According
to the emperor himself, he had always been the friend of peace and of
oppressed nationalities, the author of blessings which had flowed
uninterruptedly upon his people until he had been thwarted by the
machinations of the British and the sheer brute force of the European
despots. Napoleon shrewdly foresaw the increase of popular discontent
with the repressive measures which the reactionary sovereigns and
statesmen of Europe were bound to inaugurate, and in the resulting
upheaval he thought he could see an opportunity for his beloved son to
build anew an empire of the French. It could hardly have been blind
chance that caused him to insert in his will the pious request that he
"be buried on the banks of the Seine in the midst of the French people
whom he so dearly loved." On 5 May, 1821, the greatest adventurer of
modern times died on the island of St. Helena.
[Sidenote: The Napoleonic Legend]
Already the history of the emperor was becoming the Napoleonic Legend.
The more his memory was revered as the noble martyr of St.
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