Читать книгу The Life, Exile and Conversations with Napoleon - Emmanuel-Auguste-Dieudonné Las Cases - Страница 83

Table of Contents

9th.—The grounds round Longwood, within which we have the liberty of taking the air, admit of only half an hour’s ride on horseback; which has induced the Emperor, in order to extend his ride, or to occupy more time, to descend into the ravines by very bad and indeed dangerous ways.

The Island not being thirty miles in circumference, it would have been desirable to have the circuit extended to within a mile of the sea-coast; then we might have had our rides, and even varied them, within a space of fifteen or eighteen miles. The watching of our movements would neither have been more troublesome nor less effectual, had sentinels been placed upon the sea-shore and at the openings of the valleys; or even had they traced all the Emperor’s steps by signals. We had been told, it is true, that the Emperor was at liberty to go over the whole of the Island under the escort of an English officer; but the Emperor had decided that he would never go out, if deprived of the privilege of being either entirely by himself, or in the society of his friends only. The Admiral, in his last interview with the Emperor, had, with great delicacy, settled that, whenever he (the Emperor) wished to go beyond the prescribed limits, he was to inform the English Captain on duty at Longwood of the circumstance; that the latter should go to his post to open the passage for the Emperor; and that the observation, if any, should thenceforth be continued in such a manner that the Emperor, during the remainder of his excursion, whether he entered any house or took advantage of any fine situation for proceeding with his works, might perceive nothing that could for a moment distract his mind from meditation. According to this arrangement, the Emperor proposed this morning to mount his horse at seven o’clock: he had ordered a slight breakfast to be prepared, and intended to go in the direction of Sandy Bay, to see a spring of water, and to pass the morning amongst some fine vegetation (an advantage which we did not possess at Longwood); and in this spot he proposed to dictate for a few hours.

Our horses were ready; at the moment when we were about to mount them, I went to acquaint the Captain with our intention, who, to my great astonishment, declared his determination of riding beside us; saying that the Emperor could not take it ill, after all, that an officer would not act the part of a servant by remaining behind alone. I replied that the Emperor doubtless would approve this sentiment; but that he would immediately give up his party of pleasure. “You must,” said I, “think it very natural, and by no means a ground of offence, that he feels a repugnance to the company of a person who is guarding him.” The officer evinced much concern, and told me that his situation was extremely embarrassing. “Not at all so,” I observed to him, “if you only execute your orders. We ask nothing of you; you have nothing to justify or explain to us. It must be as desirable to you as to us to get the limits extended towards the sea-shore: you would thereby be freed from a troublesome duty, and one which can do you no honour. The end proposed would not be the less effectually accomplished by such an arrangement. I will venture to say that it would be more so: whenever we wish to watch a person, we must guard the door of his room, or the gates of the enclosure which surrounds him; the intermediate doors are only sources of unavailing trouble. You lose sight of the Emperor every day when he descends into the deep hollows within the circuit, and you ascertain his existence only by his return. Well, then, make a merit of a concession which the nature of things demands. Extend the limits to within a mile of the sea-shore; you may then also trace the Emperor constantly by means of your signals from your heights.”

To all this the officer replied only by repeating that he wanted neither look nor word from the Emperor; that he would be with us, as if he were not present. He seemed, and indeed he was, unable to comprehend that the mere sight of him could be offensive to the Emperor. I told him that there was a scale for the degrees of feeling, and that the same measure did not apply to all the world. He appeared to think that we were putting our own interpretations on the Emperor’s sentiments, and that, if the reasons which he gave me were explained to him (the Emperor), the latter would accede to them. He was inclined to write to him. I assured him that, as far as related personally to himself, he would not be able to say so much to the Emperor as I myself should: but that I would go and repeat to the Emperor, word for word, the conversation which had passed between us. I went, and soon returned, and confirmed to him what I had before advanced. The Emperor from that moment gave up his intended excursion.

Wishing, however, on my own account, to avoid every misunderstanding which might add to discussions, at all times disagreeable, I asked him whether he had any objection to impart to me the account he intended to give the Admiral. He told me he had none; but that he should only give a verbal one. Then, resuming our long conversation, I reduced it in a few words, to two very positive points: on his part, that he had told me he wished to join the party of the Emperor: and on mine, that I had replied that the Emperor from that moment gave up his party, and would not go beyond the limits assigned to him. This statement was perfectly agreed upon by both of us. The Emperor ordered me to be called into his room. Brooding in profound silence over the vexation which he had just experienced, he had undressed again, and was in his morning-gown. He detained me to breakfast, and observed that the sky seemed to threaten rain; that we should have had a bad day for our excursion. But this was a poor consolation for the cruel restraint which had just deprived him of an innocent pleasure.

The fact is that the officer had received fresh orders; but the Emperor had only grounded the project of his little excursion upon the anterior promises of the Admiral, at which the Emperor had felt a pleasure in expressing his satisfaction to him. The present alteration, of which nothing had been said to the Emperor, must necessarily have been extremely unpleasant to him. Either the word given him was broken, or an attempt had been made to impose on him. This affront, which he experienced from the Admiral, is one of those which have considerably hurt the feelings of the Emperor.

The Emperor took a bath, and did not dine with us. At nine o’clock he ordered me to be called into his room, he was reading Don Quixote, which turned our conversation upon Spanish literature, the translation of Le Sage, &c. He was very melancholy, and said little; he sent me away in about three quarters of an hour.