August 20 1814: Jefferson on Napoleon

I think the downfall of Bonaparte a great blessing for Europe, which never could have had peace while he was in power. every national society there also will be restored to their antient limits, and to the kind of government, good or bad, which they chuse. I believe the restoration of the Bourbons is the only point on which France could be rallied, and that their re-establishment3 is better for that country than civil wars whether they should be a peaceable nation under a fool or a warring one under a military despot of genius. to us alone this brings misfortune. it rids of all other enemies a tyrannical nation, fully armed, and deeply embittered by the wrongs they have done us. they may greatly distress individuals in their circumstances; but the soil and the men will remain unconquerable by them, and drinking deeper daily a more deadly, unquenchable and everlasting hatred to them. how much less money would it cost to them, and pain to us, to nourish mutual affections & mutual interests & happiness. but the destructive passions seem to have been implanted in man, as one of the obstacles to his too great multiplication. while we are thus gnawed however by national hatreds we retire with delight into the bosom of our individual friendships in the full feeling of which I salute you affectionately.

— Thomas Jefferson writes to William Short, 20 August 1814.

June 27 1814: Napoleon Goes Fishing

PEACE is proclaimed in Oxford and across Britain.

NAPOLEON is fishing on the coast of Elba.

— June 27 1814 pic.twitter.com/Aap6xlKGct

— pastnow (@pastnow_) June 27, 2014

A clear sky and smooth sea reveal the tunny that have come near the shores of Elba to spawn. — June 27 1814 pic.twitter.com/ni330hwWz1

— pastnow (@pastnow_) June 27, 2014

The tunnies are driven into nets near the shore. Napoleon has come to see the drawing-in of the nets. — June 27 1814 pic.twitter.com/ns0Hvcw3QA

— pastnow (@pastnow_) June 27, 2014

Napoleon watches from a boat. The fish exhaust and stun themselves by leaping against each other and against the nets. — June 27 1814

— pastnow (@pastnow_) June 27, 2014

Napoleon notes that the tunny are easily captured once they are stunned and exhausted. — June 27 1814 http://t.co/xO012NgUye @joshuafoust

— pastnow (@pastnow_) June 27, 2014

Napoleon harpoons a fish, tries to land it, but he has selected too large a fish, and is unable to lift it into the boat. — June 27 1814

— pastnow (@pastnow_) June 27, 2014

May 27 1814: Napoleon’s Restless Perseverence

With respect to May 27, 1814, Colonel Campbell writes in his memoirs at some length about Napoleon’s restlessness. “I have never seen a man in any situation of life,” he writes “with so much personal activity and restless perseverance. He appears to take so much pleasure in perpetual movement, and in seeing those who accompany him sink under fatigue … [yesterday] he rode on horseback for three hours, as he told me afterwards, ‘pour se defatiguer!'” Campbell also notes ominously: “His thoughts seem to dwell perpetually upon the operations of war”.

May 20 1814: A Corpulent Napoleon Captures Pia Nosa

May 20. To an island, Pia Nosa, which Napoleon took possession of as a dependency of Elba. He carried two horses with him, and rode out at two different times to examine every part of the island. We dined altogether on the grass under a sail, he at one extremity, seated at a small table with his hat on.

In returning he visited a small rock about musket-shot from the harbour of Pia Nosa. He was informed that the ‘Sea-Horse ‘ frigate, when she attacked this place, had mounted two guns upon the summit. He attempted to ascend it, but after getting up half-way, although assisted occasionally both by the lieutenant of the Navy and myself, was obliged to desist. Indefatigable as he is, his corpulency prevents him from walking much, and he is obliged to take the arm of some person on rough roads.

— Lieutenancy Neil Campbell, a British Officer in the Island of Elba, records in his diary for May 20 1814

May 18 1814: Napoleon Inspects his Realm

May 18. Napoleon went upon a tour of the greatest part of the island, accompanied by two chamberlains, two officers of ordnance, one captain of gendarmes, the intendant-general and mayor, the president of the law court and his secretary, General Bertrand, a lieutenant of the British Navy, the Austrian aide-de-camp, and myself. We visited, among other places, Marchiana di Marina, where there was a ‘Te Deum’.

