NAPOLEON

IN EXILE: ST. HELENA

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CHAPTER I

THE OUTLAW

N the 1st March, 1815, just a hundred years ago, Napoleon returned from his exile at Elba, and placed his foot once more on the soil of France. He had brought with him from his island kingdom 600 men of the Old Guard, 100 Polish Lancers, and 300 Corsicans; 1000 soldiers in all, besides his suite of civilians. They were encamped on the beach near Cannes. With this force Napoleon was making war upon the Government of Louis XVIII.

At midnight the march to Paris commenced. The route was across the mountains to Grenoble. By 8 p.m. of the 2nd March, in twenty hours, thirty-one miles of hilly country had been covered. A little further, at Castellane, Cambronne, who marched at the head of a small advance guard, demanded from the sub-prefect, in the name of “the Emperor," five thousand rations of bread, meat, and wine, with mules and carts. These supplies were, after some hesitation, given. The adventurers marched on, reached Digue in the afternoon of the 4th, and Cambronne obtained command of the important bridge over the river Durance at Sisteron, at 1 a.m. of the 5th. The force sent from

Marseilles by Masséna to seize the bridge, arrived two days late.

Napoleon arrived at Sisteron before noon on the 5th. He was well received. He rested the night at Gap. The inhabitants welcomed him there with enthusiasm. The people of Dauphiné were with him. It was in Dauphiné that the Revolution had commenced, and it was as a support against Royalty and Privilege, as a Jacobin, that Napoleon was now being welcomed.

On the 6th he rested at Corps, one march from Grenoble. On the 7th he went forward in a carriage, in the midst of his Guard, followed by the Corsicans, towards Grenoble ; a crowd of fifteen hundred persons accompanied him, crying, "Vive l'Empereur!" Grenoble was the head-quarters of a military division commanded by General Marchand, who had already been warned of the approach of Napoleon. He sent out the 5th Regiment of the line to stop the adventurer. Napoleon walked straight up to the soldiers, at the head of his Old Guard. A captain cried out, “There he is. Fire!" but no shot followed. Napoleon stepped forward. "Soldiers of the 5th of the line," he said in a steady, firm voice, "I am your Emperor. You recognize me." Then, advancing a pace or two farther, he opened his overcoat, and said, “If there is among you a soldier who wants to kill his Emperor, here I am." This appeal, with the busbies of the famous Guard in the background, was overpowering. Cries of "Vive l'Empereur!" rent the air, and the soldiers crowded round their old leader. This was the only critical moment in the march upon Paris. The plebs had been with Napoleon from the first, and now he was assured of the army. La Bédoyère brought out from the town the 7th Regiment, to welcome Napoleon, who entered Grenoble in the evening, without opposition. He said afterwards, at St. Helena, "Before reaching Grenoble I was an adventurer; arrived there I was a Prince."

His progress thenceforth was triumphant, escorted at