Prussians, Russians and Austrians billeted on them were deeply resentful
at the waste of their substance and the national humiliation.
Napoleon consulted his intimates on whether he should make a landing
on the mainland. General Drouot advised against, but Pauline and
Madame Mere were enthusiastic. Letizia's alleged advice was: 'Go, my
son, fulfil your destiny. You were not made to die on this island.' On St
Helena Napoleon revealed that he had not really had any option: if he had
stayed on Elba while France was in turmoil and suffering under the
Bourbon yoke, his veterans could rightly have accused him of cowardice.
Given the refusal of Louis XVIII's government to pay him the agreed
annuity, it is hard to see what realistic alternative he had. Chateaubriand
claimed that the events of 1815 revealed Napoleon as an egomaniac
without any real feeling fo r France and its suffering, but this is not really
a plausible interpretation. More feasible is the idea that Austria and
England colluded to set things up so that Napoleon would return; in
order to send him to a distant island, they needed an excuse to convince
the Czar, prime mover in the Elba idea, that none of them could ever rest
easy while Bonaparte was in Europe.
Napoleon chose carefully the moment when he made his bid. On 16
February Campbell left Elba for a medical consultation in Florence on
board the Royal Navy brig Partridge, which normally invested the island.
Next day the Emperor ordered the brig Inconstant to be fitted out for a
voyage. Men, arms and ammuniton were loaded on to six smaller craft.
On 26 February Napoleon bade farewell to Elba. He took with him 650
men of the Guard, just over a hundred Polish lancers and some Corsican
and Elban volunteers. The journey across the Mediterranean was risky,
for with favourable winds the Partridge could have got back fr om
Leghorn in time to intercept the Inconstant. But Napoleon's usual luck
when at sea held. The only encounter with hostile shipping was with
the French brig, the Zephyr. The two ships hailed each other, but the
Zephyr's captain was lacking in curiosity and was satisfied with the
casually imparted news that the 'great man' was still on Elba.
On 28 February, Napoleon landed at Golfe Juan near Antibes with just
1,026 men, forty horses and two cannon. Nothing daunted, he addressed
his comrades in arms: 'I will arrive in Paris without firing a shot.' In a
further amazing prediction, he declared they would all be in Paris in time
for the King of Rome's birthday on 20 March. To avoid the White
Terror of Provence he proposed to head through the Basses-Alpes to
Grenoble. This involved a grueJling march after Grasse on a winding,
single-file track, made treacherous by ice. The early days were
depressing, for two mules bearing one-tenth of his money plunged over a
marcin
(Marcin)
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