[wrong] ELBA, A HUNDRED YEARS AFTER 221 



But he could not administer the island and keep up his little army and 

 navy without resources from outside. There was no prospect that 

 these would come and he was face to face with the danger of an 

 empty treasury. 



Probably the exact nature of the attempt he should make at 

 restoration was dim in Napoleon's mind until almost the moment of 

 departure. Italy was a promising field for efïort, for he had been King 

 of Italy; and the Italians, in their renewed disunion under the aegis 

 of hated Austria, turned in thought to the man who, with all his 

 faults, had given them their first breath of national life. But it was 

 in France that grievances against the restored rule were most acute 

 and to France he returned. He did not set out from Elba until 

 Sunday, February 26; but on Friday the 24th, the Elbans knew that 

 he was going away. On that day couriers were sent all over the island 

 to prevent any one from leaving. Even fishing boats might not go 

 out. There were many spies in Elba. One of these, a professed oil 

 merchant, tells us that he tried to get away on the 25th but was sternly 

 called back when he had induced a fisherman to make a start. All 

 Elba knew that Napoleon was going before his mother and his sister 

 were told. But his bearing was so read by his mother's instinct on 

 Saturday night, February 25, that she questioned him and he told 

 her. She only said, after a pause, that she thought his repose in 

 Elba unworthy of him, and expressed the hope that if he must perish 

 he woujd die not by poison, but with his sword in his hand. On 

 Sunday morning Napoleon went to mass. He had already received 

 farewell official visits, and had provided for the government of the 

 island during his absence. He was taking with him not only his old 

 soldiers from France but also some Elban recruits. On that Sunday 

 afternoon, mothers, sisters and sweethearts stood on the quays to bid 

 farewell to those who put off in small boats to the ships that lay at 

 anchor in the harbour. Pons says that there was no weeping; there 

 was only a silent tension, a mingling of saddening fears and high 

 hopes. Men of Elba were now going off to follow Napoleon, as, 

 according to Virgil, three hundred of them had gone more than two 

 thousand years earlier to follow ^neas. An adverse wind delayed 

 the ships in getting out of the harbour. It was after midnight of the 

 26th when they had gone ; by noon on Monday there was no sight 

 of them on the horizon. 



Elba mourned to see Napoleon go. Elban traders had serious 

 reasons to regret many of the departed warriors, for they went ofï 

 heavily in debt; but the island had had ten months which were to 

 remain forever vital in its history. Napoleon had gone, but his work 



