Horace Vernet represents in this painting, "The Deathbed", the emaciated face of the Emperor who has just breathed his last • WIKIMEDIA COMMONS After the defeat at Waterloo on June 18, 1815, Napoleon abdicated a second time. He wanted to go to America, but he was prevented from doing so by the English, who exiled him to the island of Saint Helena, a veritable natural fortress in the heart of the South Atlantic. After two months at sea, he arrived on this ancient volcanic rock on October 15. Installed in a damp house on the plateau of Longwood, he dictated his memoirs to his last companions, but also managed to secretly publish in England several writings denouncing the conditions of his captivity. Counting on the support of English public opinion, he then hoped to be brought back to Europe sooner or later. With his small court, he makes life difficult for his jailers, Governor Hudson Lowe in particular, stubbornly refusing to comply with demands that he considers unworthy of his person. Over the years, however, his resistance waned, all the more so as he suffered from a stomach ulcer which weakened him even more, until he was dragged to death. After three final sighs, Napoleon is no more:it is 5:49 p.m. A minute later, the English cannon announce the end of the thundering day. Funny concordance of times. The greatest silence reigns in Longwood's drawing-room. Around the dying man stand his officers, his doctors Bertrand and Montholon, the Englishman Arnott and the Frenchman Antommarchi, as well as all his servants. The emperor is dying in public. The clock strikes the third quarter after 5 p.m. The valet Noverraz leans towards his master to check that he is still breathing, even weakly. Montholon moistens his mouth. Antommarchi holds her wrist, desperately trying to feel her pulse, but fails. The last moment of life arrives. After three final sighs, Napoleon is no more:"The pitiless death is there", writes his first valet de chambre, the faithful Marchand. It is 5:49 p.m. A minute later, the English cannon announcing the end of the day thunders. Funny concordance of times. As if, at the very moment of his disappearance, his fiercest enemy came to pay homage to him. Napoleon died on the island of Saint Helena at the age of 51 years, 8 months and 20 days. Remedies worse than the disease This death comes after two months of suffering. On March 17, 1821, Napoleon took one last carriage ride before going to bed, never to get up again. Without help, he can no longer move. A persistent fever never left him. He eats with difficulty, vomits regularly. He frightens those around him as he is so pale. And especially his body is so cold. Even more disturbing, he begins to cough up blood. His pains are excruciating. What disease does he suffer from? We were lost in conjectures for a long time, especially around a hypothetical poisoning. But today we are almost certain of the true origin of his illness:a stomach ulcer. Over the years of captivity, this anxiety disease has only progressed. In 1819, he almost died when his stomach was perforated. Fortunately for him, the nearby pylorus adheres to the inner lining of the stomach, preventing massive bleeding. Naturally, the lesion is therefore filled with part of the liver. In this slow evolution towards death, the assembly of doctors surrounding the captive is of no use to him, quite the contrary. Instead of diagnosing an ulcer, they convince themselves that Napoleon has liver disease. But, once benign, his ulcer seems to have become possibly fatal, because by continually bleeding from the stomach, Napoleon weakens more and more until he develops a serious iron deficiency anemia. "In reality, it is clear that Napoleon had not only a perforated ulcer blocked by the liver, but a large number of small ulcerations of the gastric mucosa, a true chronic ulcerative gastritis", analyzes Doctor Goldcher, author of a remarkable study on the causes of Napoleon's death. In this slow evolution towards death, the assembly of doctors surrounding the captive is of no use to him, quite the contrary. They persuade themselves that he is sick with the liver, and their remedies, far from relieving him, only make his illness worse, from bloodletting to mercury prescriptions. In April 1821, when their patient was at his worst, Antommarchi and Arnott did not seem overly worried. On the 17th, the latter wrote:“If, for example, a liner arrived from England to take him, I have no doubt that he would recover quickly. We admire his insight. Napoleon only has three weeks left to live. Enigmatic last words On the night of April 30 to the 1 st May, the deposed emperor is dying. Extreme Unction is even given to him. This time, his doctors understand that he can disappear very quickly. But what to do ? Other doctors are called in as reinforcements, all British. On May 3, the practitioners meet and agree on a treatment:administer 10 grains of calomel, pure concentrate of mercury chloride supposed to purge “gently” through the stool. Only Antommarchi expresses a different opinion, but it is not heard. This prescription error is tragic. Far from reducing the captive's blood loss, the primary cause of his illness, the mercury will only make it worse, to the point of accelerating his death. But now it is too late. In high doses, the medical poison is about to be administered without the patient's knowledge. On May 3, at 6 p.m., Marchand quietly approached his master. In his hands, a bowl of sugar water where he mixed the fatal powder. Napoleon opens his mouth, drinks slowly, almost rejects everything, but without succeeding. Having noticed his valet's confusion, he reproaches him:"You too are deceiving me!" The effect of the drug is as immediate as it is dramatic. Because of the mercury, the prisoner's bleeding worsens. He loses a lot of blood. His stools turn charcoal black. He is lost. After the doctors made him swallow a solution of pure concentrated mercury chloride, Napoleon slowly died, before falling into a coma, then towards death. On May 5, at 4 a.m., he pronounced his last words with difficulty:“At the head of the army. Unless it's:"France... my son... army..." We barely hear him before he plunges into a coma. The dying person inspires pity. His flannel vest is covered in "reddish spit that didn't have the strength to go any further." His sheets are soiled. He is in so much pain that it is no longer possible to move his body. All that's left to do is wait. Warned of his impending end, his jailer, Hudson Lowe, moved into a neighboring house. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, Arnott sent him this note:“The pulse is currently insensible at the wrist; the heat leaves the surface; but it may last a few more hours. For once, Arnott was right. Three hours later, Napoleon passed away. Beside him, we sob. Respectfully, Antommarchi closes his eyes. The first tributes follow. After being autopsied, Napoleon was buried on May 9 on the island, in the Geranium Valley. He remained there for 19 years before his body was brought back to France to be buried at the Invalides. His return is triumphant. Find out more Napoleon at Saint Helena, P. Branda, Perrin, 2021. An arsenic assassination? Reading the Memoirs of Napoleon’s first valet de chambre published in 1955, a Swedish stomatologist, Sten Forshufvud, came to the following conclusion:the emperor was assassinated with arsenic. He is sure of it, he recognized all the symptoms of death by poisoning in the work of Marchand. Five years later, an analysis of Napoleon's hair seems to prove him right:arsenic is present. Then begins an incredible series of tests during which dozens of locks of the emperor are sifted through. They all come to the same conclusion. From then on, there no longer seemed to be any doubts. However, in 2002, the case rebounded:arsenic was also found in Napoleon's hair cut well before his arrival in Saint Helena. And when we analyze those of his close family, they also contain it. In reality, this poison was commonly used at the time for dyeing clothes or tapestries, especially in Napoleon's house. Today, the thesis of poisoning is therefore hardly defended, and all the more so since no document has ever come to support it. Las Cases:the feather of the legend Emmanuel de Las Cases accompanied the Emperor in his last exile until the end of 1816. For more than a year, he collected his secrets and worked with him on his memoirs. Every evening he reports what he has heard in a newspaper which the English seize when he is expelled from the island. After recovering his original manuscript only in 1821, he completed it and published it in eight volumes under the title of Mémorial de Sainte-Hélène . The work seduces with its mixture of impromptu confessions, historical texts and accounts of the captivity, and it contributes powerfully to the development of the Napoleonic legend. Work reworked and designed for propaganda, it must nevertheless be considered with caution, even if reading or rereading it remains particularly pleasant.
