CHAPTER XVI
The St. Helena carriage—Napoleon alarms the ladies—Certificates of authenticity.
NAPOLEON’S BAROUCHE
The carriage used by Bonaparte during his exile at St. Helena.
This is the last carriage in which Napoleon is known to have ridden.
On his first arrival at St. Helena he took much exercise in the saddle, but during and after the year 1818, until he ceased venturing beyond the precincts of Longwood, he made constant use of this vehicle.
The following extract from Mr. Norwood Young’s very valuable contribution to our Napoleonic literature, Napoleon in Exile at St. Helena, gives us an insight to the manner in which it was used:
After the dictation and the reading, Napoleon, in the afternoon, generally went for a drive, one of the ladies, with Bertrand or Las Cases, being taken in the carriage. The two Archambauds at first used six horses, afterwards reduced to four, which they drove, as postilions, at a great pace. The round of the wood, done at high speed, was soon covered, and the course would then be repeated. Madame de Montholon declared that they went so fast that it was difficult to breathe. At this rate the wood was so often driven round that, in spite of the excitement of dodging the trees, there came a staleness in the sport. In the early days the outing would be varied by a visit to the Bertrands at Hutt’s Gate, and all the ladies became much alarmed as the vehicle dashed round the corners, with the terrible precipice on one side. It was indeed dangerous, for there were no barriers, and a little carelessness might have sent the whole party down the abyss. There is now in most places a low earth bank, a railing made of gas-pipes, and a plantation of flax at the edge, which at least conceals the danger.
When the Bertrands had moved from Hutt’s Gate the drives never went beyond the Longwood estate, which has a circuit of about four miles.