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Napoleon 31 St. Helena

Even after Waterloo, Napoleon thought (for a time) that he could pull together an army from the fleeing mass and fight again. . . . Lafayette takes power, a coup d'etat in fact if not name . . . the bones of Frenchmen are in Africa, Russia, Europe--all following N.  . . . N. abdicates for the second time . . . He wanted to go to USA . . . N. is not (for the first time in his life) decisive . . . he does not escape France quickly enough ("If I had gone to America, we might have founded a State there.") . . . He surrenders to British . . . They determine to send him to St. Helena off the coast of Africa, arguably the most remote place on earth . . . figuring they could keep him there! . . . British captain who takes him to St. Helena ends up (to his shock) liking him . . . Jamestown, 600 foot cliffs, one entrance to the harbor . . . He ends up at Longwood, roaches, rats, termites, wet, miserable place . . . Napoleon befriends Betsy, 14 year old British girl, and is great as a companion with her . . . kind, humorous, fun-loving, unpretentious . . . . First governor of the island was kind to N.  . . . 2nd governor was not--Hudson Lowe  . . . petty . . . . but Lowe had fought against N. and had seen friends die in those battles, so understandable . . . 5.5 years on St. Helena . . . Sick 4.5 years before he died, refuses medicine -- but the medicine offered was ludicrous, so his refusal did him no harm and may have done him good. . . . Death is sleep without dreams . . . stomach cancer . . .  Chateaubriand:  "the mightiest breath of life that ever animated human clay."  Died May 5, 1821

Reburied in France in 1840:  One million French, on a freezing day, line the streets . . .

N's reading at St. Helena's included:  Northanger Abbey, Paradise Lost, Robinson Crusoe, a history of Egypt,, 20 books on religion, Shakespeare, Decline and Fall of Roman Empire , Wealth of Nations, Reflections on Revolution in France--widely read man . . .

"He had transformed the art of leadership, built and empire, handed down laws for the ages, and joined the ancients."

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