little child.' Bertrand was also involved in a tussle with the two Corsican
priests, who wished to give the Emperor the last rites. Bertrand was
adamant that the freethinking Emperor should not die 'like a Capuchin
monk', but, whether by prearrangement with the Emperor or on his own
initiative the younger cleric, Vignali, administer�d extreme unction on
2 May.
By 3 May it seemed obvious the end could not be long delayed. By
now the Emperor seemed to have lost his memory completely, his mind
was addled and his speech confused. Montholon alerted Hudson Lowe to
the fact that Napoleon was close to death, so Lowe, who had consistently
maintained that 'General Bonaparte' was fa king his illnesses, ordered the
two most senior medical officers on the island, on the admiral's staff, to
go to Longwood. The doctors Shortt and Mitchell arrived at the bedside
and recommended a dose of calomel to produce a bowel movement. Since
Arnott was junior in rank he did not dissent, but Antommarchi did,
pointing out the danger to a man who had eaten nothing for six days, only
to be overruled by Montholon. At 5.30 p.m. a dose of o.6 grammes of
calomel was administered by Marchand, with extreme reluctance. When
told by the physicians that this was the only way to save his master, he
mixed the calomel in a drink. Napoleon noticed something was wrong
and mumbled to Marchand: 'You're deceiving me, too.'
When this concoction failed to produce the required bowel movement,
the English doctors decided to dose their charge with a massive ten
grammes of calomel. Antommarchi protested violently that this would
surely kill the patient, but once again Montholon took the side of the
British. At r r .30 p.m. the Emperor passed a 'very abundant stool' - in
reality the matter from a massive haemorrhage of the stomach. Next day
he had four more 'abundant stools' and on one occasion fainted eight
times in succession. His mind was wandering, and on one occasion he
asked Bertrand what was the name of the King of Rome. 'Napoleon,'
Bertrand replied. At 8 p.m. the Emperor had a fifth evacuation; the
calomel had obviously produced a violent haemorrhage. Then at 2 a.m.
on 5 May he spoke his last words: France, armee, tete d'armee, Josephine.
All next day the entire household of Longwood, including the
children, clustered round the bed, watching the unconscious Emperor
slowly drift away. At 5·49 p.m., he was seen to breathe his last, having
heaved three sighs in his last three minutes. Bertrand noted in his
journal: 'At the moment of crisis there was a slight flicker of the pupils;
an irregular movement from the mouth and chin to the brow; the same
regularity as of a clock.' Antommarchi officially pronounced him dead at
5.51 p.m. An autopsy, performed by Antommarchi in the presence of five
marcin
(Marcin)
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