Today, May 5th

[Le Tondu]

Gentlemen,

Please raise your classes in honor and in memory of  Emperor Napoleon I.  On this day in 1821, he left this plane and went on to higher things.

His example reminds us all that one can rise from obscurity to high places if one is prepared and determined.  In my opinion, he revealed to the world and history the evil lie of "Manifest Destiny" and that true Glory can be obtained only by those that are willing to go beyond the ordinary.


Vive l'Empereur!

Vive l'Empereur!

[Duc_dEarl]

Bonjour,

I saw an interesting movie last night.. it was called 'The Emperor's New Clothes'.. it seems that Napoleon escaped St. Helen by switching identities with an ordinary Sailor named 'Eugene', who bore an amazing resemblance to l'Empereur.. it was all arranged by a loyal Sergeant of the Old Guard so that Napoleon could escape his captors...  

Anyway, Napoleon moved to Paris and lived the quiet life under the assumed identity as 'Eugene'.. he remarried a lovely widow who had a small boy from her previous husband killed in the war...

Of course, when the Sailor died, everyone thought it was Napoleon.. and when news of the death reached the real Napoleon in Paris, he put his uniform on and tried to reassert his true identity.. but, no one believed him... they thought he was crazy...

In the end, his new wife convinced him to be happy with his new life and put the past behind him.. to move on.. and so, Napoleon burned all his maps and books... boxed up his uniform and took it to the Sergeant with a message that he was 'moving on'.. and, thus, he lived out the remainder of his days in obscurity and happiness in Paris.. as 'Eugene'...

A nice tale..  Vive l'Empereur!

Cordialement, Duc d'Earl

[Frédéric Walther]

Dear Duc d'Earl, dear Le Tondu,

Another interesting tale is from Antoine de Caunes with a movie called "Monsieur N." (Franco-British production). This movie has been shot 2 years ago in both English and French, I'm sure you can easily find a DVD... Beautifull pictures, historically acurate and about the last days of N. in St Helen as for a thriller book... an interesting final theory.

To some extend I'm not so sure Napoleon would have been able to return to a simple life, or without at least trying to reach his natural son in Austria...

The whole thing is to keep the legend alive... but is it really necessary ?

Anyway, thank you Mr Le Tondu for reminding us today is a special day :wink:


Oh... something "funny" about St Helen... the last sentence wrote by Napoleon Buonaparte as a schoolboy on his note book for geographic form : " Sainte Hélène little island lost in the middle of Atlantic ocean". Don't worry Le Tondu I'm not talking about destiny...