hundred.' Soon he decided to cut his losses, and after October 1816 there
were no more English lessons.
Although the Emperor would sometimes snub Admiral Cockburn, just
to make clear their respective stations, the rapport built up over the two
months at sea saw them through temporary difficulties. But the halcyon
days came to an end on 14 April 1816 with the arrival as Governor of Sir
Hudson Lowe, a creature of Lord Bathurst's, who brought new
instructions concerning 'General Bonaparte's' enforced stay on the island.
A career officer without private means, and with the crippling legacy of
an unhappy childhood, Lowe was a narrow, humourless, by-the-book
martinet, who lacked the social ease and innate confidence to make a
success of a job calling for self-reliance and the broadest human
sympathies. No more disastrous choice as Napoleon's gaoler can be
imagined, and his appointment prompts obvious questions about the
British government's motivation. It has been suggested that London
declined to appoint an aristocrat or true grandee to the post, as such men
were susceptible to charm and thus liable to be won over by Bonaparte's
charisma. Others speculate that because Lowe for many years com
manded the Corsican Rangers and spoke Italian he was thought suitable
but, if we take this seriously, it bespeaks staggering ineptitude in London.
The Corsican Rangers were Corsican exiles, deserters and royalist
emigres who hated Napoleon. The commander of such men was no more
likely to commend himself to Napoleon than the comte d' Artois to
Robespierre.
Two days after arriving, Lowe tried to see Napoleon but the Emperor
was angry with Admiral Cockburn, who had recently insisted that a
British officer should accompany 'General Bonaparte' on his rides round
Longwood. He therefore declined to see the two men together. On 17
April 1816 Lowe insisted on an interview and arrived at Longwood in
company with Cockburn, who was to introduce him to Napoleon in
accordance with normal protocol. The ingenuity that had served him
through fifty battles had not deserted the Emperor. He had the footman
show Lowe into the drawing-room, then shut the door in Cockburn's
face when he tried to follow. The first interview went well enough with
some inconsequential talk about Corsica and Egypt, where Lowe had
served. Lowe was pleased with his own performance and in this mood of
initial euphoria invited him to the Governor's mansion and put the
library at his disposal.
But things turned sour - and as it turned out, irretrievably so - at the
next meeting at Longwood, on 30 April. Emboldened by what he took to
be the success of the first meeting, Lowe got down to business and
marcin
(Marcin)
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