Salt Lake Telegram | 1928-11-29 | Page 15 | Napoleon Exile Residence Now is 'Desecrated'

Napoleon E Exile ile Residence Now Nw Is Desecrated ted PARIS PAnIS United Unite Pr Press Lon s s-n- s tons tons- wood the house at t St. St Helena irelena where whee N Napoleon passed the final years s cai of exile is now occupied o uy by a careta caretaker caretaker care care- ta taker r who sleeps in Bonaparte's bed uses the living rooms peopled with the shades of the little Corsican Corsi- Corsi can cap even washes himself in the emperors emperor's bath Recently returned from froma a pilgrimage pil pH grimage to the island Ernest Erne t known well French writer made the discoveries which have lave caused consternation In France at the moment wh when n a Napoleon vogue is sweeping the country rt as ui reflected in the production of four Napoleonic plays simultaneously In Paris theatres The first surprise which confronted confronted confronted con con- fronted the pilgrim when he set sete e eyes S on tho the house in which the em- em perlor spent five and a half 1181 years ears before his death was the discovery that hat the annex In which the companions companions com corn of the exile edle lived no flO longer oner exists Otherwise the Ule aspect of Longwood Long Lon wood is much the same as is formerly formerly form form- erly ery writes and nil this si sl true of ot the Interior as weaR well wel we as aR the exterior of the building which Is in good repair Not long ago there was a fear that damages I worked by time would be allowed t to Increase but this is not so n al although although al- al though h there are arc minor repairs which are required In the salon empty of furniture like Uke the hall ball the thc v visitor found a 1 t white marble bu bust t of tho emperor re reposing on a small table placed at the spot where Napoleons bed stood at the tip of lils death on May lay 5 1821 1121 In the bedroom the furniture al almost almost al- al most unchanged the furniture re remains remains remains re- re mains much as as it was wa just over o a century ago There the exile used to pass five and six days das at a n. time pasing the foot 15 square chamber dreaming of the glorious gorious past only to bo oe brought to reality when his gaze would fall upon the distant camp on the plateau of Deadwood where British kept constant constant constant con con- stant watch The past is evoked with poignant poign- poign poignant poignant poign poign- ant intensity the tho pilgrim records and arid that is js why one is s stupefied and indignant when hen one one le learns ns that in ordinary times these apartments apartments apartments apart apart- ments of the emperor are occupied by the caretaker He was on holiday boll holi da day when I was there but normally normally normally nor nor- mally he lie Inhabits all aU th the sacred rooms It is as if the caretaker taker at Versailles slept in Louis LouI's ro room m. m The result Is that visitors at St. St Helena usually see only the hall ball and the salon O of the house Lon Longwood wood is no longer the home of the emperor but that of the caretaker The explanation of ot this state of affairs is that there is no other available a accommodation for the c caretaker on on th the island dH uter- uter Jv Jve urges urSiS that steps be taken lm Im Immediately mediately to remedy this lack preferably by reconstructing the annex so that visitors can ean h have v free access to all the rooms at Longwood and by making the comparison comparison com con parison between the miserable lodgment and the splendid palaces of other times understand better what Napoleon must have suffered