that whatever a man's destiny calls upon him to do, that he must fulfil."

Dr. O'Meara often amused us by recounting conversations he had with the emperor respecting priestcraft: one anecdote is impressed on my recollection from the amusement it afforded. A poor erring monk having paid the debt of nature, a funeral oration was delivered by a brother priest, to a large assembled congregation. The holy father proceeded to inform the multitude that the soul of the departed had had to appear before the judgment-seat, there to render an account of all its past actions; that being done, the evil and the good were then separated and thrown into opposite scales, in order to see which preponderated. The good deeds were so few, that the scale flew up, and the poor soul was condemned to the regions below. ​and conducted by devils to Eblis' dread abode, there to be tormented with "fire unquenched, unquenchable—around, within his form to dwell." The flame had reached his feet and legs, and was proceeding to envelope his wretched body, when he, sinking into the bottomless pit with but his head above the liquid fire, cried out, "Oh! my patron saint, save me! take compassion on me, and throw into the scale of my good deeds all the lime and stone that I gave to repair the convent." His saint listened to the supplications of the tortured one, and gathering all the materials the monk had collected to build and adorn his monastery, did as he desired, and threw them into the scale of good, which immediately had the effect of overbalancing the evil, and the sinner's soul was taken to Paradise that moment. The moral meant to be conveyed was, how useful to that poor sinner's eternal salvation was his having kept his convent in repair; for had he not ​bestowed all that lime and stone, his soul would have been to this day consuming in the fires prepared for the Devil and his angels.

Billiards was a game much played by Napoleon and his suite. I had the honour of being instructed in its mysteries by him; but when tired of my lesson, my amusement consisted in aiming the balls at his fingers, and I was never more pleased than when I succeeded in making him cry out. One day our pass from Sir Hudson Lowe only specified a visit to General Bertrand, but my anxiety to see Napoleon, caused me to break through the rule laid down, and the consequences of my imprudence were nearly proving very serious, as my father all but lost the appointment he then held under government. I had caught sight of the emperor in his favourite billiard-room, and not being able to resist having a game with him, I listened to no remonstrance, but bounded off, leaving my father in dis​may at the consequences likely to ensue. Instead of my anticipated game of throwing about the balls, I was requested to read a book, by Dr. Warden, the surgeon of the "Northumberland," that had just come out. It was in English, and I had the task of wading through several chapters, and making it as intelligible as my ungrammatical French permitted. Napoleon was much pleased with Dr. Warden's book, and said, "his work was a very true one." I finished reading it to him whilst we remained with Madame Bertrand.

In the cool of the evening we used to have chairs brought out and placed on the lawn leading to the billiard-room, under the gum-wood trees, and the Countesses Bertrand and Montholon, with their husbands and children, my sister and myself, would remain for hours after sunset listening to the thousand crickets with which the ground at Longwood seemed alive. The moonlight nights were remarkably ​beautiful at St. Helena; the blue of the sky so deep and clear, that it would be difficult to imagine any scene more solemn and imposing than the appearance presented by the landscape on such occasions. Either the stars shine brighter in that firmament, and the moon seems fuller and more lustrous, or it may be that the recollection of those joyous days had no cloud to dim their radiance. It was on one of these splendid starry nights, and at the time we were on a visit to Madame Bertrand, that the party was grouped about, some seated on the steps of the billiard-room, others in the garden enjoying the cool refreshing breeze. The day had been one of the most sultry ever experienced within the recollection of the oldest inhabitant of St. Helena. Suddenly we heard a lumbering heavy noise, as if loaded waggons were rumbling over the ground immediately under us. Those seated near the billiard room sprang up aghast, thinking the house was falling about their ​ears. Dr. O'Meara and Major Blakeney, who was appointed captain of the guard at Longwood, rushed immediately from their rooms, expecting to find the ladies half dead with fear. All the household, some of whom were in bed, ran out in the greatest alarm; some were gazing up at the sky, others looking stupified with wonder and amazement as to what had caused such a commotion. Little Tristram Montholon, who had some time previously retired to rest, came screaming to his mother, declaring that somebody had been trying to throw him out of bed. The cause of our terror proved to be an earthquake, the only one remembered to have occurred at St. Helena for nearly a century. The horror this event occasioned us all, can only be conceived by those who are acquainted with the island; more especially was the alarm felt by those whose friends and relatives were residing in any of the valleys, so narrow and wedge-like in their form, and flanked, as they generally ​were, by tremendous overhanging precipices, at the summit of which enormous loose rocks threatened continual destruction to those who were beneath. It was observed at the time, that had the shocks been lateral, instead of perpendicular, those who resided in the valleys must have been destroyed by the vast boulders of stone which would have fallen from the mountains above. Napoleon had retired to bed, and it was not till the next morning that we saw him. He asked us if we had been frightened by the tremblement de terre on the previous evening, observing that I looked pale and quiet. He mentioned to General Bertrand that he at first thought the "Conqueror," a 74 lying in the harbour, bad blown up, and that the great powder magazine had exploded, but on feeling the third shock he perceived it to be an earthquake. It lasted from 16 to 18 seconds. Many people fancied the rumbling noise they at first heard to be thunder, but when it was ​remembered that such a phenomenon as thunder^[1] was never heard, nor had lightning ever been seen since the discovery of St. Helena, that idea was abandoned. Thunder and lightning have never been known to disturb the harmony of the climate. To account for this, it is said that the electric fluid is attracted by a high and conical-shaped mountain, called Diana's Peak, and conducted by it into the sea. I was too much alarmed after the occurrence of the earthquake to go to bed for many nights.

