Such was the probable fate of Napoleon on St Helena. Unless an
authenticated confession from Montholon is unearthed (some have
claimed to have fo und it, only to have opponents declare the document a
forgery), one can never really advance beyond the realm of probability
into absolute truth, and one's judgement must always be predicated on
likelihood rather than propositions beyond a reasonable doubt. It must be
said in passing that champions of the orthodox theory - that Napoleon
died of cancer - require from proponents of rival theories criteria for
verification that their own hypothesis could never meet. And British
culture, justifiably suspicious of 'conspiracy theory', has parlayed
reasonable scepticism into the dogmatic assertion that conspiracies never
take place. But perhaps in a wider sense the determination of the exact
cause of Napoleon's death scarcely matters. The hero chained to the rock
of St Helena was a mere ghost of the once all-conquering Emperor.
Napoleon Bonaparte R.I.P.
marcin
(Marcin)
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