—  Lieutenancy Neil Campbell, in Island of Elba, records in his diary for  May 18 1814

May 10 1814: Eh My Isle is Very Small

For May 10 1814, Captain Thomas Ussher, the captain of the Undaunted, writes in his memoirs.

May 10. Napoleon rode to the top of the highest hill above Porto Ferrajo, whence we could perceive the sea from four different points, and apparently not an English mile in a straight line in any direction from the spot where we stood. After surveying it for some time, he turned round and laughed, ” Eh, my isle is very small.”  On the top of this hill is a small chapel, and a house where a hermit had resided until his death. Some one remarked that it would require more than common devotion to induce persons to attend service there. “Yes,yes ; the priest can say as much nonsense as he wishes.”

May 6 1814: Napoleon Has Plans for Elba

On May 6 1814, Captain Thomas Ussher, the captain of the Undaunted, writes in his memoirs.

May 6. At 6 a.m., we crossed the bay in my barge, and found horses waiting for us. We rode to Rion to see the famous iron mountains. We visited several mines, and likewise a temple built by the ancients, and dedicated by them to Jupiter.  The road to the latter is highly romantic and beautiful, but is difficult of access, being situated on the summit of a steep and lofty mountain. This obliged us to dismount,and we walked through a thick covert of beautiful trees and shrubs till we arrived at the temple. We saw also a small museum very nicely kept, which contained many fine specmens of the ores of the adjoining mines, two or three of which Napoleon presented to me.

May 5 1814: Napoleon Up At Four

On May 5 1814, Captain Thomas Ussher, the captain of the Undaunted, the ship that brought Napoleon to Elba, writes in his memoirs

May 5. At 4 a.m. I was awakened by shouts of ” Vive l’ Empereur! ” and by drums beating; Napoleon was already up, and going on foot over the fortifications, magazines, and storehouses.

At ten he returned to breakfast, and at two mounted his horse, and I accompanied him two leagues into the country. He examined various country-houses, and gave money to all the poor we met on the road. At seven he returned to dinner. I should remark that, before leaving the Undaunted, Napoleon requested that a party of fifty marines might accompany him, and remain on shore; but this he afterward changed to an officer and two sergeants, one of whom, O’Gorum (one of the bravest and best soldiers I ever met, and to whom the Emperor had taken a great fancy), he selected to sleep on a mattress outside the door of his bedchamber, with his clothes and sword on. A valet de chambre slept on another mattress in the same place, and if Napoleon lay down during the day, the sergeant remained in the antechamber.

(The image above is of Napoleon’s Villa di San Martino in Elba.)

May 4 1814: Napoleon Arrives at Elba

On May 4 1814, Napoleon lands on the Island of Elba. The island is in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is fourteen miles long and six miles wide. It is precipitously close to Italy and France. Its coast is steep and its interior mountainous. Its emperor is Napoleon, the conquered conqueror of Europe.

Captain Thomas Ussher, the captain of the Undaunted, the ship that brought Napoleon to Elba, writes in his memoirs

May 4. Napoleon was on deck at daylight, and talked for two hours with the harbour-master, who had come on board to take charge of the ship as pilot, questioning him minutely about the anchorage, fortifications, &c. At six we weighed anchor, and made sail into the harbour; anchored at half-past six at the Mole Head, hoisted out all the boats, and sent some of the baggage on shore. At eight the Emperor asked me for a boat, as he intended to take a walk on the opposite side of the bay, and requested me to go with him. He wore a great-coat and a round hat. Comte Bertrand, Colonel Campbell, and Colonel Vincent (chief engineer) went with us; Baron Roller declined doing so. When half-way ashore Napoleon remarked that he was without a sword, and soon afterward asked if the peasants of Tuscany were addicted to assassination. We walked for about two hours. The peasants, taking us for Englishmen, cried, ” Viva which seemed to displease him.

April 29 1814: Southey On Byron’s Ode to Napoleon

Thank you for Lord   there is in it, as in all his poems, great life, spirit, and originality, though the meaning is not always brought out with sufficient perspicuity. The last time I saw him he asked me if I did not think Bonaparte a great man in his villany. I told him, no, – that he was a mean-minded villain. And Lord Byron has now been brought to the same opinion.

— Robert Southey writes to Neville White, April 29 1814