Recollections of Napoleon at St. Helena/Chapter 9

THE RAGE OF THE EMPEROR ON HEING TOLD HE WAS TO LEAVE THE BRIARS FOR LONGWOOD.—HIS HORROR OF THE SMELL OF PAINT.—OUR SORROW AT HIS DEPARTURE.—HIS PRESENT TO MY MOTHER AND MYSELF.—OUR IMPRESSION OF HIS CHARACTER, ETC.

As the time drew near, for Napoleon's removal from the Briars to Longwood, he would come into the drawing-room oftener, and stay longer. He would, he said, have preferred altogether remaining at the Briars; because he beguiled the hours with us better than he ever thought it possible he could have done on such a horrible rock as St. Helena.

​A day or two before his departure, General Bertrand came to the Briars and informed Napoleon that Longwood smelt so strongly of paint that it was unfit to go into. I shall never forget the fury of the emperor. He walked up and down the lawn, gesticulating in the wildest manner. His rage was so great that it almost choked him. He declared that the smell of paint was so obnoxious to him that he would never inhabit a house where it existed; and that if the grand marshal's report were true, he should send down to the admiral, and refuse to enter Longwood. He ordered Las Cases to set off early the next morning to examine the house and report if the information of General Bertrand was correct. At this time I went out to him on the lawn, and inquired the cause of his being in such a rage. The instant I joined him he changed his manner, and in a calm tone mentioned the reason of his annoyance. I was perfectly amazed at the power ​of control he evinced over his temper. In one moment, from the most awful state of fury, he subdued his irritability, and his manner became calm, gentle, and composed. Las Cases set off at daylight the next morning, and returned before twelve o'clock. He informed the emperor that the smell of paint was so slight as to be scarcely perceptible, and that a few hours would remove it altogether. The grand marshal was sharply reprimanded, as I afterwards learned, for making an exaggerated report. It was arranged that he should leave the Briars two days afterwards for Longwood, which was now quite ready for him.

On the appointed morning, which to me was a most melancholy one, Sir George Cockburn, accompanied by the emperor's suite, came to the Briars, to escort him to his new abode. I was crying bitterly, and he came up and said, "You must not cry, Mademoiselle Betsee; you must come ​and see me next week, and very often." I told him that depended on my father. He turned to him and said, "Balcombe, you must bring Missee Jane and Betsee to see me next week, eh? When will you ride up to Longwood?" My father promised he would, and kept his word. He asked where mamma was, and I said she desired her kind regards to the emperor, and regretted not being able to see him before his departure, as she was ill in bed. "I will go and see her;" and up stairs he darted before we had time to tell my mother of his approach. He seated himself on the bed, and expressed his regret at hearing she was unwell. He was warm in his acknowledgments of her attentions to him, and said, he would have preferred staying altogether at the Briars, if they would have permitted him. He then presented my mother with a gold snuff-box, and begged she would give it to my father as a mark of his friendship. He gave me ​a beautiful little bonbonniére, which I had often admired, and said you can give it as a gage d'amour to le petit Las Cases. I burst into tears and ran out of the room. I stationed myself at a window from which I could see his departure, but my heart was too full to look on him as he left us, and throwing myself on the bed, I cried bitterly for a long time.

When my father returned, we asked him how the emperor liked his new residence. He said that he appeared out of spirits, and, retiring to his dressing-room, had shut himself up for the remainder of the day.

​From the circumstance that my father was the emperor's purveyor, we had a general order to visit Longwood, and we seldom allowed a week to pass with-out seeing him. On these occasions, we generally arrived in time to breakfast with him at one, and returned in the evening. He was more subject to ​depression of spirits than when at the Briars, but still gleams of bis former playfulness shone out at times. On one осcasion we found him firing at a mark with pistols. He put one into my hand, loaded, I believe, with powder, and, in great trepidation, I fired it off; he often called me afterwards "La petite tirailleure," and said he would form a corps of sharp-shooters, of which I should be the captain. He then went into the house, and he took me into the billiard-room, a table having been just set up at Longwood. I remember thinking it too childish for men, and very like marbles on a larger scale. The emperor condescended to teach me how to play, but I made very little progress, and amused myself with trying to hit his imperial fingers with the ball instead of making cannons and hazards.

Napoleon's health and activity began to decline soon after his arrival at Longwood. In consequence of the unfortunate dis​putes with the governor, Sir Hudson Lowe, his health became visibly impaired. He was unable, consequently, to enjoy that buoyancy of spirit which had probably been the chief cause of his allowing me to be so often in his society, and of his distinguishing me with so much regard. But he never failed to treat me with the greatest tenderness and kindness.

Some months after his departure I was attacked with an alarming illness. Mr. O'Meara attended me, and at one time despaired of my recovery. The emperor's kindness in making inquiries after me, and his other attentions, I can never forget. He ordered his confiseur, when I became convalescent, to supply me daily from his own table with every delicacy, to tempt my appetite and restore my strength.