[wrong] ELBA, A HUNDRED YEARS AFTER 217 



retirement soon becomes oppressive. The court at Elba must have 

 bored Napoleon to desperation. With an imperfect sense of humour 

 he tried to keep up the regal etiquette of the Tuileries. Only some 

 fifty island bourgeois were eligible for the court circle, and the hands 

 of some of them were so horny with toil that they could not draw on 

 gloves. Campbell saw, among the elect, the seamstress who had 

 repaired his uniform. Elba was miserably poor and the courtiers 

 found it hard to keep the pace required of them. Incomes remained 

 small but prices went up and the usurer was called on to redress the 

 balance. Napoleon, like his great rival Wellington, had no small 

 talk. When ladies were presented to him he asked them abrupt 

 questions about their fathers if they were unmarried, and about the 

 number of their children if they were married. He carried an absurd 

 pomp even into religious ceremonies which he attended in state. He 

 thought, as he said, that this was necessary to keep up his imperial 

 dignity and to impress the world. 



At times, Napoleon'sdignity in Elba suffered woefully. Among those 

 who came into daily touch with him was Pons de l'Hérault. He 

 was a Frenchman, an old soldier and a rugged republican. He had 

 been director of Mines in Elba before Napoleon's time and continued 

 to hold that office. Pons had a prickly conscience and the courage to 

 stand out for its dictates. Napoleon wished him to hand over all the 

 moneys derived from the profits of the mines. Pons declared that the 

 balance in his hands at the time Napoleon became sovereign of Elba 

 did not belong to Napoleon but to the French Legion of Honour 

 which had been granted this source of income. One day Napoleon 

 sent word that he was coming to the mines and Pons knew that he was 

 to have the struggle of his life. The Emperor came in with a stern 

 face. He sat at one end of a long table. Pons sat at the other end 

 facing him. General Bertrand was on the right, Peyrusse, Napoleon's 

 treasurer, on the left. Napoleon began by saying that the funds in 

 question were Government property and that all Government prop- 

 erty in Elba belonged to him. The answer of Pons was that up to April 

 11, when Napoleon became ruler of Elba, the funds from the mines 

 belonged to the Legion of Honour. 



"You will do what I tell you to do," said Napoleon. 



"I will not," said Pons. 



"Sir, I am always Emperor," said Napoleon. 



"And I, sire, am always a Frenchman," answered Pons. 



"You have been ordered," said Napoleon, "to hand over the 

 funds and you refused to obey." 



"I have received no such order, but if I had I should not have 

 executed it and I ought to tell your majesty so ... I will do 

 nothing against my conscience." 



