garden of 'The Briars', where resided William Balcom be, the East India
Company agent.
At The Briars Napoleon amused himself by a bizarre, half-flirtatious,
half-facetious teasing of the two Balcombe daughters, Jane, sixteen and
Betsy, fourteen. Betsy was a particular fa vourite, for with the lack of self
consciousness of youth, she treated Napoleon as an equal in hoydenish
practical jokes and pointed out loudly, with the innocence of adolescence,
that the Emperor cheated at cards. It was a sad moment fo r Napoleon
when the Balcombes returned to England in 1818, by which time Betsy
had emerged from the tomboy chrysalis into the butterfly colours of a
pretty young woman. She was always very fond of Napoleon, remem
bered him with great affection and, many years later, recalled these times
in conversation with Louis Napoleon (then Emperor Napoleon III), who
rewarded her with an estate in Algeria.
In December Napoleon moved to Longwood, formerly the summer
seat of the Lieutenant-Governor but really little more than a very large
bungalow. Although it was said to contain 44 rooms, many of them were
no bigger than cramped cells or outhouses, and the sheer physical
proximity of so many people produced its own problems. For his own use
Napoleon reserved a study, drawing-room, an antechamber with a billiard
room, a crepuscular dining-room, a bedroom and a bathroom. On a
plateau at 1,700 feet, Longwood was supposed to have a healthier climate
than Jamestown, five miles away. But St Helena was in general an
unhealthy spot, where amoebic dysentery, caught from a parasite, was an
endemic problem; no less than 56 men out of 630 in the znd Battalion of
the 66th Regiment, doing garrison duty on the island, succumbed to it in
these years. Everyone in the Bonaparte household except Bertrand caught
the disease at one time or another. The problem was augmented by lack
of sanitation, and all fresh water had to be brought to Longwood from a
well three miles away. The other notorious problem with Longwood was
that it was infested with rats, which were so bold that they would even
run between the legs of diners when they were at table.
Nevertheless, Napoleon made the best of an unpromising situation and
went riding over a twelve-mile area without supervision. Bertrand issued
dozens of passes for visitors, and there were frequent excursions with
friends like the Balcombes or Dr Warden, the surgeon from the
Northumberland. Napoleon continued to learn English from Las Cases,
though he was an atrocious linguist, as the following attempt, dated 7
March 1816 shows: 'Count Lascasses. Since sixt wek, y learn the english
and y do not any progress. Sixt wek do fourty and two day. If might have
learn fivty word, for day, i could knowm it two thousands and two
marcin
(Marcin)
#1