ha ving taken the phial without effect on 7 April, try again on the night of
r2-r3 only to be visited, quite coincidentally, with a genuine case of food
poisoning? Was an attempt made by person or persons unknown to
murder him by poison? Or is Caulaincourt's account unreliable? Scholars
have from time to time raised doubts about the authenticity of his
memoirs, or parts of them at any rate, and suspicions have arisen that
they might have been doctored by later hands. To a large extent we are in
the realm of circumstantial evidence. Napoleon's state of mind was
certainly such as to predispose him to suicide at this juncture, but he was
to survive worse ordeals and far more dark nights later without turning to
suicide. It is still possible that Caulaincourt's version of events is true but,
if so, a more systematic reinterpretation of Napoleon's character is called
for than historians have been willing to provide.
Certainly Napoleon's emotions at the time were helter-skelter. After
signing the deed of abdication on 6 April, he thought of recanting and
trying to lead a war of national liberation, Spanish-style, or of escaping to
join Eugene, who did not surrender until 17 April. After initially bowing
his head under the Treaty of Fontainebleau, he decided not to sign it,
then finally gave in. But he drove a hard bargain, determined not to let
Castlereagh off the hook. He insisted that the British guarantee the treaty,
both to guarantee his own safety on the way to Elba and to guarantee his
person against abduction by Maltese, Sicilian or Barbary pirates once he
was there; as an earnest of British intentions, he asked for a commissioner
who would reside with him in Elba. Castlereagh was forced into the
absurd situation of having to guarantee the independence of a sovereign
whose formal title he refused to recognize.
The man chosen as Commissioner was Colonel Sir Neil Campbell, a
Highlander who had fought at Bautzen. On arrival in Fontainebleau on
r6 April, Campbell recorded his first impressions of Napoleon: 'I saw
before me a short, active-looking man, who was rapidly pacing the length
of his apartment, like some wild animal in his cell. He was dressed in an
old green uniform with gold epaulets, blue pantaloons, and red topboots,
unshaven, uncombed, with the fallen particles of snuff scattered profusely
upon his upper lip and breast.' The arrangement was that Napoleon
would travel to Elba with Campbell and three other Allied Commis
sioners, together with Bertrand and detachments of the Guard under
General Drouot.
On 20 April a convoy of fourteen carriages escorted by 62 Polish
lancers set off for Elba; 6oo Guardsmen would eventually follow the
Emperor to his island. Before he left Fontainebleau, Napoleon made an
emotional farewell in the courtyard of the Chateau to those Guardsmen
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