Seeing me one day unusually low-spirited, Napoleon inquired what could possibly have happened to drive away the dimples from my usually riant face. "Has any one run away with a favourite proté da bal, or is the pet black nurse, old Sarah, dead! What can have occurred?" I told him it ​was neither one thing nor the other, but simply that our kind lady governess, Mrs. Wilks^[2], had left the island, and such demonstrations of grief had never before been seen at St. Helena. She was so beloved, people of all ranks and ages crowded to the castle to say, "God bless you, and a safe and happy voyage home." Not a dry eye was to be seen amongst the crowd then collected; that leave-taking of our much loved and respected governor and his family resembled more a funeral than a levee; so sad and solemn was every face. I fancy I can see them now, following the party to the beach as they embarked in the barge that conducted them on board the Havannah; and when the noble frigate spread her canvass to the swelling breeze that bore from the little rock those who had contributed so much to the happiness of its gratefully impressed inhabitants, groups of ​sorrow-stricken ladies were seen wandering under the pepul trees of the Sisters' Walk watching the vessel as she lessened from their tearful gaze, bearing on board a family who had rendered themselves so popular by their urbanity and kindness, which is even remembered to this day. I recounted the scene we had witnessed (and suffered with the rest) to the emperor; he was quite interested in the recital, and regretted much not having been acquainted with the lady governess, as she must have been so very amiable.

Napoleon's hour for rising was uncertain; though generally early, it much depended on the rest he took during the day, or the sultry state of the weather; occasionally he would sleep for an hour or two on the bench under our trelliced grape walk at the "Briars," and when he awoke refreshed, would write or dictate away for hours together. Sometimes he would diversify his occupation by riding round our lawn on his ​beautiful black horse "Hope." The name pleased him; it was the first he had ridden on the island, and he liked the augury. After his long day sleeps he would court the drowsy god at night by desiring Marchand to read to him until the "sweet restorer, nature's soft nurse," came to his aid. Frequently, when the nights were illumined by the splendid tropical moon, would he rise at three o'clock, and saunter down to the garden long before old Toby, the slave, had slept off his first nap, and there he would regale himself with an early breakfast of delicious fruits with which our garden abounded. Our old Malay was so fond of the man Bony, as he designated the emperor, that he always placed the garden key where Napoleon's fingers could reach it under the wicket. No one else was ever favoured in the like manner, but he had completely fascinated and won the old man's heart, and Napoleon looked upon Toby with a ​kind of romantic interest, as one who had been cruelly wronged in his youthful career. After these early risings, he generally fasted until eleven, when he would breakfast à la fourchette with his suite; he usually ate very fast, but did not admire highly seasoned dishes. He preferred a roasted leg of mutton to any other English joint, and I have often seen him take the knuckle in his hand and pare off all the brown part of it.

Napoleon had some very beautiful seals and rare coins, from which he good-naturedly employed himself in taking off impressions in sealing-wax. Whilst he was thus engaged, I once mischievously jogged his elbow, and caused him to drop the hot wax on his fingers. It was very painful, and raised a large blister; but he was so very good-natured about it, that I told him I was quite sorry for what I had done; whereas, had he been cross, I should have rejoiced.