Note 41 — Chapter III

"The Commissaries, on arriving at Calade, found him with his head leaning on his two hands, and his face bathed in tears. He told them that people decidedly aimed at his life; and that the mistress of the inn, who had not known him, had told him that the Emperor was detested as a rascal, and that they would only embark him to drown him. He would eat or drink nothing, however pressed to it; and though he might have been assured by the example of those who were at table with him, he made them bring him some bread and water from his carriage, which he ate with avidity. They waited for night to continue the journey; they were only two leagues from Aix. The populace of that town would not have been so easily constrained, as in the other towns, where he had already run such risks. The Sub-Prefect, taking with him the Lieutenant and six of the gens-d'armes, rode towards Calade. The night was dark, and the weather very cold; which double circumstance protected Napoleon much better than would have been effected by the strongest escort. The Sub-Prefect and the guards met his suite a few instants after they had quitted Calade, and followed him till he arrived at the gates of Aix, at two in the morning. After having changed horses, Bonaparte continuing his route, passed under the walls of the town, and the reiterated cries of "Long live the King," which were shouted forth by the inhabitants assembled on the ramparts. Arrived at the limits of the Department, at an inn called the Great Pagere, he stopped there for breakfast. General Bertrand proposed to the Sub-Prefect to ascend to the room of the Commissaries, where all were at breakfast before his departure. Here were ten or twelve persons. Napoleon was of the number; he had the dress of an Austrian officer, and a helmet on his head. Seeing the Sub-Prefect in his councillor's habit, he said to him, "You would not have known me in this dress; it is these gentlemen who have made me take it, thinking it necessary to ensure my safety. I could have had an escort of 3000 men, which I refused, preferring to trust myself to French honour. I have not had reason to complain of that confidence from Fontainbleau to Avignon; but between that town and this, I have been insulted, and have been in great danger. The Provençals degrade themselves. Since I have been in France, I have not had a good regiment of Provençals under my orders. They are good for nothing but to make a noise. The Gascons are boasters, but at least they are brave."—At these words, one of the party, who no doubt was a Gascon, pulled out his shirt ruffle, and said, "that's pleasant." Bonaparte continuing to address himself to the Sub-Prefect, said to him, "What is the Prefect about?"—'He left this at the first news of the change which had happened at Paris.' "And his wife?" 'She had left it before.' "She then took the start. Do the people pay the revenue and the droits reunis?"—'Not a halfpenny.'—"Are there many English at Marseilles?" Here the Sub-Prefect related all that had lately passed in that port, and with what transports they had received the English. Bonaparte, who did not take much pleasure in such a recital, put an end to it, by saying to the Sub-Prefect, "Tell your Provençals that the Emperor is very ill pleased with them."

"Arrived at Bouilledon, he shut himself up in an apartment, with his sister (Pauline Borghese)—Sentinels were placed at the door. Notwithstanding which, some ladies arriving at the gallery, which communicated with that room, beheld there an officer in Austrian uniform, who said to them, "Ladies, what do you wish to see?" 'We wish to see Napoleon.' "But that's myself." The ladies, looking at him, said, smiling, 'You are joking, Sir; you are not Napoleon.' "I assure you, ladies, it is I.—What!—You thought Napoleon must have a more wicked appearance. Don't they say that I am a wretch, a rascal?"—The ladies did not care to undeceive him. Bonaparte, not wishing to press them hard on this subject, turned the conversation.—But always occupied with his first idea, he returned to it immediately.—"Acknowledge, at least, ladies, that now, when fortune is against me, they say that I am a wretch, a miscreant, and a marauder. But do you know the meaning of all this? I wished to make France superior to England, and I have failed in this project."