Читать книгу The Life, Exile and Conversations with Napoleon - Emmanuel-Auguste-Dieudonné Las Cases - Страница 79

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30th.—The Emperor desired me to be called before eight o’clock. While he dressed, I finished reading to him the newspapers which I had begun to examine the day before. When dressed, he himself went to the stables, asked for his horse, and rode out with me alone; his attendants not being yet quite ready. We rode on at random, and soon arrived in a field where some labourers were engaged in ploughing. The Emperor alighted from his horse, seized the plough, and, to the great astonishment of the man who was holding it, he himself traced a furrow of considerable length. He again mounted and continued his ride through various parts of the neighbourhood, and was joined successively by General Gourgaud and the grooms.

On his return, the Emperor expressed a wish to breakfast under a tree in the garden; and desired us to remain with him. During the ride, he had mentioned a little present that he intended for us. “It is a trifle, to be sure,” observed he; “but every thing must be proportioned to circumstances, and to me this is truly the widow’s mite.” He alluded to a monthly stipend which he had determined to settle on each of us. It was to be deducted from an inconsiderable sum, which we had contrived to secrete in spite of the vigilance of the English; and this sum was henceforth Napoleon’s sole resource. It may well be imagined how precious this trifle had become. I seized the first moment, on finding myself alone with him, to express my opinion on this subject, and to declare my own personal determination to decline his intended bounty. He laughed at this, and as I persisted in my resolution, he said, pinching my ear, “Well, if you don’t want it now, keep it for me: I shall know where to find it when I stand in need of it.”

After breakfast, the Emperor went in-doors, and desired me to finish reading the newspapers. I had been some time engaged in reading, when M. de Montholon requested to be introduced. He had just had a long conversation with the Admiral, who was very anxious to see the Emperor. I was directed to suspend my translations from the newspapers, and the Emperor walked about for some time, as though hesitating how to proceed; at length, taking up his hat, he went into the drawing-room to receive the Admiral. This circumstance afforded me the highest satisfaction; for I knew that it was calculated to put a period to our state of hostility. I was well assured that two minutes’ conversation with the Emperor would smooth more difficulties than two days correspondence with any one else. Accordingly I was soon informed that his convincing arguments and amiable manners had produced the wished-for effect. I was assured that on his departure the Admiral appeared enchanted: as for the Emperor, he was very well pleased at what had taken place; he is far from disliking the Admiral: he is even somewhat prepossessed in his favour. “You may be a very good seaman,” said the Emperor to him, “but you know nothing at all about our situation. We ask nothing of you. We can bear in silence and retirement our pains and privations; we can find resources within ourselves; but still our esteem is worth obtaining.” The Admiral referred to his instructions. “But,” replied the Emperor, “you do not consider the vast distance that intervenes between the dictation and the execution of those instructions! The very individual who issues them in a remote part of the world would oppose them if he saw them carried into execution. Besides,” continued he, “it is certain that on the least difference, the least opposition, the slightest expression of public opinion, the Ministers would disavow their instructions, or severely blame those who had not given them a more favourable interpretation.”

The Admiral conducted himself wonderfully well; the Emperor had every reason to be satisfied with him: all asperities were softened down, and good understanding prevailed on every point. It was agreed that the Emperor should henceforth freely ride about the Island; that the officer who had been instructed to attend him, should merely watch him from a distance, so that the Emperor might not be offended with the sight of a guard; that visitors should be admitted to the Emperor, not with the permission of the Admiral, as the inspector of Longwood, but with that of the Grand Marshal, who did the honours of the establishment.

To-day our little colony was increased by the arrival of Captain Piontkowsky, a native of Poland. He was one of those individuals whom we had left behind us at Plymouth. His attachment to the Emperor, and his grief at being separated from him, had subdued the severity of the English Ministers, and he had received permission to proceed to St. Helena.