The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-09-06
St. Helena Desires
Kaiser as Guest

SAdiIy ID ZIG eleIt8luUcuI OF de-
posed monarchs, has good econo-
mic reasons for its reported desire
to have the Kaiser for a prisoner"
says the 1 tional Geographic So
ciety. Ma .soleon was its most
famous and best paying guest
though not the only one, Dinizuia,
Zula king. was more recent
exile; soon thereafter he led a re-
bellion against the British during
the TranSvaal in 1889. While Napo-
leon was at st. Helena, 'profiteer-
ing at the expense of the Bona
parte household and the numerous,
members of the garrison sent to
guard him, was reduced to a fine
art by the island citizens.
in fact, it was the high cost of
st. Helena living which created
part of the friction between Napo-
leon and the British Governor Of
the island, Sir Hudson Lowe IN
stead of living within the $4,000
allowed for the maintenance Of
Bonaparte and the half hundred
members of his encourage the bills
for year mounted to three times
that sum. Upon complaint of the
Governor which Napoleon resented,
the eX-monarch executed a bit Of
play to the gaIlaries, by ordering
his silver sold and his bed bruken
up for wood, which when reported
in England, created SO much criti-
cism of the Governor. already none
too popular. that further remon-
strances were not made.
Living almost wholly within two
rooms and his garden, Napoleon in
sisted on all the pomp and cere-
mony possible in such cramped
quarters. Since his companions ne
cessariIy were much in his pres
ence his insistance upon their
standing sometimes brought them
to the point of fainting None
might speak unless spoken to and
all became extremely bored with
court hfe in shanty involving all
the burdens, without any of the
sphendors Of palace
AT first the exile rode horseback,
but soon abandoned that rather
than have an English guard along.
His secfusion is best attested by the
fact that for five Of his six years
stay he did not exchange a word
with the Governor; and Of the three
commissioners-Russian, Austrian
and French -sojourning there by
the provisions Of a treaty to in
sure themselves Of his presence
one saw him through a telescope
once, a second looked into his face
for the first time when he was to
be buried and the third saw him
not at all
"Napoieons days at St. Helena
were not wholly devoted to killing
time. He dictated his voluminous
and military commen-
taries, while number of his as
sociates later added to these DIARIES
conversations and memoirs of their
own, inaccurate or deliberately mis-
leading in large part. Now thiss
would be called propagan-
da. 1t was highly effective propa-
ganda too. Though Napoleons es-
cape was prevented by violence to
an absurd degree, and though the
effect of his winning personality
was guarded against by forbiddingi
visitors to see him, his writings
and those of Montholon and Las
Cases resulted in the royalistic
bareback that puts his nephew on
the throne in France. It was to
III that Queen Victoria.
presented Iongwood,' where Napo-
leon lived and died while at ST.
Helena.
Geographically st. Helena is Pc
fitted for an island prison.
It's volcanic formation accounts for
a half circle of mountains which
permit only one landing place, that
at the islands single port and city,
Uninhabited when dis
covered ten years after Columbus
sailed for America, the island was
settled by British. Dutch and Portu-
guese. In the days Of sailing yes
sells and before the Suez Canal was
opened the ISLANDERS thrived by pro-
Viding supplies for passing vessels.
With the passing Of this market for
their meats and vegetables, the is
and's principal industries waned
nd the ipba hi ITO dy,t ndlad until