Shanty - 'Boney was a Warrior' (from The Tragedy of St. Helena by Sir Walter Runciman 1911)
They sent him to St. Helena!
Oh! aye, Oh!
They sent him to St. Helena,
John France Wa!
Oh! Boney was ill-treated!
Oh! aye, Oh!
Oh! Boney's heart was broken!
Oh! aye, Oh!
But Boney was an Emperor!
Oh! aye, Oh!
But Boney was an Emperor!
John France Wa!
Napoleon came to St. Helena in 1815. Six years later he was dead. This posting will not retell the Napoleonic Wars or, indeed, offer other than a very potted history of the man's time here.
The onetime emperor arrived on a British warship. You can imagine he wasn't very happy (‘It is not an attractive place’).
He came ashore approximately where I did. After one night in Jamestown (he never went back), he moved to the Briars Pavilion outside town.
Napoleon was only here a short time while a larger home was prepared. With him were a few French officers, their wives, cooks, valets and other servants. The entourage numbered about thirty.
I rather like this shot of a convenient Bonaparte bust.
His stay at the Briars was his happiest - given he was a prisoner - on St. Helena. He and the thirteen year old daughter of the pavilion's owner struck up what can only be described as a remarkable friendship. Betsy Balcombe was able to contradict, play and joke with Napoleon in a way unthinkable for anyone else. This is Betsy when older.
By the way, the vivid green wallpaper closely matches the original.
Napoleon and the rest were shifted to Longwood, high up on the island. In 1858, the home was given to the French and is now the responsibility of a French consul.
Although to our eyes, the home - at least the exterior - may have a certain appeal, it and the location were quite unsuitable. It was cramped and, for much of the year, damp, chilly and smoky.
Napoleon looked onto Deadwood Plain - although without the trees - where the Boer prisoners would camp eighty-five years later.
Three thousand British soldiers and a number of warships kept an eye on him, providing the island with prosperity that would only be repeated once more - when the Boers were here.
Boney, sometimes referred to (by the British) as the 'Great Tyrant,’ the 'Ogre' and other less pleasant terms, was forced to amuse himself in often petty battles with his jailer, St. Helena's governor. Particularly irritating to the former emperor was the governor's refusal to call the prisoner 'Your Majesty.' Instead, Napoleon was called 'General Bonaparte.' The governor - not up to the job - lived in constant fear that Napoleon would escape.
While here, I'm fortunate to take all the time I want. Although not, as said in my first post, a student of Napoleon, there is a fascination in the circumstances of his confinement.
Through this billiard room peephole, Napoleon watched the British sentries.
For lack of much to do, other than occasional rides and picnics, Napoleon and his generals made the garden (it’s early spring here). When the governor demanded empty wine bottles be returned, Napoleon had the bottles smashed and the fragments scattered in the flowers. I part a few blooms, but, sadly, find no evidence of Napoleonic bottle smashing.
Simon and Cilia from North Wales demonstrate the sunken paths; these allowed the short Napoleon to take a constitutional out of the guards' sight. Simon and Celia are tall and perhaps the flowers in Boney's time were higher.
After Napoleon's death many possessions became souvenirs. However, the home's dismal interior still contains much that was his. The bed is original ...
... as is the sofa.
Napoleon must have moodily retraced his conquests on this faded globe. He surely regretted not carrying out his idea in 1804 of an expedition to capture St. Helena from the British. St. Helena is scratched out, perhaps by the deposed emperor after yet another battle with the governor.
For sometime, Napoleon hoped he’d be allowed to return to France. However, it became obvious this was not to be.
His health declined and he died here in May, 1821. He was aged 51.
There have long been claims Napoleon was poisoned with arsenic. Respected studies reject murder and consensus seems to be that Bonaparte died from stomach cancer.
With full British military honours, and inside four coffins, his body was buried in a nearby valley where he enjoyed walking. Nowadays, there’s a sometimes muddy path to the grave.
Squabbles continued past the end. Napoleon's entourage wanted the tombstone simply inscribed 'Napoleon.' The British preferred 'Napoleon Bonaparte.'
In the end, nothing was written on the stone.
Unless based on St. Helena, occasional visitors made an inordinately difficult journey to pay their respects.
The body remained here until 1840 when moved to Paris and reburied in Les Invalides.
Simon looks properly mournful while considering the empty grave.
I remain for sometime on my own. It is much lovelier and far more peaceful than his stagy Parisian resting place. However, he was Emperor of the French and understandably wanted to be where he once so influenced history. A last shot and then I leave.
______________________
Amusing news item: researching the trip, I came across a June 2, 2011, Washington Post opinion piece, ‘For Gaddafi, a home on St. Helena.’
In the article, written before Gaddafi's end, William C. Goodfellow, executive director of the Center for International Policy, suggested the dictator be permanently exiled on St. Helena. Put him in a well-guarded, comfortable cottage or even tent of the sort the dictator favoured. Given Gaddafi's death, it might have been preferable (for him) and helped the island’s economy. Still, the Saints probably wouldn't have been too keen.
